#then the second pic must be the underground forest

[thatskynews]

🕯️ Can you guess where these Traveling Spirits come from? 🕯️

A Travelling Spirit (TS) will be visiting Sky in March on these dates:

🔸March 14th

🔸March 28th

[esculentevil]

What made you start shipping Thorinduil?

O hey! Thanks for the ask! ^^

Um, basically, when I first watched The Hobbit like 10 years ago? x'''D I really liked Thranduil but literally fell asleep during the other parts of the movie (yea I literally woke up just for Duil x'D) so shipping wasn't a thing for me back then which is why I'm so late to things

But that's not the question!

(Going under a cut cuz this got stupid long xD;;;)

At first, I just wanted to ship Thranduil with anyone--cuz he deserves love, damn it--so I just looked up ALL the ships [and yes I got scarred by a few... not mentioning which but it happened] and I actually started with Elrond, believe it or not, cuz who DOESN'T want to see the two hottest elf dads find love and comfort in each other.

This same idea is what led me to at first be good with Barduil because it's literally two hot dads but one's an elf and the other's a human. After like a week or something of reading fics for them and seeing pics (cuz, at this point, I was still working with just the first movie and what I remembered from the second when I watched it a decade ago) I actually found myself temporarily confused because in some fanart Bard and Thorin look pretty much the same (both short males with dark wavy hair and beards) and I got them mixed up a lot lmafo until I realized the best way to tell them apart is the beard thickness and Thorin's braids vs Bard's half-ponytail thing...

Then I saw THIS by @rinnirrinnir and I just... Q~Q

I suddenly remembered that this HAPPENED: Thranduil has always been Thorin's weak spot--he trusted and believed in this person so much that when he DIDN'T come to their aid that day his whole WORLD just... sort of fell apart (and not even because of Smaug but really because the person he put so much faith in just walked away and I imagine it must have been like watching your hero leave you--tho I doubt Thorin would ever admit that)--to the point that, even 100 years later and even with his company seeing him as their king and even with all his barbs and insults and blames and ire, he's still soft and in love and so easily rendered VULNERABLE by Thranduil that his elf sees right through him during the whole interaction even tho it's literally been like 200 years and Thranduil shouldn't KNOW HIM as well as he does; but like the same is also true for Thranduil because Thorin not only ignites his elf's own ire, forcing him from his calm and distant iciness to get all passionately up in Thorin's face, but also, literally, (re)opens his old wounds--his SCARS--and seriously for Duil to do that, to drop his walls--his illusion of perfection--like that...

Idk, as soon as it clicks that they've been vulnerable with each other CANONICALLY and that all their arguing really stems from this... "Once I trusted/relied on/believed in you and you let me down" and "Once I had hopes that we could build something beautiful together but reality reminded me that I'm old and ugly and not good enough (for you) so I thought it best to let you go when I should've held you" type thing... Pretty much any other pairing for Duil seems... bland?

And just the idea of them finally RECONCILING with each other and becoming the loving couple they could totally be >v<

Also, no lie, half the appeal of this is how well Thorin fits Mirkwood: like, he looks so lovely with all his earthy browns and metallic grays and lake blues accentuated by Thranduil's forest like he was MEANT for it... and you KNOW Duil would deck him out to highlight that--how well his dwarven mate actually fits into his beloved home--and, really, for all that Thorin fought to get back Erebor, I think him and Mirkwood would actually be a good fit because Thranduil's Halls ARE underground enough to satisfy a dwarf's need to be buried while still being open enough for an elf (which Erebor is NOT; seriously)

There's also the family situation--cause one of the appeals of Barduil, for example, is them banding together to parent their four kids--which: first of all, The Thranduil and Dis Sisterhood; second of all, Legolas (plus all his adopted siblings) and Fili and Kili as brothers (kinda, I know the dwarflings are Thorin's NEPHEWS but still) learning to be all kinds of mischievous shites together~; third of all... Thranduil sharing what he's learnt since the Last Alliance about fatherhood and childrearing with Thorin, Thorin validating all of it because he can see how strong and skilled all of Thranduil's kids are (even if they're all struggling at least a BIT with emotional displays because they've all been wounded somehow and rendered reserved--which Thorin could probably help with cuz canonically he's skilled af at getting Thranduil to come out of his icy shell and FEEL again; so: chances are he could easily do this with any elf, including Duil's kids), Thranduil getting farther validation by bonding well with Fili (because Fili strikes me as the more understanding of the two AND, since Legolas is the youngest elf of all Duil's kids, Fili being a big bro with him despite their ages [which make Fili much younger than Las] seems like it'd totally happen and be so flipping cute if it did~ >v< Duil would also totally love seeing that as Fili's Thorin's Honored Heir and if THEY can get along then there's real hope for the north's future) and eventually Kili (I could see him being more influenced by Thorin and his centuries of hatred [born out of his betrayed love] of Duil and, if you wanna keep the [annoying] romance plot he has with Tauriel then he'd probably also resent Duil for that too before realizing Thranduil literally cut all ties with his adopted daughter so she could BE with Kili even if their love story is so painfully contrived it hurts), and Thorin actually being adopted by all the elflings Duil adopted plus Las plus his few humans (let's face it: Aragorn is so Duil's too; that's why he's also Las' babysitter: they're really brothers lmao) PLUS all the Elder Elves that see Thranduil as both their king AND their son (because they adopted him and Oropher back when they first arrived after the fall of Doriath--some even taking on the role of grandparent) so suddenly Thorin goes from having just his sister and sister-sons left to having numerous parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, kids, etc-- Just: the family dynamics that could happen here are so sweet.

