fuck it, i never ever do those “reblog for X, this one really works!” posts, but this one doesn’t have any of that BS, this is just straight up wishing us good things; and then the comment doesn’t even say any of that either. Zero claims on this post, all positive vibes
May you end this week feeling ever more certain of a future you’ll love
Remember kids, Violins isn't always the answer! (Some times it's Atl-lute-l!)
Shameless* self-promo:
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Ancient Devil God concept art vs Luo Yunxi 's Devil God in Till The End of The Moon
The way Xixi elevated hateful evil to being deep and philosophical. He is the original, the ancient devil. The oldest god that has seen the misery and contains the suffering of the world. He is beyond all beings, the sense of oppression brings you down on your knees, and the beauty that will make you offer everything willingly.
PLEASE STEP ON ME BEFORE YOU KILL ME THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!
And to top it all, Xixi's appearance as Chu Mo (including Jiumin's cosplay) is 9 minutes. He did all of that in such a short timeframe. We wanted to offer our souls after and they even scrambled to made him a bracelet because of high fan demand lol
so SAG-AFTRA finally released some official guidance for fans, viewers, creators/influencers, critics, and more during the strike. here's what you need to know:
if you see a publication/news source/journalist talking about a piece of struck work, that's ok. they're allowed to do that.
2. they're asking regular viewers and fans to DONATE TO STRIKE FUNDS, SHOW UP TO PICKETS IF YOU CAN, and please do NOT boycott streaming services or movies in theaters.
3. influencers, content creators, cosplayers, and anything in between is still a bit of a grey area, but they're asking people to use their best judgement. "organically" means UNPAID promo (like an invite to a premiere without being paid, being sent a publicity box, letting the company's social media post a photo of you in cosplay, etc).
obviously this doesn't answer every question, and isn't hard and fast rules for fanworks, but it can at least inform how you personally choose to move forward when posting online and moving publically. i hope this helps!
The SAG-AFTRA strike has sparked a great deal of discussion and confusion about what is forbidden and what is still OK. SAG-AFTRA has put ou
So you like Luo Yunxi: A drama recommendation list
So you watched "Till the End of the Moon", and all you got is heartbreak, brainworms, and a shiny new lowkey or highkey obsession with Luo Yunxi (perhaps other people from the amazing cast too, but we're focusing on him here)? You want to see more of him, but you don't know where to start? Fear not, for this list is here to hopefully help you out with that.
Here be some (non-spoilery, but might mention if it generally ends well or not) spark notes on all his past dramas with him in the first male lead role, that are currently available with English subs (+ 2 very important supporting roles + 1 bonus). In chronological order, from most to least recent!
Light Chaser Rescue
Type: Modern, rescue missions, human drama, romance
Episodes: 40
Available at: WeTv, YouTube, viki
What's the deal? Jaded and cynical lawyer meets cute and icy doctor lady who is not here for his bs, and discovers the joys of love and most importantly, volunteer rescue work.
On the one hand: Detailed and extremely realistic scenes of all sorts of natural disasters happening. The production team collaborated with a real life team where anyone can volunteer and get training as a rescuer. They built a wholeass glacier for the final episodes and you could never tell it's fake looking at it even on HD. The side characters are mostly likeable (which is something you can't say for every drama), although flawed and human. FL is a cool-headed independent grownup woman who bottles up her feelings like a fine vintage.
On the other: The pacing is rather choppy and makes it feel like they planned out the disaster scenes/rescue missions first and everything else was added later to link said missions together and give the characters stuff to do in between. Since this is a drama and they have a limited cast, the team's abilities are a bit exaggerated at times (they turn up for everything that happens anywhere, doctor FL is a swiss army knife of specialties). Ending feels a bit abrupt.
Watch it if: You enjoy seeing Luo Yunxi suffer physically, you like stories with ordinary people being heroes while also remaining very much ordinary people.
Lie to Love
Type: Modern, romance, office, suspense
Episodes: 32
Available at: WeTV, YouTube
What's the deal? Local woman is convinced her one night stand during a mountain hike killed her father, so she returns after 2 years to go undercover in male nerdy Paris Hilton protagonist's glitzy hotel business and cancel his entire existence. Spoiler alert (but not really because this is actually not even the first 6 eps): he is a good guy and didn't do it and they fall in love and together they set out to uncover the truth and take down his shady uncle.
