When your friend/sidekick can smell your bullshit a mile away
cherry valley forever

blake kathryn
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
Aqua Utopia|海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
Claire Keane
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year

Kaledo Art
Peter Solarz
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
Xuebing Du

JBB: An Artblog!
wallacepolsom

izzy's playlists!
Misplaced Lens Cap
Show & Tell

Janaina Medeiros

★
todays bird
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@bananapunchmishap
When your friend/sidekick can smell your bullshit a mile away
NTN Innovation Booster Swiss Food Ecosystems - Winners 2021
The Autumn Ballad (2022)
I like this story. It gives meaning to the word flawed—flawed humans navigating a world full of flaws. I have loved a string of strong FLs through the years, but then by some Deus ex Machina scheme somebody will be saving them despite logic to the contrary, or that by some unexplainable hidden rule—which we can only attribute to that maelstrom of mind-bending neuron-culling collective called ‘drama logic’—they manage to ride off into the sunset with their loved one and they live happily ever after. Those kinds of portrayals leave me wanting more and for me somehow diminishes their agency. Male characters are not immune to this treatment by any stretch, but they manage to serve this injustice to female characters more often than is necessary. I still love these FLs nonetheless, but I am annoyed that writers would do such characters the disservice.
Now enter Qiu Yan. The FL here is strong and smart—not exactly physically strong, but no delicate piece of porcelain either; her strength is the tenacity and the mental toughness to weather whatever life throws her way. She is a flawed character though, as aforementioned before—among others, she lacks real-world experience, can be uncaring, and frustratingly, often displays a singular mindset which leads her to jump to conclusions. However, despite her strengths and flaws, we see right from the start that her plans don't often go the way she thinks or wants them to go, and she even suffers the consequences of her actions. As a character, she somehow manages to evade that treatment that a lot of FLs are subjected to—i.e., that someone around the corner will be looking out for them and will come to save their skin at the most crucial juncture. She does get some help now and then, but it doesn't mean that she didn't have to lift a finger. So, all in all, whether she gets her just rewards or pays the penalty, one can clearly see that she did her part and that she had no regrets. She suffers, claws her way back out, redeems herself, and lives—not because she is shielded by the inevitability that she must survive because she is the lead, but because she took action. This, I think, makes this the most realistic portrayal I have seen in years.
Our ML Liang Yi is no omniscient and omnipotent male character either who is above everyone. Like our FL he is smart and strong—mentally, but also physically—but unlike our FL, in this universe, he is powerful and well-connected. Initially, we see him as a blatant opportunist who is prone to arrogance and dismissive of people who are ‘beneath’ him. What makes his characterisation quite refreshing is that, when he is proven wrong rather than being high-handed about it, he makes effort to amend the error of his ways and is not hesitant to eat his slice of humble pie—he would do it covertly of course, given the nature of his work. He gives credit where credit is due—even to people he despises. He also does not come rushing to the FL whenever she is in dire straits like an avenging angel—often, he is an outsider watching on the side-lines and sees for himself that despite experience under his belt, there's still more to the world that he can learn, and he acknowledges that. Rather than a hero who saves the damsel in distress, our ML is more like an equal partner to our FL—he knows when to step up and when to back down. His intelligence does not mean that we get to see him winning all the time, or that other characters in the story will not have better ideas than he does. Like our FL, he too falls prey to schemes—and realistically, we see that his survival is a product of his decisions rather than the plot armour that many MLs often wear.
It is also set in a flawed universe—just like real life. There were some character deaths that were somehow unnecessary, supporting characters who I expected to fill in more as the story progressed but were left under-utilised, in my opinion at least, and some characters who I feel deserved better/worse. Upon closer scrutiny, however, if the show did manage to resolve these issues, then the world in the drama would have been perfect and fair, which of course it is not. Redemption in this show does not come for free unlike in other dramas. Characters redeem themselves, but as humans, also fall victim to their humanity—some ways are difficult to change, and that's how life is, as exasperating as it may sound.
