#china yacht

[lonestarbattleship]

USS HOUSTON (CA-30) with USS ISABEL (PY-10) alongside, at Tsingtao (Qingdao), China.

Date: 1932

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command: NH 80114

[cat-mess]

Trip to Shanghai was great

[primepaginequotidiani]

PRIMA PAGINA Financial Times di Oggi giovedì, 22 agosto 2024

[trucenz]

INTO THE SOUTH CHINA SEA - OVERHEATING ENGINE AND ROCK DODGING

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Royal Special: The Queen and Prince Philip in British Hong Kong (1986)

28 October 2023

On 21 October 1986, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, sailed into Hong Kong harbour on the Royal Yacht Britannia, beginning a days long visit to the UK-dependent territory.

The trip to Hong Kong followed the Queen's historic visit to China, the first time a British monarch had visited the country.

A key part of the warming of relations between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China was the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on the transfer of Hong Kong.

With the handover date set for 1997, China agreed to maintain the existing structures of government and economy for a period of 50 years.

While on the island, the Queen and the Duke visited City Hall, where the Queen assured the people of Hong Kong of the promises made by China in the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

Elsewhere, the pair were treated to a gymnastics display staged by the islands youth organisations.

Prince Philip also visited the Gurkha contingent that garrisoned the British territory.

[weijunwangfromchina]

16 meters of aluminum alloy yacht made in china

[3liza]

some other interesting things I saw today on my four mile march along Lake Union:

1. a "sorry I missed you" card left on a mailbox cluster for houseboats, from the Nielsen ratings corporation. immediate reactions: can't believe Nielsen ratings are still a thing, it sort of makes sense to target houseboats since they must be 99% owned by boomers, but wouldn't they not usually have cable? maybe they have satellite. i thought about stealing the card because I've always wanted to be a Nielsen household specifically for the purposes of data spoilage

2. very stereotypical German Shepherd Guy laboriously walking his clearly purebred and already basically crippled shepherd yearling on, of course, a prong collar, doing absolutely zero food or praise reinforcement. dog was visibly nervous. I smiled at him because I wanted to pet a puppy, no response

3. millennial woman walking a pug past me while on her phone, just long enough to overhear the four words "kennel cough last year" as she passed. i bet it did ma'am

4. about twenty yacht dealerships. seriously why aren't we vandalizing these places

5. the fascinating and ancient China Harbor restaurant which has been a rotting, monolithic black tiled cube down at the waterfront for decades. apparently it shared a building with a swimming pool, that cannot smell good to either party. I've always wanted to go to China Harbour but it's apparently one of those nightmarish buffets that have mostly disappeared and not one of the good ones. like surviving from the 1950s type of buffet.

photographs don't do the looming effect of this architecture enough credit. also apparently they finally closed last month with a 3.1 rating on yelp

[cheriladycl01]

So, you lied to me? - Lando Norris x Tourist! Reader

Plot: Going on a travel year you end up in Monaco, the plan wasn't too fall for the man who helped you to the British Embassy and gave you a place to stay when someone stole everything from you ...

You took a gap year before university and decided to travel you'd started off the New Year on a flight from London, to Qatar to New Zealand. You travelled around New Zealand and Australia for the majority of January, before moving on to Papa New Guinea, Fiji and Samoa.

You then travelled round the South Asian countries, like Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines and Taiwan all throughout February. You then moved onto China, doing both Disney Parks while you were there and sight seeing. You did South Korea and Japan.

Coming into April, you moved onto Sri Lanka and India, and The Middle East, doing Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrian, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Afterwards, now having done 2 continents, you moved onto Africa, you spent the end of April and the majority of May travelling here, before leaving for Europe.

A nice 2 weeks island hopping around Greece, before a week travelling up the boot of Italy.

It was when you drove to Monaco in a rental car that things got difficult.

You were walking along the harbor where all the expensive yachts were docked wishing that one could be yours. You didn't have all your bags on you, the larger ones left behind in the hotel room you'd booked for the night. But you had your important stuff on you, like you passport, your drivers license and all your travel documents.

You were taking a picture on your nice Canon camera of the yachts and the street that had weird red corners rounding it that you put down to being measures to just help drivers slow down round the corners, but they were definitely an eyesore.

Every time nice cars drove by there was whistles and claps that made you look at what car it was, you could never tell what model it was but they looked nice and you guess you could say sporty.

As you were distracted taking your pictures a guy comes up to you with a small, parcel cutting knife in his hand. He slit the straps of what you thought was a really sturdy bag and the weight notifies you to the loss of the bag. You let your camera drop as you turn to see the guy now holding your bag and starting to run away with it.

"Hey! Stop" you shout before running after him.

"Aide, Aide" you shout as you continue to follow him, your minimal French not helping as people scold you for being a bustly tourist.

You aren't really looking where you going and you loose him at a busy intersection of people, you spin round looking at every possible direction he could have gone in.

"Shit!" you whisper to yourself quietly tears coming in your eyes. You spin round a little to quickly, bumping into someone who drops the bag that they were holding.

"Désolé, mon erreur" you try looking at the young gentleman you'd bumped into in a hoodie and jeans. He looks at you with a confused look, a smirk coming onto his face.

