TVSTRANGERTHINGS
Misplaced Lens Cap
Cosmic Funnies
if i look back, i am lost
@theartofmadeline
i don't do bad sauce passes
RMH
Aqua Utopia｜海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
ellievsbear
Claire Keane
$LAYYYTER
⁂
★
🪼
pixel skylines
YOU ARE THE REASON
almost home
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Sweet Seals For You, Always
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@overzelos
muscle is very dense so someone carrying a lot of muscle might appear lighter than they actually are. this is all to say, Batman picks up his Robins no problem and makes it look easy, so the one time Jim Gordon needed to haul an unconscious/injured Robin over his shoulder to safety, he actually almost threw his back out and swore so loudly the entire time he woke up Robin
I think it'd be funny if the identity reveal was super anticlimactic. Clark has an interview scheduled with Bruce Wayne about some new project or initiative the company is doing and he walks into Bruce's office and sits down and through a combination of sounds/smells/matching injuries/whatever just immediately recognizes him as Batman and is so surprised he can't contain his reaction and he's just like "Batman...?"
And Bruce loses the Brucie Wayne posture immediately, rolls his eyes and just says, unsurprised and a bit condescending, "Superman."
And then they just sit there in silence, staring at each other, Clark very confused and Bruce clearly annoyed at how quickly Superman recognized him. And when it becomes clear Bruce isn't going to say anything further, Clark looks down at his notes where he has some questions written down and, without knowing what else to do, just awkwardly starts with the first question.
The following interview is one of the strangest he's ever done. Bruce gives some very typical Brucie Wayne answers but all completely deadpan, hardly any inflection. He's also clearly grumpy the entire time. Aside from Bruce not acting like Brucie Wayne, there is no further mention or acknowledgement of their superhero identities. Clark goes back to Metropolis in a daze and still isn't convinced that the whole thing wasn't a fever dream.
Mysterious Lotus Casebook | Episode 3
A few hours later...
I legit forgot this moment happened until I rewatched this episode and I'm going fucking feral about it now.
So, a few facts laid out:
Li Lianhua is in possession of a very expensive and rare piece of silk armor that Di Feisheng was known to wear.
He uses it as a pot holder.
He picked it up on "the beach" a "few" years ago.
my dad likes to call the stretches of time where you’re not creating “dreaming periods” and says that they’re meant to allow you to absorb all of the beauty, life, and inspiration from the things around you so that when you’re able to create again, you will have fanned your spark back into a flame. sometimes its hard to see those moments as anything but stagnation, but he always says that they’re natural and healthy and needed—things that should be embraced rather than feared.
I have only ever seen this in screencaps on google and other platforms!! <3 This was so inspiring to be during my two year “dreaming period”
Pro Tip: The Way You End a Sentence Matters
Here is a quick and dirty writing tip that will strengthen your writing.
In English, the word at the end of a sentence carries more weight or emphasis than the rest of the sentence. You can use that to your advantage in modifying tone.
Consider:
In the end, what you said didn't matter.
It didn't matter what you said in the end.
In the end, it didn't matter what you said.
Do you pick up the subtle differences in meaning between these three sentences?
The first one feels a little angry, doesn't it? And the third one feels a little softer? There's a gulf of meaning between "what you said didn't matter" (it's not important!) and "it didn't matter what you said" (the end result would've never changed).
Let's try it again:
When her mother died, she couldn't even cry.
She couldn't even cry when her mother died.
That first example seems to kind of side with her, right? Whereas the second example seems to hold a little bit of judgment or accusation? The first phrase kind of seems to suggest that she was so sad she couldn't cry, whereas the second kind of seems to suggest that she's not sad and that's the problem.
The effect is super subtle and very hard to put into words, but you'll feel it when you're reading something. Changing up the order of your sentences to shift the focus can have a huge effect on tone even when the exact same words are used.
