#i am a flower vase in an infinite flow world

[danmeiblr]

Finally, a Danmei Blog for Lesser-Known Danmei, Some of Which Are Not Even Translated Yet

Hello, hello, I’m Miya, a voracious danmei reader that gobbles novels every night like it’s her daily sustenance. I’ve been reading danmei since late 2018, and like most people in English danmei spaces, I was introduced to it through MXTX’s Mo Dao Zu Shi / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. Since then, I’ve read many other danmei, like all the other popular ones—Little Mushroom, The Husky and His White Cat Shizun, Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know, etc.

Anyways, I have read almost all of the novels the English fandoms are currently obsessed with. Because of this, I often can’t relate to the excitement you guys still have over them because those novels feel like ages ago to me. I’ve long moved on from them and found other novels I love more. (I also read the bulk of those popular novels during my depression era, and I don’t wanna bring up memories of that)

So yeah, I sometimes feel like an outsider in English danmei spaces because nobody wants to talk about the novels I wanna talk about because nobody even knows about them 😭😭😭

Thus, this blog was born.

Mainly, I will be liveblogging the danmei I’m reading. I used to post them on my main @miyamiwu, but I’ve recently transferred my liveblogs from there to here. Just a fair warning: my liveblogs won’t be spoiler-free. I also don’t use spoiler tags because, well, nobody even knows the novels I’m blogging about so nobody would care if it’s a “spoiler” 😭😭😭

Aside from this, I will also post:

reviews of some of the great novels I come across

recommendation lists (you can also ask me for recs!)

rough English translations of the scenes I’m reacting to (otherwise, I won’t make sense)

general thoughts on danmei genres and tropes

translation ramblings

Basically, anything and everything about danmei.

Some stuff about me:

I run the @lizonkanovels website and used to post MTLations

I am studying Mandarin, but I’m nowhere near fluent in it. (I’ve also been too busy with college that my studies have been put on-hold.)

I loooove talking about the intricacies of translation and even took a class on translation theory before. You will see this reflected in some of my posts.

My favorite genres/tropes: whodunit, unlimited flow, horror, broken mirror, and 甜宠 (lit. sweet love/pampering, fluffy novels basically).

Current favorite danmei: Fourth Perspective by Mo Chen Huan

Also a fan of the 188男团 series by Shui Qian Cheng. My favorites in the series are Years of Intoxication and Blazing Armor

Well, that’s pretty much it. If you’re interested in discovering new danmei to read or just learning more about danmei, feel free to follow me~

You can also check out what novels I’ve posted about on my Danmei Directory:

https://danmeiblr.tumblr.com/directory

(If you’re on the mobile app and can’t access the link above, just copy it and paste it directly on your browser.)

[art-now-usa]

