#especially wang gong gong

[airplanecrashingtowardstheground]

whenever something happens to li yu everyone's like "they fucked with prince jings fish? they deserved their deaths" or some shit it's hilarious

[joyouslee]

某某 novel vs The On1y One drama

This is a little premature considering there are only two episodes of the drama so far, but I finished the novel and wanted to note some of the immediate differences between the two.

The beginning of the novel is primarily from the close third person pov of Sheng Wang (later interspersed with other povs, including Jiang Tian's). It's a fast read and everything feels very immediate and sometimes claustrophobic to me when describing the kind of study-hell of second year high school students in China (equivalent to junior year since Chinese high schools are three years instead of four). Also, since the beginning is primarily from Sheng Wang's pov, it takes much longer before it's apparent to Sheng Wang that Jiang Tian's feelings have changed from enmity to friendship and then crossing the line to more.

The drama, by contrast, has a voice-over narration that makes it appear that the events of the drama are in the past. There's a tinge of nostalgia to it - kind of makes it feel like the Wonder Years (if anyone here is old enough to remember that show TT). Also, the end of each episode features a scene from Jiang Tian's pov, making it pretty obvious how he feels about Sheng Wang from the beginning. The second episode end scene in particular turns an event from Sheng Wang's pov (an event that doesn't happen in the novel) completely on its head. It's a big change from the novel's close focus and it'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the drama.

Spoiler for episode 2 below the read more.

I really didn't like the dared/forced kisses in episode 2 - neither scene is in the novel. What I liked about the novel is the slow development of their relationship from antagonism to friendship to almost siblings to more. Also their first kiss is mutual and very sweet, after they've both made it evident they like each other. Jiang Tian in the novel is cold and prickly (hiding a soft center), not sexually aggressive, so these scenes are way out of character with how he is in the novel (especially with his childhood trauma that is later revealed). I liked that they were both a bit fumbly and inexperienced in the novel, so the episode 2 ending felt like a bad shoe-horning in of the danmei trope of the sexually-aggressive gong. I really hope that's not the characterization they're going with in the drama.

[wannaeatramyeon]

Hello there, Tom and Olly anon here lmaooo. I MAJORLY AGREE WITH YOU ABOUT THE ELI JANG ARMY- Especially that One Eli Jang kid that literally ate Olly’s ashes and set off all on his own while wearing Olly’s disgusting crusty hairwrap around his head, that’s got some possible potential of surprise come back right there, but then again the kid’s probably only 9 years old or something atm so not too much can be done right away I assume.

I dearly, dearly miss James Gong, Olly Wang’s golden son. I hope him and Jasmine are doing well, stealing funeral home food for their bus full of Elis.

***SPOILER*** but Chuck and Justin finally reappeared again the newest chapter and then proceeded to immediately get hauled to jail bruh…..why couldn’t Eugene have picked another immigrant to frame…LOLLLL

I agree with you on Tom and I honestly get it, he gives me overdosingly gross, cheesy and eugh fluff with a Major side of crack. I can barely take him seriously even in serious situations.

I also wanted to pop in to say that I bought Tom Lee’s body pillow in the Lookism pop-up shop 🥹. Honestly, no regrets.

Also big time mega love the fics you’ve been posting!!! Keep up the good work as always and make sure to take care of yourself! 😎💖

Hey Tom + Olly anon! Y'know during the chapter today I did think OH what if we got a glimpse of the Eli Jang army? James Gong and Jasmine lurking in the shadows again?

Alas.

And damn, I completely forgot about that kid. He was batshit insane huh.

I still dislike Eugene vehemently and I'm glad Daniel feels the same at least. Idk, I just feel like he's worse than Charles and doesn't get the hate he deserves.

STOP EVERYTHING. TOM LEE BODY PILLOW?!?!!?

[mj220991]

Because of Changfengdu, i feel like i need to make a list or introductions of the author's novel (墨书白)

The ML's usually crazily devoted and the FL is crazily competent. I will write some of her historical ones first. (English is not my 1st language, so sorry if there's some mistake)

I'll tag @dangermousie and @mercipourleslivres, maybe you guys can enjoy some of this!

长公主 (The Grand Princess)

This one is a double rebirth story of a princess and her estranged husband. They both died (at age 50's) thinking they killed each other. They born in a time before they married. In their new life they started as friends.

Our FL is Li Rong, is a prideful princess and in the 1 st life married our ML Pei Wen Xuan because he's the most handsome XD. The emotional part of this novel feels so delicate and raw. The longings, remorse, regret, especially from the ML really hook me up. The bloody drama also not only come from the main couple but basically everyone. There's no such a thing as npc chara, everyone have their own purpose. I know many people said Li Rong don't deserve Pei Wen Xuan ( nahh do we read the same novel?) Both are at faults. This one is not for the faint heart. Last time i heard they will adapt this into a drama with Zhao Jinmai and Wang Anyu, i don't want them to touch this.

山河枕 (Mountain river pillow aka the eldest wife is my wife)

This one is a rebirth story. Our FL Chuyu already married the 2nd ML in her 1st life. But her love was wasted and her husband didn't treat her right. After being reborn, she choose to married her supposed to be husband, Wei Jun (the eldest son of a border general). You know what happened to the generals who lives in the border right? Right, scapegoat of the politics in the capital.

Short story, the wei general and his 6 son died (including Chu Yu husband) as a traitor in battlefield leaving the youngest son Wei Yun bring his father and brothers coffin. The real story begin here as Chu yu keep helping Wei Yun to keep the Wei family legacy.

Poor Wei Yun, is all that i can say :p.

From the news i see Song Qian and Ding Yuxi name, please just no :(.

论撩世家子的技巧 (the trick to teasing a noble family son)

This is not the famous one but WORTH READING. Oh and this a crossdressing novel. Our FL Wei Lan is a reborn, but not from your usual world. She came from a matriarcal world, when women is the leader in society and men task is in the backyard. When she came to the her new world, the 1st thing she do is change identity with his brother. Yes you hear me right, Wei lan become the brother and her brother Wei Hua become the sister. Our ML is Xie Zichen, also a reborn. He died being betrayed by the prince that he supported.

This novel is hilarious in the beginning as Wei Lan feels like douchebag,and feels that women is far superior than men. She FLIRT a lot. Because her thoughtfulness, all of these men of course being tempted. Our ML too think like that but reverse. But don't worry there's chara development from everyone, i cried a lot and too be honest my fav chara is one of the FL suitor who end up died.