"Oh sorry, tu ne parles pas français? Maybe Italian, erm fuck scusa, parli italiano?" you ask with again the bare minimum of Italian you know.

"I speak perfectly good English" he smiles, laughing a little as your expression turns to shock.

"Oh! Oh I'm so stupid. Hello!" you smile looking at the very attractive man in front of you, you blushed a little looking up at him.

"You look panicked what's wrong?" he asks.

"I was tacking pictures of the harbor and some guy took my bag. It has everything in of mine and I don't know what to do" You say to him looking a little more panicked.

"Everything as in money ... because I can help with that" he says placing a hand on your arm.

"I don't care about the money, but he has all of my documents. My passport, my drivers license everything" you cry a little.

"Oh! Erm, I have a friend who was born here, and let me get him and he can help us file a police report. Then mmm the British Embassy is all the way in Paris and you cant get a flight so we'll have to drive there..." he starts to rant and your face turned shocked.

"We?" you ask, confused as to how this guy has just inserted himself into your life drama's.

"Oh yeah, I've gotta help you out now. You got that whole damsel in distress thing going on right now! Any way damsel, what's your name?" he jokes and you look over at him offended.

"I am not a damsel in distress! And Y/N" you retort.

"You so are, the tear stains, the wide, helpless eyes, the guppy fish face your pulling right now, the butchered French and Italian to a strange man who actually is British... Y/N" he laughs making you pout and push him a little.

"I don't even have a place to stay after 3pm today and I cant check in anywhere without ID" you say rubbing your head, looking around as if the man would randomly pop back up and hand you your bag back before saying how sorry he was.

"You can stay at my place, I have two spare bedrooms" he smiles and you look at him in shock.

"You live here, in Monaco ..." you ask.

"Yeah, I moved here a few years ago, for ...work" he offers, he phones his friend walking off for a few seconds alone before he pulls you along one of the side streets and too a quiet cafe he went to, to keep under wraps.

"Okay, Y/N this is my friend ... er Percy" he says pointing to Charles, so far you hadn't shown any signs of knowing who he is and he didn't want you to catch wind of that.

"Hello Percy, its nice to meet you" you smile and he looks at you with a vacant yet confused expression.

"Oh and whose this you are beautiful" you compliment looking at the girl behind him.

"Y/N this is my girlfriend Alex" Charles indicates to Alex behind him who smiles and pulls you in for a kind hug that you definitely needed. You could hear both of their strong accents as they introduced himself.

"Oh, I never got you name, what's your name?" you ask turning to look at Lando, who freezes for a second.

"Erm, my names Robert, but you can call me Bob" he smiles and you raise and eyebrow at him.

"Hmmm, you don't look like a Robert... or a Bob. Interesting choice" you voice your opinion making everyone awkwardly laugh.

Charles, Lando and Alex took you to the nearest police station in Monaco, Charles translated what they were saying and you answered to which he and Alex would help translate back.

Charles explained that they were escalating it because you are a tourist in need, but you picked up some words that made the sentence not sound like that at all.

You were asked if you had a place to say and Lando explained you'd be staying with him until everything was sorted out.

The Monegasque police got in contact with the Paris British Embassy for you, they explained that the police had sent over you information and if you wanted to hold off on a new passport for a few days to see if it would turn up you were more than welcome, but right now your passport was on lockdown.

And that was how you ended up spending the end of July and all of August with Lando, it was strange really. For a man who had and extremely nice collection of clothes and a very large apartment he didn't go to work often. There was one room you weren't allowed in which is where he often went, you assumed it was a man cave or gaming room where he played with his friends because you heard lots of shouting and aggressive banging.

He'd been so sweet, he took you on dates from going out to dinner, to picnics, to going swimming and lots more. It felt like more than a summer fling. Especially once he asked you to be his girlfriend, which you immediately said yes too.

But he got a lot more twitchy after he had.

Eventually, Lando or Bob as you knew him took you to Paris so you could get your passport. He explained that he travelled a lot for work and he would need to leave soon and you explained that before you bumped into him you'd been on a gap year travelling the world.

"Baby, why don't you come with me?" he asked randomly as you were both lying on the sofa, cuddling while watching a film.

"You wont even tell me what you do for work Baby! And besides I had a schedule that I'm already behind on. A week ago you said you didn't mind going our separate ways for a little bit until Christmas and then you'd come to England with me" you say playing with his curls.

"Okay, I'm going to be honest with you now... my name isn't Bob" he says shyly and you sit up at the speed of light turning to look at him.

"I knew it! So you lied to me?" you exclaim laughing.

"So, what's my boyfriends actual name?" you ask looking him dead in the eyes, he leans up on his elbows before sitting the full way up.

"Lando, I am Lando Norris" he smiles.

"Hmmmm, Lando... Lando. I could get used to that" you smile.

"You aren't mad?" he asks looking over you, brushing you hair back and tucking it behind your ear before kissing your cheek.

"I knew you weren't being completely honest when we first met... but I also knew you had your own reasons" you offer.

"I think its going to be easier if I just hand you my Instagram" he admits with a gulp as he hands you his phone. The first thing you notice is how many followers he had, there was around 10million and he had nearly 2,500 posts.

You look at the friends list, and one peeks your interest. Charles Leclerc, who looked exactly like Percy who Lando had introduced you too.

