#any fellow shanghai folk

[epitaphredux]

ami no.. google translate is going to misconstrue your words...

[putschki1969]

Hi Sarah!

Thank you so much for always providing such great content on your blog. It's incredibly kind of you to consistently follow the girls' activities and share the information with the English-speaking community. I know it must take a lot of effort, and I truly appreciate it.

I'm really heartbroken by the recent developments, especially the rumours and backlash against the girls. I don't believe for a second that they "betrayed" Kajiura on purpose. I just hope people can be more rational and avoid jumping to conclusions, especially when so many details are still unclear. Anyone who has been following them knows they aren't the type to be ungrateful to Kajiura. Your unwavering support for the girls really means a lot and has made me feel much better during all of this.

I was tidying up my mailbox and came across an old recording of the girls' cover of 茉莉花 (the Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower") from their 2016 Far on the Water Live Tour in Shanghai. I'm not sure if anyone has shared it with you before, but I’d be happy if this is new to you and hope it brings a little joy to your day. It's certainly not the best quality since I recorded it secretly during the concert, and halfway through, Keiko gestured for the audience to sing along, so there's a lot of background noise. Still, I wanted to share it as a small token of thanks for all the hard work you put into supporting the girls.

Hope you like it and have a wonderful day!

Hello! 😊

Awww, thank you! ❤️ I appreciate your kind words🫂 My love for the girls is still very strong so I'm more than happy to share this love with my fellow fans. I know it can be incredibly hard to follow all the information, updates and releases if you are not willing or able to invest a lot of time and money into the whole thing.

I hate seeing all the backlash against the girls. Yes, Yuki Kajiura has every right to feel slighted and her loyal fans can be disappointed or angry on her behalf. It's understandable. But remain reasonable and stick to facts. Don't treat the girls as if they are not even human, as if they were just instruments used by Yuki Kajiura, without their own feelings or thoughts. You really think this decision for the reunion live was made lightly without putting a lot of thought and consideration into it? You really think the girls didn't weigh all their available options in advance and decided this was the best possible course of action for everyone involved even if that route would ultimately lead to them being in a position where they simply weren't allowed to speak of the matter? Sometimes life puts obstacles in our way and we have no choice but to grit our teeth and move past them to get where we want to be. Along the line, sacrifices have to made and not everything will be sunshine and rainbows. The entertainment industry sucks and there are a lot of people in high positions who don't always have everyone's best interest in mind. I am sure Yuki Kajiura, Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru are very much aware of that fact and will find a way to clear up any existing misunderstandings in a civil manner.

Everyone, please realise that name-calling the girls and accusing them of every horrible thing under the sun is unacceptable, it's just beyond disrespectful and it's no way to treat someone you claim to be a fan of. Even if your loyalty lies more with Yuki Kajiura, I assume you are still a fan of Kalafina so please treat the members with the respect they deserve and don't readily dismiss them just because of an incident we don't know any details about.

I 100% understand why Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru are currently trying to lay low in the aftermath of the announcement. Still, it's sad that they are forced into a corner like that, that they feel the need to "hide" from their fans during a time that was surely intended to be celebratory for all of us. It's been unusually quiet on all of their social media channels. Not even a random Instagram story by Keiko or a new YouTube video from Hikaru...*sighs* They obviously don't want to stir up any more trouble and are waiting for things to blow over but I personally feel that it would actually help some fans to see reason if they heard the girls speak up about the reunion in a more casual and frank manner. We'll obviously never find out anything about the internal machinations of the whole thing but it would be nice to know how the girls feel about this reunion on an emotional level. Unfortunately, the official announcement statements felt a bit too stilted and coordinated so I think they came across as not entirely genuine to many fans. Oh well, that's not how situations are usually handled in the Japanese entertainment industry so we'll just have to wait and see...

..••°°°°••....••°°°°••....••°°°°••....••°°°°••....••°°°°••....••°°°°••..

Waaaaahhh!!!😲 OMG!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!💖💖💖 No one ever shared a full recording of this 茉莉花 performance with me. All I ever had was that tiny snippet from a news report.

This is SO PRECIOUS!!✨ I ADORE every second of it! They are clearly putting so much love into every syllable of the song. I could listen to it again and again (even if the audio quality isn't too great😅). Just melting during Keiko's tender melodic embellishment. So beautiful🥹 Again, thank you for sending this to me, I really appreciate it🙌

[dweemeister]

2020 Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song (preliminary round)

Yup, it’s back (bullet indentations are not working, so this post will look very ugly on your dashboards)!

Tagging a few folks who have participated before in this annual tradition/folks who I would like to extend an open invitation to (please contact me if you’re interested so I can sort you in a group ASAP... you will also be tagged for the final unless you tell me you are not interested): @birdsongvelvet, @bitch-genius, @dog-of-ulthar, @idontknowmuchaboutmovies, @loveless422, @lvl9gay, @neverwasastoryofmorewhoa, @phendranaedge, @poncho-honcho, @sayaf, @shadesofhappy, @thethirdman8, @uncoolforelimb, and @wehadfacesthen.

Hello everybody. For my fellow Americans, I hope your Thanksgiving was a good one. For the non-Americans reading things, I hope you are doing well, as always! Many things have fallen to the wayside in this unforgettable year. So in hopes of providing some sense of continuity and normalcy, here - as you have agreed to - is the Preliminary Round for 2020's Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song (MOABOS). This is the eighth time it has been contested and the seventh consecutive year it has been open to involvement from family, friends, and tumblr followers.

For those new to this, my classic movie blog traditionally ends the year by honoring some of the best achievements from movies that I saw for the first time this calendar year (the "Movie Odyssey") with an Oscar-like ceremony. I choose all the nominees and winners from each category, save one: Best Original Song. It is the only category I can think of that does not require you to watch several movies in their entirety. I consider MOABOS as a sort of cinematic-musical thank-you for your moral support in various ways.

An unspecified number of songs have already advanced to the final round. 24 songs will contest this prelim in two groups - Group A and Group B. In a year when COVID-19 has closed theaters (and which I refused to go to an indoor theater even when they reopened), a year that I did not feel compelled to watch the newest releases on streaming services, there is not a single 2020 entry for 2020's MOABOS. That is, obviously, a MOABOS first - no other MOABOS edition has lacked a shortlisted song from a film released that same calendar year. And as of writing this sentence, I have not seen a single film released in 2020. Despite the lack of 1930s songs, this year's shortlisted songs might be the oldest on average. In other news, this year's field is a modest improvement from the record monolingual field of last year's (which contained only English and two Vietnamese-language entries). 2019's preliminary was the most chaotic we had ever seen, with shocking last-day stumbles and surges from certain songs ("I Dug a Ditch" from Thousands Cheer) that riled up a lot of participants. It's 2020 - will there be a repeat or even more drama at this stage?

INSTRUCTIONS Please rank (#1-12) at least six of your group's songs. Please consider to the best of your ability: how musically interesting the song is (incl. and not limited to musical phrasing and orchestration); its lyrics; context within the film (contextual blurbs provided for every entry for those who haven't seen the films); choreography/dance direction (if applicable); and the song's cultural impact/life outside the film (if applicable, and, in my opinion, least important factor). Imperfections in audio and video quality may not be used against any song. I encourage you to send in comments and reactions with your rankings - it makes the process more enjoyable for you and myself! The top five songs in each group automatically advance to the final round. I reserve the right to pick 0-2 songs from one or both groups that finished outside the top five in their respective groups to contest the final round.

The deadline for submission is Saturday, December 12 at 11 PM Pacific Time. That is 9 PM Hawaii/Aleutian Time. That deadline is also Sunday, December 13 at 1 AM Central Time / 2 AM Eastern Time / 7 AM GMT / 8 AM CET / 9 AM EET. This deadline - as we have seen in the last few years - may be pushed back if there are a large number of people who have not submitted in time. However, I very much do not wish to extend the deadline because the final round is more intensive and usually involves more participants. Tabulation details are in the “read more�� below.

Please participate in the group you have been sorted into, if you have not yet been sorted into a group and would like to participate, please contact me. You can access most, not all, of your group’s songs in these YouTube playlists: (Group A) / (Group B). Again, please note that not all of your group's songs are in the playlist for various reasons.

Happy listening. Feel free to listen as many times as you need, and I hope you discover music and movies that strike your interest. The following is formatted... ("Song title", composer and lyricist, film title):

GROUP A

“Blue Shadows on the Trail”, music and lyrics by Eliot Daniel and Johnny Lange, Melody Time (1948)

Performed by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers

This is the introductory song to the final segment of Melody Time. That segment is dedicated to the legend of Pecos Bill, and this atmospheric song leads into the telling of that story.

“Born Free”, music by John Barry, lyrics by Don Black, Born Free (1966)

Performed by Matt Munro

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Song

This version with lyrics appears in the end credits. The main theme in the song is introduced in the opening credits and is incorporated extensively in John Barry's score across the film. Born Free, based on the non-fiction book of the same name is about two white Kenyan conservationists who raise an orphaned lion cub and eventually release her into the wild.

“But the World Goes 'Round”, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, New York, New York (1977)

Performed by Liza Minnelli

In this musical, USO singer Francine Evans (Minnelli) has been performing in New York City nightclubs, hoping to someday become a major recording star. This song appears as she is recording that very hit that will propel her to stardom.

“Exsultate Justi”, music and lyrics by John Williams, Empire of the Sun (1987)

Performed by orchestra and chorus under the direction of Williams

Lyrics in Latin

In this historical epic, affluent British school boy Jamie Graham (a young Christian Bale) is living with his parents in Shanghai when the Japanese invade. Jamie is separated from his parents and placed in an internment camp. Soon before the end of WWII, the prisoners are moved elsewhere, but Jamie hides and stays put. This song plays as Jamie bikes around the empty camp and continues to play as he encounters liberating U.S. troops. Jamie is dirty and malnourished when found; one can argue that this song is used ironically. It plays once more over the end credits. "Exsultate Justi" is a variation on a theme John Williams develops over the course of the film and harkens back to Jamie's past, attending Anglican services with parents.

"Farewell to Storyville",  music by Louis Alter, lyrics by Edgar De Lange, New Orleans (1947)

Performed by Louis Armstrong and his band, Billie Holiday, and company

In New Orleans, the Storyville district was a den of drinking, gambling, jazz, and prostitution. The district was the home to a heavily black populace. The U.S. military, about to establish a Naval base nearby, forces the city to close the district for good. This song is a jazzy dirge to a center of jazz - a musical genre looked down upon by many of the city's upper-class whites due to its ties (real and imagined) to crime.