I change my mind, i'll write her Xianxia and modern too here XD.

琢玉 (Carven Jade)

One of my fav danmei together with Yuwu. Our Gong is Fu ChangLing and Shou is Qin Yan (ma babies). This is a rebirth story. In the 1st life Fu Changling killed Qin Yan out of revenge and hate thinking that he is the one who killed his family and bring demise to the cultuvation world, little did he know that Qin Yan did all of that for him.

After being reborn Fcl did everything to keep Qin Yan safe and sound. I love how devoted they are to each other. All the support characters also great. I really love the parents story too.

剑寻千山 (sword of searching mountain)

This is a broken reunion story. Our FL Qin wanwan and our ML Xie Changji were married. The FL didn't know that our ML cultivated the heart of sword way ( the way of being indifferent, throw away feelings and other desires), she think the ML doesn't love her.

Our ML lives with sadness and trauma for hundred years. Our FL sects also meet a demise around this time and it so so sad. This novels feels emotionally heavy.

Xie ChangJi is up there for me for Crazyily masochist obsessed devoted ML. This one is not my fav but have some really good part. All the support chara also awesome.

余生有涯 (rest of my life)

TW : R&pe, Suicid*

This is a modern setting novel but being the heaviest of the bunch. Definitely not for everyone. This is a realistic novel about our FL Ye Sibei who is getting r*pe after office drinking party. Usually her husband pick her up, but he didn't do it on that day.

This is very hard to read for me, only 39 chapters with knife in it. Felt very real, the one that didn't felt real was her husband Qin Nan (definitely doesn't exist). Do not recomend ro read this when you're feeling down. But very uplifting.

[yuexuan]

[Review] 残疾暴君的掌心鱼宠

Title: 暴君的掌心鱼宠 The Disabled Tyrant’s Pet Palm Fish

Author: 雪山肥狐

Length: 156

Tag: Historical, transmigration, comedy, palace drama, mpreg

Summary [taken from novel updates]:

One day, Li Yu transmigrated into a fish. Furthermore, this fish even had a master. This master was the sinister and terrifying, mute tyrant from a novel. The system gave Li Yu a task. If he wanted to change back into a human, he had to obtain the tyrant’s heart.

Li Yu full of tears: System, please wake up. I’m only a fish. He can’t even speak. How can we interact?

System: Stop jabbering. To take down the tyrant, you must attack his heart.

Li Yu: Can I ask, does the tyrant have a heart–

Li Yu did his best to blow bubbles at the tyrant, but ended up being captured by the tyrant and raised carefully in a huge, ginormous…… fish tank. The life of a fish was filled with all sorts of blessings.

Everyday, Mu Tianchi watched the little carp swim around happily, pondering when this fish would finally transform into a human.

The little carp didn’t know. It’s not that the tyrant had no heart, it’s just that he already gave it away to the little carp that accidentally saved his life.

Novel | Novel [Translated]

Comments *contains spoilers*:

I’ve seen posts about this fish mpreg danmei on my TL for a while, so I decided to give it a try. It is surprisingly delightful, with a good mixture of comedy balanced with palace drama and politics. As the summary states, the story follows Li Yu, who transmigrated into the body of a carp. He had to complete multiple tasks set by the System to transform back into his human form. Strangely, all these tasks were related to developing a romantic relationship with the novel’s protagonist: the mute tyrant known as Jing Wang or Mu Tianchi.

Why you should read it:

All the shenanigans that Li Yu inadvertently found himself in while completing his tasks. For example, accidentally mouthing the tyrant’s nipple in the course of chasing a pearl. Or transforming into a merman - with a fish head and human legs. Hey, being a fish is not easy!

The domesticity between MC and ML once their children were born. I especially love the fourth son, who was seemingly slow at everything but tried his best anyhow. 

Also, the politics and drama are surprisingly entertaining. Those who know my reading history will know that I’m not a fan of palace drama. But I think this novel injects enough silliness to balance out the seriousness of the drama (and for the most part don’t take the antagonists too seriously), which makes for a smooth read.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: there's mpreg~

Gentle gong and silly shou (he works hard to complete his tasks tho!)

Last note: I’m not gonna lie, one thing I struggled with reading the novel was imagining the interactions between Li Yu’s fish form and Mu Tianchi. I’ve seen fanarts depicting Li Yu as a cute fish, but another part of me just kept on imagining a normal carp face. Hence in the scenes where Li Yu kissed Mu Tianchi by sucking him on the lips, all I can imagine is Zefrank’s educational video on fish suction lol. 

Overall a casual and entertaining read that I recommend!

[guoman]

just realised that I reached 100 followers here, so a big thank you to everyone who's been here with me and my sporadic posts <333

just as a bit of a signal boost, I am open to taking requests, so if you'd like to see more particular types of content don't be afraid to drop an ask, especially if they are of any of my favorites below ^^

Actively following: Ni Ni, Wen Qi, Qiu Tian, Bao Shangen

Like, but not actively following: Zhou Yiran, Guo Xiaoting, Xin Zhilei, Hu Lianxin, Lu Yangyang, Zhou Yutong, Lu Yuxiao, Zhao Jiamin, Sun Zhenni, Chen Duling, Li Muchen, Zeng Keni, Zhang Jingyi, Zhang Yaqin, Li Jiaxin, Li Gengxi, Zhuang Dafei, Tian Xiwei, Xia Meng, Deng Enxi, Jianaina, Wang Shengdi, Chen Zhiyan // Wang Kai, Hu Ge, Zheng Yecheng, Zhang Xincheng, Yi Yangqianxi, Wang Xiao, Bai Yufan, Jiang Qiming, Yu Shi, Ci Sha, Bai Jingting, Wei Daxun, Rong Zishan

Mother: Reyizha, Maggie Cheung, Gong Li, Joey Wong, Brigitte Lin, Zhou Xun, Shu Qi, Liu Mintao

Animation: Shanghai Animation Film Studio, Nice Boat Animation, Light Chaser Studio, Flint Sugar, Studio Tumble, Haoliners Animation, Curie Lu, Zhou Fanyuan

Fashion: He Cong, Ju Xiaowen, Liu Wen, Chen Man, Zeng Wu, Leslie Zhang, Win Tam, Chen Momo, Liu Zongyuan, Valentina Li, Clive Xiong, Cindy Chao, Rui Zhou, Robert Wun, SHUSHU/TONG, Susan Fang

Music: Lexie Liu, Faye Wong, SNH48 Group, Jingfei, Floruitshow, 一支榴莲, Zhou Shen, Mr Miss, Ayanga, Zheng Yunlong, Yikii, liiii, Re-TROS, Zhang Bichen

Dance: Hao Ruoqi, Xie Xin, Hu Shenyuan, Li Yu, Hu Jie, Li Yanchao, Li Xing, Hua Xiaoyi, Tang Shiyi, Li Xiang, Zhang Han, Yang Liping

[consumeronionbulletin]

Goblin / Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (2016-17)

This show is flawless. I guess if you don't like fantasy shows, you may have trouble getting into it, but this was exactly my kind of show, and once I started I couldn't stop watching it.