On the one hand: Objectively speaking, the plot for this is on the better side for a drama of its type. It's got suspense, it's got plot twists, it's got fluff, it's got drama, it's got more communication between the main CP than one would expect on a regular day, misunderstandings don't last long, the nice side characters are likeable, and 2nd ML is doing an incredible job at being a 2-faced creep. LYX is serving many a great business wear look in the 2nd half especially.
On the other: The FL is Cheng Xiao. A severely miscast Cheng Xiao in a role that is core in the plot and on paper, challenging. For fans, winner winner chicken dinner. For the rest of us, it's up to each viewer to decide if overall as a drama, the points in the above section are strong enough to balance this casting out.
Watch it if: You have a thing for men in suits and glasses (that makes two of us), you prefer ignoring the FL in dramas so you can make elaborate headcanons shipping the ML with the psycho stalker 2nd ML or the goofy rockstar 3rd ML instead.
Broker
Type: Modern, office, medical research, suspense, romance
Episodes: 42
Available at: YouTube, viki
What's the deal? Spy is ordered to infiltrate a lab and lowkey honey trap his way into stealing female scientist's multi-million research, is uno reverse carded when she fixes his broken heart and trust in humanity.
On the one hand: The rare case where he is a morally grey character in a modern setting. The other rare case where he gets to do action sequences in a modern setting. There's a shower sex scene (sit down, implied and partially dressed of course, this is still a cdrama), and one where he gets whipped on a table. There is a very badass sidekick girl who is just as broken as him if not worse, and very shippable with the FL's perky and spoiled little sister.
On the other: The premise is cool but sadly, there's way more filler office drama (in the lab) and 2nd CP being a frustrating snoozefest than spy activities. It's a drama that was held up for a long while in censorship limbo, and a considerable chunk of the ML's backstory and scenes were left in the editing room, which unfortunately throws the show off balance by a lot.
Watch it if: You are a diehard Luo Yunxi, Victoria Song or Xu Kaicheng completionist (in which case you have permission to come cry on my shoulder), you find yourself trapped in a cave, the rescue team is 48 hours away, and the only thing in there with you is a device that has no other data on it but all 42 episodes of Broker.
Love is Sweet
Type: Modern, romance, office
Episodes: 36
Available at: iQiyi, YouTube, amazon prime
What's the deal? Local woman applies for a job in huge investment banking company where she runs into her childhood friend -slash- nemesis after 10 years, they both gradually discover time makes people grow and occasionally fall deeply, ridiculously in love.
On the one hand: Sugar and fun and shoujo manga tropes aplenty! God tier CP chemistry! Some of the most epic makeouts to ever slip under the nose of the review committees. Characters that have actual profound growth under the "every romcom ever" cheeky banter. 2nd ML also offers shirtlessness and angsty backstory if you cannot live without those. There's even an adorable and very plot-relevant corgi!
On the other: The tremendous main CP chemistry has made this drama the exception for many who otherwise avoid both modern dramas and romcoms, but if that doesn't carry the show for you, I'm afraid there's not much else to see here. The 2nd CP is fuel for the "2nd CPs are annoying and waste screentime" complaint fire. (although, protip: even on the first watch you can probably skip their scenes without missing anything of value). The tear allergy is a bit of a ridiculous premise, but it's a real thing (who knew!), and it's not addressed much after a point.
Watch it if: You need something sweet and cute to fill the gaping hole Till The End of the Moon left in your chest, you love the tsundere overbearing CEO archetype but you also prefer it when he is more than a dry irredeemable asshole, you love romcoms because you enjoy both the "will they won't they" and the cute "we're an item now" domesticity.
And The Winner is Love
Type: Costume, wuxia, romance
Episodes: 48
Available at: iQiyi, YouTube
What's the deal? Dashing, elegant, fan-wielding dreamboat young master falls in love with girlie burdened with the heavy responsibility of leading a sect with bad rep and protecting a very powerful and thus dangerous cultivation manual. Supposedly.
On the one hand: Luo Yunxi looks like this:
for the whole drama. Every novel writer who ever wrote about a flirty and sophisticated young master whose beauty made flowers bloom along his path and women as well as men fell in love with him at first sight and all that purple prose-y stuff, has actually written about Luo Yunxi as Shangguan Tou whether they were aware of it or not. He is The Archetype and his popularity among bilibili fmv editors is proof. There's some great wire work in the first half. The soundtrack is pretty solid.