"Hawaiian Sunset", music and lyrics by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett, Blue Hawaii (1961)

Performed by Elvis Presley

In a musical packed end-to-end with songs, Chadwick "Chad" Gates (Elvis) has taken a job with a tour guide agency - and this includes performing during a luau for tourists. "Hawaiian Sunset" appears as one of the dinner show's numbers.

"Is There Still Anything That Love Can Do?", music and lyrics by Yôjirô Noda, Weathering with You (2019, Japan)

Performed by RADWIMPS

Lyrics in Japanese (translation)

Weathering with You is a romantic fantasy anime about a high school boy who runs away from his rural home to Tokyo, where he meets a girl who can manipulate the weather. It has been inexplicably raining for weeks without interruption in Tokyo, so they form a business to help clear the inclement weather for special events. The melody of this song is heard throughout the film's score. It does not appear with lyrics until late in the film. The song is played under the boy's seemingly impossible attempt to save her from an unwilling human sacrifice.

There is so much plot in this damn film (it's all Makoto Shinkai's fault) - I can't explain the context of the song or this movie in a reasonable amount of space.

“Mad Monster Party”, music by Maury Laws, lyrics by Jules Bass, Mad Monster Party? (1967)

Performed by Ethel Ennis

(opening credits version) / (soundtrack version with no sound effects)

In this Rankin/Bass stop-motion animated film, Baron Boris von Frankenstein (Boris Karloff in his final Frankenstein-related role) has discovered a formula that can destroy matter. Dispatching his bats to send the news, he summons the various members of the Worldwide Organization of Monsters to inform them of his discovery. This song is performed over the film's opening credits and the various introductions for the monsters as they receive their summons.

“My Dream Is Yours”, music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Ralph Blane, My Dream Is Yours (1949)

Initially performed by Doris Day; later reprised by Hal Derwin

Singer Martha Gibson (Day) has abruptly left New York City for Los Angeles to become a star on the radio. In a film where personal sacrifice is central, she stresses over how to bring her son out west with her, the direction of her career, and her tumultuous love life. "My Dream Is Yours" is the song that makes Martha a star, laying out the film's themes in its lyrics. I was unable to find Derwin's reprise, but no matter as the reprise is rather inconsequential.

“Ride the Wild Surf”, music and lyrics by Jan Berry, Brian Wilson, and Roger Christian, Ride the Wild Surf (1964)

Performed by Jan and Dean

Ride the Wild Surf is a surfing film that, unlike most surfing films of this time, is a drama. It follows three surfers (Fabian, Tab Hunter, Peter Brown) who have come to Oahu at the end of December to ride the large waves of Waimea Bay (made famous internationally by this song, this movie, and the Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA"). This song appears in the film's closing credits. The video provided is a montage of surfing footage that appears in the film.

“That’ll Do”, music and lyrics by Randy Newman, Babe: Pig in the City (1998)

Performed by Peter Gabriel

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song

This song begins at the end (and through the end credits) of Babe: Pig in the City, the second and last film in this series about a sheep-herding pig who perseveres amidst other animals and humans with ulterior agendas. The title is derived from the famous quote said by Arthur Hoggett (James Cromwell) to reassure Babe: "That'll do, pig. That'll do."

“Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Hassen Sitam”, music and lyrics by S.D. Burman, Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959, India)

Performed by Geeta Dutt (dubbing Waheeda Rehman)

Lyrics in Hindi - roughly, "Time Has Inflicted Such Sweet Cruelty On Us"

Song begins at 1:03:31 and ends at 1:07:51

Make sure to turn on the video’s English captions

In this romantic tragedy told in flashback, Suresh Sinha (Guru Dutt) is a director looking back on his life. Suresh is unhappily married to a woman whose in-laws look down on him because, to them, working in films is contemptible to their social class. Suresh meets a woman, Shanti (Waheeda Rehman), on accident and she is soon cast as the lead for his next film. They fall in love, but it is never consummated for various reasons. This song is the most explicit statement of that love in this film. How much of the scene's set-up is observable by the characters is up to the viewer's interpretation.

Group A participants include: @addaellis, @introspectivemeltdown, @memetoilet, @myluckyerror, @plus-low-overthrow, @shootingstarvenator, @themusicmoviesportsguy, @theybecomestories, @umgeschrieben, @underblackwings, @yellanimal. Seven others - including myself and my sister - are currently slated to be voting in Group A.

GROUP B

“Angela”, music and lyrics by José Feliciano and Janna Merlyn Feliciano, Aaron Loves Angela (1975)

Performed by José Feliciano

(English-language version) / (Spanish single version)

Played over the opening credits to this teenage drama that is partly a blaxploitation film, partly an interracial coming-of-age romance. The movie wasn't a hit, but the Spanish-language version of this song was received well in Latin America.

“Aren’t You Kind of Glad We Did?”, music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947)

Originally performed by Betty Grable and Dick Haymes

(soundtrack version with Judy Garland and Haymes) / (modern arrangement far more faithful to how song sounds in the film)

Cynthia Pilgrim (Grable) is the top typewriting student from a business college in this period piece where the typewriter is the newest invention to sweep the business world. This song appears as Pilgrim and her boss, John Pritchard (Haymes), are about to go out on a date for dinner after talking about how society looks down on women in public without a chaperone.

“The Blues are Brewin’”, music by Louis Alter, lyrics by Edgar De Lange, New Orleans (1947)

Performed by Louis Armstrong and his band and Billie Holiday

(in-film version) / (Billie Holiday single)

After being evicted by the U.S. military from the historic Storyville district of New Orleans (the Navy had just opened a base in the area, and would not tolerate places of gambling, jazz, and prostitution nearby), the characters played by Armstrong and Holiday tour the country with a jazz band in tow. This song appears within a montage showing the passage of time.

“Dekhi Zamaane Ki Yaari / Bichhde Sabhi Baari Baari”, music by S.D. Burman, lyrics by Kaifi Azmi, Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959, India)

Performed by Mohammad Rafi (dubbing Guru Dutt)

Lyrics in Hindi - roughly, "I Have Seen How Deeply Friendship Lies / I Have Seen People Abandon Me One by One"

Part 1 (3:44-8:27) / Part 2 (2:16:29-2:20:42)

Make sure to turn on the video’s English captions

In this romantic tragedy, Suresh Sinha (Dutt) is a washed-up director looking back on his life. In the first part, the song leads into the rest of the film - which is almost entirely a flashback. In brief, Suresh is unhappily married to a woman whose in-laws look down on him because, to them, working in films is contemptible to their social class. Suresh meets a woman, Shanti (Waheeda Rehman), on accident and she is soon cast as the lead for his next film. They fall in love, but it is never consummated for various reasons. Eventually, his career crashes after a box office bomb and her career is ascendant. Leading into the second part of the song, Suresh is penniless and working as an extra at the movie studio. Shanti recognizes him, wants to help, but he refuses to revive his career on the back of her success. Kaagaz Ke Phool has elements of autobiography, and Suresh's fate has parallels with what happened to Dutt after this film was released.

“End Theme from Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades”, music by Eiken Sakurai, lyrics by Kazuko Koike, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (1972, Japan)

Performed by Tomisaburo Wakayama

Lyrics in Japanese (translation)

Video provided is not safe for work (NSFW) due to stylized violence

Ogami Ittô (Wakayama) is a former, disgraced executioner for the Tokugawa shogunate who wanders the land with his young son. He is intent on exacting revenge on the clan that murdered his wife. This song is played non-diegetically after Ittô has slain dozens of a corrupt governor's bodyguards and walks onward, pushing his son in a babycart, away from the dead left in his wake. This is the third of six films in the Lone Wolf and Cub series.

"Happy Endings", music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, New York, New York (1977)

Performed by Liza Minnelli and company (that's Jack Haley - who played the Tin Man and was, at the time, Minnelli's father-in-law - roughly seven minutes in)

(use in film) / (soundtrack version)

It is highly recommended one sees how this song is used in the film. Bear with me: this song is part of a movie within a movie. Within that movie within a movie, there is another movie. "Happy Endings" is the title end song to a film called Happy Endings within New York, New York. Singer Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli) has made it big as a recording artist and caps off her hit film, Happy Endings, with this song. We see Francine's ex, played by Robert De Niro, in the audience as the film ends. "Happy Endings" is a homage/deconstruction to midcentury Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) musicals. It serves the film as "The Broadway Melody" does to Singin' in the Rain (1952) or the 17-minute ballet does to conclude An American in Paris (1951).

"Here They Come (From All Over the World)", music and lyrics by P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, The T.A.M.I. Show (1964)

Performed by Jan and Dean

The link above provides the entire film. You only need to watch from 0:00-4:11. If you like music from this era or want to hear more, this film is highly, highly recommended.

This is the opening credits song to a concert film recorded over two days in Santa Monica, California on October 28 and 29, 1964. The Teenage Awards Music International (T.A.M.I. - yes, I know it's an awkward name) Show included many of the most popular musical stars of that time - almost all of them name-dropped in this song. Jan and Dean, a surf music duo, served as hosts (and performed during) the show. You folks are lucky that this is the only original song from this film!

“Moonlight Swim”, music by Ben Weisman, lyrics by Sylvia Dee, Blue Hawaii (1961)

Performed by Elvis Presley

In a musical packed end-to-end with songs, Chadwick "Chad" Gates (Elvis) has taken a job with a tour guide agency. On his first day, he drives his first clients - a school teacher (who not so secretly is attracted to Chad) and four teenagers (one of whom becomes smitten) - to their destination.

“On the Boardwalk (in Atlantic City)”, music by Josef Myrow, lyrics by Mack Gordon, Three Little Girls in Blue (1946)

Performed by Carol Stewart (dubbing for Vera-Ellen), June Haver, and Vivian Blaine

(original soundtrack) / (Dick Haymes single)

In this rarely-seen musical (20th Century Fox wasn't very good at promoting its back catalogue compared to some other studios, and the situation is worse now that they are owned by Disney), three chicken farmer sisters (Vera-Ellen, Haver, and Blaine) decide to travel to Atlantic City in hopes of marrying a rich husband after learning their aunt's inheritance is not nearly as much as they want. They sing this song as they arrive and check into their hotel suite - which they apparently have not looked up the rate for.

