reading and dreaming

25+ (she/her) | Half-asleep bookworm with too many fixations | Translations are tagged as #my TLs, with more archived on my Carrd | ENG/中文/日本語 OK!

[jasmineflower9]

《阴客》 Yin Ke by 木苏里 (Musuli) - English Fan Translation [COMPLETE]

Bit of shameless self-promo, but I've picked up the English translation of Mu Su Li's 2016 novel 《阴客》 Yin Ke!

JJWXC novel listing: >>Link<< [Purchase the novel to support Mu Su Li!!!: >>Guide to JJWXC<<]

Novel Carrd: >>Link<<

Chapter 1-16 by @/choco_lava_cake: >>Link<<

Chapters 17 onwards by me: >>Link<<

Carrd archive of my danmei translations (extras etc): >>Link<<

More specifics about the novel under the cut!

One-line intro by Mu Su Li: “Lived too long and accidentally became twisted” gong x “Lived too close to the twisted person and ended up twisted too” sickly, fragile shou [misleading]

Summary: There was a schedule posted on the door to the forensic clinic located in a corner of Kanghe Hospital’s third floor.

Mondays, Wednesdays: Municipal Public Security Bureau; Tuesdays, Thursdays: District Public Security Bureau

Of course, this was just what an ordinary human could perceive. In actuality, there was another sentence below…

It stated —— The Yin Ke is present every month on the fifteenth. Latecomers will not be accommodated; seek elsewhere for services. 

On the fifteenth of a certain month, Yin Wushu stood on a black rock by the side of a bridge. From afar, he remarked to Xie Bai: “Ever since you came to live in this damned place, you’ve never let me enter.”

Xie Bai gripped the side of the door, his face stony. “Are you done talking?”

Yin Wushu: “For good or bad, I painstakingly raised you for over a hundred years.”

Xie Bai responded coldly: “So?”

Yin Wushu: “Slam the door with a little less force?”

Xie Bai wordlessly lifted a hand and slammed the door shut with a “boom”. The stone bridge shook with the sheer force of it.

Yin Wushu: “...”

*****

Content labels: 1vs1, HE, Filled with nonsense, filled with nonsense, filled with nonsense (important things must be repeated three times).

Tags: Strong x strong, supernatural (gods, ghosts and spirits), one love interest only, modern-day fictional setting

Main characters: 谢白 Xie Bai (MC/shou), 殷无书 Yin Wushu (ML/gong)

*****

If you've read and enjoyed Mu Su Li's Panguan, give her earlier work Yin Ke a try for its mixed historical and modern setting, a lying Shifu, long separations, and SO MUCH handholding!! It's very much her version of short and sweet, and it definitely doesn't lack her signature snark and banter.

As one of her earliest works, it may come off as a rough prototype or early draft of Panguan at first, but the chaotic CP definitely have a flavour of their own!

I guarantee that there's fewer knives :)

*****

JJWXC novel listing: >>Link<< [Purchase the novel to support Mu Su Li!!!: >>Guide to JJWXC<<]

Novel Carrd: >>Link<<

Chapter 1-16 by @/choco_lava_cake: >>Link<<

Chapters 17 onwards by me: >>Link<<

*****

Happy reading!

Edit: *Also, I ask that you do not link my translation to novelupdates.

[redsugarx]

Evolution of the Mamianqun: Conclusion

Nav: Presentation // Intro // Southern Song 南宋 // Yuan 蒙元 // Early Ming 明初 // Mid-Early Ming 明中前 // Mid-Late Ming 明中後 // Late Ming 晚明 // Fabrics Pt 1 // Fabrics Pt 2 // Misc Fun Facts // Conclusion

If you thought this was gonna be a short conclusion you were WRONG I am doing REFLECTIONS(tm) There will be two parts: (1) Things That Were Good and (2) Things That Were Bad! The second part will be significantly longer than the first part because it is more detailed but overall it was a good experience I promise!!!!!!!

(This is probably not as fun to read for people but it is mostly an exercise in reflection. Also if you want to see the sheer amount of ways things like this can go wrong and feel better about yourself, this is a good place to look)

As viewer tax here is @/qiuqiuchinese's instagram reel on the behind the scenes of the project (the person she's interviewing is my older sister Yulan, I'm the one that pops in for like 2 seconds at 1:14 with a mask on cuz I'm shy) (also the captions say 姐姐 but I am Yulan's younger sibling by 6 years, so it should be 妹妹)

Things That Were Good

Massive coincidence while we were looking for videographers: a few days before deciding, Rachel (@/qiuqiuchinese) reached out to us looking to collab because she was going to be in Southern Cal (she lives there now but she used to be based in Boston). She mentioned that her husband happens to be a videographer by trade, and it turned out that they were in town and free at the exact right time to shoot this video with us, so it ended up being a collab!