You then go back and look at his bio, that told you his actual job.

"So, I'm dating a super famous athlete?" you ask looking up at him away from the phone to see his head down in his hands. He turns to the side to sneak a look at your expression, his eyes a little glossy.

"To be specific, a Formula 1 driver" you ask again and he nods.

"You are such a muppet, my god" you laugh before pulling him into a hug.

"How aren't you upset with me?" he ask unsure.

"Well, I agreed to date you, because you are you. I doubt you change into Mr Hyde when you become a what was is Porsche race-car driver? I fell in love with you, not Bob, not Lando, you. So whether that is Bob, who kindly helped a crying lady on the street who just had her passport stolen from her, or Lando a cool and amazing race-car driver. Whoever you are is the person I love" you grin and he pulls you into a hug.

"So you want to join me for the last few races? Or you want to finish this world trip of yours?" he asks.

"Well, looking at your calendar, I can actually meet you at the rest of the races, While travelling. I'll continue to do Europe until you have the Netherlands, and ill go back to Italy, just for you. I'll miss Azerbaijan and Singapore because I did that, but I'll knock out some of South America, I'll meet you for Austin, then we can do Mexico and Brazil together, then we can do Vegas together! And by that point I can call it done with my trip!" you exclaim and he looks like he considers it for a second.

He's shocked, he cant remember the last time a girlfriend tried so hard to link up their schedules like this, and proved that they'd be able to work despite some potential scheduling issues.

"I love you. I fucking love you" he grins pulling you back down onto the sofa kissing all over your face making you giggle.

A/N: I've been doing a lot of Lando recently, I don't know if you can tell but I love writing about him, he's my fav to write about right now.

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @stupidandunnecessary @clayra-g @daemyratwst @honey-belden @moonypixel @lauralarsen @vader-is-hot @ironcowboycopnickel @itsjustkhaos @the-untamed-soul @beebo86 @happylittlereader @ziejustme @lou-larcher5 @thewulf @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @chillyleclerc @chanthereader @annoyingmoonballoon @summissss @evieepepi08 @havaneseoger08 @celesteblack08 @gulphulp @fandom1ruined2me @celebstories @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhh @georgeparisole @dakotatankbig @youcannotcancelquidditch @zzonsbeek @tallbrownhairsarcastic @mellowarcadefun @ourteenagetragedy @otako5811 @countingstacksandpanicattacks @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @hopexcroc @mirrorball-6 @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @lilypadlover @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @the-fem1n1ne-urge @21stcenturytaegi @dark-night-sky-99 @spideybv28 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @kapsylia @laneyspaulding19 @viennakarma

[flopdriversenthusiast]

how likely i think the drivers would be to whore it out on the podium based largely on vibes and minimal knowledge. also organized within their tiers

explanations under cut extra empty category because i thought it was funny

dr: drinks from his fucking shoe i mean. if he won another race i think he would let someone pour champagne down him sebastian vettel style from that one wdc picture

cl: we couldve been a proper country again at the monaco gp this year but nooooo. he has it in him i know he does. cmon charles. please.

aa: i dunno i just think hes got that dog in him.

fa: hes done it before and he'll do it again. only that far down in the tier bc hes older but he also did post that thirsttrap yesterday so hes not in the second tier with lewis

cs: same as charles. i know you have it in you. please. we could be a proper country

lh: hes done it before but he needs the right person on the podium with him OR needs to win his like 8th wdc or smthn. hes got too much of a reputation to go slutting it around every other podium now

gr: HE COULD DO IT. I KNOW HE COULD. i know your reputation is cringefail radios and t-poses and crashing when carlos wins for some reason but i think he'd do it. someone has to initiate though

pg: hes got that slut energy someone just needs to push it out of him. and he also needs to get a podium again.

lsargeant: he just needs the chance to drink champagne somewhere other than his richboy yacht. your sad doomed by the narrative aura does not deter me i KNOW the slut is in you

op: listen. i know what you're thinking. i have no explanation.

nh: breaking his no podium streak would make him start acting up i know he can do it this man has no shame ive seen his old interviews

lstroll: idk vibes

eo: i dunno he also has like no shame but in the cringe way but not in the george way. hes strange to me.

vb: only this far down because he does his shenanigans for the giggles if someone initiated i think he could

sp: the catholic guilt man. he could!!!!!!! stop flopping checo and you could bring (yourself) this country back to its former glory please!!!!!!!!

mv: the catholic guilt man pt 2. he would though. if he got over it i know he would.

yt: wow all the rb drivers. he doesnt give as much slut energy tbh but i think he would!! he just needs to get over it first

zg: EYEEEEEEEE KNOW YOU HAVE THAT DOG IN YOU. just get on the podium and like get over the fact that all of china will be watching u slut it out and like he'd do it. i swear he would. if he managed to convince his parents not to disown him.

km: i dunno not the right vibes

ln: i dunno pt 2 i didnt really know where to put these two they werent like against it enough to be in the last tier but not slutty enough for the catholic guilt one

[ltwilliammowett]

In today's door one of the prettiest and most famous Swedish East Indiaman - The Götheborg of Sweden

The Götheborg of Sweden

A little more info about her here:

The Götheborg of Sweden is a sailing replica of the Swedish East India ship Götheborg I, which was launched in 1738 (not to be confused with the larger Götheborg II, which was built a few decades later). All the sailors survived when the original ship sank off Gothenburg, Sweden, on 12 September 1745 as it approached the harbour on its return from a third voyage to China. Construction of the replica began in 1995, the hull was launched in 2003 and the rigging was fully tested for the first time in 2005. Much of the time was spent researching the reconstruction of the replica. In 2008, the Götheborg completed its first Baltic Sea tour. She is one of the largest operational wooden sailing ships in the world.