Those who listened to the soundtrack version... FYI, $9.25 in 1902 is $280 in 2020.

“Personality”, music by Jimmy Van Heusen, lyrics by Johnny Burke, Road to Utopia (1946)

Performed by Dorothy Lamour

(in-film performance) / (live radio performance)

In the fourth film of the Road to... comedy series, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby's characters have just overpowered two Alaskan thugs with a history of murderous violence. As they enter a saloon dressed up as those two thugs, all of the patrons - in a town that only knows the thugs by reputation - shut up in terror. They are treated to a performance by Sal (Lamour), who is trying to find a map of a gold mine that the real outlaws supposedly have. A visual narrator (Robert Benchley) interrupts the scene before the song briefly.

“Please Don’t Stop Loving Me”, music and lyrics by Joy Byers, Frankie and Johnny (1966)

Performed by Elvis Presley

(in-film performance) / (single version)

Johnny (Elvis) and girlfriend Frankie (Donna Douglas) work on a Mississippi River riverboat as performers. Johnny is addicted to gambling and believes that another woman is spurring on his recent run of good luck. During a fit of jealousy-as-acting, Frankie accidentally shoots Johnny during a bit of musical theater (someone switched out the blanks for real bullets). This song occurs after Johnny has recovered from the accident.

"Wichita", music by Hans Salter, lyrics by Ned Washington, Wichita (1955)

Performed by Tex Ritter

This is the opening title song to this Western. It is one of many Wyatt Earp movies set before the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Earp (Joel McCrea) arrives in an otherwise lawless town of Wichita, Kansas where gunplay is rampant. In a radical move, Earp orders to seize the firearms of anyone living in or entering town - which doesn't sit well with some outlaws. This song is incorporated throughout the film's score.

Group B participants include: @cokwong, @emilylime5, @halfwaythruthedark, @maximiliani, @thewolfofelectricavenue, and @voicetalentbrendan. Twelve others - including me and my sister - are slated to be voting in Group B.

Contact me however you wish if you have questions or comments regarding MOABOS' processes or something specific about a song or a few. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are having difficulty accessing one of the songs (especially if it is region-locked) or if there is an error in the playlist.

I thank you all for your support for the Movie Odyssey, the blog, and for me personally - no matter how long I’ve known you or in what capacity. You will be contacted for the final round regardless of your participation here. If turnout in one group is lagging behind compared to another, I will ask some of the more senior participants to participate in the other group, too. No pressure if you cannot get to this, although I will be checking in as the deadlines get close. Stay safe and socially distanced, everyone.

TABULATION This preliminary round uses a points-based, ranked choice method which has been used since the first time I asked friends, tumblr followers, and family to help out. A respondent’s first choice receives 10 points, the second choice receives 9, the third choice receives 8, etc. The winner is the song that ends up with the most total points. The tabulation method used in this preliminary is used only as a tiebreaker in the final round (more on how the final is tabulated when we get there).

This tiebreaker will look slightly different this year.  

Tiebreakers for above: 1) total points earned; 2) total #1 votes; 3) average placement on my and my sister's ballots; 4) tie declared

[sockmonstergotstyle]

A short summary of ‘British’ accents in tsc, for anyone confused

I decided to make this post some time ago after it was said kit will be moving to Devon, because I could just see the “OMG kits got a sexy British accent” posts on the horizon. In fact, the British Accent is a theme I see often on tumblr, and the misunderstanding surrounding it is quite frustrating. But it’s also made me realise that a lot of people don’t seem to know much about the UK? So I thought this would be a cute idea.

So here we are! This is an English class folks.

Let’s start with the most important point — the ‘British Accent’ isn’t real, because the phrase ‘British’ would imply everyone in England, Scotland and Wales speaks like that. Accents change literally from town to town in some cases, so this is definitely not true. I know many like to believe because the UK is small we all sound the same and drink tea with the queen, but that’s not the case.

What you mean by ‘British Accent’ is likely actually something called Recieved Pronunciation, or RP for short. RP was first developed for BBC broadcasting years ago and is designed to sound posh and clear so those listening could make sense of it, as well as giving the radio station a uniform sound as all workers were taught to speak RP (some schools taught it also, many also calling it Queen’s English). So the only people who sound like the Queen are the upper class, because they were really the only ones to care about RP and it’s kinda stuck.

The other equivalent to the “British Accent” is probably a posher Southern English accent, like Tom Hiddleston or Benedict Cumberbatch. Again, that’s not a regular occurrence, and is definitely another example of RP filtering into higher society. In fact, I’ve never heard someone irl speak like that.

So what are the more likely accents of British tsc characters, if they don’t all sound like the Queen?

We’ll go through in bullet points, shall we?

Will — he’s Welsh. I don’t know much about Welsh accents since I’ve never been there (if any welsh people wanna jump in here go ahead) but I’ve met enough people from Wales to tell you that they also do not sound like the Queen. Will’s accent might have changed a little with him living in London for almost a decade, but probably not much, and Cecily will likely have quite a thick Welsh accent since she grew up there.

Charlotte, Henry, the tid Lightwoods etc — I don’t remember if it is said they were from different areas or all born and raised in London, but if that’s the case then the accent comes down to where they lived in London (again, I can’t remember). From their status among the Shadowhunters and therefore the city, I’d say they are the most likely to sound like the posh “British Accent” although RP wasn’t well known until later and they aren’t upper class mundanes, so even that’s iffy.

The Starkweathers — the Starkweathers we see in tid are from York. York is in the North of England, and so off the bat their accent is very different to the Southern characters. The Yorkshire accent itself is interesting and I don’t really know how to explain it other than glottal stops are a thing and some letters just don’t exist anymore in verbal communication. But I can say it is definitely not posh lmao. We don’t talk posh up north. **EDIT: I literally just remembered game of thrones is a thing wow listen to Jon Snow speak, or even better that ginger lass he hangs with in one of the earlier seasons**

Annabel and her family, possibly Malcolm also — Annabel is from Cornwall. I can’t remember where Malcolm is from but I know he lived with her there, so he likely picked up on parts of the accent too. Again, I’ve never been that end of the country, but Cornwall is also in the West Country, just below Devon. I imagine there are slight differences in the accent as there is everywhere, but that it is still mainly the same (I live in the north east, so while my accent is mainly the same as everyone else in the north east there are still small differences in my accent and the accent of the towns like half an hour from me). I went into more detail about the West Country accent below, so I’ll leave it there. But in summary, still not RP.

Finally, Kit. Obviously Kit isn’t from England, but I’ve seen a lot of speculation that the move to Devon will give him a ~Sexy British AccentTM~ and that is really what sparked this post. For a start, although Kit will possibly pick up some slang or a slight accent, I personally doubt his accent will change much in the few years he’s there before twp. But for those who like to think it will: Devon is in the West Country, the very South West of England. They have quite a specific accent, and some might say it sounds a little pirate-like as @kit-herondale-blackthorn said, although this is mainly down to the curled ‘r’ sound (they don’t actually sound exactly like stereotypical pirates). Again, that accent is absolutely nothing like RP, so if Kit is to develop a “British Accent” it will be the Devon accent, not the Queen’s or Benedict Cumberbatch’s.

I think that’s everyone? I didn’t mention Jem because although I imagine he has a slight English twang he was of course raised in Shanghai so I don’t know how those two accents would mix.

So yeah, there’s my vague run down of the “British Accent” in tsc. Join us next week for the debate over why a line in Lady Midnight claimed Toad in the Hole is a dessert.

Enjoy my incredibly accurate map by someone who stopped studying Geography in year 9. Hope this clears up some confusion (is London in the right place! Is Yorkshire even in the right place? Do I even know where I live?).

Fellow British fandom members please feel free to jump in and correct me and/or have a say

[thefairefolk-rp]

Welcome, Joss! Your application for Mikhael Thorson has been accepted!

OOC INFORMATION:

Name/Nickname: Joss

Age: 31

Preferred Pronouns: She/her

Timezone: MST

Activity and Availability (Please answer in words as well as rating your availability from 1-10): I’d say about a six, I work and go to school, but I like to be on most nights. At least once a week is my go-to, preferably at least twice a week.

Have you read the rules and FAQ? Yes. I couldn’t find any password or phrase but I did read both over twice, so if I missed it, sorry.

IC INFORMATION:

Desired Character: Mikhael Thorson

Second Choice Character: Gunnar Hawke

What made you choose this character?: I was incredibly torn, there were far too many characters that I was really interested in, and I’d already decided on one when I read Mikhael’s bio. His was the first one where I just knew what his voice would be. This gruff man who hides how much of a soft touch he is, who does terrible things for good reasons, and who’s surrounded by people he can’t and won’t trust, the worst of the bunch being the one person he has to protect with his life. An affectionate father who’s also an iron-wielding beast kept around like a dog on a leash to frighten visitors and show off. I just had an image in my head of a man who couldn’t trust his own senses and yet they’re all he has to rely on. He doesn’t have the Sight like his daughter, he’s vulnerable, not just physically, but emotionally and psychologically as well. He lives in a world that he can’t fully see, where he’s viewed as beneath the populace and where his own daughter is beginning to thrive, despite his best efforts. I personally find magic fascinating, but I think it’s important to remember that in a world of magic, it would probably be a mixture of terrifying, frustrating, and alienating to be someone who had none. Perhaps that’s what I like most about Mikhael. He has such a human perspective about the fae, uncharmed by them. You need someone like that around.

Are there any changes you would like to make?: None, I love Joe!

Questions/Comments: I’d just like to add a time spent in war between being apprenticed and inheriting the shop, to explain knowing how to use a sword so well. I imagine him either joining up with a mercenary band to see a bit of the world or perhaps being shanghaied in order to fix some army’s weapons but ending up seeing a good bit of fighting as well.

Writing Sample (Must be 300 words or more, third person limited, in the character you’re auditioning for’s point of view):

Oberon was beautiful. This wasn’t unusual at the Unsidhe court, everyone was beautiful. But it still bothered Mikhael, even years after he’d been pressganged into serving as the king’s own bodyguard. The line between beauty and beatitude didn’t exist, as far as Mikhael was concerned. If anything, the more beautiful someone was, the more evil they could be counted on to inflict upon their fellow man. Or faerie, since it was hard to call the members of the court men when they looked so foreign. And there again was the trouble. Oberon was beautiful, and foreign, and evil. Perhaps evil wasn’t even the word for it, for he wasn’t human enough for it to suit. He was … wrong. Unnatural. Malevolent. All nature of words that Mikhael was only learning now that he lived among the glittering throng who never seemed to age and had all the time in the world to spout poetry at each other.