In linguistics, this is referred to as "end focus," and it's a nightmare for ESL students because it's so subtle and hard to explain. But a lot goes into it, and it's a tool worth keeping in your pocket if you're a creative writer or someone otherwise trying to create a specific effect with your words :)
Sorry for this relatable shit. My anxiety has been a bitch lately.
How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation, summarized in six panels.
Sometimes a post calls you out, and sometimes it calls you out by name.
This post not only called me out by name, it used the middle name for good measure.
I think a lot about how we as a culture have turned “forever” into the only acceptable definition of success.
Like… if you open a coffee shop and run it for a while and it makes you happy but then stuff gets too expensive and stressful and you want to do something else so you close it, it’s a “failed” business. If you write a book or two, then decide that you don’t actually want to keep doing that, you’re a “failed” writer. If you marry someone, and that marriage is good for a while, and then stops working and you get divorced, it’s a “failed” marriage.
The only acceptable “win condition” is “you keep doing that thing forever”. A friendship that lasts for a few years but then its time is done and you move on is considered less valuable or not a “real” friendship. A hobby that you do for a while and then are done with is a “phase” - or, alternatively, a “pity” that you don’t do that thing any more. A fandom is “dying” because people have had a lot of fun with it but are now moving on to other things.
I just think that something can be good, and also end, and that thing was still good. And it’s okay to be sad that it ended, too. But the idea that anything that ends is automatically less than this hypothetical eternal state of success… I don’t think that’s doing us any good at all.
Happy Moon Festival everyone! I’ll be hosting a GA to celebrate so feel free to participate! Details below the cut~
I'm at the point where I think this fandom has genuinely rewritten part of me. Growth by proxy, in a way. It's disconcerting, and yet very rewarding.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
“Wen-xiong.” Cao Weining’s voice was shaking. His entire body was shaking, violent tremors wracking his frame; he’d aged ten years since he left. He stopped a sword-length from Wen Kexing, his sword anchoring his left hand, the book in his right. “Wen-xiong, please…explain.”
“Explain what?” It came out hollow, trembling. A-Xu darted him a look that Wen Kexing ignored. His entire body had calcified, fissures forming.
Cao Weining lifted his right hand. The book of ghosts fluttered open, his fingers marking the page. Wen Kexing’s ink-stained portrait stared back, a rending.
The book of ghosts was dispersed faster than expected, and the road to hell is paved with its pages.
A story about love and choices.
Canon divergence from episode 23, before GX and CWN leaves for Qingfeng Sword Sect.
Pairings: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing & Zhang Chengling & Zhou Zishu, Cao Weining/Gu Xiang
Characters: Wen Kexing, Zhou Zishu, Zhang Chengling, Cao Weining, Gu Xiang (Faraway Wanderers)
Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Families of Choice, Revenge, Forgiveness, Repaying Debt, Choices
SHL (show) canon.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Wen Kexing peered at him through half-lidded eyes, considering. Twisted a strand of his blanched hair between his pale, fine-boned fingers. Mesmerizing, mesmerized. Zhou Zishu waited, expectant, somewhere between wistfulness and relief. It would take so very little to stir the clear waters of their lives back into sludge and silt: a swell of snow-melt, a sudden breeze. A single debt. So few things worth doing were easy. They would know.
“I want to find Ye Baiyi,” Wen Kexing finally said, voice low.
A goodbye, a thank you, a celebration. Set after episode 36 and the epilogue.
Pairings: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing & Ye Baiyi & Zhou Zishu
Characters: Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing, Ye Baiyi
Tags: Debt, Conversations, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Immortality, Goodbyes, gratitude
SHL (show) canon.
Translation: (clip explaining how the “Is it beautiful?” and “It’s perfect.” was born from an adlib)
Zhang Zhehan: For example, that scene with the old fisherman. They kept saying that I was a "beauty beauty beauty", eventually I couldn't hold it in anymore so I turned my head around and asked him, "Is it beautiful?"