ANYWAY

The long and the short of it is really the throne room scene and realizing what their actions in that moment really meant~

Thanks again for the question! =D Remembering this was really fun All my love~!

[blookmallow]

i finally rewatched Us watching for details... I also took a bunch of screenshots, I’ve mentioned before I live in santa cruz and grew up going to this boardwalk so im obsessed with this movie, I’m going to go try to take some better comparison shots sometime (here’s a few I took before) (and here’s a Tethered mannequin that was outside of the frightwalk for a while. i havent been inside for ages so I don’t know if they moved him inside or if he’s just gone now) (i HOPE they did something with the theme considering the frightwalk is literally a horror attraction beneath the boardwalk. i dont really want to go in there by myself though lmao. not a fan of animatronics jumping out and screaming at me) 

this is a lot, i have many things to say 

-----------------

- the opening news segment is 11 at 11 

- you can faintly see adelaide/red’s reflection in the tv screen, with a toy rabbit (her shirt also has twin lines on it in multiple places but that could be looking too far lmao) 

- in the “Hands Across America” segment (aside from the obvious red figures linked together in the logo) : “from the golden gate bridge to the twin towers” another possible 11/twinning, and it starts in california, which is where the tethered revolution begins 

- on “from sea to shining sea” the exact same coastline image is just flipped 

(there’s also another 11 on the side of the TV here) 

- “This summer, 6 million people will tether themselves together” 

- brief mirroring in the boardwalk ad, not just two girls running on the beach but also two girls with upside down reflections in the ground, 

- fairly obvious one, but “find yourself” (as a sidenote there’s nothing in that spot irl, the roller coaster and the swings are real but there was never a ‘vision quest�� or a ‘merlin forest’ as far as I know and there’s no door or anything there either, the interior shots must’ve been done separately somewhere else) (nothing’s left here from the movie now either, I have no idea when they filmed it because I never saw anything or heard anything about it) 

- adelaide/red whistles “the itsy bitsy spider” when the lights go out in the vision quest - “down came the rain and washed the spider out,” it’s raining outside when her tethered comes up (and she is dragged down). she also drops her red apple on the ground before she enters 

- zora’s rabbit shirt 

- everyone else is eating fast food of some kind, except adelaide, who is eating red strawberries 

as well as being a visual cue, its possible she has an aversion to meat if she was forced to eat raw rabbit as a child

- young adelaide arranging animals in the sand (it seems like some of the tethered tend to mirror their counterpart’s movements, so it’s possible she’s mirroring red, though it’s probably not that likely she’d be planning this early/the dance hasnt happened yet so its probably just foreshadowing) 

- young adelaide very pointedly watches “her” mother crying, saying “I just want my little girl back” - she will never have her little girl back again, though she doesn’t know it (I’m not sure if adelaide still remembers what she’s done at this point either) 

its also mentioned that ‘grandma’ has passed away as of the present time, likely adelaide’s mother (i dont remember if its stated outright but since the house belonged to the grandma, and it’s in santa cruz, that would line up) so. the tethered mother, if she’s still alive, would not kill red’s real mother in the uprising. dont know about the father, or if red knows/cares about this, but. thats there. that also means the original mother will never know what happened with her daughter (likely the father won’t either, it’s not clear if he’s still alive but there’s no mention of him being around/he’s not at the house so it seems likely he passed already too) 

- adelaide, her reflection, and a (not so) itsy bitsy spider 

theres even two spiders, one a toy, one real 

- jason crawls out of a cabinet at zora’s feet and scares her while she’s looking in a mirror (which is also a very pluto-like movement) 

- adelaide finds the toy rabbit in a box; assuming the intro was chronological, we saw “her” with it in the tv screen reflection before she went to the boardwalk, so this was red’s rabbit first (she probably does not remember this, though) (red also later finds this and cuts off the head, not sure why though)

- adelaide “sees” her child self in the room with her (in her memory) learning her dance alongside her reflection

 but the reflection is the one she “sees” looking directly at her 

(she’s also interrupted by hearing her son, above her, screaming because he’s trapped, but that might not be intentional) (though when red comes down here later, she is also interrupted by her son getting stuck in the closet too)

- she’s also wearing a choker necklace with a matching gold bracelet, maybe an allusion to. the choking and the handcuffs, again i might be looking into it too much, but. the white clothes which steadily become red with blood seems very intentional so i wouldnt be surprised if the jewelry was planned specifically too 

- its really hard to see and its a split second throwaway comment but kitty goes “oh isnt that beautiful” showing her the magazine and i thhiiiink thats a white girl in a native american headdress :’  ) probably doesnt have. much deeper meaning other than ‘clueless white friends’ but 