"Love this world and myself " for Willem de Kooning., Andrey Bogoslowsky

This work comes as a part of my "Slash- Splish- Beng!!- Beng!!" ..... series.....)) Words come out of color, From abstract energy color emerges and mind forms thoughts and words as a result of this creative meditation....)) This is new. I started this series in June 2014. It says: "Love this world and I love myself and I love life, And All All life" The blue makes me think of some sort of creature, Lovely blue organism. Organic and passionate. This and many of my works can be exhibited "Any side up"!!!...."Why do I paint" Essay- June 2015 Why do I paint- statement. "Not for the money. Not for the fame. Not for my ego. I’ve painted for over 30 years because I don’t know of any better way to spend my day. I paint like the bird sings after the matting season is over- for fun. I paint like the sun shines everyday, like the river flows downward and the ocean never stops waving. I paint because this is the way things are. Painting is the nature of me. And I am in the very nature of painting. I am infected by painting. I belong to a clan of strange people who paint, sculpt, make new music, write poetry and make movies and cartoons. My style is free of any associations. No one can say my brush movements or graphite drawing elements resemble someone else's work. I am free of De Kooning. I am free of Rembrandt. I am free of Leonardo, Picasso, and Van Gogh. I even freed myself of Jackson Pollock -and that was very hard. But the hardest is to free my self from my own self. To let go of any presumptions I have about reality and how it should be interpreted- how it should be painted. I would like to make a little contribution to humanity. I’d like to give back to this world I have taken so much from. My unique style of painting -- brushing around, drawing, dibbling, dripping, scraping and splashing -- flows directly from my personality. The way I care about the subjects I paint is more than a practical choice. I look deeply in to my heart, in to the darkest corners of my inner world and choose my subjects very carefully. I started painting sail boats six month ago. The visions of open sky, and free sails getting blown by the wind, and the sun and the moon above -- it’s not an accident. I want to inspire a feeling of freedom and liberty. I want to liberate the viewer’s soul. My colors are dramatic in some places, but others relaxed, so one's eye-mind can have a break. A painting has a starting color or two. Let's say I decide the dominant color here will be yellow and the rest will contribute to bring out the beauty of yellow. I have to say colors sing to me. But I feel each color has a mystery of its own. The world of colors is infinite by nature. And so ma I, and so am I. The rhythms of my brush strokes are as diverse as the rhythms of mother nature. The brush strokes are stronger closest to the main object. Some subjects I paint might seem irrelevant, incredible, too far fetched, too scientific and inaccessible, or even wired and aloof. But that is OK by me. I see flowers as one of nature’s most elaborate expressions of erotic beauty, in a very abstract and organic way. Not arrogant, but very sensual and delicate, with hundreds upon hundreds of sizes and shapes and colors. Flowers are a truely infinite source of inspiration. I can paint a new flower each day -- for the rest of my life -- and every one will be different. It feels good to have infinity as my resource and creative challenge. My “cosmology” series was inspired by reading Astronomy magazine in 2004. I realized outer space is diverse and beautiful. The gas clouds called nebulas are made out of many elements we find on Earth. They are elaborate in shapes and rich in color when viewed through different light filters. I realized that the universe looks different depending on your point of view. So if one gas cloud looks like a horse head to us on Earth, from the other side it might look like an airplane. One hundred billion galaxies in our visible universe, and each galaxy has no less than one thousand gas clouds. This brings me very close to an infinate number of shapes and colors to work from. I use the same force of nature as the universe does -- gravity -- to create my cosmology paintings. I break all the rules I was taught in art schools. The paint flows almost freely on a horizontal surface as I put the canvas flat on the floor, and only little bumps I create by putting things under the canvas on the floor prevent the paint floating out of my control. The paddles dry up with their natural, infinitely detailed shapes of arms, faces, snakes or birds. In my early years I painted erotic figures posed in grotesque novelty situations. It was lots of fun. Now, my figures are more like avatars -- imaginary deities with no traditional mythology attached. I make my own myths as I go along. A big canvas might take me a year or longer to paint. I have plenty of time to tell my creation story; for example, how "this nude figure standing by the oceanside has a twin sister who was banished from the land for being a moon worshiper". My figurative works are correct in all the anatomical details, but I like to elaborate, to give them extra powers, perhaps by making their eye lashes extend to "the edge of known universe". Skulls are a new additon to my repertoire. As I come of age, they are a reflection on my inevitable mortality. My new series of florals where I started adding vases made out from cut out pictures from art books stimulates my imagination. I give a cosmic significance to Vermer's work. I take a picture of Mayan ceramic figurine and draw with silver( pure silver) marker over it, creating a mysterious star map and the character depicted becomes my " star gazer". I cut out sculptures by Michaelangello Buenarotti, especially his late works, salves, and I mount then on the side of my semi abstract flowers. The language he- Michelangelo spoke 500 years ago, spoke in stone I speak now in color. My hand knows well how to make " undeciphered" writings after I have made hundreds of them on my "space rocks" or other objects. I create a back ground with pure 18 K gold marker and then run a very thin almost watercolor layer of color and writing becomes a mysterious message beneath the surface. I like mystery. I like to discover and find out new things as time goes by. And this is how I " construct " my paintings. Passionate brush work you see at first glance is just an invitation to look longer and discover something for yourself. And about yourself. Art needs to show beauty, and absolute love to this world. And this is my mind set when I am painting." Thank you for reading. Andrey Bogoslowsky

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Love-this-world-and-myself-for-Willem-de-Kooning/661122/2110233/view

[psychotherapyconsultants]

Can Opening to Your Own Creative Gifts Make You a Happier Human Being?

“You cannot use up creativity. The more you use it, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou

Are you an Imaginista? A Creativa? An Inspirista? A Wild Enthusiast? If you had your way, would life be lived out loud, in Technicolor, vibrantly glowing, tap dancing to a rhythm that you alone can hear? And then, would you invite people to dance, sing and play along with you?

Sadly, many were encouraged to lip synch, color inside the lines, stay inside the box, play it safe, and keep their light under wraps lest they shine too brightly and intimidate others. These types of messages likely came from adults who feared their own creative gifts and passed on the limiting thoughts. As adults, we have the freedom to discard or accept them.