Videography was a 100% new thing for me; I'd never done a project anything like this. To come up with the idea almost a year and a half before doing this project, and step-by-step bring it to life, is a really rewarding process, though it was very rocky and frustrating most of the time. I learned a lot from going through all the grueling parts of the project, and even though a bunch of stuff went wrong and it took SO much of my time and energy over the past year, I'm glad I did it and I'm happy with the results.

Chef's kiss to the models; they were absolutely perfect for their looks. Having modeled myself I really admire their tenacity—I start twitching thirty minutes into being in the makeup chair; these two had to sit for upwards of two hours a look, over and over and over again. Even when they weren't the ones being styled, they were off-stage on steaming and organizing duty, which were a huge help to keeping things running smoothly. My personal favorites were Tiona in the mid-early Ming look and Emily in the Song look.

Yulan's makeup skills keep getting better every time—she was unsure about being able to pull off a more classical makeup look at first, because her makeup work usually leans more modern, but she pulled it off beautifully following the notes I gave her and the end result looks fantastic. Because she was involved in both the styling and the detail shot maneuvering parts of the shoot, she was the only person on set who had practically zero breaks over the course of each ten-hour day, and I'm astonished at how energetic she was able to stay (I got the chill directing job sitting on the side yelling at people for most of the time and I was still dead by the end of each day).

Lizi from Lizi Studio was also a godsend; she sponsored a bunch of stuff for us including the studio and a bunch of props, and her hairstyling skills are unparalleled. We 100% couldn't have pulled this off without her and it was wonderful to get to know someone else in Cali seriously pursuing hanfu.

Kevin (Yulan's bf) did so much driving back and forth for us, I'm super grateful that he was able to come. Everyone was busy on set and we sent him to get food, drinks, forgotten keys, forgotten items, etc. like fifty times over the course of the day; even though he was rarely on set we still managed to keep him busy most of the time.

I think I can add Premiere Pro to my resume skills now, given that I basically learned the program from zero over the course of the editing shenanigans

Things That Were Bad

Design & Manufacturing (Tops)

Switched fabrics halfway through because the lighter teal was too bright and didn't match the outside well enough (had to remake 3-4 garments)

Made the earlier time period tops ~10-20cm too long for the effect that I wanted, had to remake (had to remake 4-5 garments)

One of the garments got messed up and the wrong fabric was used in the wrong place (remade 1 garment)

Changed a bunch of trims on the Song beizi like three times cuz it didn't look right

Buzi was wider than most machines had the capability of weaving without repeats, took forever to get one that could do it

Design & Manufacturing (Skirts)

In the process of trying to figure out how to manufacture woven-on-demand mamianqun fabric, reached out to like 50+ workshops, actually went through and tried 6 different ones, and ended up with 3 viable ones (aka spent SO MUCH money)

Initial teal color was too dark, had to exchange for a different thread color

Typically two kinds of gold filaments can be used for the fabric: round or flat, flat looked better initially on early fabric samples but the machine of the fabric workshop we went with could only handle round so we had to switch to round again

Warehouse that I was storing fabric in was unfamiliar with how mamianqun fabric worked and kept cutting the roll at the wrong place when distributing fabric to the tailors x-x

Last-minute added an extra gold outline to the design of the longma mane and tail to help add a bit of detail in, had to get all three of the patterned skirt digitizations updated, it was a huge hassle and huge cost and I lowkey regret doing it because tbh you can barely see the outline anyway

The damask from one factory was different from another, so the black damask parts of the Late Ming skirt used for the video looks different from the rest because it was woven with a different technique (I had a replacement made but it didn't get here in time)

Shooting (Transportation)

The BART got rerouted on my way to the airport—I think it was something about construction or power outages, but they diverted in a different direction and told people to get out and wait for the next train which was half an hour away. I had to get out in Oakland and call a Lyft, but the traffic was really bad and I still didn’t make it on time and had to reschedule my flight for later in the day. I did get there eventually thankfully

So much airplane trouble on Yulan's end... she was supposed to get here at 5pm, she didn't end up getting to the airbnb until like 2am that night

At the end of the second day, we left the studio and went to drop off Emily at her house first, then went home to our airbnb. Except, instead of the airbnb's address, Kevin accidentally put the address of the studio into the GPS again so we drove all the way back to the studio and didn't realize until we pulled into the parking lot. And then had to drive all the way back again

Shooting (Set & Lighting)

Time mismanagement on two days on set: We had two days for this, 12/21 and 12/22. We originally had three days planned, but it would have required me to go straight from taking my last midterm to the airport, and it would’ve been really really tight with very little wiggle room, and flights get canceled all the time; we decided not to test our luck, but it resulted in things getting really really tight during shooting