On 26 April 2023, she became known worldwide when she rescued a yacht at sea that had lost its rudder and drifted away.

[letteraddressedtothefire]

✨ Pre-Birthday Preparations Timeline for Xavier: A Global Celebration of Our Star Prince ✨

As Xavier's birthday draws near, the fandom is buzzing with excitement across the globe! Our community has been hard at work since May, creating memorable ways to celebrate our beloved Prince of Philos. From our CN Star Sisters to Xavier’s Little Stars, the love for our Light has transcended borders, uniting us in preparing for his special day.

Aside from our international cupsleeve events, here’s a sneak peek of some of the highlights of our preparations:

⭐️CN Star Sisters and Global Little Stars gathered heartfelt written and audio messages to be sent to a satellite in honor of Xavier.

⭐️Collaboration with the elemeo food app, where fans could collect points (wishing stars) to help fund Xavier’s birthday.

⭐️Announcement of personally-sponsored 100K boarding passes with Xavier’s image at Beijing Capital International Airport.

⭐️Donation of 2 solar street lights to rural areas.

⭐️Xavier’s Little Stars symbolically purchased and named twin stars in the sky “Starhunter and Moonchaser” in Xavier’s honor.

⭐️Another symbolic buying and naming of a star in the sky "Xavier-Lumiere" with its own star website and virtual reality access (personal project).

⭐️10+ shopping malls were rented for Xavier's birthday with giant LED screens, interactive photo walls, and decorations.

⭐️The Stellaris fan site was launched to unite Xavier’s global fanbase.

⭐️Milk tea collaboration kicked off, distributing 6,000 custom cup sleeves across 20 stores.

⭐️A personally-funded tree-planting project in Sabah, Borneo.

⭐️300+ Xavier billboards across the globe, including LED light shows, giant screen previews, sky curtain screens, LED office buildings, and LED screens on one of the most crowded subway tunnels in China.

⭐️The “Seeds of Hope” (tree-planting) and “Nourishing Hearts” (food for the needy) fundraising campaigns were launched by Xavier's Little Stars.

⭐️A personally-rented yacht where 6 other Xavier stans were invited to celebrate.

⭐️Ferris Wheel collaboration

⭐️52 movie theaters to broadcast Xavier videos before every movie on October 16th.

…and more!

This celebration is more than just a birthday party— it’s a symbol of the unity, passion, and light that Xavier has brought to all of us. Swipe through the supporting graphics for a full timeline of events and stay tuned for even more projects, events, and surprises that will make this celebration truly unforgettable! Let’s keep shining our light for Xavier. 🌟

The real countdown starts on September 16, leading up to Xavier’s birthday on October 16. Celebrate with us!

Thank you to every Star Sister, Little Star, and Global Stan for making this celebration shine as bright as Xavier himself! 🌟

Disclaimer: these projects and events are fan-hosted and not affiliated with the official Love and Deepspace game.

[random-brushstrokes]

Leonard Campbell Taylor - Stephen and Virginia Courtauld with their pet ring-tailed lemur Mah-Jongg (1934)

Virginia Peirano and Stephen Courtauld met in the Alps. She was impulsive, creative and unconventional, with the title of marchioness from her first, unhappy marriage. Stephen, scion of the Courtauld textile empire and a keen mountaineer, was quiet and ‘unflappable’, according to a former colleague. He had received the Military Cross in 1918, fighting with the Artists’ Rifles. They were married in 1923 in Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia). They were both in their early forties, and childless. On their return to England, they bought a ring-tailed lemur from the Harrods pet department. They christened him Mah-Jongg, although he was soon affectionately known simply as ‘Jongy’. With a large disposable income, the Courtaulds were at the centre of interwar London society, and were noted patrons of the arts. They also loved sailing. With the help of his brother-in-law, Stephen designed a motor yacht he named the Virginia. Over the winter of 1936, the couple sailed her from Cape Town to Egypt; other voyages saw them collecting orchids and making films around the South China Sea. Mah-Jongg, lounging in a specially designed deckchair, brought a certain tropical cachet to these trips. But he disgraced himself at a farewell lunch for the British Arctic Air Route Expedition on board the Virginia when he bit the expedition’s wireless operator, Percy Lemon, so viciously that he severed an artery. Lemon did not fully recover for three months. Looking for a new home close to London, the Courtaulds bought the site of Eltham Palace in 1933. Jongy’s spacious living quarters were on the first floor at the centre of the new house, where its two wings met. From a trapdoor in the floor, a bamboo ladder led to the Flower Room, adjacent to the entrance hall. His quarters were, like the rest of the house, centrally heated, providing a tropical climate. The cage’s décor of Madagascan rainforests, by Gertrude Whinfield, must have made Jongy feel quite at home. Exoticism of all kinds is reflected elsewhere in Eltham’s décor: the door reliefs in the dining room, for example, combine Classical Greek motifs with depictions of animals and birds from London Zoo. Mah-Jongg died in 1938, after 15 years spent sharing the Courtaulds’ glamorous lifestyle. Although he only lived at Eltham for four years, his enduring influence on one of the most beautiful 1930s buildings in England can still be seen there today. (source)

[gunsatthaphan]

~ Monthly BL Breakdown: April 2024 ~ 

🌷 Happy May!!! ☀️

Disclaimer: ALL shows can be streamed here or here, as well as on Youtube and other platforms. For more info on where to watch what, check out this post! 