I just thought, you see me looking like this, how can you keep saying that I look beautiful? In reality, I was asking it in a very sarcastic way, purposefully trying to probe [him out with] "Am I beautiful?"
Unexpectedly, very quickly, Gong Jun was able to answer, he said "Perfect."
Oftentimes, it's these small details that pushes a role towards a certain direction, towards a certain character development. I feel like this is, when everybody sees it, they will find out—
Gong Jun: It's interesting.
Zhang Zhehan: —Yes, there are many interesting parts.
//end
So the producer specifically asked for actors for the leads (as opposed to idols) and you can really see how that decision paid off with these two.
I’m honestly amazed by Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun. If you didn’t know, they actually filmed the scenes mostly chronologically (all the beggar scenes filmed first). It worked very well in their case because they weren’t quite familiar with each other back then just yet, so any heavily emotional scenes wouldn’t have had as much of an impact given the underlying awkwardness.
That being said, despite their unfamiliarity, they already had enough chemistry between them to come up with legendary adlibs like “Is it beautiful?” “It’s perfect.”
Honestly, I haven’t been this affected by a pair of actors as I have been by these two.
I found your fic The Viscera of Our Souls on AO3, and may I ask you for permission to translate it into Vietnamese? I'll credit you as author, of course.
Of course! I’m very flattered!
If you post the translation to AO3, please link back to the original via the “related works” function; if you’ll be hosting the translation elsewhere, please include a link to the original.
Thank you for reading, and I’m so thrilled you like it!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Zhou Zishu watched him and forgot—everything, all the world’s greed and madness, the debts of blood and grace. The world dimmed around them. Wen Kexing was Zhen Yan was Shidi was here. A wrongness, settled; deviated qi returning to true.
Of paths, and the choosing thereof, all consequences be damned. A soft interlude. Spoilers for episode 27.
Pairing: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing & Zhang Chengling & Zhou Zishu
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Tags: Missing Scene, Canon Compliant, Fluff and Angst, Domestic Fluff, and Families of Choice Chapters: 1/1
SHL (Word of Honour) canon.
I keep thinking I need to catch up on my sleep debt and I keep getting more Word of Honour bunnies.
Screw sleep, I have fic to write...
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Bloodied steel shone, vicious in the low light, seeping wetly under the gauzy fabric. Zhou Zishu was a butterfly mounted by his wings.
The rescue, the uncertain after, the lengths they will go to for devotion. Spoilers for episode 31.
Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Missing Scene, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Aftermath of Torture, Angst, Canon Backstory, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
SHL (Word of Honour) canon.
tips for choosing a Chinese name for your OC when you don’t know Chinese
This is a meta for gifset trade with @purple-fury! Maybe you would like to trade something with me? You can PM me if so!
Choosing a Chinese name, if you don’t know a Chinese language, is difficult, but here’s a secret for you: choosing a Chinese name, when you do know a Chinese language, is also difficult. So, my tip #1 is: Relax. Did you know that Actual Chinese People choose shitty names all the dang time? It’s true!!! Just as you, doubtless, have come across people in your daily life in your native language that you think “God, your parents must have been on SOME SHIT when they named you”, the same is true about Chinese people, now and throughout history. If you choose a shitty name, it’s not the end of the world! Your character’s parents now canonically suck at choosing a name. There, we fixed it!
However. Just because you should not drive yourself to the brink of the grave fretting over choosing a Chinese name for a character, neither does that mean you shouldn’t care at all. Especially, tip #2, Never just pick some syllables that vaguely sound Chinese and call it a day. That shit is awful and tbh it’s as inaccurate and racist as saying “ching chong” to mimic the Chinese language. Examples: Cho Chang from Harry Potter, Tenten from Naruto, and most notorious of all, Fu Manchu and his daughter Fah lo Suee (how the F/UCK did he come up with that one).
