愿得一心人 白头不相离

watching dramas by moonlight, lawyering by daylight.

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

1. Obviously Ding Wang has been benching weights in his spare time when he locked himself in his study 🤣🤣🤣 look at those biceps

2. This was adorable

(Although I would still like an explanation about the monkeys)

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

Listen as long as the 🍆 still works

(And we’ve seen those arms and pecs)

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

2 eps of Mo Li or the First Jasmine.

The CGI monkeys took me out briefly.

The director definitely returned to Demon Hunter’s Romance palette wise, which is fine. I like the coloring, it doesn’t hurt my eyes, the greens are nice, the lighting is nice etc etc.

I don’t love the BGM. Maybe it’s because I was watching it on an older TV, but it felt … loud. But maybe it was my TV.

I do think Ye Li is a good Bai Lu type character, and the plot and characters seem logical so far. Her chemistry with Cheng Lei — I’m still trying to figure out exactly where I land but at least it’s not a black hole like Jadewind.

(I think where I land is that it’s fine enough to sustain the plot and romance, but it’s not that Ci Sha Ren Min chemistry where it’s almost vibrating off screen.)

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

Okay I got to eat crow.

For years (YEARS) I remain one of those kitchen scale haters. Like why the precision in grams etc etc (also I am just bad at measuring things in general hence why I am a bad baker)

But recently for my mental health aka stop doomscrolling, I've been baking more (particularly breads) and I broke down and got a kitchen scale

and you know what?

so much easier.

It turned out, I just hated using measuring cups.

[dangermousie]

Synopsis for this drama:

Aka:

But make it classy 😂😂😂

[tomorrowsdrama]

“Mother’s stepson”

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

One day I need to make a post about dramas in the category of “there’s nothing wrong with it, I had an enjoyable time watching it, but it will not stay in my brain even negatively.”

Although knowing the cdramas aired this year, that would be a good thing 🤣

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

If I want to be messy, I would say the corollary is: have you ever read something by someone else in fandom and that person seems very lovely but just operates at a different wavelength?

[paxamericana]

[aritany]

[hunter-rodrigez]

[iiumz]

[segamascott]

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

One day I need to make a post about dramas in the category of “there’s nothing wrong with it, I had an enjoyable time watching it, but it will not stay in my brain even negatively.”

Although knowing the cdramas aired this year, that would be a good thing 🤣

[yanguang]

[lizholmes]

oh he would have loved having a blog

[savouryduck]

Official Siku Quanshu Post!

[some kind of sparkly banner]

This post has been Certified as a Treasure by the Old Man of Ten Great Campaigns!

[links to his carrd and askbox]

[another sparkly banner]

[starofhisheart]

Happy pride to those 5 seconds where Charlie Swan thought Jacob was coming out to him in the most insane way possible

[thememedaddy]

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

I binged through most of Off Campus last night because I was curious and I wanted something easy to watch.

My verdict: I think I’m getting too old. The person I identify with the most is the boyfriend Allie broke up with who just wants a nice steady, stable life.

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

I'm going to be a bit meta right now (and if you are enjoying ashes to crown, scroll past), but I think Ashes to Crown is probably the best example of why the 大女主 ("big female lead") genre feels so empty these days.

Because it's so vibe based. The scriptwriting feels catered to the fans of the FL who wants to see their jiejie playing Mary Sue-perfect type characters with Iron Man level plot armor dramatically staring at the camera in slow mo than ... actual plotting. What have the character done to actually warrant the title? Nothing.

Like the epitome of the big female lead drama is legend of zhen huan and Minglan. But what's so special about those 2 dramas are that they let their leads fail. Zhen Huan falls, multiple times. Minglan had to work through many layers of childhood trauma. Neither gave them Boss Level fighting abilities.

So yes, maybe the current way they're filming allows fans to make cuts on Douyin, but it's just empty.

(And sure, some people are like, why can't women have their wish fulfillment? I'm not saying you can't, but also, I don't think it's too much to want actual substance in writing.)

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

Someone was trying to argue that the FL in Ashes to Crown would know all about politics from her 3 years as empress, despite her being a total idiot in life 1 and women not being allowed in court (as we hear at length in life 2). Plus, we're told she suggested all these reforms in Life 1, but how? From where? Does she even have a decent education? Better than all these men? Do they realize they are supposed to actually establish characteristics like this...