New breakdowns are coming at the end of every month - feel free to add stuff! -> previous breakdowns

What came out this month? (green = seen/currently watching)

🌟 Love is Like a Cat - April 1st (South Korea / Thailand) 

🌟 We Are - April 3rd (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Memory in the Letter - April 6th (Thailand) 

🌟 Living With Him - April 11th (Japan) 

🌟 Gray Shelter - April 11th (South Korea) 

🌟 Beating Again - April 13th (Thailand)

🌟 Blue Boys - April 15th (South Korea)

🌟 At 25:00 in Alasaka - April 18th (Japan)

🌟 GMMTV2024 Part 2 (lineup event) - April 23rd (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Boys Be Brave - April 25th (South Korea) 

🌟 CHANGE2561 2024 lineup event - April 25th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 My Stand-In - April 26th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 City Boy Log Vol. 3 - April 30th (South Korea)

New series & movie announcements

🎥 The Fridge - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Flavor of Us (starring Benjamin B., Dome W. & others) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Children's Day - Date TBA (Taiwan)

🎥 Blue Time - Date TBA (China, possibly censored)

🎥 Bad Guy My Boss - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Oriental Magician In The Ent. Circle - Date TBA (Taiwan)

🎥 Under the Oak Tree - Date TBA (Vietnam)

🎥 Invitation - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 The Love Matter - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 I Saw You in My Dream - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 I Wish You the Best - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Impression of Youth - Date TBA (Taiwan)

🎥 Meet You at the Blossom - Date TBA (Taiwan)

Other news from the BL world

❗️ The production company Studio WabiSabi announced that their actors Boun N., Prem W., Santa P., Sammy C., Yacht P. and Stamp P. have terminated their contracts and will no longer be artists under the company on April 15th. Shortly after, GMMTV announced the 6 of them as newly signed artists, along with the disclosure that BounPrem's upcoming BL Vampire Project is now being produced under GMMTV, who now also own all broadcasting rights; WabiSabi will function as a co-producer. New S. stated on Twitter that the decisions had been long in the making, as well as the fact that WabiSabi no longer functions as a management agency for actors and is now a mere production company. He also denied the rumors that the company is shutting down. Shortly after the transfer of the Wabi Sabi actors, actor Fluke Jeeratch (formerly Pongsakorn) joined GMMTV as well.

❗️ The Filipino BL Gameboys is getting a third season. An air date has not been confirmed.

❗️ P Ekkapop and Pan Jirachot, the lead actors from Kiseki Chapter 2, have announced a new project together. Details are unknown.

❗️ Actor Barcode Tinnasit has announced his departure from his agency Be On Cloud.

❗️ After some confusion, the Korean production company Studio X+U announced that their upcoming series Fragile - which was initially advertized as a Korean SKAM remake - is in fact not connected to the Norwegian web series and is instead a standalone series, which focuses on the life of a group of teenagers. According to ZUM News, there was supposed to be a Korean SKAM remake based on the Norwegian original, which was however cancelled due to unknown reasons. Fragile was created as a substitution.

❗️ GMMTV held their 2024 part 2 event on April 23rd. The following BL projects were announced:

The Heart Killers (starring FirstKhao & JoongDunk)

Perfect10 Liners (starring ForceBook, PerthChimon, JuniorMark)

Heart That Skips a Beat (starring EstWilliam)

Revamp (starring BounPrem, formerly known as Vampire Project)

Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist (starring MarkOhm)

The Ex-Morning (starring KristSingto)

❗️ The production company CHANGE2561 held their 2024 lineup event on April 25th. The following BL projects were announced:

This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans (starring SailubPon)

Goddess Bless You From Death (starring PavelPooh)

I’m The Most Beautiful Count (starring PingSupanut)

Pit Babe Season 2

Upcoming series & movies for May

👉🏻 You Made My Day (starring Tar A. and Bom T. from I Will Knock You) - May 3rd (Thailand)

👉🏻 Inverse Identity / Upside Down - Mary 3rd (China)

👉🏻 Wandee Goodday - May 4th (Thailand)

👉🏻 A Balloon's Landing - May 10th (Taiwan)

👉🏻 City of Stars: Special Episode - May 10th (Thailand, cinema release)

👉🏻 The Time of Fever (Unintentional Love Story spinoff) - May 15th (South Korea)

👉🏻 Blossom Campus - May 16th (South Korea)

👉🏻 OMG! Vampire - May 19th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Manji Reverse - May 24th (Japan)