But, still, the king was beautiful and looking at him, even knowing all the things he’d done, wasn’t enough to make him grotesque. And Mikhael wanted him so. He wanted to look upon the king and be repulsed. He was, often enough, when Oberon gave him one of his orders, bloody and cruel and petty as they most often were. But when in repose, the king, never his king for Mikhael refused to think of himself as belonging in any way in the infernal court he’d been caught up in, was as elegant and lovely as any of them. Cold, yes, and too sharp around the edges, but that just made him more beautiful. Like a shard of ice, bloodless and pure in its glory.

There were moments, few though they were, and Mikhael thanked whatever God might be able to reach him in this land that seemed to have never known the touch of Him, when Mikhael found himself undone by them all. Red-gold hair that seemed to be spun from flame itself, glowing dark skin that smelled like copper and spices, eyes that stared into him, so old and yet so young at the same time, childlike and wise, that he yearned to reach out for. To hold close to him, to warm himself against the light that even the darkest and most devilish of them seemed to possess, and let himself be devoured.

It would not be a warrior’s death, or a Christian man’s at that, perhaps not even a true death at all but merely the loss of everything that made him who he was, the memories of his home back in the world of men, of the already fuzzy pieces of his dead wife that he clung to even as they slipped away, the smell of his daughter’s skin when she’d first been born, all of it gone and replaced only with desire and devotion. And he would be devoted. Everything that Oberon demanded of him, he would have given to another willingly, if only to have them look at him with the same longing that he felt for them.

While even the best of them struggled to take him apart in battle, he could be undone like the laces of a shirt by kindness and affection and even such base feelings as lust. He wasn’t made of stone, though sometimes he pretended to be, to try and master himself. But he denied himself the longing, knew it to be the same kind of lie as any other kind of glamour. The whole court was a lie. His father had told him tales that the faire folke couldn’t tell a lie, but they could spin the truth until you couldn’t tell the difference. Better to assume all of it was false than be fooled.

Standing behind and to the right of Oberon, watching everyone but the creature on the throne, Mikhael vowed again, as he did everyday when on guard, that he would find some way out of this court. Even if it required him to cut his way through it from one bloody end to the other. Every day that he stared at those faces, his own implacable and emotionless as a statue, was one day closer to the one where he would no longer fear them more than he craved them.

[irvinenewshq]

Chinas Xi clinches third time period packs management staff with loyalists By Reuters

© Reuters. A mix image reveals Chinese language leaders Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi attending the twentieth Nationwide Congress of the Communist Social gathering of China, on the Nice Corridor of the Folks in Beijing, China. China’s rul By Yew Lun Tian BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third management time period on Sunday and launched a brand new Politburo Standing Committee stacked with loyalists, cementing his place because the nation’s strongest ruler since Mao Zedong. Shanghai Communist Social gathering chief Li Qiang adopted Xi onto the stage on the Nice Corridor of the Folks as the brand new management staff was launched, that means he’s more likely to succeed Li Keqiang as premier when he retires in March. The opposite members of the seven-man Standing Committee, China’s prime governing physique, are Zhao Leji and Wang Huning, who return from the earlier committee, and newcomers Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi. Li Qiang can also be new to the Standing Committee. All are perceived to have shut allegiance to Xi, 69, who was additionally re-appointed on Sunday as chairman of the Central Army Fee. “An abnormally lopsided victory for one faction, which is uncommon within the custom of the Communist Social gathering, up to now there can be a tough steadiness of energy,” mentioned Willy Lam, Senior Fellow at U.S. suppose tank the Jamestown Basis. “It means there received’t be any checks and balances. Xi Jinping additionally has complete management over the bigger Politburo and Central Committee,” he mentioned. The disclosing of the Standing Committee and the bigger 24-member Politburo comes a day after the closing of the ruling Communist Social gathering’s twentieth Congress, the place amendments had been added to the celebration constitution geared toward cementing the core standing of Xi and the guiding function of his political thought inside the celebration. The Standing Committee lineup is additional affirmation that Xi’s grip on energy is undiminished by the occasions of a tumultuous yr, together with a pointy financial slowdown, frustration over his zero-COVID coverage, and China’s rising estrangement from the West, exacerbated by his help for Russia’s Vladimir Putin. “When it comes to policymaking, it does imply that there’s more likely to be extra deference to Xi Jinping’s personal views about how you can transfer the nation and the financial system ahead,” mentioned Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX technique at RBC Capital Markets in Singapore. “I can think about that zero-COVID coverage is probably going extra entrenched, and there’s going to be additional push on this concern of frequent prosperity and the like,” he mentioned. Originally published at Irvine News HQ

[sounmashnews]

[ad_1] On September 15-16, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) summit will likely be held within the historic Uzbek metropolis of Samarkand. At the upcoming occasion, the leaders of the SCO international locations will come collectively for the primary time in three years in a face-to-face format, one which will likely be a novel and efficient alternative to debate the bilateral, regional and international points which have collected because the begin of the COVID pandemic. In the context of great shifts each in worldwide politics and economics, the worth ofthe summit in Samarkand has grown exponentially. Various key choices andagreements are more likely to be made in Samarkand, most of which is able to decide the way forward for the group’s growth. A easy state must be understood by the worldwide group – the SCO isn't a bloc. It is a company that promotes the ideas of multifaceted cooperation and doesn't pursue any geopolitical targets or make sure agendas in opposition to any nation. These ideas are clearly spelt out in its constitution. The historical past of the group proves that every member, below the banner of the SCO, should observe these strict guidelines. The Samarkand summit will likely be attended by fifteen heads of state and the heads of tenworldwide organizations that work in cooperation with the SCO. Given the group’sconsultant standing and construction, this summit will function additional affirmation of Uzbekistan’s rising geopolitical and financial affect, in addition to the central position thatits president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, continues to play as a serious politician on the world stage. For the previous yr, Uzbekistan has been chairing the SCO, the place its actions in its position have mirrored Tashkent’s new international coverage initiatives.  Central to those are pragmatism,dynamism and initiative, all of which have turn out to be Uzbekistan’s calling card for diplomacyin recent times. The nation’s impartial and multifaceted international coverage hasmade it potential to steadiness the pursuits of the middle-sized and small international locationsthroughout the SCO’s area. According to worldwide affairs analysts, this offers Tashkent a decidedly key benefit throughout the group, particularly the belief of all of the SCO international locations, which permits it to confidently promote main regional and international initiatives by this platform. The conceptual method by Uzbekistan as to which path the SCOought to take on this new period of worldwide politics will be seen within the priorities that the Uzbek authorities has put ahead – commerce, industrial and technological cooperation, strengthening transport and financial interconnectedness, innovation, digital transformation and a inexperienced economic system. Uzbekistan has invited its fellow SCO members to rethink the worth of multilateralcooperation throughout an ongoing interval of nice geopolitical and financial upheaval. As a end result, on the Samarkand SCO summit, President Mirziyoyev is predicted to current a lot of breakthrough initiatives and proposals which might be designed to function a big revival of the SCO’s agenda and complete modernization of the group. These new initiatives come at a time when curiosity sooner or later potential of the SCO is rising. What is plain is that the guts of the group lies within the international locations of Central Asia, because the SCO, itself, was first conceived and created to develop a brand new format of cooperation on this strategic area of practically 80 million folks. The SCO’s constructive contribution to stability, safety and the institution of multilateral cooperation in Central Asia is an proven fact. Today, the group is getting into a important transformational stage, and this course ofis due each to the growth of its membership and to the altering realitiesinside and across the group. At the Samarkand summit, the signingof a Memorandum of Obligations by Iran is predicted,

which is able to open the nation in the direction ofa direct path to membership within the SCO.  In addition, memorandums on granting dialogue associate standing will likely be signed with Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The approval of purposes for associate standing can be anticipated with Bahrain and the Maldives. Central Asia will, nonetheless, proceed to be the core of the SCO, because it serves because the nexus level of the group’s increasing area. It is within the curiosity of the SCO to strengthen the optimistic and irreversible processes which might be in movement all through Central Asia. More than every other issue, that is key to the general success of the group. As a part of the summit, a lot of vital choices will likely be determined upon. Thirty coordinated paperwork have already been ready, that are geared toward strengtheningthe multifaceted interplay of the SCO to convey its inner cooperation to a wholly new degree. At the identical time, the organizers have famous that this checklist will likely be additional expanded.The Samarkand Declaration, the ultimate doc that will likely be issued on the conclusion of the summit and which is able to mirror the widespread agreements by all the SCO international locations, will deal with how the group goals to resolve each regional and international issues by a course of that identifies sure priorities that additional the SCO’s growth. [ad_2] Source link

[orbemnews]