- guy buried in sand comes bursting to the surface again and scares his friends (also eyyooooo you can see the wharf in the background im down there all the time) (sorry this is still wild to me. i grew up here ive been to that beach like 9 million times)

- i didnt catch it and was waiting for it to be shown again and it wasnt and i dont want to go back for it but anyway jason has a drawing of a bunch of people holding hands in a line like the hands across america thing in his room, theres a lot of drawings around and we see his drawing of the first untethered, so he probably drew that as well

- jason has a hard time communicating, but he seems to use drawing as a way to express himself. he doesn’t tell his mother about the encounter with the old man (and only shrugs when he’s asked about it) but he does draw it. adelaide found self expression through dance when she was a child before she was able to talk, so he probably got those traits from her. her voice also goes low and hollow on the line “I just didn’t know if you were lost, or... taken” 

- her voice also gets very strange when she’s talking about her memory of the encounter in the vision quest. low, shaky, harsh. its fascinating hearing how much alike the voices are (obviously they’re both the same actress/if the tethered are clones it makes sense that they’d have identical vocal chords but like. red’s got a fucked up voice. hearing echos of that in adelaide is wild and i didnt notice it at all before) 

- its not clear whether adelaide actually remembers what she did, or even realizes she was the copy - is she trying to protect her family from what she believes was the girl who almost took her, or trying to stop her from getting her revenge? she describes the event to gabe as if she was the one who was attacked but escaped, and im not sure if she’s lying or has convinced herself that’s the truth

something’s going on with jason and pluto too but I don’t quite know what it is. when we first see jason he’s wearing a Jaws shirt, kind of a similar vibe to the thriller shirt, and when the tethered arrive he’s wearing a white tuxedo t shirt, white matching his mother’s white outfit. the others all go off to kill their doubles but pluto holds jason’s hand, sits with him quietly, watches his magic trick, he’s told to go “play” which. obviously has a violent undertone to it but he doesn’t actually try to kill him. i dont even remember seeing him with the scissors. why are jason and pluto different. why does pluto get stuck mirroring jason’s movements even to the point of his death but the others dont. why didn’t adelaide mirror red

i guess its possible its because pluto is the youngest in the family so maybe he hasn’t broken out of his connection yet? they didnt really ever explain how they learned to do that 

and as for the connection with adelaide it. could just be that jason takes after his mom more and zora takes after her dad more but that seems too simple. i mean theres the theory going around that jason was actually switched with his clone too at some point and its got some good points (jason forgetting the magic trick, getting stuck in the closet again, etc) but theres a whole line of logic to debunk that too so its just. What’s Going On Here  

cal 11 

i took the first pic to get a comparison shot at the same place later irl but then noticed the ambulance they come across is the same one (#2) they saw earlier 

pretty obvious but the real rabbit comes out through the picture of an identical rabbit (there’s also probably a “rabbit hole” allusion here) 

i noticed this before too but now i have a screenshot of it, im the rabbit in the background just chilling on the floor during the climax here

- im sure i must have seen this before but i forgot about it. the 11:11 guy’s tethered didn’t have a sign so he just.......carved it into his head

- it never healed, either, he did it badly enough to scar

- red says “I couldn’t stop thinking about you, how you could have taken me with you” - she doesn’t mean adelaide ran off and left her there. adelaide made the choice to trap her in the underground. its possible red might have even been thinking how she would have let adelaide come with her if given the chance, which. i mean, i dont know how her parents would have reacted to suddenly having identical twins out of nowhere, but like. knowing there’s a chance red might have accepted her. and all this could have been different 

this is definitely a movie that’s not really intended to be fully explained, there’s a lot of questions that aren’t really supposed to be answered, but nonetheless one of my biggest concerns is where do the clothes come from underground. red tells us they were all abandoned down there generations ago so nobody’s supervising or providing anything. how do they end up with copies of the clothing their counterparts are wearing. and here adelaide has a messed up faded old shirt that either looks similar to red’s shirt or is the same shirt just badly damaged, she switches it with red’s before she goes out for good so that explains how she gets the new shirt, but where did this one come from. why is it different if the other clothes aren’t

and of course there’s the whole question of “where did they all get these red jumpsuits from” but again. questions that aren’t really the point, i guess

[merinnan]

DMBJ Ep 5

We start episode 5 with the Xiaoge Rescue Count at 6 for Wu Xie, and 7 total.

- Pangzi just sitting there eating while they go to dig an evil bug out of A-Ning 

- A-Ning is luckier than Pan Zi, though, having it in her leg rather than in her gut 

- Should I consider this part of the Xiaoge Rescue Count? Technically he is saving A-Ning here, but does she count?

- Fuck it. There's now 3 Xiaoge Rescue Count categories: Wu Xie, the protagonists as a whole, and everyone 

- So the count is now 6 for Wu Xie, 7 for the protagonists, and 8 for everyone 

- That was a relatively painless bug removal. Probably helped that A-Ning was unconscious 

  - That's a large hole left in her thigh. Speaking from experience, standing & walking are not going to be fun for her for a LONG time. 