Like 3/4 of the first day was spent setting up the set. Partially because I was picky, partially because we hadn’t done this before. We had originally planned to do three looks on day one and three looks on day two, but we had to make it 2+4 instead because we’d been on set for more than ten hours at that point

I hadn’t brought any fishing line and the studio lost theirs, so I resorted to using an elastic cord I usually use for hair. This was an extremely non-ideal material to use: it sagged under weight (duh) and made it nearly impossible to position the scrolls accurately. I spent like two hours on a ladder trying to make it work. We eventually found the fishing line but it was too late by then lol

The power cut out like three times in the middle of filming—the lights were consuming a lot of energy and the circuit breaker must’ve gotten tripped. Unfortunately it was in a big office building and the circuit breaker was elsewhere in the building where we didn’t have access, so we had to call people to come reset it; we ended up connecting the lights to a separate power generator of their own

On the first day we had an iPad that mirrored the camera so that we could see how everything looked while being elsewhere in the room. On the second day we forgot to bring it so we were Blind (we tried with Yulan's phone but it was way too small)

Closeup shots ended up kinda blurry :(

Shooting (Actual Shooting)

Yulan forgot to bring black leggings so she was in a skirt (originally we wanted all non-models in all black so we wouldn't distract) and therefore had a knee cameo in the skirt shots for some of them lol

On the first day we literally didn't know wtf we were doing and didn't get enough detail shots, ended up having to manipulate a lot in editing to make up for it

A lot of the closeup shots ended up out of focus but there wasn't enough time to reshoot

The spinning shots (affectionately termed "rotisserie chicken shots," i shit you not that's just what we called it the whole time while on set like "okay time to do the rotisserie shot") were done on a turntable that could only go really really slowly, so the models had to do the mannequin challenge while spinning

^ they did a good job but their eyeballs could only move in twitches and not completely smoothly (normal ofc) so it can be a little distracting on screen

Tiona accidentally knocked over the screen walking behind it while recording once, had to reposition everything else as closely as possible

Models had never done hanfu bows before, the first few especially on day 1 were really really awkward looking (they got a lot better as time progressed though)

On the second day while we were shooting the Early Ming makeup sequence, Emily suddenly got dizzy and almost passed out. We lowkey still don't know what happened, but she completely recovered after lying down for a few minutes and getting some water, and she was completely fine the rest of the day (we were super worried and constantly asking).

Shooting (Styling)

Emily's hair ended up being too short to do the swallowtail hairstyle on so we had to improvise and finish off the back of her hair in a different way for her looks

Yuan Dynasty ribbon was way too long, should've gotten something like half the length to get the look right

For Song, initially had pants tucked into the socks (bc that's more traditional), but then I decided that was ugly and untucked them for the subsequent ones, which resulted in a really weird inconsistency but it was too late to go back and refilm the Song Dynasty one

Couldn't find a matte highlighter on the first day, everything people had was sparkly (which doesn't look very historical). I ended up bringing my personal palette on the second day and they used that for the later looks

Tiona was lowkey like half sick the whole time (like almost recovered but not quite) (it's ok she still looked beautiful though)

The sponsored hair accessories had to keep their price tags on so we did our best to hide them in the hair but they still showed up in some parts

The beads kept falling off my diy deerskin crown lmaooo (we glued em back on with hot glue though)

Editing

Getting the footage was a Hassle because there was So Much, had to get everything onto a hard drive and wait for it to be shipped over

Editing software mismatch, not everyone was using the same one x-x there were like 4 different programs involved, so much work went down the drain

Lots of communication errors because... isn't there always?

Had to drop a lot of money to bring in a last-minute editor to help smooth a bunch of things out in the span of like 24 hours (she did awesome though and stayed up till like 4/5am with us to get it right)

Still ended up having to do SO much ourselves over Premiere

Music was lowkey not figured out until the last second (thats lowkey on me rip but there was a lot of other stuff going on and it just kind of wasnt a priority. Until it was. Oops) We ended up using free music which... I'll be honest I don't really like it very much but it was the best that we could get that was non-AI

All of this made our post deadline move like 5 times (it was supposed to be release on LNY eve, then LNY, then Lantern Festival, then we gave up on doing it on a holiday and went a day over, and then since it wasn't a holiday anyway we went another day over... etc etc etc)

Took us three days to upload the final video because Yulan was in the middle of the goddamn ocean with shitty wifi

List of things that I was going to include but ended up nixing because there wasn't enough time/it got lost in the rush

Kept forgetting to switch out the scrolls in the background, nixed two of the paintings (I had each one matched up with significance and time period and everything hhh)