China Has All It Must Vaccinate Thousands and thousands, Besides Proof Its Vaccines Work Hospitals throughout China have nearly every little thing mandatory for a mass vaccination drive: Thousands and thousands of doses. Fridges to retailer them. Well being care staff educated to manage them. The whole lot, that’s, besides proof that any of their vaccines work. Not like their Western opponents, the Chinese language corporations haven’t disclosed information from late-stage scientific trials that will present whether or not their vaccines are efficient, and regulators in China haven’t formally accredited them. That has not deterred native governments throughout the nation, which have begun an bold vaccination marketing campaign. The objective is to inoculate 50 million individuals — roughly the inhabitants of Colombia — by the center of February, earlier than the Lunar New Yr vacation, when lots of of tens of millions of persons are anticipated to journey. China, the place the virus first emerged a 12 months in the past, goes to nice — and scientifically unorthodox — lengths to stop a resurgence of the outbreak. Whereas Beijing has not formally introduced the vaccine goal, the federal government has signaled the rollout might be managed in a lot the identical approach because the outbreak, by a top-down strategy that may mobilize hundreds of staff to supply, ship and administer the pictures. Native officers have been advised that the drive was a “political mission.” The marketing campaign will give attention to what China calls “key precedence teams,” together with medical doctors, lodge staff, border inspection personnel, meals storage and transportation staff, in addition to vacationers. Irene Zhang, a 24-year-old scholar, acquired a vaccine on Dec. 22 within the metropolis of Hangzhou forward of going to Britain subsequent month for graduate faculty. “As a result of my scenario is fairly pressing and all the scholars round me going overseas have taken it, I really feel it’s comparatively dependable,” Ms. Zhang mentioned. Even earlier than this present marketing campaign, multiple million individuals had lined as much as get vaccinated, bewildering scientists who’ve warned that taking unproven vaccines poses potential well being dangers. Their efforts now, that are wider in scope, are being rolled out in a equally advert hoc vogue. In southern Guangdong Province, 180,000 individuals — principally staff concerned in meals storage and transportation, quarantine amenities and border inspection — had been inoculated as of Dec. 22. Within the jap province of Zhejiang, 281,800 individuals had been vaccinated. In Wuhan, the place the outbreak was first detected, the federal government mentioned it had designated 48 vaccination clinics for its emergency program, which began on Thursday. China, which is testing 5 vaccines in Section 3 trials, has not offered any info from this final stage to point out the efficacy of those vaccines. In contrast, the US and Britain began inoculations after reviewing and approving such trial information. As a substitute, Chinese language officers have issued broad statements with few particulars, assuring the general public that the vaccines are protected and efficient. Three of the vaccines have been accredited just for emergency use. Final month, Liu Jingzhen, the chairman of Sinopharm, a state-owned vaccine maker that has two vaccines in late-stage trials, mentioned that not one of the roughly a million individuals vaccinated up to now had any hostile reactions and that “just a few had gentle signs.” The information and approval are anticipated to return inside weeks. Whereas there have been promising indicators, they’ve include caveats. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain mentioned this month that a vaccine made by Sinopharm was efficient, though they supplied few particulars on how the conclusions have been reached. Turkey mentioned a vaccine made by Sinovac, a non-public Beijing-based vaccine maker, has an efficacy price of 91.25 p.c, a discovering that was based mostly on preliminary outcomes from a small scientific trial. Officers in Brazil mentioned the Sinovac vaccine had an efficacy price over 50 p.c however postpone releasing detailed information. The dimensions and pace of the vaccination drive are the outgrowth of a centralized public well being infrastructure in an authoritarian system. Throughout the disaster, China confirmed the way it can mobilize hundreds of staff to succeed in tens of millions of individuals; it examined 11 million individuals in Wuhan in 10 days. Up to date  Dec. 29, 2020, 7:48 p.m. ET Chinese language vaccine makers have labored to ramp up their manufacturing, each for the nation’s personal wants and international exports. The Chinese language authorities has promised to supply 610 million doses by the top of the 12 months and expects to make multiple billion doses subsequent 12 months. “Once they say 50 million, they most likely will do it,” mentioned Jennifer Huang Bouey, a senior coverage researcher on the RAND Company and an epidemiologist. “The query is how a lot it could value and what’s the impact.” The all-out effort has taken months of preparation. Since June, hospitals in Guangdong Province have began building on vaccination clinics, geared up them with fridges and put in refrigerated storage techniques. Sinopharm performed drills this month. Within the trial run, staff loaded containers with the vaccines and ice packs, whereas firm official tracked the vaccines’ temperature in actual time throughout cargo. China has some benefits in its rollout. Not like the Pfizer vaccine, these made by Sinopharm and Sinovac are based mostly on conventional strategies that use inactivated or weakened types of the virus, making them simpler to retailer and distribute. However the pitfalls are lots, because the U.S. expertise has proven. In the US, simply over two million individuals have acquired a Covid-19 vaccine, far in need of the 20 million objective the federal government had set for this month. Hospitals needed to put together the frozen pictures and discover staff to employees the clinics. As China has equipped, native officers have been surveying the variety of individuals within the “key precedence teams.” They needed to “guarantee there have been no omissions,” in response to a authorities doc from Xinchang County in Zhejiang Province. Simply two months in the past, it appeared that demand might outstrip provide. The jap metropolis of Yiwu had supplied 500 doses, which have been used inside hours. Ms. Zhang, the scholar, mentioned she had initially been hesitant to get a vaccine as a result of everybody round her had advised her to “wait and see.” Nonetheless, she tried to enroll in Yiwu however didn’t safe a spot. Then, on Dec. 21, Ms. Zhang heard that Hangzhou was going to begin its personal vaccination drive. She took a high-speed practice that evening and signed a rental contract along with her pal within the metropolis because the native authorities required proof of residence. The following day, she paid $35 and acquired the shot from Sinovac. On the hospital, 4 or 5 individuals have been ready to get the vaccine, in response to Ms. Zhang. The method took one hour, which included registering, getting the shot and ready for half-hour to see if there have been any hostile reactions. “The whole lot was very calm and orderly,” she mentioned. Earlier than she left, the physician warned her: Don’t take a bathe. Don’t keep up late. Don’t eat meals that might irritate your abdomen. The federal government has pressured that the vaccination drive is voluntary, and folks should pay for the inoculations. Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for international well being on the Council on International Relations and an skilled on well being care in China, famous that the two-dose routine might value about $70, placing it out of attain for the agricultural poor. China might even have issues attempting to steer individuals to take the vaccine. Scientists warn that the shortage of transparency might set off fears about taking a brand new vaccine, particularly in an business that has a historical past of high quality scandals. Tao Lina, a vaccine skilled and a former immunologist on the Shanghai Heart for Illness Management and Prevention, mentioned he knew of a number of well being care staff who had declined the pictures. “Within the minds of medical doctors, they really feel that any drug that has not handed Section 3 trials is unreliable,” Mr. Tao mentioned. Mr. Tao, who acquired a Sinopharm vaccine on Monday, mentioned he felt assured that the vaccines have been protected and efficient, echoing officers’ feedback that there have been no experiences of great, hostile reactions. However he added that the businesses might do higher of their messaging. “For those who say that it’s protected, then you must present every kind of proof to point out that it’s protected,” he mentioned. Hminem Zhang, a 27-year-old gross sales worker in an web firm, mentioned he wished to get a vaccine as a result of he traveled for work and feared a run on the pictures if there was a resurgence of the virus. However he worries in regards to the Chinese language-made ones as a result of “not many individuals have acquired it,” he mentioned. “I wish to wait one other month or two for some official information to return out,” mentioned Mr. Zhang, who is predicated within the southwestern municipality of Chongqing. “After which, if there isn’t any information about any unintended effects, I’ll get a shot.” Liu Yi, Amber Wang and Elsie Chen contributed analysis. Supply hyperlink #China #Millions #proof #Vaccinate #Vaccines #Work

[ericfruits]

Why young Chinese are sporting 1,800-year-old fashions

LIKE TEENAGERS the world over, Chen Bolin, a Chinese university student, feels a need to belong. Unlike many of his peers, Mr Chen has found a spiritual home: China of the Wei and Jin dynasties, about 1,800 years ago. So deep is this bond that on special occasions he wears flowing, wide-sleeved robes inspired by third-century dress. One moment of connection stood out, when he wore robes to a museum in Shaoxing, the eastern city where he studies. There he found a sculpture depicting sages from the Wei and Jin era. His own clothes were “exactly like theirs”, he recalls happily. He saluted the statues and told them: “Dear ancestors, I’ve heard so much about you. It is my good fortune to see you today.”

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The teenager developed his passion at high school in Pingliang, perched in the hills of Gansu, an inland province. Though a rather small, sleepy spot, Pingliang is home to a Han culture association. Such clubs are spreading fast. They celebrate the Han ethnic group to which more than nine out of ten people in China belong.

Enthusiasts claim that a million Chinese, mostly youngsters, regularly wear Hanfu, or robes inspired by traditional Han dress. The unplanned emergence of any social movement in China presents Communist bosses with a choice: scramble to the front of the parade and claim to lead it, or ban it. For now, the parade continues. State media hail Hanfu as a welcome complement to calls from President Xi Jinping to revive traditional culture and values. In April 2018 the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, a recruitment channel for party members, declared a first “Traditional Chinese Garment Day”. The league urged young Chinese to don ancient finery to demonstrate “cultural confidence” to the world. There was a caveat, however. The league’s commemorative day honours what it calls Huafu, or “Chinese dress”. That encompasses not only Han traditions but those of China’s 55 official ethnic minorities, from such places as Tibet, Inner Mongolia or the restive Muslim region of Xinjiang. The league’s caution reflects wariness about overt Han chauvinism, which threatens official narratives about a unified, multi-ethnic China.

In truth, clumsy Communist propaganda extolling national unity arguably helped create a hunger for Han traditions. At big party events, ethnic-minority delegates typically attend in brightly coloured folk costumes trimmed with silks, furs or jangling silver jewellery, even as Han delegates appear in Western suits and ties. This both patronises minorities and renders the Han an invisible nationality—representatives of a sort of generic modernity.

As Mr Chen shares his story, the slight, bespectacled teenager is wearing robes of lilac and white, embroidered with blue clouds, an outfit he says is Jin-dynasty day-wear. All around are thousands of fellow enthusiasts attending a Hanfu cultural festival held annually in Xitang, a quaint, canal-side town near Shanghai.

Hanfu wearers vary in their devotion to historical accuracy. Mr Chen has brought along a classmate whose look combines a black-and-white military uniform, 21st-century sneakers and an air of faint embarrassment. “I think this is Han dynasty,” the classmate mumbles, when asked. The colours are more Ming, says Mr Chen, gently correcting his friend’s dates by about 1,100 years.

Enthusiasm counts for more than precision. On this sunny festival weekend a local Starbucks boasts baristas in toga-like robes, a warrior in chain-mail queuing for coffee, and outside, a Taoist priest in a tunic and cloak outfit he calls “a bit of messed-up fusion”. Luling Manman, an author invited to the festival as an expert on ancient etiquette, defines Hanfu as “all forms of clothes we Han people have worn over the course of 5,000 years”. Others take a narrower view, describing a tradition cut cruelly short when the last ethnic-Han dynasty, the Ming, was overthrown in 1644. In European terms, that is like wrangling over a school of fashion that supposedly began in Neolithic times and flowered in the Middle Ages, and may or may not have ended during the English civil war.

Since the Hanfu movement emerged in the early 2000s, some members have framed it as a way to restore Han customs suppressed by ethnic Manchu warriors who conquered China from the north and ruled as emperors of the Qing dynasty from 1644 until 1911. Han nationalists scorn such “Chinese” traditions as tightfitting qipao dresses or high-collared jackets precisely because they are derived from Manchu, Qing-era fashions.