What's It About?

On the surface, this is a revenge story about a general in ancient Korea who was betrayed and had his whole family murdered. He got so mad about it that he turned into an immortal being as both reward and punishment.

But the story picks up with a meet cute between the Goblin and the young woman who is destined to both marry him, and bring an end to his immortality. So it's also about growing up, what it means to be really mature (at least in the writer's opinion). It's also about how growing up isn't an end state, but a process, and that process is not linear. It comes in fits and starts and some people never reach the end of it for a host of reasons—because of hubris, selfishness, and being unwilling or unable to see other people, or to work on their own flaws.

What Worked?

Everything, especially the characters and the way they interact. You've got all of the main themes from something like The Princess Bride—Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles—all stretched out into 16-20 hours of show. Also includes: ghosts, buddy comedy, school rivalries, terrible family relationships, past lives, travel, etc.

Each character is treated with care, they all have interesting and important arcs, and the show weaves them all together into something really special.

What Didn't Work?

I have no notes. I can see how someone might be annoyed with the pacing (it's slow in a few places), or the fantasy elements, or the predictability of some of the plot, or the may/december relationship. But I didn't have a problem with any of that. Because I knew right away that this was fantasy, and it requires a different lens than normal drama.

The Performances

(This is going to be a long list.)

Gong Yoo as Goblin / Kim Shin. I don't know how you even start playing a literal god, but this guy figured it out. His performance manages to be funny, petty, arrogant, and somehow also relatable.

Kim Go-eun as Ji Eun-tak. Kim Go-eun had a completely different brief: to be the eyes of the audience and the center of all the crazy story stuff while still managing to be a genuine, relatable person instead of a two dimensional magic pixie dream girl (which is what you often end up with when the show runners drop the ball).

She not only hit the brief, but she delivered an amazing nuanced performance. Goblin may be the title of the show, but this was her show too. She managed to portray the entire arc from naive innocence, to experience, to emotional maturity with each episode's performance building on the previous one. It's a quiet change, but I think it's the heart of the show.

Lee Dong-wook as Grim Reaper / Wang Yeo. You can't have a good buddy roommate comedy without the grumpy straight man, and Lee Dong-wook did a great job with that part of the role. But he also did a great job with the amazing (tragic) love story he was given. And he somehow also managed an interesting take on the Grim reaper--as an angel of death who is sometimes a grumpy judge, and sometimes an overworked public servant. And finally he pulls out the character's mystical backstory as (spoilers!) King who had his heart broken and given up on life. This character has a huge story, and this actor showed an amazing range bringing it all out.

Yoo In-na as Sunny / Kim Sun. I already loved her in True to Love. Yoo In-na was even better in this role. Funny, sad, grumpy, sweet, tragic. The only one of the lead characters that didn't get enough story (though she had tons of backstory). What we did get from her was amazing to watch.

Yook Sung-jae as Yoo Deok-hwa. A solid performance from someone who started out mostly in music. He was primarily the comic relief, but he did a good job as kind of a bridge between all of the different characters. He supported each of the main characters when they needed it, without disappearing into the background.

Kim Byung-chul as "No good, evil guy" Park Joong-heon. This actor is so good at playing characters that you love to hate. I wanted to punch his face every time he appears on screen, so mission accomplished Kim Byung-chul! What I like best about this character is that, if he had been born 900 years later, he could have been just as happy as like a minister of finance, or a really petty CFO, but he was trapped in the age of divine right of kings, so he had to go on a murder spree poisoning a bunch of royals to gain power. The tragedy of his character was that if he had been born in modern Korea, he wouldn't have had to turn evil.

Kim Sung-kyum as Chairman Yoo Shin-woo. This is one of those grandparent characters that you really love to watch, but you know that (since it's a kdrama) he's gonna be gone sometime around the middle of the series. The actor did a great job showing a character who was mature and thoughtful and someone you should aspire to be.

Go Bo-gyeol as Kim Yoon-ah. I saw her in Hi bye, Mama! and she did a decent job in kind of a thankless role. She was similar in this, but the part was even smaller. I wish the writers had given her more to work with, or else got rid of the character completely as I wasn't sure what her purpose was. Still, kind of nice to see this actor working, I guess?

Lee El as Samshin, Goddess, the creator of birth and fate. What was up with that terrible aging makeup? One of the few missteps, IMO. I liked the character, and you always knew something important was going to happen when Lee El showed up, but for most of the show, she was more of a plot device than a full character. It was still nice to see her in something besides My Liberation Notes.

Ji Eun-tak's terrible family. Again, the actors did a great job making me hate them in a very short time. It was kind of cool getting little updates on what they were doing, but I was glad when we stopped seeing so much of them by the middle of the show.

The Loan Sharks. Fun character work by these two actors. Still wanted to punch them when they showed up, so mission accomplished.

The Grim Reaper Squad. It was sometimes hard to tell them apart, but that had to have been a fun role to play, and you could tell the actors were (mostly) enjoying it.

Everyone else. The ghosts were a fun addition, the bullying school kids / school teacher were annoying (which is exactly what they were meant to be), the cute child actor with wind powers was cute, and the baseball player Oppa did a good job as well.

TL; DR:

If you like fantasy, even a little bit, watch this show. It is worth the time. Also, the soundtrack is pretty cool too.