- But this is a cdrama, so she'll be fine within an ep or two 

- lol, I've never seen an unconscious person with this level of muscle control

- Wu Xie, you don't just wrap a bandage around a wound like that! Dress it first! 

- But, again, it's a TV show, so a bandage will be fine 

- JESUS CHRIST PANGZI 

- LOL, yes, shhhh, Pangzi. Shhhh. 

 - Pan Zi's looking a lot better this ep 

- ...what's wrong, Wu Xie?

- Aaaand he just passed out. 

- Xiaoge actually looks mildly disturbed. I think this is the second most amount of emotion we've seen from him so far 

- That looks like a nasty bite 

- Oh, we're just gonna...feed him blood. That's what we're going. 

- And it woke him up

- Okay, so Xiaoge Rescue Count is now 7 for Wu Xie, 8 for the protagonists, and 9 for everyone 

- Fortunately, Xiaoge hasn't lost as much blood as he did last time he used it for magic rescue purposes. Last thing they'd want is a comatose Xiaoge down here

- Everyone is just so chill whenever Xiaoge does weird stuff, it's great 

- Aaah, I was wondering how he'd been bitten, since I didn't remember a bug biting him. I forgot that A-Ning did 

- That's some odd poison if it got into her saliva just because she had a bug in her leg

- GDI Pangzi 

 - Of course the cure is in the tomb, and of course Xiaoge knows about it 

- LOL, there's a vaccine against the poison gas 

- Oooh, I was wondering when the dudes in the trees were gonna make their move. Poor Wu Xie's friend. He really would have been safer in the tomb, huh

- Hahah, why are the bad guys treating Wu Xie like the leader when he's just a uni student? 

- Ooh, who did that? 

 - Oh, Wu Xie's friend. Good boy. I mean, it was dumb, but brave. Now they can't use you against your friends. 

- Poor Wu Xie is so woozy he's not sure what happened

- Yeah, figured it was some more of A-Ning's friends 

- YOU LOSE CONTACT, & YOU LOSE CONTACT, & EVERYONE LOSES CONTACT! YAAAAY! 

- Get out before nightfall. Isn't that what Xiaoge said, too? 

- Yeah, abandoned in a forest at night doesn't sound like fun

- She should NOT be walking that well, although at least it is showing her limping and in pain instead of just okay 

- God, Pangzi, that was a dick move 

- And that was even more of one 

- Wow. I...don't really like this Pangzi. Those things he just did were actively cruel, even if she is an antagonist

- It's blocked? Yeah, ya think? 

- Oh, STFU Pangzi 

- Pan Zi looking at him like "I really regret not shooting you properly when I had the chance" 

- Xiaoge doing this "stab fingers STRAIGHT INTO MORTAR and remove the brick" trick again 

- The look on Pangzi's face is pure gold

- Had to pause watching for a sec to think about why I'm so mad at this Pangzi and more forgiving of Liu Sang in Chongqi. I think it's because Liu Sang intended to pull a prank. A mean prank, but he lacked the experience to understand that it was actively harmful and dangerous. It went wrong, and then he freaked because of that lack of experience and didn't know what to do/say until Xiaoge pushed him. And then he tried to help make up for it. Whereas this Pangzi did things that he knew would cause real physical pain to A-Ning and potentially worsen her injury just because he doesn't like her, and he doesn't seem to care or even give that a second thought, let alone look like he's going to apologise or try to make up for it. 

- OK, mini-rant over, back to the episode.

- Gratuitous Xiaoge side-profile pic just because

- And now Pangzi is gonna embarrass himself by trying & failing to be Xiaoge 

- YEAH CHENGCHENG I WONDER HOW THEY KNOW YOUR NAMES 

- Okay, I gotta stop to look up his name. I can't keep calling him Wu Xie's friend all the time

- High Shao. There we go

- High Shao is a good kid 

- A-Ning's eyeroll at Pangzi is my entire mood with his antics right now 

- Eyeroll from Wu Xie 

- Can't see Pan Zi's face, but his whole posture is basically an eye roll 

- Oh. Well. Huh. I did not expect Pangzi to actually manage to break the wall

- Judging by everyone's expressions, no-one else did, either 

- Oooh, something bad must be coming, Xiaoge is going on guard 

- Yep. Zombie dude is on his way 

- Yes, send the woman with the serious leg injury to go crawling through a tiny cave tunnel first. Brilliant idea, Wu Xie

- OK, I should stop being so hard on bb!Wu Xie, this is his first time in a tomb after all 

- Y'know, guys, I really think it would have been a better idea to let Pan Zi go before Pangzi, given that he's also injured and all. Get your most injured people to safety first.

- How the fuck is that zombie deflecting Xiaoge's sword with his HAND?! 

- WHY IS IT MAKING TINGING NOISES AS IF IT'S METAL HITTING METAL?! 

- Oh, NICE, Xiaoge! 