The visible Hans

At the Xitang festival, it should be said, brooding nationalists are outnumbered by youngsters having uncool, goofy fun. Blushing students giggle their way through a lesson in ancient dancing. Earnest, robe-wearing young men take photographs of each other playing the flute or practising archery. Children take part in a fashion show, swishing perilously along a catwalk in too-long finery.

The festival organiser is Vincent Fang Wenshan, a Taiwanese lyricist behind some of the most famous Mandarin pop songs of recent times. A dapper 49-year-old in black embroidered robes, Mr Fang urges younger enthusiasts to eschew Han chauvinism and to be open to modernised Hanfu. He sighs that some purists will not tolerate any dress not found in ancient wall paintings, and draws a wistful comparison with Japan, where traditional customs and modern culture co-exist easily. Wearing a kimono on a Japanese bus causes no astonishment, notes Mr Fang, lamenting that a gap of several centuries separates Han traditional culture from the modern world. He would like to see Hanfu fans bridge that gap.

Historians might quibble with some of Mr Fang’s details. Plenty of Han traditions actually survived under the Qing. The country’s sharpest break with tradition came during the first decades of Communist rule, when leftist zealotry made it safest to wear blue and green Mao suits. But that is to take the Hanfu movement too literally, perhaps. Look past the invented costumes and the dodgy history, and something simpler and more poignant appears: a whole country yearning to know where it belongs.

This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline "Something old, something new"

[bernardschweizer1]

Taishan (1)

I recently had occasion to learn the Chinese vocabulary of noise, inconvenience, and complaint. An apartment below us in our building is undergoing an ambitious and extremely thorough renovation, resulting in deafening noise levels. Thank goodness, I have noise-cancelling headphones, but sometimes even Stevie Ray Vaughn’s amplified electric guitar cannot drown out the jack hammer. At those times, I would storm to the management office (guǎnlǐ chù) and complain (tóusù) that the noise (chǎo) of the demolition (chāi fángzi) had gotten too bad (tài bú hǎo le), especially the drilling (zuǎn kǒng). And I would insist that they tell me until when (dào shénme shíjiān) this madness (#@*!) was supposed go on, so I could come up with a plan to stay sane. After I’ve had my say, they would usually tell me something about a fast approaching end of the project, but nothing would change.

So, one day when it got particularly annoying, I decided to take a hike—literally. To plot my escape, I pored over a map of China, crossing it with my bucket list of places to go hiking. I quickly narrowed it down to one location which, though more than 800 km away (roughly the distance from Switzerland to Holland), was located along the high-speed train line to Beijing, which means that traveling would be less than four hours. Soon, I held the ticket to Tai’an in my hands and busied myself with booking accommodations.

The hiking destination, Taishan, is one of the five holy mountains of China. Some consider it to be the most important of the five mountains. My sense is that this judgment is influenced more by worldly than spiritual considerations. Indeed, being located relatively near Beijing, the place was favored by frequent visits from the emperors. This, in turn, means that the mountain received a rather lavish amount of resources for development. For instance, by the standards of hiking trails, the path they beat up to the Heavenly Gate on the top of the mountain looks rather like a superhighway--a multilane stairway to heaven!

This was not a point of attraction for me, but I figured that there might be alternative routes to go.

But before I get to the hiking portion of the report, I want to clarify that this was my first solo trip in China. In a sense, it was the final exam to see if I was ready to graduate from my “survivor Chinese” level. But early on in my stay at Tai’an, I had reason to suspect misunderstandings because the prices I heard seemed to be wrong, making me wonder if I had my numbers all mixed up. But then I realized that the dollar (or rather kuai/yuan) simply stretched much farther here than in Shanghai. For instance, my large, well-appointed room at the Sheraton set me back all of $73.

The bathroom even fancied a large picture window with a mountain view next to the tub. Another example: a fancy retractable aluminum hiking pole with spring shocks cost just 20 kuai (or $3). In the US, you would not even get the hand strap on said hiking pole for that amount. In many regards, Shanghai is as expensive—or even more expensive—than major Western cities, but Tai’an is in a different league. Here, I noticed a certain financial insouciance that would be unthinkable in places like Shanghai: One lady who wanted to sell me a tourist map told me it was 8 kuai ($1.30), but when I wasn’t bargaining, she voluntarily lowered the prince to 5 kuai. I ended up giving her 6 to play her game of defeating each others’ expectations. For a moment I felt like I was in a Monty Python scene.

People here also don’t charge Westerners more than they do locals. By contrast, in Shanghai even native-born Chinese like my wife (who are considered as “returnees”) are charged more than died-in-the-wool Shanghainese at the fish market and other bargain-intensive places. But along the path up to Taishan, I bought a bag of local herb tea for 5 kuai, and as I walked away, I saw the sign board in Chinese characters that did indeed list the price as 5 kuai per baggy.

Finally, to top it off, when I stepped on a bus for a few stops but did not have the 2 kuai exact change required for the fare, an elderly lady nonchalantly handed me two 1-kuai pieces. Since I didn’t want to be remembered in this town as another dirt-poor Westerner spooning off the locals, I insisted that she keep my 5 kuai bill, which she did, but only reluctantly. In any case, this aspect made me feel perfectly comfortable as the sole Westerner in this place.

I’m not kidding, I didn’t see another Westerner here, and the scarcity of my kind showed in the behavior of the locals: I lost count of how many times I had my picture taken with enthusiastic Chinese who just wanted to be seen with a wàiguó rén (foreigner). 

What this meant to them was not entirely clear to me…maybe they considered me exotic. Or I appeared to them as a kind of walking status symbol. This sort of treatment (which scholars would call “reverse othering”) didn’t bother me at all since I obviously derived not disadvantage from it. On the contrary, I reaped a tangible benefit from the attention I was getting: I’m not saying that I was feed like an animal at a petting zoo, but the locals did show a strong proclivity to hand me edibles for free. It started on the way up when a fellow hiker, who kept pace with me, spontaneously offered me half of his freshly purchased cucumber. For a moment I hesitated because of food safety concerns but then I bit into it, and the cold bursting freshness was a sheer delight to my parched mouth.

Later on, a group of women picnicking right on the steps of the stair path held out their bag of freshly baked sponge cake to me and let me grab a couple. Another guy I chatted with for about half an hour using my stumbling Chinese rewarded me for my effort with a whole pack of cookies. During our conversation, he told me, he’d spotted me five hours earlier down at the middle point of the hike. That’s how much I obviously stuck out there.

But as good as folks here are in the friendly-overtures department, giving directions is not their forte. The concierge at the Tai’an Sheraton usefully told me that the Dai Temple—the town’s main attraction, beside the mountain—was a mere 15 minutes down the road. I naturally thought that most people’s 15 minutes was my 10. But the “map” the concierge handed me turned out to be equivalent to an imaginative child’s drawing: It bore only a slight resemblance to the actual lay of the land.

It took me almost one hour to reach the Dai Temple, for it was over two miles away, and I took a few wrong turns. I was again surprised the next day when at the conclusion of my hike I ended up at the foot of the mountain looking for local transportation. I asked some people at a store about the location of the bus stop to return to Tai’an, but they looked at me as if I were asking where the launch pad to the moon was. I know the word for bus stop (chē zhàn) and the question word “where” (zài nǎlǐ), so that was not the problem. Anyway, they could not help me, but when I kept walking down the road, I spotted the bus stop merely two blocks further. Fortunately, the little confusion did not prevent me from being back at the Sheraton in time to order a taxi to take me to the train station. At least the taxi driver had a decent sense of orientation.

[ennaraw52]

Speak up! Speak out!

DEMYSTIFYING VOICE PROJECTION

Okay, so if you attended the workshop, you learned all the factors that contribute to being heard even if you are not being seen, but did you really learn it? As in, will it change your life?

Let’s recap that workshop and see what we have:

What is this thing called voice projection?

Being able to project your voice does not mean speaking louder or pushing harder to force the sound out of your body, instead, in a nutshell, voice projection means speaking clearly, enunciating properly, and communicating with your audience.

       How does one accomplish these tasks?

Well clarity in sheech comes from clarity in intention. If you are unsure about what you are saying, you will speak hesitantly, quietly, and/ or in a garbled manner, and rapidly. These are done in an attempt to concela the fact that you are unsure of the words you speak. And all of these speech patterns will individually serve to sabotage clarity. Done collectively in any scenario, your audience will wonder why you are even speaking.

So what are the key components to voice projection?

     In a nutshell: posture, personality, and confidence.

Since your posture affects your breathing, it stands to reason that a misalligned body will adversely affect the uninhibited passage of air being expelled through your lyranx (voice box). It also follows that you will need good breath support to achieve power in your deliver. But even with a powerful voice, if you are just uninteresting and flat, it will just be a booming monotone, like the continuous sound of bombs being fired, and we all know how much aversion we have to warming up to that sound!

So spicing up your speech with some vocal layers and textures that are uniquely YOU, will certainly serve to enhance the communication between speaker and audience.

     Now what are we missing?

Confidence

Confidence needs its own category and paragraph(s), because not only does it affect your speech and your ability to deliver a scintillating and motivating speech, but confidence is the backbone to everything you want to achieve in life.

      Without this one ingredient in your life, your life boils down to a torn and tattered notebook of pages and pages of enumerations of a life unlived. A tabulation of what we commonly refer to as our ”wish list.”

So ask yourself, are you doing what you REALLY want to do? Or have you settled for a life that is comfortable, because you lack the confidence to reach further? A life that stretches you beyond the succesful accumulation of a spouse, a two-car garage, 2.5 children, and a cat and dog?

Perhaps you are like the millions who have convinced themselves that what they are doing is what they ”really want.” Because what they are doing is safe, and safety represents comfort, which equals stagnation.

But stagnation is the precursor to death.

Thus, when we cease to push further, beyond our comfort zone, when we make the choice to not stretch and challenge our confidence level, we are essentially chosing to sign our own death warrant.

So ask yourself today, one day post-workshop, how is my voice projection? Is it not good because I need to work on my  personality, posture, and pronunciation, or is it suffering because I lack confidence in myself?

*Workshop at Beijing Drama Club, venue: Caravan Restaurant, Beijing, CN

All images courtesy of David Callen

  from Speak up! Speak out!

[yahoo-the-dagger-blog]

Why UCLA should be grateful LaVar Ball yanked LiAngelo out of school on Monday

LaVar Ball pulled middle son LiAngelo out of UCLA on Monday less than three weeks into his suspension for shoplifting. (AP)

Don’t expect anybody at UCLA to try to talk LaVar Ball out of his ill-advised decision to yank middle son LiAngelo out of school.