[verumfm]

━◈ WANTED CONNECTIONS ... three new ones have been added to the page!

there are tales of how li haoyu is searching for their two younger siblings, which is familial in nature. the records show that they are about 22-28 years old and their photographs look like dylan wang, lu yuxiao, zhao lusi, ju jingyi, fan chengcheng, yan an, song yuqi, xiao dejun, wang ziyi, sun yihan, bi wenjun, shen yue, wang yijin, chen zhuoxuan, wang zhuocheng, chen zheyuan, wu lei, lin yanjun, liu lingzi, any chinese fc in the appropriate age range. help us find them, but make sure that you speak to karin at @kencanas on tumblr beforehand. this is their story so far: a lot of haoyu’s siblings’ personalities are utp and we can discuss the details! but their shared backstory is that the li family is local to cynefin and are very rooted to the land. they’re literally just a normal family working normal jobs, with haoyu for example being a blacksmith. they do okay, but i definitely don’t imagine them to be Rich & the eldest two siblings at least probably did not get tertiary education. affinity for khemia across their bloodline is also very poor, but i’m down to discuss one of the siblings potentially being khemia-touched for the #drama because haoyu is very bitter they aren’t. tldr; details utp!

there are tales of how li haoyu is searching for their employer, which is platonic/professional in nature. the records show that they are about 40+ years old and their photographs look like omar sy, qin lan, michael greyeyes, zahn mcclarnon, aishwarya rai, gabrielle union, lukman sardi, jericho rosales, lucy liu, simone kessell, vera farmiga, alexander skarsgard, sandra oh, maggie q, gong yoo, lupita nyong’o, tessa thompson, alex meraz, pedro pascal, ke huy quan, fan bingbing, joe taslim, fc ultimately utp. help us find them, but make sure that you speak to karin at @kencanas on tumblr beforehand. this is their story so far: haoyu apprenticed at the local blacksmith’s forged upon graduating secondary school and has remained working there ever since. haoyu has (or at least had) a pretty good relationship with them, especially since he’s quite disciplined and passionate about his work. i imagine that because haoyu doesn’t have an affinity for khemia, however, it’s hard for him to progress in his career. would love if this muse is trained in transmutation & that is causing a bit of a rift between the two of them—because without khemia, haoyu can’t get to their level. this muse’s personality & how they ended up becoming a blacksmith really are all utp, and i’m more than happy to brainstorm further details.

there are tales of how li haoyu is searching for their narrative foil/rival, which is antagonistic in nature. the records show that they are about 27-33 years old and their photographs look like go younjung, do kyungsoo, pat chayanit, woo dohwan, melisa asli pamuk, apo nattawin, taz skylar, avan jogia, fady elsayed, sakaguchi kentaro, medalion rahimi, daniel ezra, alisha boe, damson idris, jackson wang, tiana okoye, ryan destiny, kylie verzosa, dilraba dilmurat, clark backo, gong jun, kang haneul, adonis bosso, pinar deniz, ashika pratt, bie thassapak hsu, fc ultimately utp. help us find them, but make sure that you speak to karin at @kencanas on tumblr beforehand. this is their story so far: the main thing i’m looking for with this muse is that they have a strong affinity for khemia, particularly in transmutation, which would be something haoyu both hates and envies. i imagine their narratives would parallel and foil each other’s at the same time, but how that is exactly is up for discussion. all i ask is that at present, their relationship is largely antagonistic and Not Great. whether they have history or not can also be discussed! some ideas include but are not limited to an ex student of verum who was an outsider, haoyu’s work rival, a young business owner who takes advantage of their transmutation magic, someone who supplies weapons to the warfront, and many more. basically this dynamic is toxic, biting, and crazy.

[tiianwens]

NAME: Chu Wanning | 楚晚宁

MEANING: 楚 chǔ – clear; neat; pain; suffering. 晚 wǎn – evening; night. 宁 níng – peace; tranquility.

TITLES / NICKNAMES: Beidou Immortal ( 北斗仙尊), Yuheng of the Night Sky ( 晚夜玉衡 ) / Yuheng Elder ( 玉衡长老 ); Chu-fēi (妃 for consort/concubine, by Taxian-jun), bǎobèi (by Mo Ran), Immortal-gege (by one really drunk Xue Meng).

BIRTHDATE: 09/08

SPECIES: it's really complicated but he's human for all intents and purposes

NATIONALITY: chinese

GENDER: male

PRONOUNS: he/him

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: demi-romantic

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: homosexual

FAMILY: Huaizui of Wubei temple (former master / creator), Xue Meng, Shi Mei & Mo Ran (disciples count as family)

PARENTS / SIBLINGS / CHILDREN: —

SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: Mo Ran/Mo Weiyu (for every verse)

EYE COLOR(S) : dark amber / phoenix eyes (shape)

HAIR COLOR(S): black

HEIGHT: 178-180 cm

BODY BUILD: slender but strong, with a notably slim waist and defined muscles

FACE CLAIM: Luo Yunxi

POTENTIAL FATAL FLAW: rage, rage, rage; often letting his heart rule his mind, especially as a response to injustice

THREE HEADCANONS:

• he tends to become an absolute miserable wreck, cranky and childish, whenever he gets sick (which happens a lot), but as there's usually no one to take care of him, he's pretty used to biting it down and still forcing himself to function. same goes for injury — no matter how grave it is, he'd much rather struggle on his own than ask for help. it's so engrained in him that sometimes it takes him quite a while to realize that asking a medic for help is an option.

• despite following the path of abstinence and not giving much thought to passions and desires, he's been aware of his attraction to men since his teenage years. but it never bothered him, partly due to growing up on the mountain away from the world where such matters were never discussed at all — the very concept of homophobia was unknown to him for a long time.

• depending on the amount of memories he retains in different verses, he never plays guqin in public/in the presence of others, and only ever uses it as a weapon when needs be. the incident ruined the tranquility of music for him.

three things your muse likes doing in their free time    ⎯⎯

• inventing / building mechanical devices, particularly those that can be used by common people to defend themselves from ghosts and demons;

• reading whatever he can get his hands on, writing to kill the time (letters that won't be sent, as Chu-fēi);

• embroidery (on rare occasions).

a phobia your muse has    ⎯⎯

heights. he never uses his sword for flying unless it's really unavoidable and he's supported by Mo Ran. losing his husband, as he's lived through it before.

one thing your muse regrets    ⎯⎯

not being able to see and prevent the rise of Taxian-jun in time, not being able to defeat or restrain him later on even after exhausting all his power. there are too many things that he blames himself for, that are not his responsibility nor his fault, but going into deep meditation that one time and not being able to stop Mo Ran from trying to protect him at the cost of his sanity is definitely top of the list.

people your character likes  /  loves    ⎯⎯

his disciples (albeit not in the same way + softly removing Shi Mei from the list), Xue Zhengyong and Madam Wang, Liu-gong (as the only person who always stayed kind and respectful towards him as Chu-fēi), Nangong Si, Ye Wangxi.

tagged by: stole it from @cuckoo-among-beasts + mixed with this thing i did for wwx once. tagging: whoever wants to do it!!