I was a creative child who would paint, draw and use all 64 crayons in the Crayola box. I would make up songs and stories, design faerie villages when I was in the woods, see myself as a mermaid in the ocean, pretend that my bicycle was a horse, and imagine I could fly. My parents encouraged all of that and yet, there have been times over the years, when I squelched my self -expression, not wanting to overshadow anyone or feel like I was too out of the box.

In my professional life, I recall two supervisors who felt threatened by my free-spirited nature that didn’t adhere to traditional mores and expectations. I did my job well in each case, but each of them was more mainstream in their dress and demeanor and when this walking billboard for color and creativity came to work, they were a bit rattled and made it known.

What I have since discovered is that when I am in creative mode, I am better able to problem solve and come up with solid solutions for myself and my clients. Infinite possibilities are lain out before me, and rather than focusing on the roadblock, I can reroute and GPS-style, recalculate to find these other options.

On my desk at my office sit a magic wand (I ask clients that if they could wave it over themselves and could affect any type of change in their lives, what would they want it to be?), a magnetic poetry kit that they can use to write poems, a Hoberman Sphere (think colorful K’nex in the shape of an expanding and contracting ball that can be used for relaxation breathing), and an Easy Button (the red and white contraption from Staples that when you push it, it says, “That was easy.” I do it at the end of every day before I head home.)

A few years ago, I taught a class for employees of a mental health treatment program and we did an exercise that highlighted the value of creative outlets.

I called it “Creativity Tree.” I invited them to draw a tree…even if it was a lollipop version harkening back to pre-school and then embellish it with pictures and words that symbolized their own creative genius. These professionals who spent their days attempting to enhance the lives of the members of the community, were able to engage in childlike playfulness and wonder. What a delight it was to witness the transformation.

You are invited to enter the Imaginarium in which you can indulge your creative nature. I have designed one in my mind, embellishing and enhancing it, for decades.

We are walking into a round room with windows on all curves and a skylight in the ceiling, to allow in the brilliant sunlight during the day and the star-sparkled night sky. Green, leafy and flowering plants hang above the open windows as a gentle breeze wafts through, making wind chimes tuned to various pitches, dance with delight. Take a deep breath and inhale the sweet aromas of lavender, vanilla and patchouli. Our eyes take in floor to ceiling book shelves containing tomes created from the hearts and minds of many generations of wordsmiths, filled with wisdom and magic. Some I have read, over and over, like old familiar friends and others are waiting for me to turn the pages. There is a large drawing table/desk designed from a reclaimed tree, on which sits my lap top computer which is a place where thoughts turn to words, which turn to images that soak into the minds of the readers and carry them away on adventures of all sorts. A crystal vase contains beautiful wild flowers picked from the fields outside my door and their riotously hued petals spread a smile across my face. As the sun hits its multi-faceted surface, it throws a prism projected rainbow across the walls.

A large violet cushy, comfy lounge chair on which is tossed a fleece lap robe welcomes me to curl up and read. It sits adjacent a curved tree stump table that supports a ceramic plate of a few decadently delicious, calorie free and fat free chocolate chip cookies (Hey, it’s my Imaginarium) and a mug filled with real Indian chai, redolent with cinnamon, cardamom and ginger.

Serene sounds waft through the atmosphere.  A large CD rack carries music from various genres, including, folk, Celtic, Cajun, Woodstock era 60’s rock, world music, singer-songwriter, drumming and classical which I listen to, depending on my mood.]

On the floor are drums of various sizes; a djembe, a dumbek, bodhran, frame drums, a hang, rain sticks and a wicker basket filled with smaller hand percussion instruments that are brought out to play during drumming circles.

Shelves are filled with all sorts of art supplies, including paints, paper, crayons, markers, clay, buttons, old magazines with which to create vision boards, as well as fabric of various sizes and textures. On the walls hang my works of he(art), that emerge from the combination of these items and my oh so vivid imagination. Joining them are those created by friends who are also artists and it is like having them in the room with me.

In this space, I feel completely free, without writer’s block (I often say that I have ‘writer’s runs’) to let flow the words that tickle my heart and mind, and take shape into stories and articles, poetry and books that are waiting to dance out into the world.