So where do you begin then? Well, first you need to pick your character’s surname. This is actually not too difficult, because Chinese actually doesn’t have that many surnames in common use. One hundred surnames cover over eighty percent of China’s population, and in local areas especially, certain surnames within that one hundred are absurdly common, like one out of every ten people you meet is surnamed Wang, for example. Also, if you’re making an OC for an established media franchise, you may already have the surname based on who you want your character related to. Finally, if you’re writing an ethnically Chinese character who was born and raised outside of China, you might only want their surname to be Chinese, and give them a given name from the language/culture of their native country; that’s very very common.
If you don’t have a surname in mind, check out the Wikipedia page for the list of common Chinese surnames, roughly the top one hundred. If you’re not going to pick one of the top one hundred surnames, you should have a good reason why. Now you need to choose a romanization system. You’ll note that the Wikipedia list contains variant spellings. If your character is a Chinese-American (or other non-Chinese country) whose ancestors emigrated before the 1950s (or whose ancestors did not come from mainland China), their name will not be spelled according to pinyin. It might be spelled according to Wade-Giles romanization, or according to the name’s pronunciation in other Chinese languages, or according to what the name sounds like in the language of the country they immigrated to. (The latter is where you get spellings like Lee, Young, Woo, and Law.) A huge proportion of emigration especially came from southern China, where people spoke Cantonese, Min, Hakka, and other non-Mandarin languages.
So, for example, if you want to make a Chinese-Canadian character whose paternal source of their surname immigrated to Canada in the 20s, don’t give them the surname Xie, spelled that way, because #1 that spelling didn’t exist when their first generation ancestor left China and #2 their first generation ancestor was unlikely to have come from a part of China where Mandarin was spoken anyway (although still could have! that’s up to you). Instead, name them Tse, Tze, Sia, Chia, or Hsieh.
If you’re working with a character who lives in, or who left or is descended from people who left mainland China in the 1960s or later; or if you’re working with a historical or mythological setting, then you are going to want to use the pinyin romanization. The reason I say that you should use pinyin for historical or mythological settings is because pinyin is now the official or de facto romanization system for international standards in academia, the United Nations, etc. So if you’re writing a story with characters from ancient China, or medieval China, use pinyin, even though not only pinyin, but the Mandarin pronunciations themselves didn’t exist back then. Just… just accept this. This is one of those quirks of having a non-alphabetic language.
(Here’s an “exceptions” paragraph: there are various well known Chinese names that are typically, even now, transliterated in a non-standard way: Confucius, Mencius, the Yangtze River, Sun Yat-sen, etc. Go ahead and use these if you want. And if you really consciously want to make a Cantonese or Hakka or whatever setting, more power to you, but in that case you better be far beyond needing this tutorial and I don’t know why you’re here. Get. Scoot!)
One last point about names that use the ü with the umlaut over it. The umlaut ü is actually pretty critical for the meaning because wherever the ü appears, the consonant preceding it also can be used with u: lu/lü, nu/nü, etc. However, de facto, lots of individual people, media franchises, etc, simply drop the umlaut and write u instead when writing a name in English, such as “Lu Bu” in the Dynasty Warriors franchise in English (it should be written Lü Bu). And to be fair, since tones are also typically dropped in Latin script and are just as critical to the meaning and pronunciation of the original, dropping the umlaut probably doesn’t make much difference. This is kind of a choice you have to make for yourself. Maybe you even want to play with it! Maybe everybody thinks your character’s surname is pronounced “loo as in loo roll” but SURPRISE MOFO it’s actually lü! You could Do Something with that. Also, in contexts where people want to distinguish between u and ü when typing but don’t have easy access to a keyboard method of making the ü, the typical shorthand is the letter v.
Alright! So you have your surname and you know how you want it spelled using the Latin alphabet. Great! What next?
Alright, so, now we get to the hard part: choosing the given name. No, don’t cry, I know baby I know. We can do this. I believe in you.