On the other: If you're looking for plot, run away and don't look back. I've watched the whole thing and I could not tell you how the story goes. I went in with a "idc about plot, i just want to look at Luo Yunxi in costume for 40 hours" mentality and I still struggled, make of that what you will. Chen Yuqi is the FL, saddled with a poorly written role and a choice of VA who arguably wasn't the best fit for her or the role. Chemistry is passable depending on your standards, but for most of the 2nd half of the drama it takes a nosedive together with the plot. Luo Yunxi got injured while filming this so they had to cut action scenes by a lot, so in the last 3rd or so it's wuxia without the wuxia. It's the only recent case where he also had to be dubbed (covid didn't allow him to get in the studio and do it himself, as he usually does).
Watch it if: You are a yumejoshi and need material to self-insert into a costume drama FL's position, you are more determined to watch lyx look pretty in costume, all else be damned, than Samwise Gamgee was determined to make sure Frodo throws the One Ring in the flames of Mount Doom.
Princess Silver
Type: Costume, court drama, romance, some wuxia elements
Episodes: 58
Available at: YouTube, viki
What's the deal? Princess RongLe wakes up one day with amnesia (no, hear me out) to the news that she is to be sent to another kingdom and marry a prince she's never met for political alliance reasons (no, hear me out!). There, she is faced with unexpected revelations and finds herself looking for the truth while she gets embroiled with the aforementioned haughty prince, a shady general, and her (sometimes a bit too?) caring and overprotective brother.
On the one hand: (mild spoiler alert?) His character ends up stealing the show. FL can act and has good relationships with other female characters (arguably better than with any man in this, even in the chemistry department). Story and plot are quite decent. It's one of those rare cdramas that builds up as it goes instead of deflating in the last stretch.
On the other: LYX is 3rd ML in this, so if he's your main motivation to watch, be prepared for limited screentime, especially in the 2nd half of the drama (until the final 8-10 episodes where it's all about). If you're not into the FL with either 1st or 2nd ML, the first half can be a drag, like, personally I started appreciating this drama for real after episode 25-30.
Watch it if: You are patient, you like getting emotionally sucker-punched, you love a good, earthshaking final plot twist.
Ashes of Love
Type: Costume, xianxia
Episodes: 63 (or 60, depending on the version, content is the same either way though)
Available at: Netflix, YouTube, viki, WeTV, amazon prime
What's the deal? Bottom of the food chain grape fairy who was deprived of the ability to feel romantic love and her life was honestly better and carefree like that, trips and falls into a love triangle with overconfident golden boy Heavenly Prince Phoenix, and his older brother, abused wallflower Heavenly Prince Dragon. Things go very great and not complicated at all from there. :))
On the one hand: Xianxia 101, it hits all the items on the checklist. The lavish costumes, the sprawling sets and world building, the entanglement over multiple lives, mortal arc, immortal arc, demon realm arc. CG that still holds up well for the genre 5 years later. The epic and emotional OST (someone has yet to surpass Sa Ding Ding's 左手指月 for the title of "best cdrama ED song", i don't make the rules). Arguably, The most iconic 2nd ML in a cdrama, responsible for a significant chunk of its long-lasting chokehold on the audience. Even if you've never seen the drama, if you're in the asian media adjacent internet, you've most likely seen this:
On the other: Xianxia 101, a double-sided coin. All the clichés are here, and if you're not here for them you get aboard the struggle bus. The show's views on romantic feelings can be a bit, let's say, old fashioned, even for the genre's standards. If you're not into the main CP, you're in for an uphill battle of frustration. If you're Team Runyu prepare to hate almost everyone for there is no justice in this land. (In AoL one is either Team Runyu or Team Xu Feng, no middle ground, and if you're reading this, especially because you liked lyx as Tantai Jin, I don't see how you could end up Team Xu Feng, so I'm gonna run with this assumption). (in theory you can also be Team No One, but in practice if you're that, sitting through this entire drama must have been as fun as having a tooth pulled out with no anesthesia)
Watch it if: if you're any degree of a lyx fan, period. Runyu is a mandatory class.