👉🏻 My Biker 2 - May 28th (Thailand)

[milk5]

going down a guo wengui rabbit hole after seeing that p jack reblog was really funny. he's this scumbag billionaire white collar criminal who fled to the US from china because his corruption was being investigated and then immediately (and briefly) becoming a US newsmedia sweetheart for having beef with the CCP. then he proceeded to found an anti-CCP chinese separatist movement modelled by the USA with steve bannon before being arrested in the US for being a scumbag billionaire white collar criminal

imagery like this + cool rotating camera shots of him smoking a cigar on a yacht was the propaganda he wanted to topple the strongest global political/military power with

[mariacallous]

It’s not too late, because it’s never too late. No outcomes are ever preordained, nothing is ever over, and you can always affect what happens tomorrow by making the right choices today. The U.S. Congress is finally making one of those right choices. Soon, American weapons and ammunition will once again start flowing to Ukraine.

But delays do have a price. By dawdling for so many months, by heading down the blind alley of border reform before turning back, congressional Republicans who blocked weapons and ammunition for Ukraine did an enormous amount of damage, some of it irreparable. Over the past six months, Ukraine lost territory, lives, and infrastructure. If Ukraine had not been deprived of air defense, the city of Kharkiv might still have most of its power plants. People who have died in the near-daily bombardment of Odesa might still be alive. Ukrainian soldiers who spent weeks at the front lines rationing ammunition might not be so demoralized.

The delay has changed American politics too. Only a minority of House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, joined most Democrats to approve $60 billion in aid yesterday. What is now clearly a pro-Russia Republican caucus has consolidated inside Congress. The lesson is clear: Anyone who seeks to manipulate the foreign policy of the United States, whether the tin-pot autocrat in Hungary or the Communist Party of China, now knows that a carefully designed propaganda campaign, when targeted at the right people, can succeed well beyond what anyone once thought possible. From the first days of the 2022 Russian invasion, President Vladimir Putin has been trying to conquer Ukraine through psychological games as well as military force. He needed to persuade Americans, Europeans, and above all Ukrainians that victory was impossible, that the only alternative was surrender, and that the Ukrainian state would disappear in due course.

Plenty of Americans and Europeans, though not so many Ukrainians, supported this view. Pro-Russia influencers—Tucker Carlson, J. D. Vance, David Sacks—backed up by an army of pro-Russia trolls on X and other social-media platforms, helped feed the narrative of failure and convinced a minority in Congress to block aid for Ukraine. It’s instructive to trace the path of a social-media post that falsely claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky owns two yachts, how it traveled up the food chain late last year, from the keyboard of a propagandist through the echo chamber created by trolls and into the brains of American lawmakers. According to Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, some of his colleagues worried out loud, during debates about military aid to Ukraine, that “people will buy yachts with this money.” They had read the false stories and believed they were true.

But with the passage of this aid bill, Russia’s demoralization campaign has suffered a severe setback. This is also a setback for the Russian war effort, and not only because the Ukrainians will now have more ammunition. Suddenly the Russian military and Russian society are once again faced with the prospect of a very long war. Ukraine, backed by the combined military and economic forces of the United States and the European Union, is a much different opponent than Ukraine isolated and alone.

That doesn’t mean that the Russians will quickly give up: Putin and the propagandists who support him on state television have repeatedly stated that their goal is not to gain a bit of extra territory but to control all of Ukraine. They don’t want to swap land for peace. They want to occupy Kharkiv, Odesa, Kyiv, and more. Now, while their goals become harder to reach, is a good moment for the democratic countries backing Ukraine to recalibrate our strategy too.

Once the aid package becomes law this week, the psychological advantage will once again be on our side. Let’s use it. As Johnson himself recommended, the Biden administration should immediately pressure European allies to release the $300 billion in Russian assets that they jointly hold and send it to Ukraine. There are excellent legal and moral arguments for doing so—the money can legitimately be considered a form of reparations. This shift would also make clear to the Kremlin that it has no path back to what used to be called “normal” relations, and that the price Russia is paying for its colonial war will only continue to grow.

This is also a good moment for both Europeans and Americans to take the sanctions and export-control regimes imposed on Russia more seriously. If NATO were running a true economic-pressure campaign, thousands of people would be involved, with banks of screens at a central command center and constantly updated intelligence. Instead, the task has been left to a smattering of people across different agencies in different countries who may or may not be aware of what others are doing.

As American aid resumes, the Ukrainians should be actively encouraged to pursue the asymmetric warfare that they do best. The air and naval drone campaign that pushed the Black Sea Fleet away from their coastline, the raids on Russian gas and oil facilities thousands of miles from Ukraine, the recruitment of Russian soldiers, in Russia, to join pro-Ukraine Russian units fighting on the border—we need more of this, not less. The Biden administration should also heed Johnson’s suggestion that the United States supply more and better long-range weapons so that Ukrainians can hit Russian missile launchers before the missiles reach Ukraine. If the U.S. had done so in the autumn of 2022, when Ukraine was taking back territory, the world might look a lot different today.

This war will be over only when the Russians no longer want to fight—and they will stop fighting when they realize they cannot win. Now it is our turn to convince them, as well as our own pro-Russia caucus, that their invasion will fail. The best way to do that is to believe it ourselves.