I encourage you to design your own Imaginarium from the seeds of your vibrant creative soul; making it a full sensory experience. Hear, see, taste, touch and smell it all. It will be unique to you. Perhaps you are a woodworker, gardener, musician, painter, interior designer, or chef, so your space may have tools, plants, instruments, a canvas stretched across a wall, fabric or pots and pans. Allow for you own sense of delight to unfold like a rainbow hued tapestry before you.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is staying an artist when you grow up” – Pablo Picasso

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, the just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while” – Steve Jobs

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/can-opening-to-your-own-creative-gifts-make-you-a-happier-human-being/

[miyamiwu]

wait, Flower Vase has a sequel???? I haven't even finished the first one yet! oh, how the time has passed. Flower Vase was still ongoing when I was reading it.

no wait, this is an entirely different story, it doesn’t seem like a sequel (why are there suddenly vampires?)

okay, it's not an actual sequel, but more like same characters, different worlds? Like, all the protagonists are surnamed Tang 糖 (Sweet) and seemed to have similar personalities...

[miyamiwu]

Ten Blorbos

I wasn’t tagged, but I saw @butterfirefly doing this and just wanted to do it too so I can ramble about my blorbos hehe

Jiang Cheng - Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Always angry and very flawed. Very…human. His father cared more for someone else’s kid than he did for him. He deserved better.

Mu Qing - Heaven Official’s Blessing

…I just have a thing for the emotionally constipated, bad at communication, and constantly misunderstood tsundere that fandom tends to hate, okay?

Shang Qinghua and Mobei Jun- Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

SQH - Shameless and pathetic but works hard. Very resourceful.

MBJ - Same genre as Jiang Cheng and Mu Qing, but sexier. And also more powerful.

Bai Ruoyao - The Earth is Online

[No official art that I know of 😑]

Shameless and seemingly strong, but is actually the one afraid of death the most. 10/10

Killua - Hunter x Hunter

Conditioned to prioritize his own safety before anybody else’s, but the fear of losing Gon got him breaking out of it. Character development is 10/10.

Lin Yun - I am a Flower Vase in the Infinite Flow World

[No official art]

Will not hesitate to abandon his friends to save his own skin. But then he realizes that losing Tang Ning is more terrifying than death itself. 10/10.

Song Juhan - Years of Intoxication

(I prefer his novel design where he has black hair, but all the results I’m getting are from the manhua… welp)

A fucking asshole that deserved every bad thing that happened to him, but he is so fun to read. It’s like watching a car heading straight to a crash and you’re enjoying every moment of it while munching on some popcorn

Bachira Meguru - Blue Lock

My son, my boy, my baby. He deserves the world

Qiu Shenji - White Cat Legend

Another one to my collection of dark, flawed, and seemingly evil men. (Let’s not talk about his war crimes)

Bonus:

Vein - Link Click

Hasn’t even made an official appearance in the show. But his design is so cool, okay? Plus, he’s hot

[miyamiwu]

The agony of being invested in a story with interesting plot points and development but written by an amateur author who, in the end, falls back on the cliches and tropes that they had unknowingly subverted in the beginning

[miyamiwu]

ASBDHDJFKF that KaiSagi panel really be the epitome of the enemies to lovers trope, huh? 😂

But yeah, I get your point. I do also enjoy the enemies/rivals to lovers trope. Strongly agree on that it forces characters to have development, but I disagree on how friends to lovers may not need that much character development since it’ll work anyway and it how it’s limited to just predictable fluff. It all really depends on how the author works with it. If the author wants vanilla, it can be vanilla. If they want it dramatic and spicy, then it can be dramatic and spicy.

The Bachira-Isagi ship is a good example of the friends to lovers trope. It started out vanilla and classic but became more nuanced come Second Selection arc. The author was able to make this typical sweet and cute pair into a dramatic one by, ironically, “breaking” their friendship.

Bachira was so ready to let go of Isagi here, and it was not out of hate or of conflicting ideals or out of any external factors or simplistic reasons like “I don’t want to ruin our friendship.” It was because he loved him. He loved Isagi so much, he’d rather break away from him so he can continue to stay by his side even if they’ll no longer be friends or partners. It’s that self-sacrificial aspect that makes it so juicy. Bachira would rather ruin what they had than to be left behind.

And it wasn’t just Bachira ready to sacrifice but Isagi as well. Isagi, a player who works strongly by logic, sacrificed the more logical play (interfering a possible pass to Rin) by meeting Bachira where he was instead

Bachira became rational to the point he wanted to break away from Isagi, but then Isagi responded, becoming irrational to the point he’d rather risk losing the game. He believed in Bachira so much, he can throw away everything else.