- I am very disappointed that I could not get a good screencap of that awesome, smooth, and effortless slide he did through the tunnel

- Things I discovered when I went to YouTube to see if I could get a good screencap of it by slowing down the playback (which I can't do on Viki) 

- the eps on YT and the eps on Viki are edited differently. I'm gonna have to watch this again on YT once I'm done with the Viki one

- At a guess, the YT ones have a bunch of stuff cut, because where I'm up to in ep 5 on Viki is in ep 4 on YT 

- For instance, XIAOGE'S AWESOME SLIDE THROUGH THE TUNNEL JUST THEN is not in the YT one?! 

- Wow, I'm going on a lot of tangents tonight. OK, back to the ep.

- Xiaoge holding the zombie at swordpoint until it gives up and backs away 

- So these zombies have some intelligence 

- ngl, though, if I was on my hands and knees in front of a hot guy holding a sword on me, backing away would be like the last thing I would be doing

- Why the fuck is there a giant, chained up tree deep in the middle of an underground tomb? 

- And ivy all over the cave walls? 

- WHERE ARE YOU GETTING SUNLIGHT FROM DOWN HERE?! HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?! 

- I'm glad you're just as confused as I am, Pan Zi

- OK, some sunlight is getting in, since there are two bodies laying in a conveniently positioned sunbeam 

- Sure, what the fuck are you gonna do to him, Pangzi? He's dead. He doesn't care. 

- Unless he's another zombie who's gonna rise from the grave, but still don't think he cares

- Yes, Pangzi, tomb robbers don't end well 

- Love Wu Xie's cute suspicious face 

- Lucky grab there 

- Oh, there you are, Sanshu 

- Do all the tunnels in this place empty out at this tree? 

- LOL, I love that Sanshu immediately doesn't take any of Pangzi's shit

- That was a bad place to faint 

- Good thing Xiaoge is right there! 

- Xiaoge Rescue Count: 8 for Wu Xie, 9 for the protagonists, 10 for everyone 

- I love how often Wu Xie is the damsel in distress

- Don't worry, Sanshu, Xiaoge will definitely look after his future bf

- Looks like Pangzi is about to fall. Again 

- Pangzi, if you had HELD ON to that vine, it wouldn't have been as bad 

- Wait for him to realise he's laying between two corpses in 3, 2, 1... 

- Uh...I hope they're just stuck to him and not actually sitting up under their own power

- These are remarkably well-preserved corpses 

- THERE'S that realisation 

- And there's the freakout 

 - They did get just get caught 

- They're not gonna have kids, Pangzi, they're dead 

- Pangzi, what are you doing? Leave the corpses alone now

- Wake them? I don't like the sound of that, Sanshu 

- Also, how do you know that? 

- Cute pingxie shots just because 

- In her mouth? 

- Oh, a key, thank goodness. I thought it was gonna be an evil bug 

- Pangzi, stop appraising her necklace, didn't you say you're not a tomb robber? 

- There's fucking what now? 

- HOW?! 

- THERE'S A WHAT IN HER ASS?! 

- Hahah, well that certainly stopped Pangzi from checking out the valuables on her 

- JFC 

- That got Xiaoge's attention 

- Oooh, he's noticed something in the tree 

- Sorry not sorry for more gratuitous Xiaoge shots

- That's a pretty looking key 

- ...and now her corpse is undergoing rapid decay? How the fuck was the key preventing the corpse from decaying? 

- That explanation makes no logical sense, Sanshu 

- Maybe that box the other corpse is holding, Wu Xie? 

- Pangzi thought of that, too

- What were those flashes? Were those just for the viewer, or was one of the characters getting them? 

- That seemed to be the unnaturally bright green-eyed man from the opening credits 

- Leave the sword alone, Pangzi 

- Although I do understand the desire to pick it up

- Uh...what 

- No shadow is NEVER a good thing 

- WTF? 

- Sanshu, I never wanna play poker with you 

- This doppelganger has done a damn good job of acting like Pangzi this whole time 

- When did it replace him? 

- Maybe it was the doppelganger who was so cruel to A-Ning? We'll see.

- That's a very solid ghost 

- And that's kinda creepy 

- Uh...isn't she already dead? 

- Sanshu just going straight for the tackle 

- Clever boy, Wu Xie 

- Though, Xiaoge, where were you? Were you just gonna let Pangzi strangle Sanshu, or did you figure Sanshu had it handled?

- (he did not have it handled) 

- (pretty sure if that had been Wu Xie you'd've jumped in the moment Pangzi's hands went around his throat, if not before) 

- *sigh* Pangzi, pls 

- The Green Eyed Fox? 

- Was that the dude in the fox mask? 

- Probably (also?) the opening credits guy

- How the fuck has it taken me 3 hours to get through half an ep? 

- Oh yeah, I keep going off on tangents and pausing to take pretty screenshots of Xiaoge 

- So we're doing fox demons, are we? 

- Don't touch anything. Yeah, like that sword you had casually slung over your shoulder.

- Storytime! 

