#i haven't watched the movies or read the books

[tparadox]

You've expressed how I watch movies (in a pretty pendantic way that sounds like it makes it hard to be a movie watching friend of yours), but I think that's only one way.

My wife is always asking me to tell her the things the movie is supposed to make you wonder and anticipate finding out. I absolutely hate spoilers and give answers as cagey as I can get away with, which drives her crazy too.

Some of it is not engaging fully with the story in the way that it's meant to be due to lack of practice of the skill, some because English is not her first language and she honestly misses important things so she's never fully sure if she missed something or it's something we haven't learned yet. But also I think there's a disconnect in our cultural approaches.

I watch movies by politely staying quiet and paying direct attention, but seeing her watch movies with her family, it's a much more participative and communal experience for them. You cheer when something good happens, you cringe when something bad happens, you discuss what's happening while it's happening and before it happens.

So sometimes she's asking me questions because she wants me to answer them, but I think sometimes she's asking questions because she wants the movie to answer them, and verbalizing those questions is how she expresses her engagement.

Remember: as satisfying as a good reveal is the first time, going back to find what you missed in previous viewings is a heartier overall experience. Some people just aren't wired for the hit of the pieces falling into place and just want to skip straight to sucking the dramatic irony marrow.

Side note: this aversion to sitting with the curiosity isn't as generational as the Netflix Effect theory would imply. My mother likes to read books by reading the first page, then the last page, then the first chapter, then the last chapter, and then if the ending seems satisfying, skipping around the middle until she's read it all. She hates waiting to find out the answers almost as much as my wife. And cozy mysteries are her favorite genre.

[dyed-indigo]

How many wives did Luo Bingge have?

I see quite a lot of debate over this within the fandom, and this excerpt has been passed around quite a bit:

But I felt like I remembered Bingge being mentioned as having more wives within the text, so I decided to skim the books (CTRL + F on the Internet Archive PDFs worked wonders) to find as many references to Bingge's wife count as I could.

I was right that he was mentioned as having more wives (hundreds to be exact), on the back of the very first book in the series even. However, the backs of books are the domain of the publisher rather than the author, so this isn't really trustworthy info to go off of for canon purposes. Still, it made me curious to see if more wives were mentioned somewhere else within the series.

He is mentioned as theoretically marrying at least 100 women at once here, however this was purely speculation on what would have happened in Proud Immortal Demon Way if Luo Binghe truly aspired for marriage. He did marry many women in PIDW, however it's never made clear whether these marriages were out of love or were political (and for horny reasons, the stallion protagonist can never escape his libido).

613 is also mentioned as a number of wives, and seems oddly specific unless there's some Chinese number symbolism I'm missing here, however this is just an example of something that Madame Meiyin could predict with her fortune telling abilities. Her fortunes are mentioned to typically be about romance, so this could be Shen Qingqiu remembering an actual prediction she made in canon, however even if that were the case (which there doesn't seem to be evidence to support) it could simply be that Luo Binghe never got those wives within the novel, and was just implied to get them afterwards (cue Peerless Cucumber rant about Airplane's lazy writing).

There's mentioned to be dozens of women "barely glimpsed" within the harem, presumably in addition to wives like Ning Yingying and Liu Mingyan who were more significant, but that still doesn't give us an exact count. If the initial harem count is accurate, it does imply that most of the women within it were just written to fluff the numbers a bit.

Bingge is mentioned to have "never refused" any requests to join his harem. RIP Bingge's understanding of boundaries, but, again, we have no clue how many women even asked to join. Demon Emperors are powerful, but also scary, and Shen Qingqiu is... perhaps an unreliable narrator when it comes to any version of Luo Binghe's appeal factor.

Bingge is mentioned multiple times to have had sex with hundreds of women, however, not all of the bedded were wedded. Madame Meiyin, for example, is mentioned as someone that Bingge slept with but never married, and there's no evidence that i could find that she was the sole exception in a sea of wives.

In conclusion, while manwhore Bingge is real, his count of actual wives is more than likely less than 100, as originally specified. (Though I wouldn't blame you if you thought otherwise, the emphasis on the harem size being "innumerable" and "uncountable" in the narration is quite a lot, and historically many Chinese emperors had a larger harem than Bingge.)

At least, he had less than 100 wives in the novel. In the donghua, on the other hand...

Well. That's a fairly definite amount.

[free-smarcher]

every time your team in Veilguard start getting all red-string-board, lore-connecting, do you think it's possible that I'm just. Besties you would have loved being on tumblr in 2015

[princess-from-another-galaxy]

Luke is a better man than me fr. If I spent years being unclaimed by my deadbeat dad, and then this random kid shows up and gets claimed by his deadbeat dad in like a week, that would be my villain origin story. I would be burning that shit to the ground 😭

[sunshinerainbowsandlollipops]

I'm gonna say maybe the 3rd one?

I love olives

I haven't watched the last 3 Harry Potter movies but I've read all the books multiple times

My battery percentage is 99% (at the time of writing this)

Tagging: @cheekyboybeth @bloodruns-thickerthanwater @isalikescherriesandblue @frogyayfroggay

Two truths and one lie! Tag someone else to play!

1. I have a fake eye

2. I have a calico cat

3. I have killed 47 people!

@yippe3allthedamnnamesrtaken @number-2-hero-hawks

[mossiistars]

lotr au? lotr au.