Forgot to put the earrings on for mid-late Ming ;-; Switched out the sequence because of that, unfortunately didn't match up quite as well chronologically as we hoped but oh well

Was originally going to put a petticoat under the mid-early Ming skirt for the rotisserie shot to show what the horse-hair skirt might have looked like, but ran out of time

More detail shots, especially for the first two looks

Beauty shots (of the makeup after it was finished) after the first two time periods

Fur stole as accessory on Late Ming to represent the onset of the Little Ice Age

Different shoes for each look (scrapped this one early on because the shoe selection is already so limited)

Different pants from different eras for each look (also scrapped this one early on because almost nobody knows how to make the Jiajing and Qianshi pants that would've represented the other eras, and anyway the structure of the Dingling pants did exist throughout all of Ming anyway so it wasn't worth the extra trouble since the pants weren't the point anyway)

We were gonna try to fit in a music collab but it didn't work out because the timing was too late

(bonus pic of me and my sister hiding behind Tiona's late ming sleeves to finish out the series)

May or may not add an extra behind the scenes post to the end of this, but otherwise consider this project background series finished :)

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

Painting Chinese immortals using dry ink brushwork by 字芾瑜号澄怀（概念写意)

[fortunatelychaoticphantom]

I swear to fucking god. I would claw out OneDrive from my computer if I could. I would burn down their servers if I could. I would run down their stocks to the ground if I could. I hope every single one of their workers gets a better offer from a competitor in the next 24 hours. I hope every single one of their light bulbs explodes at the same time. I hope every single carton of milk in their fridge will always be expired.

Stop backing up my fucking files.

Stop asking me to back up my fucking files.

Stop taking my fucking files off my fucking computer.

I don't want a fucking reminder in three fucking days. Let me fucking say no.

Fuckers.

[prismatic-bell]

Friend, I have news you're gonna love. Here's a text tutorial to get rid of that shit on Windows 10.

Here's a text tutorial to get rid of that shit on Windows 11.

Here's a video tutorial to get rid of that shit on Windows 10.

Here's a video tutorial to get rid of that shit on Windows 11.

Go forth. Be free.

[ophilosoraptoro]

Reblog to save a life... and someone's sanity

[carpediemisnicebuticannot]

Every additional parts/lines & differences in Tuesday Quiz Show arc: Novel vs. Webtoon adaptation

(All lines & excerpts from both novel & webtoon are translated by ME)

This is basically BRAUN & SOLEUM, BRAUNSOL compilation.

SINCE I AM A "NUMBER ONE BRAUN STAN, STATEMENT, (& his faithful and loyal viewer/audience), I am obligated to share the fact that the authors of the WEBTOON adaptation are SOOO REAL FOR BRAUN & BRAUNSOL CONTENTS.

I'm thrilled & ecstatic because 1) I only slept for 3 hours (technically, the point I started writing this draft was) because I WAS TOO HYPED & HAD AN ADRENALINE RUSH (it lasted for 6 hours) 2) a myriad of Braun contents. A cornucopia of them. And I'm holding them right now.

Bless all the people responsible for the webtoon adaptation. BLESS THEM. MAY THEIR LIVES PROSPER & EARN A LOT OF WEALTH.

(Also, warning: this is sleepy me writing, so many of the parts may be quite unhinged.)

-The VERY FIRST introduction. A whole paragraph full of opening lines from the legendary host is added.

Everyone, what is a show? A decent stage and a well-dressed host? A fancy tune from the band? A contestant filled with passion? No, that's not all! The rapport between you and me makes the real show! So don't forget to give your applause! Welcome to the <Tuesday Quiz Show>!!! (Chapter 11, GSGW webtoon)

-Slight difference in lines when Braun greets Eun Haje, Park Minseong & Kim Soleum.

[Welcome, welcome... Now then. Camera rolling real soon. Let's show your wonderful self with a smile on your face!] (Chapter 10, GSGW novel)

"I know you must be very nervous over the debut, but a smile on the face is the ABCs of the show! Let's smile it out & go for it!" (Chapter 11, GSGW webtoon)

Webtoon ver. Braun seems to be slightly more sympathetic (not just goes full-on showbiz mode & expects the contestants to do the same) to the guests/contestants. He addresses his sympathy for how they might feel and tries to loosen up their nervousness.

- One more line regarding a rule of Braun's show is added.

- Sabotaging the show would lead you to incineration. (Chapter 11, GSGW novel)

Any acts that disrespect the show shall result in one's leaving the stage.😊 (Sabotaging the show would lead you to incineration.) (Chapter 12, GSGW webtoon)

Webtoon adaptation involved Braun's doing (another 4th wall-breaking moment). Above a PDF file of the Tuesday Quiz Show manual, a yellow post-it with the said line & a smiley emoji-like sticker is stuck on it. Judging by the use of the theatrical term ("leave the stage"), THIS IS DEFINITELY BRAUN'S.