Here are some premises we’re going to be operating on, and I’m not entirely sure why I made this a numbered list:
Chinese people, generally, love their kids. (Obviously, like in every culture, there are some awful exceptions, and I’ll give one specific example of this later on.)
As part of loving their kids, they want to give them a Good name.
So what makes a name a Good name??? Well, in Chinese culture, the cultural values (which have changed over time) have tended to prioritize things like: education; clan and family; health and beauty; religious devotions of various religions (Buddhism, Taoism, folk religions, Christianity, other); philosophical beliefs (Buddhism, Confucianism, etc) (see also education); refinement and culture (see also education); moral rectitude; and of course many other things as the individual personally finds important. You’ll notice that education is a big one. If you can’t decide on where to start, something related to education, intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, etc, is a bet that can’t go wrong.
Unlike in English speaking cultures (and I’m going to limit myself to English because we’re writing English and good God look at how long this post is already), there is no canon of “names” in Chinese like there has traditionally been in English. No John, Mary, Susan, Jacob, Maxine, William, and other words that are names and only names and which, historically at least, almost everyone was named. Instead, in Chinese culture, you can basically choose any character you want. You can choose one character, or two characters. (More than two characters? No one can live at that speed. Seriously, do not give your character a given name with more than two characters. If you need this tutorial, you don’t know enough to try it.) Congratulations, it is now a name!!
But what this means is that Chinese names aggressively Mean Something in a way that most English names don’t. You know nature names like Rose and Pearl, and Puritan names like Wrestling, Makepeace, Prudence, Silence, Zeal, and Unity? I mean, yeah, you can technically look up that the name Mary comes from a etymological root meaning bitter, but Mary doesn’t mean bitter in the way that Silence means, well, silence. Chinese names are much much more like the latter, because even though there are some characters that are more common as names than as words, the meaning of the name is still far more upfront than English names.
So the meaning of the name is generally a much more direct expression of those Good Values mentioned before. But it gets more complicated!
Being too direct has, across many eras of Chinese history, been considered crude; the very opposite of the education you’re valuing in the first place. Therefore, rather than the Puritan slap you in the face approach where you just name your kid VIRTUE!, Chinese have typically favoured instead more indirect, related words about these virtues and values, or poetic allusions to same. What might seem like a very blunt, concrete name, such as Guan Yu’s “yu” (which means feather), is actually a poetic, referential name to all the things that feathers evoke: flight, freedom, intellectual broadmindness, protection…
So when you’re choosing a name, you start from the value you want to express, then see where looking up related words in a dictionary gets you until you find something that sounds “like a name”; you can also try researching Chinese art symbolism to get more concrete names. Then, here’s my favourite trick, try combining your fake name with several of the most common surnames: 王，李，陈. And Google that shit. If you find Actual Human Beings with that name: congratulations, at least if you did f/uck up, somebody else out there f/ucked up first and stuck a Human Being with it, so you’re still doing better than they are. High five!
You’re going to stick with the same romanization system (or lack thereof) as you’ve used for the surname. In the interests of time, I’m going to focus on pinyin only.
First let’s take a look at some real and actual Chinese names and talk about what they mean, why they might have been chosen, and also some fictional OC names that I’ve come up with that riff off of these actual Chinese names. And then we’ll go over some resources and also some pitfalls. Hopefully you can learn by example! Fun!!!
Let’s start with two great historical strategists: Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, and the names I picked for some (fictional) sons of theirs. Then I will be talking about Sun Shangxiang and Guan Yinping, two historical-legendary women of the same era, and what I named their fictional daughters. And finally I’ll be talking about historical Chinese pirate Gan Ning and what I named his fictional wife and fictional daughter. Uh, this could be considered spoilers for my novel Clouds and Rain and associated one-shots in that universe, so you probably want to go and read that work… and its prequels… and leave lots of comments and kudos first and then come back. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
(I’m just kidding you don’t need to know a thing about my work to find this useful.)
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