[triviallytrue]

Clueless white boy orders genocide in PERFECT Fremen, shocking entire Imperium

[tigerbears]

[retiredteabag]

I'm super flattered that I'm getting tagged in these things, thank you @lemonlimecrystal-blog, I love learning about people :]

favorite color(s): green, blue, and dark red !

favorite flavor(s): umami (but I do tend to like sweet and savory flavors equally)

favorite genre(s): although I typically write romance, it is actually my least read genre in everyday life, I loved sci-fi and fantasy as a child (ie. Tolkien/Heinlein) but more recently have loved speculative/historical fiction. I haven't read much gothic fiction but every book in that genre I have read I quite liked + any good short story !

favorite music: jazz, folk, indie/indie pop, but I will always have room in my heart for classical...

favorite movie(s): life is beautiful (1997), the princess bride (1987), pride and prejudice (BBC's version as well as the 2005 remake), little women (1994 and 2019) and several others …

favorite series: I didn't grow up watching television, but I do remember liking Anne With An E !

last song: dreams - 2004 remaster by fleetwood mac lol

last movie: I think it might have been white chicks actually -_-

currently reading: I who have never known men - Jacqueline Harpman

currently watching: I don't really watch tv but I did just watch over the garden wall

currently working on: arranged marriage Nanami pt. 3, chapter 2 of my angsty Satoru series, + I am also outlining a dramione fic rn which I know is crazy and maybe even a oneshot for Bakugou? Oh, and of course the conclusion of dog-sitter toji !

Absolutely no pressure and totally non-committal tagging, you have no obligation to do this, and also I'm sorry if you've already been tagged, I wanted to open the floor to some of my lovely mutuals as well as some blogs I love + anyone interested in joining !

@everythingseasoning, @enchi-ladass, @makuzume, @satoruxx, @tearzintheclub, @textmel8r, @aakeysmash, @twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat, and of course, @thatdesklamp

Ask & Answered!

tagged by @toastdarling 🌸 thank you!

◈   TAG NINE PEOPLE YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW BETTER!

favourite colour(s): every shade of blue

favourite flavour(s): cinnamon, cherry, teriyaki

favourite genre(s): fantasy, magical realism, mystery

favourite music: honestly I'll listen to pretty much anything, from hard rock to classical music, but I have a special preference for 80s hits and Japanese indie

favourite movie(s): Pride and Prejudice (2005), Howl's Moving Castle, Shrek 2

favourite series: Good Omens, One Piece, Haikyuu!!, Gravity Falls

last song: Your body is a weapon by The Wombats

last movie: Glass Onion

currently reading: The house in the cerulean sea by TJ Klune

currently watching: One Piece, Buddy Daddies

currently working on: in a creative sense, working on a zosan royal au fic, several fanart pieces and a few fantasy au concepts I'm excited about; in a personal sense, working on my insecurities, hoping to improve my lifestyle by trying sports for the first time (kendo, specifically!) and studying for a competitive exam

@goldenandhappy @ftld42 @bryttdaffodil @doremiinas @ats0mi @mafuwara @miyakiyoomii @heart-cores @omiishii

[numerolock]

The Count of Monte Cristo except "Good Luck, Babe!" by Chappell Roan starts playing when Edmond and Mercédés finally confront each other

[ghostly-biologist]

anyone here like willard?

[danikatze]

✒️We're halfway August so it's time to start thinking about Inktober lmao✒️

[lady-ofmidnight]

Hi!

Last song: Not sorry for loving you from Epic: the musical

Favorite color: purple of any shade, but I have a fondness for the royal purple

Last book: A discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (its been on my tbr list for an embarrassing amount of time)

Last movie: The Wild Robot (I read the books and oh its really cute)

Last show: I haven't had time to watch anything since season 6 of the dragon prince came out😔

Sweet/spicy/savory: a friend of mine is trying out various brownie recipes so I am profiting lol

Relationship status: happily single

Last thing I googled: is this a snail?

Current obsession: good question

Lookong forward to: the weekend (I think I lost an hour of sleep. I didn't gain anything)

No pressure darlings

@ellorypurebloodculture, @violent138

ten people i'd like to get to know better

tagged by: the lovely @critterofthenight <3 thanks! last song: trainwreck, by banks fav color: green last book: i reread a brazilian novel i used to love in my teenage years, called “mundo de sombras: o nascimento do vampiro” (which translates to “world of shadows: the birth of the vampire”), by ivanir calado. it brings vampire mythology to brazil and has this homoerotic friendship between two teenage boys… it’s like the whole package for me lmao. and it was super nostalgic coming back to it :p last movie: ainda estou aqui (i’m still here), by director walter salles. also brazilian. yes i’m brazilian. last show: the penguin and i’m loving it sweet/spicy/savory: probably savory but i’ve been really drawn to sweets for a while now relationship status: in a happy relationship :) last thing i googled: alt-j interlude 1 (ripe and ruin) genius lyrics current obsession: morpherine, as y'all have been witnessing. also this specific fic i want to write about them but haven’t started yet. looking forward to: zella day’s concert in my city next month! tagging @v4nhelsing @2offayyo-kzt @blackmetalbats @haydenthewitch @thenorsiest @scribophile @heikefandom @figs-and-pomegranates @sonnetforbonnet @eyepatch-goat @nerd-elf @andbutsowhen

[elegomez]

Got tagged in an ask game by @slashmarks for 5 favorite characters as a poll, no context. Tagging @varian-ross-horror-author @beastliness @stjohnstarling and anyone who wants

[hesgomorrah]

severely underrated joke

[godsworstson]

i think it's really funny how obsessed i am with jackass but have watched only one of the movies