[blogsiyue]

There are gods not only in China but also in Korea!

Many female doramas like to watch Chinese-made doramas, and read books that show celestials. They get angry when their favorite books are edited to remove vulgarity and perversion between the same sex. In China, dorayas with such a plot are thoroughly vetted and so are books, so that the rabid defenders of such a genre look ridiculous and perverted. But I'll write about it later, because there are also such perverts among Korean dorama fans. Especially the defenders of the King and Jester, pensioners who hysterically and aggressively defend a very disgusting and disgusting movie. Where one vulgarity and perversion, this movie is considered the most disgraceful after.

First Snow with a Japanese woman in both movies starred Lee Jun Ki both movies are the dirtiest stain in the actor's career.

And now I'd rather discuss the topic of celestials and what they were like in Korea, and how various doram girls mock this culture of mythology while beating their chests that they are doram girls. And it doesn't matter how old they are, because at any age you should be more respectful of other people's culture and realize with your head that Koreans can ridicule their culture of mythology. example can be any mythical creature, the same example can be any mythical creature, the same Finland, Scandinavia and others.! But Koreans don't know about it, and if they did, they would behave the same way. I read a book called “Vacation” as two supposedly half-breed Korean women went to a summer language camp (I think so) in Korea, and two naive foolish sisters fell into a sect. But the point is that the author of this “magnificent work” (and there is no such thing) mocked the mythology of the creation of Korea on behalf of the heroine and it shows very well that people of European nationality are ill-mannered and ignorant people.

There are so many celestials in China and I will definitely write about them someday. However, now I want to tell you about the celestials of Korea and who was the founder of Korea and who continued. Alas, because of people from foreign countries that brazenly penetrated into Joseon, and began to shake their rights, life there brazenly (however, foreigners now nothing has changed), many Koreans ceased to be Buddhists, Taoists and Confucianism, although there are still those who do not worship another's god and fly down from obsession, do not create sects.

There was a lord of the sky Hwanin, he as well as most of the sky lords had children, and just one of them was Hwanum, he often looked from the sky at the people living on earth. He dreamed of ruling there, and his father made concessions to him, he allowed him to descend to the mountain Paektusan, to help Hwanum, he gave him three thousand assistants, but also gave him three heavenly seals. Where Hwanum went down, there was a sacred tree where people often came to pray to the deities.

It was in this place that he built the “Abode of God” and in this he was helped by three spirits: “Rain, Wind, and Clouds” and they are described as ���ministers of clouds, rain, and wind’ in Korean mythology he has a very important and central role in the myth of his son Tangun Wanggom (단군왕검, 檀君王儉) who started the foundation of the family name ‘Wang’ and as you remember the state of Goryeo was ruled by Wang Gong who I will also talk about later.

Tangun was the founder of Kochoson, the first Korean state, Kochoson was the old Joseon, founded in 2333 B.C. His father Hwanun was the son of Hwanin (환인, 桓因), the “King of Heaven” (a name also found in Indian Buddhist texts). Hwanum himself founded the city of Sinshi (신시; 神市, “god city” or “holy city”). As a deity and son of the king of heaven, as a wise god he developed rules of law, moral laws, trained people on earth in various crafts, and taught them medicine and agriculture.

So Hwanum lived on the land, and ruled over everything there, and one day he heard the prayers of a bear and a tiger. They lived in pere, and every day they prayed and asked him to make them human. He gave them each 20 garlic cloves, a stalk of wormwood, and told them to eat only that for 100 days and not to go out into the sunlight. But after three weeks the tiger disobeyed and broke the prohibition, he left the cave and only the bear remained, she was transformed into a woman. Her dream was fulfilled, but there was another dream and so the woman prayed at the sacred tree. She was grateful to Hwanum for making her human, but she wanted to marry, bear a child and continue her lineage. And moved by her earnest prayers, Hwanum took her to be his lawful wedded wife and she rather gave birth to a long-awaited child, to whom they gave the name Tangun, besides him Hwanum and Unneyo had a child

In one blog on zen, I read “Analysis of the myth of Tangun” I quote “The female bear Unnyo symbolizes the aboriginal population, and her marriage union with Hwanum allegorically depicts the process of mixing aliens with the inhabitants and the formation of a single ethnos. “ this is nonsense is real and reads as an insult towards Unneyo!

Unneyo is considered a goddess of the earth but not a “symbol of the aborigines” because during the reign of Hwanum and then Tangun there were no aborigines because it would have been difficult and impossible to teach them skills, they continued to run and moo.

As time passed, the son of Hwanum and Unnyeo grew up, and as a son of a ruler should, he inherited his father's throne, created Gochoson, and then built the capital of Asadal near modern Pyongyang (and the location of the capital of Asadal is still debated among historians) and named his kingdom Gochoson, not to be confused with the later state of Joseon!

Later he married, as it was necessary for a ruler to have heirs, and he found her among the deities like him.

“There is also a view that Asadal is a proper name of Joseon. Historian Lee Byung-do interprets the meaning of Asadal as “land of morning” “mountain of morning” or “;shining land of morning” and suggests that the country may have been named Joseon by combining the Korean characters for morning and the Korean characters for shining. He believes that “아사” in Asadal is the Korean word for “ morning” and “moon” means land, as in “ moon” in Yangdala and Eungdala, and that Asadal is the country of the morning sun or morning light, which would be transcribed in Chinese characters as Joseon."”

Hwanin (환인) is the grandfather of Tangun who is the founder of the Korean nation. The Korean source also says that Hwan-won gave him three heavenly wives.