The Bruins should instead be grateful they now have a means of escaping a troubled marriage with the Ball family that has caused far more stress and aggravation than it’s worth.

Long before LiAngelo’s arrest for shoplifting in China last month, UCLA has been scrambling to put out fires sparked by LaVar’s boorishness and bravado.

The 2016-17 college basketball season began with LaVar guaranteeing that eldest son Lonzo would win a national title at UCLA and ended with him insisting starting “three white guys” made it impossible for the Bruins to contend for a championship. In between, LaVar also repeatedly used Lonzo’s likeness to promote his fledgling shoe-apparel brand, a choice that suggested the threat of the NCAA ruling his son ineligible didn’t particularly faze him.

UCLA coach Steve Alford put up with LaVar’s thirst for publicity without public complaint because Lonzo was worth the hassle. The future Los Angeles Lakers point guard established himself as an NBA lottery pick in his lone season in Westwood, elevating UCLA from a 15-win mess the year before he got there into a 31-win powerhouse that played with pace and panache.

As LaVar’s fame mushroomed faster and faster thanks to public spats with Steph Curry, LeBron James and Michael Jordan, the potential problems for UCLA were easy to spot.

LaVar had already publicly touted LiAngelo as a one-and-done talent like his older brother, yet most NBA scouts and talent evaluators viewed the 6-foot-5 guard as a marginal prospect who would be fortunate to crack UCLA’s rotation as a freshman. How was loud-mouthed LaVar going to react to his middle son coming off the bench and playing scant minutes in marquee games?

UCLA initially had incentive to find some way to appease LaVar because of the presence of a third Westwood-bound Ball brother. Consensus five-star guard LaMelo Ball isn’t quite as promising as Lonzo was at the same age, but he’s a gifted enough scorer and passer that UCLA had to weigh the risks of jeopardizing his commitment.

Everything changed in August when LaVar announced the Big Baller Brand was releasing a signature shoe for LaMelo in a series of tweets that clashed with the NCAA’s principles governing amateurism. One of the tweets featured a picture of the youngest Ball brother wearing a Big Baller Brand shirt and displaying his $395 shoes. LaMelo also starred in an ostentatious rap video intended to advertise the shoes.

That decision raised two obvious questions: Did LaVar still intend to have LaMelo play for a year at UCLA before attempting to turn pro? And if so, would LaMelo even still be eligible to play college basketball?

“I think [LaVar] just cost his son a chance to play college basketball,” a veteran compliance official who asked to remain anonymous told Yahoo Sports in August. “The receipt of money based on name/image/athletic skill and his father acting as a marketing agent would impact his amateur status and collegiate eligibility.”

LaMelo’s potential eligibility issues gave UCLA less reason to put up with any complaints from LaVar about LiAngelo’s playing time, but that unexpectedly became a non-issue. LiAngelo and fellow UCLA freshmen Jalen Hill and Cody Riley were arrested last month in China for stealing from three high-end stores days before the Bruins were set to open their season against Georgia Tech in Shanghai.

The morning after Chinese authorities dropped the charges against the three players and gave them permission to return home, UCLA announced it was indefinitely suspending the trio while the school’s office of student conduct reviewed the incident and assessed what punishment it merited. LiAngelo, Hill and Riley have missed eight games so far and have not been allowed to practice or travel with the Bruins.

When LaVar downplayed the significance of the shoplifting incident by complaining that the media tries “to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes,” you can bet folks at UCLA were seething over his attitude. This was an embarrassing saga that received global attention, jeopardized UCLA’s reputation in a critical foreign market for the school and required the intervention of two world leaders to resolve.

It’s not yet clear whether UCLA considered using the shoplifting incident as impetus to dismiss LiAngelo and sever ties with the Ball family. Regardless, LaVar took the dilemma out of the hands of UCLA administrators when he grew impatient for LiAngelo’s punishment to be over and on Monday pulled his middle son out of school.

LaVar’s handling of LiAngelo is misguided at best and delusional at worst. Not only does he miss out on the chance to earn a UCLA diploma, he now faces an uncertain basketball future trying to prove he is worthy of a roster spot in some far-flung country overseas.

Honestly, the question isn’t even “draft-worthy.” It’s where in the world does he play? Don’t think he’ll end up selected to go to the G-League. Euro teams don’t want 19 year olds. China is….well, probably not an option. Pickings are slim. https://t.co/2Oj3HzgrmM

— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) December 4, 2017

The brief statement Alford released Monday left little doubt UCLA won’t try to convince LiAngelo to change his mind.

“We learned today of LiAngelo Ball’s intention to withdraw from UCLA,” Alford said. “We respect the decision he and his family have made, and we wish him all the best in the future.”

And with that, UCLA has the chance to be done with the Balls for good. The Bruins would be wise to retract their scholarship offer to LaMelo and make it clear that he’d have to enroll elsewhere if he wants to try to play in college. Let some other school deal with that headache.

UCLA squeezed everything it could have out of Lonzo’s lone season in Westwood. Now the Bruins should tell LaVar to take the other two Balls and go home.

Related video:

– – – – – – –

Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @JeffEisenberg

More from Yahoo Sports: • NFL criticized for Steelers-Bengals violence • Chris Mannix: Why Eric Bledsoe fits in so well with the Bucks • Why UCLA should be glad LaVar Ball pulled son out of school • NFL Power Rankings: Giants could turn it around

[oselatra]

On the transgender crisis

I find it ironic that the UAMS offers this but University of Arkansas insurance does not cover any form of gender dysphoria.

From the web

In response to the May 11 cover story, "The real transgender crisis in Arkansas: health care," on the gender clinic at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences:

This is an excellent article. I find it ironic that the UAMS offers this but University of Arkansas insurance does not cover any form of gender dysphoria.

Teri Dawn Wright

I do not have an original birth certificate. I was adopted 47 years ago from South Korea. I was found and put in an orphanage. This is typical of most people adopted around that time. If I were trans, then I would have been figuratively screwed up the butt by the conservatives in our legislature.

SouthMeetsSouth

In reponse to the May 11 reporter, "The biking news," about a grant to design a bike trail from Little Rock to Hot Springs:

This is an exciting project for cyclists. I would also like to see a study on the feasibility of a commuting bike path along I-630. There are already pieces, i.e., a path from John Barrow Road to Rodney Parham and a path in the median of Chenal. If we want to encourage bike commuting, this would be a more convenient (although less scenic) route than the River Trail and more accessible to biking from home for many in West Little Rock.

Tomato Dave

In response to the Arkansas Blog posting of the video of a man in a "Make America Great Again" cap raising hell on a United Flight from Shanghai and getting booted off the plane:

If you ever doubt that President Trump's rhetoric and the whole MAGA mystique is about anything other than ensuring that white males maintain their supremacy, all you have to do is watch this video.

AnnaHarrisonTerry

I am ENTITLED to that seat. 

Unfortunately there are way too many people in this country — Arkansas has more than its fair share — who will defend this asshat's entitlement.

Vanessa

In response to Arkansas Blog posts on President Trump's proposed budget cuts of $1.7 trillion that would reduce food stamps, health care accessibility, Social Security disability benefits and more:

Well, when Arkansas Trumpers turn into whiny little bitches because Trump's budget and other bad stuff are hurting their families, MAYBE THEY'LL WAKE the FU!!

They are 100 percent not changing their view that Trump the faux billionaire cares for them. Why, every deal he's made is for them ... unless you read 5 minutes and find out Trump's deals are for himself and the rest of the super 1 percent. If Trump stays in the White House/Mar-a-lago for two more weeks or two more years, three-fourths of his time will be spent enriching his family and that other fourth will go to enriching fellow 1 percenters. Do the math: none for us.

No time will be spent on the rest of us no matter how we voted or how red our state is. He's not in office to work for the 99 percent, just to feed 'em bullshit at an amazing rate and giggle when he sees they're taking the bait. It's sad, not Trump sad, but the real sad, hard sad, human sad ahead of us. 

Deathbyinches

Hey MAGA-hatters, Drumpf's proposed budget will:

Gut your health-care, MAGA-hatter: Seth Rich!

Impose deep cuts on Medicare, MAGA-hatter: Clinton Foundation!

Allow states to limit Medicaid enrollment, MAGA-hatter: Private email server!

Cut food stamps to over 40 million people, MAGA-hatter: Sandy Hook fake!

Cut meals on wheels for impoverished, shut-in elderly: Birth certificate!

Roll-back student loan protections, MAGA-hatter: CNN fake news!

Slash public health funding and infectious disease research, MAGA-hatter: Gun grabbers!

Boost an already bloated "defense" budget, MAGA-hatter: Mur-ica First!

tsallenarng

The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

When are y'all going to start dealing in fact? Not false news. Not maybe. Solid verifiable facts.

What bullshit.

Razorblade

Keep lying to us, Razor. It helps us verify where you keep your head and it helps us understand the denier's mindset. Even a bad example serves as a lesson to us all. And, by the way, do you need an extra jar of Vaseline?

Jake da Snake

In response to an Arkansas Blog post about Sen. Tom Cotton's appearances in Iowa and his denial he's not running for president in 2020:

It is grounds for despair among thinking folks that someone like Cotton can be taken seriously as a potential presidential candidate, three years out. Of course, if he's running now, that means he doesn't think that he'll be running against Trump or Pence. 

The real grounds for despair are not Cotton, nor Trump, nor Pence, but that a substantial plurality of the American electorate still approve of them. We don't need a voter ID law, we need a voter IQ law.

It is now time for my only religious ritual, thanking whatever gods that be for the invention of Scotch.

Silverback66

On the transgender crisis

[tune-collective]

New Face, Fresh Style: The Soulful Pop of Chinese Singer-Songwriter Leah Dou

New Face, Fresh Style: The Soulful Pop of Chinese Singer-Songwriter Leah Dou

At only 20 years old, Beijing-born musician Leah Dou exudes a calm and self-assurance beyond her years. But beneath her shaggy pixie cut and baby braids, Dou’s eyes light up in youthful excitement when the conversation turns to Lana Del Rey. “I’ve been obsessed with her since I was sixteen,” she tells Billboard. “I just think she’s got the whole look and sound down. It’s so special and unique.” 