- Suuure, Pangzi 

- Xiaoge really seems to know everything 

- Don't rattle it, Wu Xie 

- Oh, that interested A-Ning 

- I wonder if this is the thing that's supposed to cure Wu Xie 

- Sanshu thinks it's a bad idea, but doesn't want anyone other than Wu Xie to know

- Or, more to the point, doesn't want Pangzi and A-Ning to know 

- Good excuse, Wu Xie 

- I wonder if Pangzi is still supposed to be a doppelganger, or if that was part of the hallucination 

- Yeah, suuure you're not going to steal relics, Liu Tai

- Have they set up a new camp at the digsite, or did they take Chengcheng and High Shao back to their original camp? 

- I think he does legit want A-Ning to be ok, though 

- Looks like I was right, all the tunnels lead to the tree 

- Which means I expect zombie guy to show up any minute

- Don't think A-Ning will be happy they kept what happened to her friend from her when that happens 

- Xiaoge back into 'something is coming' mode 

- Oh, how was that for timing? Less than a minute after I said it, zombie dude is on his way 

  - And it goes straight for Pangzi 

- Maybe he knew Pangzi was a dick to his friend 

- GDI A-Ning 

- That's a strong zombie 

- XIAOGEEEEEEE! 

- Xiaoge Rescue Count: 8 for Wu Xie, 10 for the protagonists, 11 for everyone

- Yes, Pangzi, Xiaoge IS amazing

- lol, Pangzi making so much noise cheering for Xiaoge that he got the zombie's attention back 

- Xiaoge Rescue Count: 8 for Wu Xie, 11 for the protagonists, 12 for everyone

- This is apparently the Xiaoge Rescues EVERYONE ep 

- I'm not surprised you fell, A-Ning, with that wound

- That was a heavy fall. Ouch 

- Come on, A-Ning, you seemed more level headed than this so far 

- And the zombie knocks away the easier/closer target, Wu Xie, to target A-Ning 

- Wonder if there's a reason for it, or just dramatics

- And then he stops trying to bite her to kick her away & go back to fighting Xiaoge? 

- Those are some very nice moves from Xiaoge 

- And now the zombie is...launching himself at Wu Xie and the others? 

- Wu Xie being the hero and pushing everyone else out the way

- Pangzi to the rescue? 

- No - A-Ning!

- Poor A-Ning 

- Oh yeah, better pull Pangzi out the tree 

- Zombie spitting up blood as he's dying 

- No, Pangzi, he's not gonna be fine. A-Ning shot him like 4 or 5 times in the chest 

- Aaah, zombie is lucid now

- Wu Xie ain't doing too good right now 

- Those are some nasty bruises. Caused by the poison gas/blood, I'm guessing 

- WTF made you think drinking the water in a tomb chamber was a good idea? 

- Xiaoge's shown emotion a total of 3 times in 5 eps, and 2 of those have been worry for Wu Xie

- Whatcha looking for, Xiaoge? 

- Huh, no-one even thought to look under there, just assumed the box was all that was interesting 

- Kirin blood?!  

- And how did A-Ning know what it was, esp from that distance? 

- Pan Zi, you are like the second most badass person here next to Xiaoge

- Also, I am no longer feeling sorry for A-Ning 

- You owe these people your life, A-Ning, and this is how you repay them? 

- Xiaoge isn't too impressed. After all Pan Zi ain't Wu Xie 

- Oh, that seems like a fair deal. 

- I am pleased with the amount of Xiaoge in this ep

- Xiaoge Rescue Count: 9 for Wu Xie, 12 for the protagonists, 13 for everyone

- Not gonna count his offer to A-Ning as a rescue, since he didn't bother waiting to see if she'd accept before he went ahead and saved his future bf 

- This is the softest I've seen him look all show

- Pan Zi is much nicer than I would have been. I would have probably punched her 

- Then again, they've made a fuss a few times about treating her differently because she's a woman, ugh

- Hahah, Xiaoge just getting up and walking off without any explanation for poor Wu Xie

- Wu Xie seemed so concerned, like he thought he'd done something wrong 

- Then all worried, aww 

- Hahah, Xiaoge not even gonna wait for A-Ning, just gonna go find her guys all by himself 

- Several *thousand*? No wonder Wu Xie's gagging

- Oh, eating super old kirin blood is what made Xiaoge's blood magical? Does that mean Wu Xie's blood is also magic now? 

- Just Chengcheng in danger, Sanshu? What about High Shao? 

- What about climbing the tree? 

- XD XD XD

 - Sanshu saying exactly what I just did

- There's sunlight already coming through, will you even need to dig a hole? That sunbeam on the corpses was pretty big 

- Pan Zi like "of course I can climb all the way up there with a hole in my gut and several other injuries"

- Of course Wu Xie is gonna worry about A-Ning getting out as well. He wouldn't be Wu Xie if he didn't 

- Wu Xie is such a nice boy 

- Pan Zi is also pretty forgiving 

- Pangzi, you just can't take people being sincere with you yet, can you? 

- That's some depressed fatalism there

- Sanshu now doing his part to convince A-Ning by appealing to her sense of responsibility for her men 

 And there we go for ep 5! It only took me...5 hours for a 40 minute ep 

We end with Xiaoge Rescue Count at 9 for Wu Xie, 12 for the protagonists, 13 for everyone

[photomaniacs]

Photographing Hang Son Doong, the World’s Largest Cave http://ift.tt/2s9ftoi

In 2009, I was involved in a near fatal car crash when an oncoming car made an unsafe left turn in front of my vehicle, nearly killing me. This life changing incident was a blessing. It forced me to slow down and really assess how I was living and experiencing my life. This near-death experience revealed to me the need to be creative on a much higher level and really contribute to this planet.