Children's Hospital Pediatrician
Type: Modern, medical, romance
Episodes: 42
Available at: YouTube
What's the deal? Aspiring surgeon -slash- frustrating disaster girl makes a huge blunder on her first day of her hospital residency, and can only stay as a pediatrician. She hates it and makes her literal saint of a secret husband's life miserable. We watch as she gets to grow as a person to the detriment of everyone else's mental health. Secondary cast has subplots of various dating entanglements.
On the one hand: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, hmmm..... well... there's a scene where lyx takes off his shirt for a physical exam, if that's a bonus (ep40, 27:13-28:05, you're welcome)? Queen Zheng Li is in it? I am scraping the bottom of the barrel here.
On the other: It's way too long for absolutely no reason, the FL is the most frustrating and irrational baby I've ever seen (which is by no means a low bar), 90% of characters who are not the FL get their development butchered to make her look better, 2/3rds of the cast are incompetent at acting and the other 1/3rd is being wasted in this mess. I am trying to be as objective I can in these, but I've got nothing for this one.
Watch it if: You have chronically low blood pressure that no medication can fix, you have watched literally everything else on the list and having a manic episode where you will chew on the walls if you don't look at Luo Yunxi's face in something you have never seen before, you want to watch some other mid drama, so you want to watch something worse first in order to appreciate the other drama more.
Fox in the Screen
Type: Costume, xianxia
Episodes: 22
Available at: YouTube, viki, amazon prime (as The Screen Foxes)
What's the deal? Orphan girl wins by drunken mistake a magical screen that houses 3 fox demon guys, they help her with her screen shop and also with crossdressing to pass the exam for the position of palace screen painter. She earns a grumpy boyfriend with a tragic past in the meanwhile.
On the one hand: It's short and goes fast, and in all honesty, considering it was made on a budget of 3 paperclips and a piece of gum, the story is much more concise and watchable than I, at least, personally expected. You get to witness the caterpillar stage of lyx on this path to guzhuang drama godhood. If you're one for tragic love stories there is one hiding under the DIY production. White Fox and the prince are a solid ship.
On the other: It is very much made on the aforementioned budget of 3 paperclips and a piece of gum, and it very much shows. Everything is rough, the costumes, the makeup, the editing, the acting for the most part. Having even half an expectation is the wrong way to approach this drama.
Watch it if: you have the heart of a mother watching her kids at the school play and admiring what a great job they are doing or if you are like Marie Kondo and love mess in an affectionate way.
Bonus: PhantaCity
PhantaCity was a tv show back in 2018, whose concept was making short plays and having actors perform them live in a single, do or die take for a studio audience. Luo Yunxi and Wu Jinyan, both with a background in ballet, are paired up in a short musical, acting as the hands of a newly repaired clock. If you ever wanted to see him dance, sing and act all in one thing, don't sleep on this. It's short and beautiful, and the official upload embedded above is subbed in English!
i know dean is supposedly a reckless driver in canon but in my heart of hearts the most he does is drive ten miles over the limit on the freeway. if you live your life constantly on the run from the cops while driving in a car you have an unhealthy parasocial relationship with, i think it would only make sense to drive somewhat cautiously! cas, however, has no fear of dying or of god and has both phenomenal reaction timing and a lead foot. he does not obey traffic laws because it doesn’t occur to him to care about them or to make a turn that doesn’t have his tires shrieking
this is substantiated by the canonical fact that cas, upon discovering that he has run out of gasoline, simply leaves his car in the middle of the road and walks away
A Non-Comprehensive List of Birds That Piss Me Off
1. Dracula Parrot. This thing pisses me off like, a bunch
2. King Vulture. the felted craft project equivalent of a haunted ventriloquist dummy
i will never not resent this bird
3. Jacana Bird. This is the most unnecessary cursed nonsense. i deserve an apology for having to look at this. I can feel its fingers stroking my ears
No it does not have SIX FREAKING LIMBS. it’s carrying its stupid creepy spawn under its wings. A+ parents but still, piss off. even the normal 2 legged version isn’t much better
put those AWAY.
4. The Shoebill, which i’m sure we’re all sick of hearing about. this thing is the epitome of a crappy photorealistic cgi disney villainy. i despise this bird.
also this is what they look like standing up. i just feel like i shouldn’t have to deal with that, i really do.