Could this show have been better? Perhaps, but all this would be in hindsight.
Photos taken from MDL: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09
Land grab that's what it is
Enigma 1317: Eight times
by Richard England;
New Scientist magazine, 27 November 2004
I invite you to find a 5-digit number consisting of five different digits (not starting with zero) which when multiplied by 8 produces another 5-digit number consisting of the other 5 digits; in addition, the sum of the digits of your [original] 5-digit number must be greater than the sum of the digits of the product.
(Remember that the answer required is the number as it was before the multiplication.)
Which 5-digit number have you found?
For future reference.
The Imperial Coroner (2021)
This is a gem of a show. I have quite reached drama-watching ennui when I stumbled upon this whilst browsing the WeTV mobile app. This one hasn’t been on my radar since I know nothing about the cast—no big name actors, idols, or veterans—at best a couple of faces that I have seen in supporting roles in some other drama.
I am not about to go through what the story is all about, but will dive right in about what I love about this show. This review may sound quite generic since I don’t want to give out spoilers.
1: IQ for everyone
Well, well, well. Now here’s something I haven’t seen before (or see less and less in dramas coming out nowadays). A show where everyone has an IQ (though one character seems to have missed out on the free IQ giveaway), but man this is refreshing. I am tired of seeing a synopsis of a drama indicating a smart female lead, who then all of a sudden turns quite infantile and brainless seconds into the show, or villains who just have a good healthy dose of BAD without the brain cells to match. And yes, even the IQ of the viewers are not being undermined by this show. There’s a healthy dose of brain cells involved here without venturing into pedantry—some other shows will have the characters explain things, but this show effectively uses visual cards and reenactments, and actually follow logic (yes, the drama-watching mathematician me is just chuffed).
2: No useless fillers
Yes. Fillers are for faces, not dramas. Thankyouverymuch. Conflicts in this drama are resolved as quickly as possible without the unnecessary-throw-your-screen-pull-your-hair-out frustration on our part as viewers. Hallelujah!
3: Sensible, well-written characters
This ties in with number 1 and 2. Yep, sensible, mature, no non-sense characters (for the most part!!!)—it doesn’t mean they don’t have comedic moments for this show has heaps of comedy gold and funny moments. But the way the characters interact and how they deal with situations is a great refreshing change from all other dramas where the people seem to have been hijacked by brain-eating nematodes of some sort. Everyone is consistent (even the air-headed ones), relatable, and gasp, no annoying ‘look-at-me-I’m-cute-but-absolutely-helpless’ character (which every show in existence seems to have by way of template).
4: No attention-grabbing romance
This is a crime-fighting, puzzle-solving drama. A number of dramas out there will have the same premise, but then not even half-way we see characters mired in their love lives and we as viewers are left wondering what is going on regarding the conspiracy they need to solve, which is as if the writer fell asleep on their workspace and somebody else typed a different story. Yes, there are sweet moments in this show, and they are actually convincing and the progression is organic—not the logic-suspending sort that I-see-you-you-see-me-okay-let’s-hitched that we often see in almost every single drama out there.
5: Well-written overall
Does this drama have flaws? Yes, it has. Natürlich. The question is, are the flaws so bad that they take away from the viewing experience? A highly emphatic NO. Like all other dramas out there, yes there are twists and turns, yes there are these little moments, consistently stupid characters, consistently smart characters, but all of them add to the story and does not detract from the plot. Even the minor characters have roles to fill that move the story forward. Conflicts, problems, puzzles, questions, resolutions are all tied in together and are not some random things that have been plucked out of thin air or have fallen from the heavens. Questions that we get to ask as viewers are organically and logically revealed without the feeling of being rushed or as if the rest is just an afterthought. Nope, from beginning to end, this is a solid, well-written show.
Watch the drama here: WeTV • WeTV (youtube) • Viki
Legend of Xiao Chuo (thoughts on Eps 1 - 13)