Sacrificing out of love and turning irrational out of strong faith in the other, faith which is only possible from having known someone for so long… If that still doesn’t make this trope dramatic, then I don’t know what will.

And it doesn’t stop there! These two can also diss each other!!

Bachira was straight-up looking down on Isagi here, and Isagi was so fucking mad, all he could say was a “shut up.” They are even more like a married couple because after this, we have the two of them acting like it never happened and they just went back to being lovey-dovey again

I could write a much longer essay on these two, but I’ll stop here for now so I can get to other ship examples.

My other favorite friends to lovers ship, which is unfortunately not canon 🥲, is from a Chinese BL webnovel called I am a Flower Vase in an Infinite Flow World (Ignore that long, ugly title).

It’s untranslated, but (edit: it’s now being translated) The plot is about the characters trying to survive in the Infinite Flow world. (Unlimited/Infinite Flow is a popular genre in webnovels, and if you don’t know what that is, just think of it as the death game trope.)

And since you’re equating Rivals to Lovers to the Enemies to Lovers trope, may I also introduce the Teammates to Lovers counterpart for Friends to Lovers? I ship the protagonist Tang Ning with his teammate turned best friend, Lin Yun.

It’s a death game, so you can expect their teamwork to be not that important since prioritizing one’s own life is only natural. And it was definitely like that in the beginning. Lin Yun is an ordinary guy who had teamed up with Tang Ning out of convenience, and when things turned bad, he was always ready to leave Tang Ning behind. He doesn’t mind being called selfish or a coward, for he thinks his life is more important.

Once, Tang Ning saved Lin Yun while almost getting himself killed, and Lin Yun berated him for being stupid and told him how he shouldn’t risk his life for teammates because teams are temporary. Tang Ning agreed with him on the not-risking-life-for-teammates part, but then gently said that Lin Yun was different because he was no longer just a teammate but his friend aaaaahhh

Later in the story, when Lin Yun was caught in some spell, Tang Ning, in order to wake him up, decided to be frank with him by saying something like “You’re so selfish, always saving yourself before others. One day, you’ll be the only one alive and you’ll be all alone.” And those words succeeded in waking Lin Yun up, and he realized then and there how much Tang Ning means to him. That, for all of his selfishness, there was no way he’d want to leave Tang Ning behind. Tang Ning has become so important to him, even more than his own life. And for that, Lin Yun tried to be braver and stronger so that he would never have to abandon Tang Ning.

Wanting to be stronger, becoming a better person, facing your fears—all so you could protect the one you love. That’s such a beautiful and dramatic aspect of friends to lovers that should really be utilized more.

A more popular example of this would be the Killua-Gon ship from Hunter x Hunter. Killua had been taught since he was child to never face an enemy that he wasn’t confident that he could beat. This lesson was so “ingrained” into him that it’s become an instinct for him to run away when facing a stronger enemy. It has definitely helped him preserve his life, but in the Chimera Ant arc, it also became his downfall. His greatest fear is that one day he can’t help but leave Gon behind to die.

And so, he stood his ground against a chimera ant. Trembling in fear and with tears in his eyes, he declared in a shaky voice that he does not want to lose Gon, his most important friend.

Is that not beautiful? Does it not make your heart clench? Does it not keep you at the edge of your seat??

Friends to Lovers can be just as dramatic and intense as Enemies to Lovers. I consume a lot of horror, supernatural, mystery, and shounen media, so I’ve encountered many such complex ships that are more than just the predictable fluff you’d typically find in an ordinary modern setting.

Enemies to Lovers is sexy, but Friends to Lovers is supreme

AVSHDKDJFKDK I AM SO MAD

This is the second time I've seen friends to lovers lose in a favorite romance trope poll. Why tf does enemies to lovers keep winning??? I enjoy that trope too, but how is it better than friends to lovers???

Do the majority not prefer a gradual and natural progression in a relationship?? When two characters have inside jokes that only they know? Being with someone they actually enjoy hanging out with??? Someone they can talk with about their hobbies, dreams, and anxieties without fear of being judged??? The moment when sharing a bed is suddenly no longer just a usual thing they do but is now making them shy??? Soft and sweet moments between two people who are so comfortable with each other and that before they knew it they have become each other's home???? That italic oh moment when they just suddenly realized that "yes, I want this, and more of this for the rest of my life"??

Do you all really prefer two people trying to kill each other first before falling in love??? Whhyyyy