5. Inca Tern. truly, hipsters ruin everything
6. Tragopan. it looks like a star wars species, which i dislike on principle
7. The Secretary Bird. it wears yoga pants.
also i’m uncomfortable with the length of its eyelashes
8. finally, i really dislike this one specific parakeet
in conclusion, these birds exist to haunt me and this knowledge is a burden. birds exist to observe our sin; always watching, they are filled with malice. flee from them
Ok, unless something's going on I'm not aware of (extremely likely), I gotta point out the term "Pet Play" is significantly older than Tik Tok, or most of its userbase for that matter.
Yeah, I'm not mad about using the term "pet play". That's a perfectly fine term. I'm mad because they didn't use that term: they used "pet p!ay", a censored version
To anybody who is new to posting on ao3, if you’re using a tag you have to use the correct spelling of that tag. People aren’t going to type in every version of a censored word to hide or look for your content 
Feeling like the odd one here liking Till the end of the moon ending atm.
Wish for more? Yes. Heavily recommending to my friends, heck yes.
Acting? Visual candy? Having me gripped by the throat? Oh lala.
To me this story is karma and rebirth and fight against predestination. And human flaws, and making choices despite everything.
My tragic tragic little murder meow meow, and his journey reaching nirvana and finally able to break out his fate of the barer of all evils, to being at peace, released from the karmic binds.
Will post longer later, but also can I say TTJ is reminding me of Lelouch of Code Geass atm. Who gets me? Hurt me goood.
And a lot of fun theory crafting after rewatch! Deails I’ve missed the first time around.
I’ve gotten to the point where I first fell in love with CWN on my initial read of 2ha - the moment he throws the fee into the merchant patriarch’s face and beats the awful man up.
The thing is, on reread, I love this moment even more because it, and its outcome, encapsulates everything that is amazing about CWN. The way he never looks away from injustice even if the customs and laws encourage him to - Chen family is right they broke no law but they are morally wrong and that is all that counts for CWN. It is easier to look away, it is encouraged but he won’t - this is the same person who fed starving child Mo Ran when he was a child himself and despite the rest of the world looking away, despite his “father” encouraging him to (I will forever love that meeting each other changed BOTH their lives, that is what made CWN leave the monastery and to actually eventually live, live as a human being of flesh and blood; he saved Mo Ran from bodily starvation but MR saved him from emotional starvation.)
He cares about propriety and rules and face but only if they do not contradict justness - the latter trumps everything for him and it’s vanishingly rare.
But what I love even more and what is even more telling is when he comes back to the sect, wounded to hell, and INSISTS on being whipped for beating the horrible man because that violates the sect rules. This is basically everything because not only is CWN unique in the novel in not just claiming the rules apply equally to everyone, himself included but living it, however the cost, but also because it encapsulates his accepting that everything has a cost, that “because this is right” may justify the action but it does not justify escaping paying the price for that action.
I am watching him being whipped in public at his insistence for doing a just deed that is against the rules and it’s a direct line from there to a man who near the end does his level best to kill Taxian Jun - even though this is the only part remaining of his lover, even though Hua Binan tries to stop it by saying he only needs TXJ to complete the bridge (and surely, most of the people in the bridge are dead already so he only needs a few more corpses so that’s OK, right, stopping bridge won’t bring back all those gazillion dead) and CWN can have him, even though Hua Binan explains that this remnant of Mo Ran has actually resisted full control because of his love for CWN, that this is basically encapsulation and personification of Mo Ran 0.5′s love for him. And CWN thinks of the real Mo Ran and what real, non-zombified, non-controlled Mo Ran would have wanted and also about the world and does his TXJ-destroying spell harder! Because he will always do what is right but it’s not easy or smugly perfect, it’s wrecking and harrowing but CWN is always willing to do what is right whatever the horrific price he pays (and this price is horrible - CWN never cared about himself much, but he loves Mo Ran more than anything.) Honestly, Meatbun is so good at portraying pure goodness as not cloying or saintly or wholesomely easy, but as so human and fascinating and hard fought and I love that. It’s easier to make anti-heroes interesting than pure unwavering good.
CWN is someone who is not only willing to do what he thinks is right but is always willing to do it in full knowledge that there is a price for that and in full expectation of paying that price, however heavy, and I love that.
Watching him break down and splinter, attacked by monsters within and without, monsters emotional, mental and physical, is yikes but it’s also so intense and LYX is so good, I am eating it up!
Susu thinks love can save him and demon god thinks love will doom him and I honestly do not give a fuck who is right, I just want TTJ to have free will and do what he genuinely wants, for once!