This was the drama that I was excitedly awaiting for all year. But the reality of watching the drama couldn’t quite match the expectations that I had for this show.
Problem 1: You’re screwed when the weakest link is the female lead.
I haven’t watched any shows of Tang Yan before (the actress playing the titular Xiao Chuo)—nor of Shawn Dou’s (the male lead) for that matter, so I was coming in blind when it comes to expectations on our leads—but I was unpleasantly surprised by her acting. I can’t seem to shake off comparisons with Shen Yue (in Meteor Garden 2018), and that is not a praise—at least Shen Yue’s expressions improved towards the latter half of the show.
Problem 2: When the male and female lead have the chemistry of siblings rather than lovers.
I want to be fair on this assessment, but I started watching Xiao Chuo fresh on the heels of watching Bpoop Phaeh Saniwaat, and the chemistry of our leads in Xiao Chuo leaves much to be desired.
Problem 3: Can we stop using older actors to play the role of teenagers?
Now this is a rant on dramas in general but I’m so tired of watching dramas where the lead actors play characters almost half their age. PLEASE.
Problem 4: When the other male and female leads are actually more compelling than the main leads.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was more engaged watching the scenes of the second male lead (played by Jing Chao) and the other male characters (played by Kevin Tan and Jeffrey Ji), even though they play not-quite-good people simply because they are more layered and more complex than our male lead. Same goes to the other sisters, especially to older sister (played by Charmaine Sheh) and even second sister (played by Amber Lu) than our female lead.
Revelation 1: Liu Yi Jun as doting GOOD dad!
Chances are, when you see Liu Yi Jun’s name there is a very high probability that you’re expecting to see him play a baddie, and I can’t blame you for that—he plays mean yet complex baddies. But not this time around! He’s my favourite character in the show so far.
《The Left Hand Refers To The Moon/左手指月》|《香蜜沉沉燼如霜》主題曲Ashes of Love OST|古筝纯筝/Zither| by 崔江卉CuiJianghui
I previously posted here in tumblr the song Upwards to the Moon by Sa Dingding, the ending theme song for the drama Ashes of Love. This one is the zither or guzheng (古箏) version. I can listen to this all day.
The bird has eluded scientists for the last 130 years.
A math teacher explains how she emphasizes effort over achievement.
And that idea of innate math ability is very harmful to both those who believe they possess it and to those who believe they don’t. Furthermore, our new era of educational accountability perpetuates this fallacy and clouds the message we want our students to receive in math class.
Many former algebra students have painful memories of struggling to memorize the quadratic formula. A new way to derive it, overlooked for 4,000 years, is so simple it eliminates the need.
Today, over 4,000 years later, millions of people have the quadratic formula etched into their minds thanks to the way mathematics is taught across the planet.
But far fewer people can derive this expression.
Three types of treatments of miscanthus were performed, alkali, silanization and the combination of both. There is a direct inverse relation between the amount of sugar-containing molecules extracted from miscanthus and the mechanical strength of the concrete blocks. The use of alkali treated stems as fillers increased remarkably the strength of the blocks, and this was even higher when the alkali treated fibers were coated with silica, with a compression strength of 11 MPa compared with an initial 2.2 MPa. The use of alkali-treated stems result in a faster cement hydration, compared to untreated ones suggesting that specific sugars or other components released from the alkali-treated plant may favor cement hydration. A remarkable decrease of the cellulose and xylose content is observed for the miscanthus pieces after being soaked in a cement-water-sand mixture, these two molecules being adsorbed on cement particles.
Very very frightening thing
The set is a Many that allows itself to be thought of as a One.
Georg Cantor
Fruit seller (pre-Lunar New Year hassle), Chinatown Market, Singapore
Canon AE-1, Canon FD 50mm f1.8, Kodak Max 400
The essence of mathematics lies entirely in its freedom.
Georg Cantor
Walking around Genève. 23 December 2018
En route to Lyon, where we were to spend Christmas, we stopped by Geneva for a few hours—the train/bus tickets that go directly from Zürich to Lyon were quite expensive, however, if one is to do a Zürich-Genève-Lyon trip instead, the tickets are much cheaper, and we got to see another city. It was a Sunday, and eerily though not surprisingly—Switzerland being Switzerland—shops were closed and the streets were almost empty.
Canon F-1, Canon FD 50mm f1.8, Kodak Ektar 100