Though her music and style influences aren’t pinned down to one genre — she names ’90s trip-hop groups like Portishead and Massive Attack as well as alt-folk pop band Frente! her teenage favorites — Dou greatly admires artists who are authentically themselves.

As the child of famous Chinese alternative rock composer Dou Wei and actress/pop star Faye Wong, Dou’s inventive space in music came from seeking out new acts online and discovering sonic elements to mix and match for herself. Her 2016 debut album Stone Café is a jazzy, sensual, and brooding record, evocative of ’90’s downtempo production and straight-up pop choruses.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jl0Nw6JkfU

This fluidity crosses over into Dou’s personal style of grungy oversized sweaters, dark colors, and androgynous looks. It’s a contemporary approach to fashion, one that Gucci’s Alessandro Michele recognized by inviting her to perform at his No Longer / Not Yet Shanghai exhibition last October. Fellow fashion house giant Chanel has also co-signed Dou’s style with a special invitation to attend their Paris/Roma collection launch show in Beijing this past May. 

“I’m not as in touch with the fashion [houses],” Dou says of her recent exposure to these designers. Her own wardrobe is largely thrifted pieces, colorful headbands and Yves Saint Laurent shoes. “But it was amazing to see and learn how they combine music with their shows.”

Dou recently soundtracked and starred in the Beats By Dre short film The Way I Am — a campaign for Chinese New Year — with a previously unreleased track “It’s Not a Crime (It’s Just What We Do).” In the film, she takes the stage in a men’s leather jacket, dedicating the track to “everyone who’s ever been caught in between two things they love.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1jD62uYRe8

The singer’s confidence both on camera and in her style comes from an intuition she can’t quite articulate. When asked about her tattoos — which include an alien doodle on her palm and a line down her chin — she has no specific explanations. “A lightbulb would go off and I’d go get [the tattoo] as soon as I could,” Dou explains. “I’ve never regretted any of my tattoos. And I don’t really give it much meaning because I feel like if you do, then it’s easier for you to regret it in time. More than anything, it’s just aesthetically pleasing.”

  A photo posted by @grey_waters on Aug 21, 2016 at 8:48pm PDT

  With her sophomore album due later this year, Dou’s label-bending style will only continue to evolve. “Sonically, it sounds completely different,” she explains of the forthcoming project. “There’s some experimental stuff in [the new album] that I don’t know how people will react to, but I’m really passionate about it.”

Source: Billboard

http://tunecollective.com/2017/01/28/new-face-fresh-style-the-soulful-pop-of-chinese-singer-songwriter-leah-dou/

[sportsleague365]

Not so bright As far as opening lines to a match report go, Neil Ashton’s ‘They will never live it down’ inThe Sun on Chelsea’s defeat to Tottenham is ballsy. They might just manage to live down one defeat if they, y’know, win the bloody title. Muck off If you watched Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Chelsea on Wednesday night, the chances are that you will have heard a few naughty words. Those football hooligans were out in force at White Hart Lane. Matthew Dunn of the Daily Expresswas among the many to witness the ugly scenes. He brings us his view: ‘”Did you cry at Stamford Bridge?” was one chant from the away end. ‘Followed by, give or take, “2-0 and you mucked it up”. Give an ‘f’ and take an ‘m’, to be precise. Oh no, N’Golo Writes Ian Ladyman in the Daily Mail: ‘Kante was his usual impressive, industrious self here at White Hart Lane. There will not have been many players from either team who had more touches of the ball or ran more yards.’ Players from either team with more touches than Kante: 11 Players from either team who ran more yards than Kante: 11 Just Kidding Before Thursday morning, it is likely that you were unaware of Dave Kidd’s intense hatred of Claudio Yacob. But The Sun‘s man cannot hide his feelings any more. ‘Revenge, served freezing cold on a brass monkey’s night as Chelsea’s bid to create history was brought to a juddering halt, just as Tottenham’s title bid last season was wrecked in the Battle of Stamford Bridge. ‘Dele Alli wasn’t there on that tempestuous night in West London. The Tottenham and England breakthrough star of the season was banned for punching a West Brom defender a week earlier.’ To not name Yacob is one thing, but Kidd cannot hide his disdain as he refers to the Argentinean midfielder as a ‘West Brom defender’. You can almost taste the contempt. Crooks shanks Say what you like about Garth Crooks, but it wouldn't be the same without him. pic.twitter.com/s9zDTUsFFu — Football365 (@F365) January 5, 2017 Oh, Garth. ‘Stoke City have a history of signing great keepers, notably former England internationals Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton. Although I wouldn’t put Grant in that bracket, he’s proved to be an exceptional acquisition.’ So Lee Grant is not quite as good as Gordon Banks or Peter Shilton. Next. ‘If Koeman decides that Barkley is the future and makes purchases in areas other than central midfield during the transfer window it could prove to be a seminal moment for both of them.’ There are two definitions of the word ‘seminal’. It is of vital importance to work out which one Garth is referring to. ‘If anyone had any doubts that the Premier League is the best in the world they can disabuse themselves of that notion now.’ Someone got a thesaurus for Christmas. Headline act It’s Thursday, the first day without any Premier League football for 427 months, and so the fallout from the constant stream of action should be able to drag the football media through for a few more days, yes? Particularly with the January transfer window firmly opened, this should be a busy month indeed. With that in mind, let’s take a look at which are the main headlines on some leading websites. A reminder that this is at lunchtime, so peak time for traffic and delicious clicks. ‘Is that a tracksuit or a road marking? Pogba dons bizarre outfit as £89m Man United star pops out for dinner’ TheDaily Mirror go with ‘man eats food’. The story is top of their football homepage. ”Crazy market’ could see Jose Mourinho favourite Javier Hernandez sold in January’ The Metroregale us with tales of Javier Hernandez possibly leaving Bayer Leverkusen. Erm… ‘Antonio Conte: This is how Chelsea will bounce back from defeat at Tottenham’ By trying to win their next games. Thank you,Daily Star. Happy ‘Jose Mourinho’s love-in at Old Trafford underlines how he and Pep Guardiola have gone through a dramatic role reversal.’ So begins Ken Lawrence’s extensive feature on Manchester’s two managers inThe Sun. ‘Trading places’ is the headline; ‘JOSE HAPPY, PEP GLUM’ the sub-headline. The piece includes lines such as: ‘At one stage Mourinho, looking muddled and confused, was seven places behind him in the table. ‘Now Pep says he is getting ready to walk away from the game and it is he who looks sad and screwed up – while Mourinho, 53, is blowing kisses in every direction.’ ‘That depressed message from the moody Blue…’ ‘Unlike Mourinho, he does not talk of his love for his players.’ ‘Pep is not happy about being taken to task. He is discovering that money can’t buy you love. Mourinho is just loving it.’ Lawrence even refers to Mourinho as ‘the Pharrell Williams of Old Trafford’. Because he’s happy. Do you get it? DO YOU GET IT? Is Lawrence aware of a thing called ‘the Premier League table?’ Where Manchester City are fourth, three points and two places ahead of Manchester United? Guardiola is probably pretty happy with his lot. Oscar award Brian Reade is angry, and he wants you to know about it. The subject of his exasperation this week is Oscar. He writes, in theDaily Mirror: ‘Look at this photo of Oscar landing at Shanghai airport and ask yourself if it fits in any way with a man walking into a job that pays £20.5million-a-year. It doesn’t, does it?’ The picture in question was similar to this. Watch Oscar get MOBBED by excited Shanghai SIPG fans in China after completing £60million move from Chelsea https://t.co/TIJrAQiGDC pic.twitter.com/uc0wPTgMaD — hardeyloye (@hardeyloye2) January 2, 2017 Quite what Reade was expecting, we do not know. How should ‘a man walking into a job that pays £20.5million-a-year’ look? Should Oscar have been throwing wads of cash at onlookers while wearing a golden chain and five expensive watches on each wrist? ‘It looks more like a man who’s been focused all his life on being the best footballer that he can, winning the biggest titles by playing with, and against, the world’s best players – who, at 25, has sold his soul.’ To be honest, it looks more like a man who is perhaps feeling shy and introverted, maybe even humbled, by the fact that hundreds of people have gathered to greet him. It might be a little overwhelming, you see. But no. Oscar is a scoundrel because he didn’t smile enough after being greeted by crowds of strangers after a long flight. Jack the lad Writes John Cross in theDaily Mirror: ‘Arsene Wenger has had to put Arsenal’s transfer plans on hold until their contract stand-offs with Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil are resolved. ‘Gunners’ boss Wenger remains confident that Ozil will eventually sign a new deal, but there are doubts over fellow star Sanchez — whose fury after Tuesday’s dramatic draw at Bournemouth, and two dropped points, spoke volumes. ‘The protracted negotiations with the pair are having a knock-on effect for other players. ‘Ozil and Sanchez both want pay-rises to more than £200,000 a week, which would impact on Arsenal’s finances as they look to negotiate new contracts with the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jack Wilshere and plan their summer signings.’ Presumably, no-one has told Jack Wilshere himself that Arsenal are ‘looking to negotiate’ a new contract with him. Only three days ago, Cross revealed that the midfielder had ‘fresh doubts’ over his future with the Gunners, and on Christmas Day Cross reported that Wilshere was ‘fearing’ that his deal was expiring soon. Put him out of his misery, John. Just Matip TheDaily Mirrorhave some quite terrible news for Liverpool. David Maddock breaks it down: ‘Liverpool are bracing themselves for a fight with FIFA over a possible one-month ban for star defender Joel Matip. ‘The centre-half has been called up by Cameroon for the Africa Cup of Nations despite insisting he had retired from international football more than a year ago.’ This is huge. How will Liverpool cope? Of course, the news will come as a shock to Matip more than anyone, considering Cameroon did not name him in their Africa Cup of Nations squad when they announced it early Wednesday evening. Panic over. Done deal *DONE DEAL KLAXON* https://t.co/3cP19OAGLm — Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) January 5, 2017 This is the big one, folks. Has Virgil van Dijk gone for £50million? Has Mamadou Sakho found a loving home? Have Everton stumped up the extra millions for Morgan Schneiderlin? ‘Fulham youngster heads out on loan to Hartlepool’ For fu… Recommended reading of the day Michael Cox on how Pochettino beat Conte’s 3-4-3. Adam Hurrey reviews December. Keith Hackett on referees. The post Mediawatch: Why Jose Mourinho is Pharrell Williams appeared first on Football365.