At the time of my car crash, I was working as a C-Level executive in the creative ad agency world and working with some of the most successful brands in the world. I enjoyed the work and it was a creative avenue. However, the car crash left me asking questions about how I was living, how I was spending my time and what I wanted to experience out of this life.

It took every ounce of determination and perseverance along with physical and mental therapy over 5 years to restore my body and mind enough to enjoy any physical activities again. Also during this time is when I truly fell in love with photography.

I had always enjoyed taking pictures but this was different. It was like a burning desire to explore. I had always loved travel and adventures along with various forms of visual storytelling. I wanted to find a way to combine the two passions of mine. I bought my first real camera (a Canon 5D Mark III) and began to experiment. I stayed up many, many nights until the early hours of the morning watching tutorials and basically learning anything I could off the Internet about how my camera actually worked and what it was capable of.

I started toying around with long exposure, understanding light and compositional elements. I kept working with the technical elements and experimenting with different techniques. Finally, I was getting somewhere, this is when I realized how much of an impact shooting nature and landscapes had on me.

Me

My journey began. I started an Instagram account, then started traveling more and testing more and more camera gear. I snapped hundreds of photographs, each time adjusting and applying what I had learned. Bringing new techniques to my photo composition. I began to make connections online with some talented photographers and also began partaking in photographer groups and photo meet ups. It felt like it was all coming together. Even if this was just to inspire a few of my friends and family to get out and enjoy nature, it seemed worth it.

I really didn’t have a particular goal in mind. I just recall that I wanted to explore some less charted territory and grab some cool photos. I began to research places to explore. I had heard of this cave in Vietnam called Hang Son Doong. It had been explored but only by a few people. I started to do some research and look into this adventure in more detail.

I learned that the Vietnam government only allows a certain number of permits annually to explore inside and strict rules of what you can and can’t do while in the cave. They even send 2 government representatives with anybody going inside the cave to ensure you comply keeping the ecosystem untouched and environment protected.

There is only one group authorized to take people through this cave. I reached out to them and managed to secure a spot with a team. They recommended, due to the extreme nature of this expedition, that I train 6 months prior and meticulously prepare for the jungle terrain of mountain trekking, 47 river crossings, bouldering, tunnels, rock climbing, deadly green viper snakes and leeches.

Hang Son Doong Cave which means “Mountain River Cave” located in Vietnam. What makes this cave so unique is more people have been on the summit of Mount Everest than inside this massive cave. Less than 800 explorers have been inside this cave making it a rare photography opportunity.

The location of the cave in Vietnam and Asia.

The cave is the largest known cave in the world. According to the British Cave Experts that accompanied us on the expedition with their combined experience of 60 years explained “there is no cave in the world this beautiful with lush green do-line openings”. The cave experts accompany us for safety and ensure environmental and ecosystem compliance.

The cave and its massive structure is 200 meters (656ft) wide and 150 meters (492ft) high and up to 10km (~6mi) deep (what’s known, that is). What makes this cave so unique also is its hard to get to location. We had to be dropped off in the middle of the Vietnam Jungle where we trek 10 to 12km per day through 47 river crossings, up and down mountain ranges, through heavy jungle brush, avoiding green cobra snakes, avoiding leeches and repelling/descending 90 meters (~295ft) inside the pitch black opening to the cave.

I trained as much as I could. Rock climbing and many hikes. I spent months preparing with essentials I would need incase something went wrong. With this expedition, I knew we would be wet for 3 days and semi dry for 2 days. I also knew the only light we would have is our headlamps which wouldn’t give much time to adjust things incase the need arose.

One of the trickiest things about this type of expedition is the climate:

Lenses fog

Constantly covered in grit

Lenses get gritty

Cameras get gritty

Cameras can fail

Lenses fog more

Batteries drain

No light

Hard to light scenes with limited light

Cameras get banged around

Trying to stay stable and not fall off a cliff while snapping some photos

Carrying all your gear (9-11 kg) for 60 KM and 5 days through some of the hardest wet terrain

And most of all, getting your settings correct so the photos can look half decent for any sponsors or clients.

Realizing we are at least 4-5 days from any civilization, safety must be our number one concern before embarking upon a 5 day physically and mentally demanding journey through the Vietnam jungle.

Day 1

After being dropped off in the middle of the jungle, we will reach the trailhead, where we’ll start trekking for approximately 1-2 hours downhill through the forest, which is quite steep at times. We walk for half an hour along a small stream to the minority village of Ban Doong, which is a real highlight on this expedition. We will eat and learn more about this unique ethnic group of people while enjoying lunch beside a small river. These local villagers lives many miles from any civilization and live completely off the land. They are extremely strong survivors. One time during a massive flood they were forced to live in a tree with their entire families for 10 days due to flooding. All they lived off was leaves.