Does this mean Braun acknowledges that his show is constantly being monitored and examined at the Daydream Corp? And he's just condoning their exploration because: 1) it guarantees the regular input of contestants & 2) he doesn't care unless they sabotage the show. Doing for the love of the game.

This is terrifying. He knows exactly what they are doing.

- THAT METRONOME ON BRAUN'S SCREEN, when Soleum's pondering (acting) for the answer. ("Ohhh... He's conflicting, conflicting!") Cute addition. Also, WHY IS BRAUN SOOOO CLOSE TO SOLEUM?

- Also Soleum saying: 'It was obviously number 3 though...'

- Webtoon Soleum didn't get an(ever-haunting) pat on the back from Braun. Also, the depiction of Braun's pat being creepishly warm was completely deleted😭.

- Another post-it from Braun added (with emojis👆🙂) when depicting Soleum's seniors, Haje & Minseong, looking exhausted.

If you can't hold your yawn, it is a showbiz manner to do it off-camera! 👆🙂 (chapter 12, GSGW webtoon)

- Soleum, being announced as an MVP player, with a scribbly look. He looks so dumbfounded LOL.

- Soleum TOUCHING THE TIP OF HIS HANDS WITH BRAUN when he received a small gift. AJSDFWEROKSDFKJLKSFSJKSKDF

(Having the SAME sentiment when first saw the "Pride and Prejudice" hand-holding scene. THE SUBTLETY & THE DELICACY- I AM GOING TO COMBUST & IT'S NOT BRAUN'S FAULT)

- UNFAZED MY ASS--, YOU UNRELIABLE NARRATOR!!

Damn it, Damn it! I, desperately & unfazed, shook a gift box I got in midair. As if I'm excited! (Chapter 11, GSGW novel)

SURE, YOU LOOK SOOOOO UNFAZED-

- Roll Credits scene with Soleum & Braun together, GRABBING SOLEUM'S SHOULDER WITH HIS YAOI HAND. Excellent 4th wall touch.

...And Braun screaming "I CAN SEE YOU VIEWERS/READERS, SALUTATIONS & FAREWELL!" with the credits: AND YOU YOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOU (OKAY WE GET IT, YOU ATTENTION WHORE)

- Line difference when Braun suggested Soleum to be their regular panel & got declined.

"I see! That's a bummer." (chapter 13, GSGW webtoon)

[I see! Well, anyway, our Talkshow's invitation postcard is always open!] (chapter 12, GSGW novel)

Webtoon version Braun is slightly less clingy than the novel version Braun. Novel ver. Braun still leaves his option open ("You can change your mind later and come back!"), but webtoon Braun quickly dismisses and focuses on the new contestants.

- Line difference in Braun speaking to Haje when she said that she wants to go back.

[My... It was all written on the invitation postcard. Well, if you still cannot participate in it.. you have no choice. (No honorific used)] "......" [Tell me. Can't you?] (Chapter 11, GSGW NOVEL)

"My... I believe there was a precaution written on the invitation post.(No honorific used). You can't come like this and make things difficult." "Can you (really not finish the show)?" (Chapter 13, GSGW Webtoon)

Both Novel and Webtoon have a fair share of moments where Braun drops his formalities and shows his pushy, threatening, & show-crazed side. Novel version is slightly more blunt than Webtoon version, though.

Also, LOVE the touch where Braun's emoji on his screen is heavily distorted like a flame in the WEBTOON, showing that Braun's on the verge of incinerating Haje if answered wrong.

- That SKETCHY, CRUDE DRAWING OF BRAUN when introducing Tuesday's Choir. It just intuitively shows how cacophonic & unsettling the choir is.

- Also, that comedic moment of silence when the Tuesday choir's instrument isn't there. ("?") AND Chibi version Braun. (WHICH I NEVER EXPECTED BUT ABSOLUTELY NEEDED)

- THAT SCENE. THE SCENE WHERE BRAUN'S OBSESSION STARTED & MADE HIM HEAD OVER HEELS FOR SOLEUM. ("I'M SORRY, BUT MY HEAD'S SO DIZZY. (...) CAN I... TAKE A BREAK.")

Novel version:

1. Caused a diversion to make the Host look the other way.

2. Quickly put a few smile stickers on the bottom of the TV head with his right hand.

3. When Soleum saw that sticker was stuck on his TV head, he lowered his voice and spoke to the Host those lines.

Soleum acted AFTER the stickers' effects kicked in, not BEFORE. Also, it was never said that he whispered or leaned his body to the Host. NO FURTHER DESCRIPTION included.)

AND THE WEBTOON MADE THIS SCENE SO SEDUCTIVE & MUCH GAYER.