In religion, the objects of faith are Hwan-in, Hwan-woon and Hwan-gum (Tangun). Unlike the common Gaechon holiday, the Daesong religion understands and celebrates Gaechon as the date when Hwanwon descended to Sindansu on Mount Baektu and opened a new city. According to the Daesong religion, the Gaechon holiday falls on the 3rd day of the 10th lunar month in the year of Sangwon Gapja (上元甲子年: 2457 BC). The Xinshi Gaecheon calendar, which is based on this date, is also used. The Shinshi Gaechon calendar is 124 years earlier than the Dangun calendar.

Views of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

The DPRK believes that Tangun existed in reality and believes that “the history of Tangun and ancient Korea has not been properly explained due to malicious distortion and erasure by archist historians and imperialists of Japan” In 1993, the DPRK officially announced the discovery of the remains of a man and a woman in Tangun's tomb on Dapaosan Mountain, Kandong-gun, Pyongyang City. The bones were dated 5011 years ago by electron-normal magnetic resonance (ENMR) and were identified as the remains of Tangun and his wife. The official Korean government recognizes Tangun as the founder of the first state in Korean history, Ancient Korea. (2333-425 BC)

Tangun became famous at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, during the Mongol Revolt, and during the Joseon Dynasty, he became even more revered among the people and was honored as a national ancestor. During the Sejong Dynasty, a shrine was built to Tangun and King Dongmyeong (동명왕) for national worship. On Mount Kuwolsan (구월산) in the cultural county of Hwanhedo where a temple to Hwanun, Hwanin and Tangun on the mountain was also erected.

Naturally, Tangun is not a myth, but a man who really existed, and his and his wife's remains as proof. The story goes that he decided to become a mountain spirit, so it's not for nothing that many doramas show mountain spirits.

The chronology in South Korea was from 2333 from the time of Tangun's reign until 1961 perhaps now nothing has changed at all, even though there are foreigners living in Korea who have the nerve to ridicule it.

Also on October 3, Korea always celebrates Tangun Day, which is considered a national holiday.

In North Korea there is a mountain Myohyangsan, there is a stone cave, in which was born Tangun, who later founded Kochoson and then created the capital Asadal!

There are several books in which about Tangun, a lot of things are written and described in detail. Disgusting barbarians Japanese destroyed almost everything that was connected with the mention of Tangun, they behaved like barbarians and Joseon behaved the same way. They tried their best to destroy books with Korean history that mentioned Tangun at least once, they even destroyed books about the country's culture and geography.

With this behavior, they tried to destroy everything, to make people stupid and uneducated. There is nothing interesting in their country, and their mythology is most likely a copy of the mythology of China and Korea, and by the way, the Japanese barbarians stole the sacred fan and sword, they did not return them to Korea and most likely they did not return a lot of things to the country.

After the excavation of King Tangun's tomb was carried out, it was later found out that since the reign of Tangun, in ancient Korea, the original national alphabet was used.

And thanks to these excavations and it was proved that Tangun really existed and he is not a fictional character as many assure, but European doramshchitsy mock the history, often you can in different publicks, groups, sites to meet doramshchitsy who want to insult all this and show their disrespect and ignorance of foreign culture.

[bellaroles]

Currently reading Di wang gong lue.

Well, when I don't expect too much of the romantic plotline, I've found the side characters cast to be very endearing. They're so funny. Especially the Xinan Wang's household.

[ziseviolet]

In wuxia I see that they have half their hair up and the other half down. Is there a certain period where this hairstyle directs from?

Hi, thanks for the question, and sorry for taking ages to reply!

The half-up, half-down hairstyle that you often see on both male & female characters in Chinese guzhuang (period costume) dramas is not based on historical hairstyles. Rather, it is a fairly recent styling convention, most likely originating from late 20th century wuxia TV shows from Hong Kong (x). Over time the hairstyle has become normalized and commonplace in Chinese costume dramas, especially in the wuxia and xianxia genres (because these genres are not necessarily aiming for historical accuracy in the first place).

Below, from left to right: Wang Hedi in Love Between Fairy and Devil, Deng Wei in Miss the Dragon, Xiao Zhan in The Untamed, Gong Jun in Word of Honor: 

As @niteshade925 explains in this post, for male characters, the main idea of the hairstyle is to make the character look attractive, and also in some shows/context, to hint at the character’s personality, as in maybe they do not adhere to traditional customs and are free-spirited/spontaneous. For female characters, it is usually just a regular hairstyle without deeper meaning :P

For more information on this half-up half-down hairstyle, and historical hairstyles in general, please see the following posts:

The historical accuracy of half-up half-down hairstyles

The historical accuracy of ponytails

Historical hairstyles for men

Hope this helps!

[kimmyyang]