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

I'm reblogging your response because I just have one last rant before I go to bed which is ...

Can we stop with substituting glaring at the camera for actual character trait and plot?

Yes, glaring at the camera in some shots is okay BUT WE HAVE TO ACTUALLY SEE THE ACTION AKA SHOW US WHY THE CHARACTERS ARE SMART. Minglan managed to convey an incredibly brilliant, yet 3 dimensional FL scheeming and dealing with her trauma by having it filmed in such a slice of life manner. Zhen Huan had its drama moments, but it was actually an overall quieter drama that centered around a giant ass revenge plot. The difference between those 2 and this one is the way the plot is carefully built up.

(Also, truly, I don't think this director meant for a "style over substance" type of drama. The way it's directed and promoted, I think the creators genuinely thought they were giving us an updated 3 kingdoms or something.")

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

I'm going to be a bit meta right now (and if you are enjoying ashes to crown, scroll past), but I think Ashes to Crown is probably the best example of why the 大女主 ("big female lead") genre feels so empty these days.

Because it's so vibe based. The scriptwriting feels catered to the fans of the FL who wants to see their jiejie playing Mary Sue-perfect type characters with Iron Man level plot armor dramatically staring at the camera in slow mo than ... actual plotting. What have the character done to actually warrant the title? Nothing.

Like the epitome of the big female lead drama is legend of zhen huan and Minglan. But what's so special about those 2 dramas are that they let their leads fail. Zhen Huan falls, multiple times. Minglan had to work through many layers of childhood trauma. Neither gave them Boss Level fighting abilities.

So yes, maybe the current way they're filming allows fans to make cuts on Douyin, but it's just empty.

(And sure, some people are like, why can't women have their wish fulfillment? I'm not saying you can't, but also, I don't think it's too much to want actual substance in writing.)

[dangermousie]

I think the one good recent example is Yang Mi in This Thriving Land which was very centered on her character and made her real and the world real and any victories hard earned. But that is prestige and I think that’s a different beast perhaps.

[drwcn]

who are these women that have fulfilment wishes? literally no women i know who actually worked for their hard earned career care for these empty female fulfilment shows. even my mother who dont care for fandom shit is like...this shit is so so so boring after one or two shows.

not shitting on young people, but like I feel like these shows are purely targeting young women.

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

It has to be teens.

Bc I can be considered as a successful career woman (TM) and like …. I’m sorry, all I want is a vacation. My actual fantasy show is meet yourself where FL’s phone didn’t work for 2 days straight. That would be nice.

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

I'm going to be a bit meta right now (and if you are enjoying ashes to crown, scroll past), but I think Ashes to Crown is probably the best example of why the 大女主 ("big female lead") genre feels so empty these days.

Because it's so vibe based. The scriptwriting feels catered to the fans of the FL who wants to see their jiejie playing Mary Sue-perfect type characters with Iron Man level plot armor dramatically staring at the camera in slow mo than ... actual plotting. What have the character done to actually warrant the title? Nothing.

Like the epitome of the big female lead drama is legend of zhen huan and Minglan. But what's so special about those 2 dramas are that they let their leads fail. Zhen Huan falls, multiple times. Minglan had to work through many layers of childhood trauma. Neither gave them Boss Level fighting abilities.

So yes, maybe the current way they're filming allows fans to make cuts on Douyin, but it's just empty.

(And sure, some people are like, why can't women have their wish fulfillment? I'm not saying you can't, but also, I don't think it's too much to want actual substance in writing.)

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

Someone was trying to argue that the FL in Ashes to Crown would know all about politics from her 3 years as empress, despite her being a total idiot in life 1 and women not being allowed in court (as we hear at length in life 2). Plus, we're told she suggested all these reforms in Life 1, but how? From where? Does she even have a decent education? Better than all these men? Do they realize they are supposed to actually establish characteristics like this...

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

It’s bad writing. I mean, I do think the writers trying to shoehorn in plot on 1.5x is an issue, but it’s all “tell, not show.”

I will also say — this is where lack of chemistry really, really hurts the leads. I’ve ignored many questionable idol historical plots because of the OTP chemistry. Alas, I can’t enjoy the OTP, so I am nitpicking the rest of the plot.