Webtoon version:

1. COMES at a PHYSICALLY CLOSE DISTANCE, LEANS TO BRAUN & WHISPERS TO BRAUN'S NON-EXISTENT EAR with a flirtatious face & bedroom eyes(!!!).

2. USING FLIRTING AS A DISTRACTION, IN SUCH PROXIMITY, SOLEUM BOLDLY PLACES HIS HAND CLOSE & UNDERNEATH BRAUN'S HEAD TO PUT SMILE STICKERS ON IT. (Caressing his face, as a result)

Mind you, this is their first time meeting.

What happened to "hello?" "How are you?"AT LEAST BUY HIM A DINNER FIRST-

AND THE FACT THAT THE HOST, who has extremely strict rules about his show & already incinerated and offed people just a few minutes ago because they didn't comply, IS JUST CONDONING ALL OF SOLEUM'S BOLD ACTS.

SOLEUM HONEYTRAPPED BRAUN HARD.

- While taking a 30-minute earned break, Braun requests an antenna change (His antenna is replaceable?? So he can add one more antenna or just remove the whole thing? HMM) to the staff.

Novel ver. Braun requested his makeup redo. This was briefly mentioned in the bonus section in the Webtoon.

- Chief Lizard's reveal (the part where Soleum asks which mask D squad leader is wearing) is differently presented.

For the dramatic effect, Webtoon put that reveal right after the AAA battery was thrown (to break the instrument). But the novel showed the reveal scene much earlier, focusing on how Soleum's going to come up with a plan with all the given information.

- Added lines for Soleum flattering Braun. (ashamed that he's sucking up to that TV head that's not the only thing he's gonna suck LOL)

It is aesthetically trendy, the mood from the splendid stage, a solid concept of tone and manner, as for the hosting, can't miss the dynamic from reading the audience's response, the flexibility and variety of the show's flow in real time... And with you, Mr. Host's captivating lines as the cherry on the top, an eye and ear-grabbingly entertaining show is created. (Chapter 15, GSGW Webtoon)

Guy knows how to win someone's heart. (The problem is that he did it TOO WELL...)

- Soleum's line & tone difference when broaching the issue about the change in the show.

"Such grateful words, but it is beyond comparison to even put myself to the host who orchestrates the entire show." (...) "But I didn't know that the show's format was going to change like this, with just a one-sided notification to you, Mr. Host..." (Chapter 13, GSGW novel)

"Th, Thank yo..." (With Soleum literally being crushed by Braun's joyful speech bubbles) "Because I loved that Mr. Host's show, it's such a shame that the show just unilaterally changed like this." (Chapter 15, GSGW webtoon)

Novel Soleum addresses this issue with a meeker, more careful approach and a bit of shyness in his tone.

Webtoon Soleum, on the other hand, goes straight to the point without mincing words or additional flattery, with more confidence in his tone.

This difference continues to the part where Soleum announces that "Braun's show was better."

[If the viewers like this format better, it is an entertainer's duty to adapt to the change.....] "I see." (...) "However, isn't it still unclear how the viewers feel? ....At least, I like the "one before" better. The Tuesday quiz show, interacting in real-time with the audience and presenting captivating stories." (...) "It's just... I had a great time and so much fun during the live show. And was also thrilling." (Chapter 13, GSGW novel)

"If the viewers like this format better, it is an entertainer's duty to adapt to the change-" "I liked "your show" better, Mr. Host! "The Tuesday quiz show, interacting in real-time with the audience one by one and presenting such realistic stories. At least, I, as a viewer, thought the previous show was more- ...no, sorry." (Chapter 15, GSGW webtoon)

Novel Soleum still maintains his shy & meek fanboy persona and prudently expressed his opinion about his show, without being rude or intrusive. Using a lot of mitigated speech.

BUT Webtoon Soleum acts like a main character (I mean he IS, but you know what I mean), and he pushes his confident self, even cutting off THE HOST, WHO JUST INCINERATED AND BLOW A PERSON'S HEAD WITH A SINGLE FINGERSNAP FOR BEING RUDE, and directly opining about it. ("Your show")

SHY FANBOY (novel) vs. CONFIDENT SEDUCER (webtoon)

- Portrayal of BRAUN'S MOST ICONIC SCENE.

[The joy of witnessing, the delight in conversation, the thrill of unexpectedness, and the anticipation...] (chapter 13, GSGW novel)

Webtoon adapted this scene in a way that can shift the tone of the dynamic between Braun & Soleum.

Novel depicted this scene as Braun being completely preoccupied with himself & rhapsodizing about his revelation, an attitude & values as a showbiz personnel. This wholly focuses on Braun himself and accentuates how insane he is about the show. Spotlight is shone only on him.