After this point, we will be in the sun all afternoon with about 4 hours along a river, with very little shade. We’ll cross the river many times and have wet feet for the whole day.

Well then reach the entrance to Hang En Cave, home to thousands of swifts. We will use a headlight and you will trek/boulder approximately 20-30 mins to set up a campsite inside the cave and take some shots. After dinner a steep climb up boulders for some night shots.

Hang En Cave upon arrival last daylight

Hang En Cave and our camp and nighttime

Day 2

Up at 5:45 AM Passing through Hang En Cave to reach the magnificent exit, we then scramble down to the river valley and then it’s an hour walk through the river, so our boots are going to be wet for most of the day; it is unavoidable, yet part of the fun.

We’ll then start climbing a steep mountain for about 2 hours with some rocky sections to start. At the top of the mountain we will enjoy lunch and fit our safety harness and prepare to go underground. A steep descent with a couple of short rope climbs brings us at last to Son Doong entrance.

We then start the 90 M descent into the cave by making a number of short climbs, using ropes and safety lines. We then enjoy a few more climbs and bouldering to reach the first and second river crossings inside the cave, which are knee-to-thigh deep depending on the water levels.

On our way to the first campsite location in the first large passage of the cave, we need to be extra careful as there are a number of big drops and scrambling over boulders along a rocky path before reaching one of the most spectacular views: Hand of Dog and daylight streaming through the cave. We will then scramble down to the first campsite of Son Doong around 3 – 4 pm and have the afternoon to soak up the views, snap some pics and rest our bodies.

One of the river crossings inside Hang Son Doong cave you can see one of our explorers in the distance for scale.

A river crossing above a waterfall in Hang Son Doong Cave

The team and I taking photos inside Hang Son Doong Cave

Hang Son Doong first stop. 350 million year old stalagmites and one of our team to show scale

Day 3

Up at 5:45 AM after breakfast we start with some rocky climbs, which are dangerously steep in some places, as we reach the first jungle within the cave at Watch Out for Dinosaurs. It will take about 1.5 hrs to travel within the cave from Camp 1 to Watch Out for Dinosaurs. After a short break we will be trotting down the rocky path to reach the enormous Green Do-Lines, one of the most magnificent spots. Hoping to catch sunbeams there.

It is then a trek through the cave past gigantic formations and plenty of cave pearls towards the light of the second doline and main jungle within the cave. Follow the path past the beautiful foliage reaching towards the light, to reach the underground jungle, unlike anything we could experience on the planet! We cross the jungle for around 1 hour to reach the steep and sometimes slippery path down to our second campsite location within Son Doong Cave.

After a short rest at the campsite, we are back on our feet and trekking deeper within the cave towards the Great Wall of Vietnam. We then pass through a very large dry passage with huge stalagmites and unbelievable views back toward the second doline. Many new creepy crawlies have been discovered within this passage including white spiders, fish, woodlouse and shrimp species so we might make a few friends.

We then reach at this point either a very large beautiful underground lake (where we then paddle to reach the Great Wall of Vietnam) or we will find a fantastically adventurous muddy pit (at which you will need to trudge your way through for a few hundred meters to reach the wall).

One of the dark passageways lit up inside Hang Son Doong Cave

At the top of Garden of Edam Hang Son Doong Cave

Day 4

Up at 5:45 AM. We pack up camp and start heading back to the first doline, with a slightly different route through a small oxbow passage above the underground river in which there is a very steep drop into darkness that we can’t even see the bottom. We use our harnesses, rope and safety line.

Once we have reached the first campsite around 11 am, we will have time for a short break before climbing down to the ancient fossil passage, where we will witness 350 million year old coral fossils. Finally, we enjoy a small wash in the pools and a big lunch before descending back to the main passage, crossing the river twice and proceeding to rock climb up the 90 meter (~295ft) wet slippery rocks to the entrance of Hans Son Doong.

Our Campsite number 2 Hang Son Doong Cave

Looking up at Garden of Edam

Looking up at Garden of Edam

Only way to see the end of Hang Son Doong Cave is by kayak

Day 5

Wake up at 5:45 AM, pack up camp and start our 10 km trek back to Road 20 after breakfast. We will follow the river along the valley and back through Ban Doong Village. We will be fueling up before starting on what is quite a difficult steep climb back up the mountain for the last 2 hours of this expedition. Once back at the Ho Chi Minh highway highway we have a ride arranged to pick us up and take us back to civilization where we can eat and take a long hot shower.

After this I took a shower went to meet my team to eat an amazingly tasty authentic Vietnamese feast while we all sat quietly reflecting. It was hard to put into words what we all felt being engulfed inside a massive mountain and seeing earth’s amazing wonders first hand. Many of us were emotional leaving this glorious cave.

If anything, what I want to convey with this article is that no matter what you do in life always follow your heart to lead toward your passions. Live every day as though it was your last and make it count. It will be the most rewarding thing your soul will ever experience and will live with you forever.

About the author: Gregg Jaden is a travel photographer and marketing executive based in Manhattan Beach, California. You can connect with him and find more of his work on his website, Instagram, and Twitter.

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June 26, 2017 at 06:00PM