210504 GJ & ZZH cut @ backstage

MC: I heard that they made you guys use the same dressing room so you can get to know each other better. GJ: The entire crew uses the same dressing room. MC: So you know what each other is like when you're resting. GJ: Oh... Jie, when we get our makeup done in the morning and we use the same dressing room. If the condition is not allowed, we rest in the lounge. If we have electricity, we can go into the caravan and turn on the air conditioner. MC: What are you like when you're in the lounge? GJ: He already said that before. ZZH: No one talks. MC: Just say about each other. So, no one talks? ZZH: When I was in the dressing room, I thought why does he love to play songs so much? He has to play songs the whole time, whether it's on his phone or on his speakers. And he has to sing along, he's obsessed with singing. Seriously. MC: Do you admit to that? GJ: Yes, I admit. ZZH: Do you do that in every crew? GJ: Pretty much. ZZH: Honestly... in this industry, you're lucky that you didn't get beaten to death yet. MC: Hahaha~ because everyone is sleepy in the morning. ZZH: Yes, and he's playing songs out loud. MC: What's the purpose of playing songs? GJ: If I don't play songs, I would be very sleepy. ZZH: He's right. GJ: I would fall asleep while getting my makeup done, especially in the early morning. Very sleepy. MC: Have you been updating your playlist lately? GJ: Yes, I like to listen to Jay Chou. Both of us like to listen (to Jay Chou). When I play his songs, Zhang laoshi also sings along. And Wang Leehom. ZZH: JJ Lin. GJ: JJ Lin. MC: Recently, a laoshi who's surname is Zhang has released a song called 环绕 (ZZH's new song), please have a listen. GJ: I will buy it. ZZH: How many are you planning to buy? GJ: You say how many I should buy? MC: 511 (it's ZZH's birthday) GJ: 511, I know it's his birthday... I've already... I won't say it. ZZH: That's nothing to Gong laoshi (meaning that he's rich haha) MC: You're the master of the ghost valley after all, you're very generous. GJ: I've already given him a present, it's a secret. I won't tell you. MC: Ok, keep it secret. Let's recommend something that you use daily. GJ: In my bag? MC: Yes. You're very good at recommending stuff, like the washing socks machine. GJ: To be honest, that socks machine... I won't say the brand but don't buy it, it broke. ZZH: They won't give you an endorsement now (you've said that). GJ: It broke, it's not good. MC: Let's recommend something good then. GJ: My endorsement product and it's something that I actually use. ZZH: Aiya~ he's rich now. I thought you were going to recommend the bag. GJ: Look! ZZH: I was about to say he's different now that he has become popular. GJ: The bag looks nice too. MC: Don't carry the bag under your arm, it doesn't look fashionable. Let's put it aside for now. GJ: This is not an ad, I actually use this lip balm and hand cream. MC: Why are these 2 so special? ZZH: He needs to take care of his hands. GJ: My fans have always told me to take care of my hands. And my lips get dry very often, so I have to apply it. When I was a child... ZZH: You didn't like to drink water. GJ: Yes, my dad's older brother, my uncle used to say that my lips look like monkey's butt when it's red because I always lick them. MC: After you've grown up, you really care about that. Recommend it to everyone. GJ: I recommend these to everyone but I won't say the brand name. MC: It's also the dry season. How about Zhehan? ZZH: Can I recommend something different? MC: Of course, anything that you can think of. GJ: What do you want to recommend? ZZH: When I go to work, I always bring my speakers. I carry my JBL speaker. MC: Which one of you actually plays songs? Both of you carry speakers? ZZH: I play songs too but then he's didi, so I gave the privilege to him. Otherwise, it would have been me bringing my speaker because I do that with every crew. GJ: And you were complaining about me? MC: So when you said that he didn't get beaten to death is something you've experienced before? ZZH:

Yes yes yes. My previous makeup artist, I still remember the promise I made with her. When I walk into the dressing room, I bring in my speaker and sing along. I sing until my makeup is done. GJ: Sing until your makeup is done? Omg. ZZH: Yes. And that makeup artist sometimes she would be in a bad mood, or when I didn't sing that great, she would always hold it in. So I said to her "jie, you've been listening to me singing for 3 months. If I hold a concert in the future, I will invite you." If you're watching this now, please message me and I will invite you to my concert. I still remember it's Lei jie. MC: Lei jie, please contact us, the contact details will be on the bottom of the screen. Please take a look. *laughs*

Translation: KIMMYYANG

[jjheejz]

What is Fate?

[Part 2/5] During filming

*I'm sure much crucial events happened here, they practically started online interactions within the first month of filming. But I don't have much resources/info for this period, so there's more inferences on fate here. I mean until YouKu decides to release all the BTS scenes, this is all I know.

- Since nobody cared much about WOH during filming, not a lot of photographers went to take their photos/videos. But beside them, was a more anticipated and hot drama in filming (HYX). Because it was so popular, tonnes of photographers were there, and the reason why there are generous amount of photos and videos of WOH BTS despite that was because there were so many next door, some of them just decided to come over to WOH as passer-by photographers.

= Some sweet moments of them got captured. You practically have solid evidence of their cute interactions taken because chance happened.

- Not much expectation from the audience sometimes means less stress for the crew, more fun and exploration in filming. Aka, the freedom for the crew to blatantly tell GJ "Your wife is outside." Aka, this is just the tippest tip of the iceberg. Aka, I would say, a support for them to accept their characters are lovers (and in turn on to themselves).

- If "your wife (your lao po)" was thrown around like a name by the crew, then "husband" is definitely hurled around like circus balls. The fact that Gong Jun's surname, Gong, is pronounced almost the same as husband (lao gong), is just...yea, coincidence.

= Fate is already written in his name

- Add on to point above, ZZH and GJ were pushed to warm up to each other because of their tight filming schedule and the drama's theme. The atrociousness of the words the crew threw around and even what these 2 used is beyond what we currently see and know, it's just pure crazy atrocity. (Calling GJ 宝-babe, is just the tippest tip of the iceberg, imagine that). The term used among Chinese CPfans for this period is "WenZhou accelerating temperature (温周急速升温)" (as in rapidly warm up to each other).

= This is like fate being impatient, right in front of our salad

- Summer filming: Share umbrella, WKX fanning and blocking the sun for ZZS, summer but wearing winter clothes together, hide in the same caravan alone cooking for each other/hide from the rain etc. [Umbrella saga], [Rainy night in a caravan saga], [GJ's vlog cooking saga], [Cook for each other saga]

= Small shared moments that leads to big feelings.

-  [ZZH’s Weibo rebellion saga] = This saga relates to Part 3

- It was Covid period, both actors didn't have other schedules (GJ probably only had 1, out of the 4 months there). Stuck together = Bond together.

- Music also bonds people together. Especially when both of them likes the same group of singers (when I mean 'group' I mean the era of famous singers at that point) eg. Jay Chou, JJ Lin, Wang Li Hom, Li Rong Hao etc. The way ZZS falls for WKX is probably paralleled to ZZH falling for GJ's singing.

- An experienced actor (ZZH) and a high willingness to learn actor (GJ). One is willing to teach, one is open to learn. Both are main characters, both have a lot of scenes together (aka, time spent together exploring their character and practicing with each other increased).

- Let's dedicate to the fated crew members: Producer Ma, Directors and Assistant Directors, Costume Designer, Script writer, Guo Lao Shi (Actor of Duan Peng Ju) for recommending ZZH as ZZS, the entire production team, the entire cracky supporting cast. For something to be successful, it takes a full team's healthy mindset and attitude, and most importantly, the correct people for each role.

Bonus

- For both GJ and ZZH, this script was the best they ever had. It was the first time they had a very good script. So they poured a lot of effort into ZZS and WKX.

= Looking at GJ's past works, they were mostly around the same theme, but still pretty decent works (still, praise the fact that he has variety in style: cross-dressed twice, a cool & calm senior - cutest character, a naive and innocent prince, a loving husband, uke - yes, I knew him from this show etc).