[this-is-moony-lovegood]

Green Arrow Buddie AU

So @buddiesmutslut gave me the idea to write a Green Arrow Buddie AU where Buck is Oliver Queen and Eddie is his bodyguard, so here is a sneak peek at what I’ve written so far. I’m sure this whole thing is going to take forever to put together, but for now, enjoy this intro and Buck reuniting with Maddie, Bobby, and Chimney. It's about 2.1k.

Also, if you want more context for this AU, check out this post. Okay, enjoy!

...

The name of the island they found him on was Lian Yu. If you ask, Buck, he thinks it’s more aptly known by its English translation: purgatory. For the past seven years, he was stranded upon the shores of the island, where he could only dream of being rescued. But in order to make it to this day, he had one goal that defined him, drove him, and changed him: survive. Survive and one day return home, to Starling City.

Lian Yu held many dangers, more than the fishermen that found him would ever expect. He went on to tell the press, the police, journalists, anyone really that asked him that he was alone on that island. He’d lied. No one needed to know what he went through. No one needed to know the torture he’d endured, the suffering, the loss. No one needed to know what he needed to do to accomplish his goal of returning home.

Because the thing is, in those seven years on the island, he had to make himself more than what he was when he boarded that yacht. Buck thought he knew pain and torment when he stepped foot on the Buckley’s Gambit. He was only on the ship to appease his father, fearing the wrath that he could inflict upon him. After all, he’d been dealing with Phillip Buckley hating him as long as he could remember. 

See, Buck hadn’t been born because Phillip and Margaret Buckley had wanted a second child. No, Buck was born to save his older brother, Daniel. His parents had genetically engineered him to give Daniel a bone marrow transplant, which had worked, for a while. Buck had been too young to ever know what it was like to be loved by his father. To experience the joy of having Daniel alive, and Buck as the hero that had saved him. Why? Because a little over a year after Daniel had been declared in remission, his lukemia returned with a vengeance. Knowing that Buck’s bone marrow had given Daniel more time, Margaret and Phillip had tried again, having another baby to hopefully match Daniel’s markers and give him a longer change than Buck’s marrow had. However, they were too late. His sister Maddie was born two months after Daniel passed away. One month after that, his mother, Margaret, who was wrapped up in her grief plus a severve wave of post-partum depression, decided to drown herself in a bottle of pills she’d bought off a dealer in the Glades.

Maybe if his mother had survived things would have been different. If she had seeked help for her depression and grief, things might have worked out. But Buck never had the chance to find that out, because from the moment Phillip Buckley had found his wife dead in the bathroom of the Buckley Mansion, he’d lost any empathy, love, or compassion for his children. For years Buck took the brunt of the abuse, verbal not physcial. Maddie was nearly irrelevant to him, so he was merely indifferent. She hadn’t had time to fail him after all. Meanwhile, Phillip Buckley only associated Buck with failure. Buck didn’t actually save Daniel, therefore Buck didn’t save Margaret. Barely a day went by where Buck hadn’t beared his father’s blame.

He’d never hit Buck, even if he came close to a few times. But, Buck suspected the only reason he hadn’t was simply because he wouldn’t be able to hide it. He was still a successful CEO of one of the largest companies in Starling City. He couldn’t afford the scandal of child abuse. So, he left it to verbal abuse, with scars that only Buck could feel, and no one could actually see. That’s why he’d been forced to go on the Buckley’s Gambit, on a father-son trip to China that neither of them wanted, but that Philip apparently needed in order to impress one of his millionaire friends for a business deal.

Looking back, Buck had thought that alteast for that trip his father would have to pretended to care about him. He’d have a slight reprieve from the verbal torment, at least when William and Charlie were around. But, then there was a storm, and the Buckley’s Gambit sank beneath the waves of the North China Sea. If only Buck had gone down with the ship. Maybe then he wouldn’t have experienced a new level of pain and surffering. Maybe then he wouldn’t have been forced to make himself into someone new, and forge himself into a weapon.

If he hadn’t done that though, he might not have had the courage to do what he needed to do. Because now that he is back in Starlting City, he’s no longer the scared nineteen-year-old that was shipwrecked upon the shores of Lian Yu. Because he learned too much from the boat, and from the island. Because that goal - that need to survive - it’s wasn’t for himself, but rather for the people back home. For his sister Maddie, and for his best friend, Chimney. But, also for all the people in the city that he’d called home. The island forged him into the man that is going to bring justice to the people that had been poisoning his city, people like his father.

If he told people about what happened to him on the island, they’d ask questions. Too many questions would lead to people figuring out his plans, and that simply can not happen. No one can know what he’s become, because they’ll try and stop him. His mission is far too important for that. So for now, he’s got to keep his secrets all to himself. He’ll hide the scars that litter twenty percent of his body and the Bratva tattoo on chest. He’ll plaster on a smile for his friends, for his family, and for the city. He’ll go on pretending to be the party boy that left, not the weapon that returned. 

At least he will, after he hugs his sister for the first time in seven years. He stands in his hospital room and Maddie clutches him tightly, practically clawing at his back as she buried her face in his shoulder. Buck can’t help himself from gripping her back just as strongly, nearly afraid that if he lets her go she’s going to slip through his fingers and fade away like she did in his dreams on the island. She’s taller now that she was back then, and she’s cut her hair. The brown locks barely reach her shoulders, where before they fell down her back in light ringlets. 