Webtoon inserted Soleum's images in a memory form between the lines, showing that HIS entire rhapsody was INSPIRED BY SOMEONE ELSE. A darkness who is basically an EMBODIMENT OF ENTERTAINMENT & values NOTHING BUT SHOW was THINKING OF SOMEBODY THE WHOLE TIME WHILE GIVING THE HARANGUE of "WHAT SHOW IS"?

HIS MIND WAS PREOCCUPIED WITH SOMEONE OTHER THAN THE SHOW. AND THAT WAS KIM SOLEUM.

Soleum is his muse.

- Added scene, WEBTOON EXCLUSIVE, Braun PERSONALLY wiping off Soleum's blood with his PERSONAL HANDKERCHIEF.

This is the same guy who let the staff clean the remaining ashes of the (ex-)contestants, who constantly tidies and grooms himself spotless & pristine. The guy who has compulsive rules regarding his show & very anal about how the show must go on.

AND THAT GUY IS LETTING HIS MOST PERSONAL & INTIMATE ITEM, A HANDKERCHIEF, THAT IS USED TO CLEAN ONE'S DIRTINESS. NOT JUST HANDING IT OUT TO HIM, BUT HE IS PERSONALLY CLEANING SOLEUM'S MESS, BLOOD & OTHER UNPLEASANT BODILY FLUID MIXED (because it was coming from his orifices, which secrete those fluids).

AND YOU STILL DON'T THINK THIS IS A ROMANTIC GESTURE AT ALL?

COME. ON.

It really took longer than I expected (which is a common occurrence for me btw), but I hope this is worth it.

[buried-in-stardust]

OP: "After a month of raising silkworms, we got... a unique natural silk fan!"

(The finished fan says 平安喜乐, which means peace and happiness.)

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

Guess what OP is handcrafting (all clay) (cr 梧萌)

[dragonaeve]

Chinese textile terms

Putting my hanfu/textile cheat sheet here so more people can reference it. Disclaimer my Chinese is mid. I made this so I could browse Taobao better. Will probably update this as I learn more.

Fabric terms

- fabric: 面料 miàn liào, 布料 bù liào

- material: 材质 cáizhì

- fiber: 纤维 xiānwéi

- blended: 混紡 hùnfǎng

- outer materials: 外料 wai liào

- auxiliary materials: 辅料 fǔliào

- jacquard: 提花 tí huā

- brocade/damask: 锦缎 jǐn duàn

- floral satin/brocade: 花缎 huā duàn

- satin: 缎面 duàn miàn

- gauze: 纱 shā

- embroidered: 绣花 xiù huā

- embroidery: 刺绣 cìxiù

Fiber contents

- polyester: 涤纶 dí lún, 聚酯 jù zhǐ

- acetate: 醋酸 cùsuān

- viscose: 粘胶(纤维) zhān jiāo xiānwéi, 粘纤 zhān xiān

- rayon (artificial silk): 人丝 rén sī

- rayon (artificial cotton): 人棉 rén mián

- tencel: 天丝 tiān sī

- lyocell fiber: 莱赛尔 lái sài ěr

- tencel-linen: 天丝麻 tiān sī má

- linen: 亚麻 yà má

- cotton-linen: 棉麻 mián má

- cotton: 棉 mián

- ramie: 苎麻 zhù má

- wool: 羊毛 yáng máo

- real silk: 真丝 zhēn sī

- silkworm silk: 蚕丝 cán sī

- fragrant cloud gauze/gambiered Guangdong silk: 香云纱 xiāng yún shā

Clothing terms

Hanfu: 汉服 hànfú

Short: 短 duǎn

Unlined shirt: 衫 shān

Long robe: 袍 páo

Yuanlingpao: 圆领袍 yuán lǐng páo

Round collar: 圆领 yuán lǐng

Vertical collar: 竖领 shù lǐng

Stand-up collar: 立领 lì lǐng

Parallel collar: 对襟 duì jīn

Half sleeve: 半袖 bàn xiù

Pipa sleeve: 琵琶袖 pípá xiù

Cross-collar long gown: 交領長衫 Jiāo lǐng chángshān

Straight robe: 直裰 zhíduō

Pleated skirt: 百迭裙 bǎi dié qún

Beizi (outer garment): 褙子 bèi zǐ

Baofu (bellyband): 抱腹 bàofù

Raccoon sleeves: 貉袖 háo xiù

Ming dynasty/style: 明制 Míng zhì

Song dynasty/style: 宋制

Motifs

- bamboo leaf: 竹叶 zhú yè

- bird: 鸟

- butterfly: 蝴蝶 hú dié

- cat: 猫

- cloud: 云

- crane:

- dragon: 龙

- feather: 羽毛

- fish: 鱼

- fishscale: 鱼鳞

- heron:

- jellyfish: 水母

- kingfisher: 翠鸢 cuì yuān

- phoenix:

Colors

- ombre: 渐变

- white: 白色

- grey: 灰色

- black: 黑色

- brown: 棕色

- red: 红色

- orange: 橘色

- yellow: 黄色

- green: 绿色

- cyan: 青色

- navy: 藏青色

- blue: 蓝色

- violet: 紫色

[syea-say]

Panguan - WIP.