= Looking at ZZH's past work, all I can say is that his style was almost always the same (I looked at the spread and question if these are really not a compilation from one drama). Character wise, it's just like he said during WOH Concert's interview. He knows he has the potential to act a more diverse role, but the scripts just doesn't accept him. Because his portfolio is stuck with that manly image/style the agency had built for him, until ZZS happened. But his past works are generally quite good overall compared to GJ's, character style variety is limited.

The contrast above also shows the difference between an independent studio vs being signed under an agency.

🌻To returning readers: Updated info are in purple for your easy references!

🌸Part 1 - Before filming here

🌸Part 3 - After filming, before broadcast here

🌸Part 4 - Broadcast/Promotion period here

🌸Part 5 - WOH concert and after here

🌻[Ongoing updates] Will add if I remember or found new ones

🌻For long posts like this, I tend to look back for grammar and phrasing mistakes (sometimes info updates), so when you reblog for future references, do keep in mind that there may be updates in the original post! :)

[apple25n]

Asian-White Book Recommendations  

My father is French-Swiss while my mother is Singaporean-Chinese. I grew up in Singapore for the first 18 years of my life, and went to international schools the whole time. I had never thought about my heritages or cultures much (though I cannot tell if that's a product of being young or growing up in a place that understood my mix). When I moved overseas to Canada for university last year, I felt confronted by race and perceived differently by others for the first time. Everyone was mixed where I came from, but now none of my roommates had ever had a bubble tea or raclette in their lives.

Ever since then, I have been slowly reflecting on my identity. Over the course of the past year I have sought out and read books (both fiction and non-fiction) from other Asian/White mixed authors to help me understand myself and my feelings. Here, I have compiled a small list of the best books I have read so far dealing with being mixed.

Older Sister, Not Necessarily Related by Jenny Heijun Wills

Though not technically mixed, Wills is Korean but was adopted by a Canadian family and grew up in North America. Most chapters don't run for more than a couple pages and read almost like poetry with the lyrical and metaphoric language. Reuniting with her Korean parents as an adult, Wills details the painful emotions of feeling like you don't belong to either culture you are from -yet yearning to be accepted as a 'true' citizen of both.

Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong / The Loneliest Americans by Jay Caspian King

I am grouping these two memoirs together because of their similar topics and because I read them in close succession. Discussing being Asian-American, Hong and King also delve into the history of Asian immigrants in the United States and the community's evolution over the decades. I found the authors very angry and aggressive in their writing, but I have also not experienced the level of discrimination they have gone through as I grew up in Asia.

Parachutes by Kelly Yang

The only fiction book on this list, Yang tells the story Claire Wang who is sent from her home in Shanghai to attend a high school in the United States alone. Moving to Canada for university, I found myself relating to this YA novel a lot more than I had expected. How people around me treated me differently because I was an international student and the 'Crazy Rich Asian' lifestyle they assumed I have. The difficulty of trying to make friends with local students; finding myself gravitating to other Asian international students.

Small Bodies of Water / Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai by Nina Mingya Powles

Two books by the same author. Powles is the author I have enjoyed reading the most out of everyone on this list. She weaves her thoughts on being mixed (Chinese-Malay and New-Zealander) into stories exploring other themes: Small Bodies of Water is a collection of essays about her relationship with water, while Tiny Moons details the food she ate during her year abroad in Shanghai. Powles put into words my frustration at not being able to speak Chinese (my mother's language) while also celebrating the different cultures she comes from.

Seeing Ghosts by Kat Chow

Much more of an exploration of grief with Chow writing about her mother's death. This was the first book I read where the author also called her grandfather the same name I call mine - Gong Gong. A deeply moving book, it deals with Asian families; the hurt and love they give you.

If you have any recommendations for books on being mixed, please send them my way! I am especially looking for books that are about other countries than the United States (as I have found I relate less to Asian-American experiences than other Asian-White countries/cultures).

[manggaetteokkie]

Maybe it’s still too early for me to say anything but I feel like, unlike The Untamed, not as many people actually ship Zhang Zhehan with Gong Jun (aka real life shipping of the actors)? I know that there are people who do ship them out there, and yes, this might be a bit too early to say since technically only 9 episodes are out for international viewers as of now (compared to 20 episode for VIPs) so there might be an explosion of shippers as the series progresses, but for now, the level of shipping seems to be way below what Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo experienced. 

Funnily enough, I think that part of the reason people don’t ship them as much can be attributed to the actors themselves because their irl interactions are just so... bro-y. The “steely straight male” energy from the two could probably drown you. The alpha male energy coming off of both of them is actually hilarious considering how they are when they act, especially Zhang Zhehan. 

Before Word of Honor, no one would ever dream of describing him as “soft” or “pretty” or calling him “wifey”, but now, if you go on Bilibili and search “wife” in Chinese, it’s just pages of Zhang Zhehan videos. Also, the way he speaks and acts in interviews gives off such big bro-vibes (but like, really warm bro vibes), not to mention how funny he is (I die laughing every single time he’s interviewed).

Meanwhile, Gong Jun is a lot more soft spoken in real life, not nearly as shameless as Wen Kexing, but the funny thing about him is how much he loves making money. This man lives and breathes doing his job and making money, it’s actually endearing and wholesome af. He’s just so single-mindedly doing his best to earn money that he draws the line very clearly between “acting” and “real life”. To be honest, he could probably do a third bl and people might not bat an eye because they’d just brush it off as him earning money sjdfhksdh

The best thing is that while both are very very “straight”, they never disrespect the genre. Basically, they don’t bite the hands that feed them by both acting the roles and making fun of the genre at the same time. If anything, I can just say that both are super professional and careful. They would tease and give fans the interactions they might want to see on occasions, but they never go too far or do so mockingly, which is definitely nice.

This is my personal opinion, but I think that’s definitely a plus for the actors. Irl shipping can get really messy if you’re dealing with delulus. I think shipping for fun is pretty harmless, hell I love how they interact in real life too, but it gets complicated when you’re dealing with fans who actually think they are in-love with each other irl because it carries to their future works and can be very obnoxious. Because the line is drawn so clearly, it wouldn’t affect their personal lives too much. The series gave both actors a very much needed boost and international recognition which will hopefully help them both in their careers in the future (they are both really good beans who deserve more recognition), I hope they can capitalize on that and give us more A+ acting :)