When she pulls back from him, it’s barely a few inches, and only to cup his face in her palms, as she scans every inch of him. Her shaky fingers run over his stubble (which, he’s decided he’s going to keep. He likes the look and feel of it a lot more than the perfectly shaved skin he’d had before), and his iconic pink birthmark above his eye. “When you called from the boat… I really didn’t believe it was you.” She whispers.

“It’s me, Mads. I promise. I’m here.” He tells her, reaching between them to stick out his pinky for her to take. A pinky promise - their symbol for the two of them against the world. She’d told him on the phone that his call wasn’t the first one claiming to be Evan Buckley, all in attempts to get access to the Buckley family fortune, so he knows that this gesture will reassure her that this truly is the real thing this time. Only they know about this, and the moment she sees his pinky, Maddie’s eyes are welling up again with tears, and she takes it, and reburies herself in his chest once more. Carefully he places a kiss to his sister’s forehead, before gently stroking her hair and reassuring her that everything is okay. He’s doing his best to not actively sob against her as well. Maddie needs her time to fall apart, and Buck doesn’t want to get in the way of that.

Over her head, he sees that Maddie didn’t come in alone. From the other side of the room, the familiar voice of his best friend says, “What did I tell you? Yachts suck.” He’s got his hands thrown out as he gives a nonchalant shrug, but Buck knows that he’s just as relieved as Maddie but is trying his best to lighten the mood in the very somber room. He expects nothing less of Chimney Han.

“Hey, Chim.” He chuckles lightly and signals for Maddie to let him go for just a moment. With a sniff, she steps back and lets Chimney crash into his arms.

“Fuck, I missed you, man.” Chimney’s hug is nearly as tight as Maddie’s was and Buck doesn’t hesitate to return it just as eagerly. Maddie might be his younger sister, but Chimney is just as much his family as she is. “I missed you, too, Chim.”

As he hugs Chimney, he realizes there’s one more familiar face lurking in the back of the room, standing back to give the three of them their space. Bobby Nash, second in command - well, probably first now, Buck guesses - at Buckley Consolidated. Well, that would be his official title anyway. Bobby wasn’t Phillips’s best friend by any means, but he was always at the Buckley Mansion working on deals with Phillip. Buck remembers him spending many hours at their dinner table, brewing deals with his father some nights, or others, having dinner with them when Bobby had picked Phillip up off the floor of his study after he had passed out drunk.

Bobby was the one Buck went to if he had a problem at school, or when he wanted advice about asking out girls (and boys). Bobby forged permission slips for him and Maddie for field trips, he took them to the doctor when they were sick, and bought them birthday gifts and Christmas presents when Phillip refused to acknowledge the holidays. He doesn’t know what Maddie has done with his room back home, or even if she still owns the Buckley Mansion, but if his room is still intact, he’s sure that his last birthday card from Bobby with a personalized note, is still pinned up on his bulletin board. Bobby is the person he called to bail him out of jail when he got a DUI on graduation night, and when he was arrested for punching out a papparazzi photographer for getting all up in Maddie and her best friend, May’s, faces when they were just sixteen years old. 

Bobby is the one that put band-aids on his skinned knees, and wiped his tears after a particularly gruesome face-off with his dad. He’s that man that picked fights with Phillip, and stood up to him even when his father threatened to fire him for overstepping. And Bobby is also the one, that Buck overheard tell his father that if he fired him for taking care of Buck and Maddie, that he would make it his life’s mission to tear down the only thing Phillip Buckley truely cared about - his company, and that he knew all of Phillip’s secrets to do it. 

To Buck, Phillip Buckley might have donated his sperm for Buck’s conception, but Bobby Nash is the closest thing he will ever have to a father.

Now, Bobby stands in the doorway to the hospital room, with his hands in his pocket, watching the scene before him with the softest smile on his face. He doesn’t say a word, just lets Buck have his time with Maddie and Chim. Over the years, Buck has gotten pretty good at reading people, and he can tell the way that Bobby carefully shifts from one foot to the other, he’s wondering if he should really be in the room with him. He’s questioning if Buck wanted him there. Not wanting him to doubt his place in their family for one second, Buck pulls away from Chimney and quickly crosses the room to pull Bobby into a bone-crushing hug.

“It’s good to see you, kid.” Bobby says, but chokes on the final word. 

Buck thinks back to the last memories he has of Phillip. Memories of wrestling him on the Gambit’s life raft, for a revolver his dad had just used to shoot the boat’s captain. He’d claimed that there wasn’t enough food and water on the life raft for all three of them to survive, and took out the captain first before turning the gun on Buck. Buck knows that Bobby would never of put him in that position. That he’d never be forced to kill him for his own survival. That he wouldn’t sit in the life raft with blood on his hands, staining a leather bound book of secrets because of Bobby Nash. No, Bobby Nash would never.

Buck had been as strong as he could be holding Maddie and Chim, but now, as he desperately clutches Bobby’s suit jacket, he can’t help but let himself fall apart, even if it’s just for a minute in the arms of one of the only people of the planet that has ever made him feel safe.