[mockva]

[mockva]

This scientist crafts stunning visual art through chemistry.

[mios-art]

Xue Xian is such a cool and badass protagonist everyone, I swear

(he’s a funny little paper doll guy dragon)

[fuckyeahchinesegarden]

Wolong Tunjiang lies in Lichuan, Enshi, Hubei, China. Here the river flows into a giant cave and becomes a grand underground river. It’s a stunning karst landscape where the Qingjiang River plunges 30 meters into a huge cave, turning into a 16.8-kilometer-long underground river—one of the largest in China.

[thecinnamoncheese]

Today on What Am I Researching For Fanfiction, we're covering the history of scissors in China. There are oddly more sources on this than you would think. Scissors were first introduced in China during the Han Dynasty specifically for needlework, and they were big old iron shears that looked like this:

Everyone on Reddit is confused as to how they would work.

Anyway, by the time the Tang Dynasty rolled around the design had been simplified and even prettied up with elegant engravings because the people of the Tang Dynasty had no chill when it came to decorations. Look at them, they're gorgeous:

And apparently at the time scissors came with a chain with tweezers attached. I am yet to figure out what these tweezers were for and how common they actually were but this antiques auctioning site insists that it is very hard to find scissors with the chain and tweezers preserved, which does not make me feel encouraged about future research.

[pumpkinpaix]

ok guys you have to promise to be cool. I hyperfocused on this short film and translated + subtitled it in like 24 hours. do not reupload, do not post this link elsewhere thanks I barely moved for 7.5 hours straight today sldkfsjlkj

anyways gonna admit I mostly did this so I could finally show my partner some chinese media that I translated to some measure of my own satisfaction. I'm really excited! I think I did okay. ╰(*´︶`*)╯

无量 EN SUB || Password: 心怀无念

Ding Chengxin as Poxiao

He Changxi as Fengren

[special-lucky-chosen-one]

I fucking hate it here

[some-sort-of-ecologist]

For those of you with android devices, you can use the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) standalone app control program to get rid of all the bloatware, data mining, and AI crap - no coding needed!

[d-e-w-p]

save

[clatterbane]

There are also Android-based alternatives like GrapheneOS and LineageOS, which are pretty easy to install. These are unfortunately available for a more limited range of devices (Graphene is ironically Pixel only, while Lineage supports more), but it's very worth checking out whether one of them might work for your phone.

GrapheneOS: the private and secure mobile OS

GrapheneOS is a security and privacy focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.

LineageOS Android Distribution

Typing this from Graphene now, in fact. But, both of those take the Android Open Source Project, without all the bloatware--and largely de-Google the whole thing. They give you much more control over privacy and what the apps you choose to install can do and access on your phone.

I know Graphene sandboxes everything, including the optionally installed Google Play Services which a lot of apps unfortunately require to run. (Lineage uses an alternative to Play Services instead.) So, you can install what would normally be unacceptably intrusive apps and just lock them away from pulling any funny shit with your data, or phoning home. Including the couple of Google things I do still keep around.

I also prefer running much more transparent, privacy-respecting open source apps where possible. Besides the transparency, I'd rather avoid the shitty tech corps entirely where I can. There are pretty good alternatives available for a lot of the usual suspects.

AlternativeTo lets you find apps and software for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android, Android Tablets, Web Apps, Online, Windows Tab

An alternative app store:

F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

F-Droid is an installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform. The client makes it easy

[clatterbane]

Also just going to leave this here.

ReVanced

Continuing the legacy of Vanced.

GitHub - ReVanced/revanced-manager: 💊 Application to use ReVanced on Android

💊 Application to use ReVanced on Android . Contribute to ReVanced/revanced-manager development by creating an account on GitHub.

This lets you pretty easily patch some of the worst offender corporate apps to make them behave better.

[artbyarlo]

For today’s episode of @nolongersubtext, I’ve drawn on my academic background in art history and visual culture to present a dissection of the Buddhist concepts and visual storytelling referenced in the novel Copper Coins. This was really exciting for me, and I will be doing more of these with future episodes!

On the horizon: I’ll be sharing information about ghosts and ritual objects as we continue to move through this novel series. I will also be presenting on some topics relevant to Legend of Exorcism.