my life is defined by the goat noise from the reply series

izzy's playlists!
noise dept.

ellievsbear
occasionally subtle
Peter Solarz
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Discoholic šŖ©
$LAYYYTER

JBB: An Artblog!
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Alisa U Zemlji Chuda

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Keni
Mike Driver
will byers stan first human second

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Three Goblin Art
dirt enthusiast
hello vonnie

tannertan36

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@shireunde
my life is defined by the goat noise from the reply series
some of ddās wrap-up posts compared to his cql wrap-up post š
čæäŗē¹ē¹ę»“껓ę仄åééäøę³åæč®°ļ¼ Iāll never forget even the tiniest thing from this experience (Ā©)
I donāt exactly find Feng-ge spilling his drink (?) funny but Yiboās laughter is infectious šš
is there anything you /wish/ had happened in CQL? it doesn't even have to be a canon scene, just something for fun! ;)
oh man... I donāt have it with me, but while I was watching CQL, I kept a running list ofĀ āmissing scenes I wanted to seeā on a piece of scratch paper I had taped to my wall. A lot of those missing scenes ended up on this blog in one form or another anyway (Sunshot Campaign wangxian? Sunshot Era!Lan Wangji? Literally everything about Wei Wuxian and those three months in the Burial Mounds?)
But you know what Iām feeling, right now? Jokes on you, Iām always feeling this -- I wish CQL had more fight scenes.Ā
And not just like, the super quick shots we got of Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen tearing their way through hordes of fierce corpses during the Sunshot Campaign (though that was wonderful and aesthetic, thank you for that CQL production crew). I wish they had the time and the budget (and the space in the story) to really develop the ways various fighting styles inform our understanding of characters.
Ever since I took one (1) class on stage combat/theatrical violence, Iāve been fascinatedĀ by the amount of character analysis and deliberate performance choice goes into choreographing and performing fight sequences. Every little detail can be so richĀ in terms of character content: say person A has provoked person B to physical violence via, oh, insults about their parentage. First of all, we learn a great deal about person B -- what is their berserk button? What can get them to snap and lift a hand with intent to cause harm? Second of all, what is person Bās instinctive response? A punch indicates some level of training in combat, because 1) punches are not instinctive to throw, and 2) itās very easy to fuck it up and break your thumb or hurt your wrist. Or does person B go for a slap? Slaps read differently from punches; for one, they have a weird amount of gendered connotations. For another, theyāre open-palm blows, which seem, on the surface, to be less aggressively violent than punches, but can deliver the same amount of force. Or does person B go for a collar grab? A classic move -- inflicts no damage, but indicates how seriously upset you are. Or perhaps a shove? Does that send person A to the ground, or back into a wall? What does that tell us about person Aās experience with violence?
...and so on and so forth.
The fight between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian in the Qinghe Nie courtyard lasted approximately... what, twenty-five seconds? and I went offĀ on it for over a thousand words. Okay, fine, I wasnāt talking solely about the fight choreography itself, but the point still stands -- we can learn so much about characters in a well-choreographed fight scene, and Iām dyingĀ for more.
If Lan Wangji and Lan Xichenās fighting styles are anything to go by, we can assume that Gusu Lanās sword forms emphasize elegant, momentum-driven lines, all fluidity and continuity of motion (itās about maximizing those Sleeve Aesthetics, yāknow). If Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxianās fighting styles are representative of Yunmeng, we can see that the Yunmeng Jiang style focuses on strength and stamina; the two of them tend to catch their blows from their opponents on their blades/hilts/flutes rather than simply deflect and move past. Meanwhile, the Lanling Jin school of combat seems to give equal weight to both empty-handed brawling and swordwork; in the Xuanwu Cave, Jin Zixuan doesnāt seem fazed by fighting empty-handed in the slightest, unlike Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and Lan Wangji, who avoid fighting empty-handed if at all possible and pick up weapons as soon as they can. Jin Zixuan in general tends to be more willing to get up-close-and-personal in fights; he often moves into and through other peopleās ranges, rather than keeping them firmly at armās/swordās length the way, say, Lan Wangji does.
Again -- fascinating. What does that tell us about Lanling Jin culture? The ability to fight and defend oneself while weaponless? Does that point at a history of political turmoil, where Jin Sect members have needed to learn how to defend themselves just in case, oh, I dunno, all swords were confiscated at the door for a peace-talk that is now devolving? Or is this a fighting style unique to Jin Zixuan himself, and if so, what does that say about his training and education? does this mean that Jin Zixuan sometimes goes out bar brawling with Mianmian??? inquiring minds wish to know
We donāt get a ton of songxiao fight scenes (one of the biggest tragedies of CQL is that we never get a back-to-back badasses/battle couple fight scene with songxiao), but how does Xiao Xingchenās movement style differ from other characters? Heās incredibly light and fast on his feet, but doesnāt seem toĀ deliver the same amount of force that, say, Jiang Cheng could deal in a single blow. Meanwhile, Song Lan is a brilliantĀ fighter (when heās not, uh, being terribly provoked by Xue Yang); all swift, crisp movements backed by an immense amount of power. Speaking of Xue Yang, he and Jin Guangyao incorporate a certain amount of psychological warfare into their fighting styles, which subsequently rely on the need to maintain distance with their opponents (to avoid getting Stabbed Whilst Evil Monologuing).
...yāall Iāve got feelingsĀ about fight choreography. What I wouldnāt have given for a tournament arc, where we can just have every character fight every other character for, yāknow, character development
will never not be enthralled by the meta-analyses of hunxi. YES yes YEEESSS to all the fight scenes - really loved observing them given my decade-long fencing background as well. I must say that the Gusu Sectās swordfighting skills are. IMMACULATELY GRACEFUL.Ā
This is one of my favorite scenes and I never get tired of watching it. It's probably not surprising since we have gushed about it the moment it came out. We joked a lot about how Lan Wangjiāpure boy extraordinaire who got his rude gay awakening and endured countless gay panics over the years thanks to his dense crush Wei Wuxianāfinally had: 1) Wei Wuxian on his bed, 2) Wei Wuxian in his clothes, and 3) the liberty and familiarity to just open up the other boy's robe and have a fun gay time.Ā
But honestly? All jokes aside, what I love about this scene is that is actually so good and pure. Look at how properly Lan Wangji is taking care of his Wei Ying. Wei Wuxian woke up in the middle of the bed, while Lan Wangji was sitting elsewhere. From the looks of things, he was there from night 'til morning, and did not take advantage. If he did, we would know. Lan Wangji punishes himself when he does something he shouldn't, but here he came out of meditation calm, if tired-looking. It must have been a long night for him, patching up Wei Wuxian.
Even when he opened Wei Wuxian's robeāanother scene we gushed and joked a lot aboutāagain, look at how he does it. His eyes stay on the wound and respectfully look down instead of straying. There is no peeking, no distractions for Lan Wangji other than to ascertain that Wei Wuxian is indeed all right, because gods know the boy can't be trusted with his own well-being.Ā
The bonus for me here is that Lan Wangji is so serious, it is actually Wei Wuxian who seems shy and flustered. I mean, who wouldn't be, when you've got Hanguang-jun taking care of you? š¤
A moment of silence for one of the most beautiful scenes in cinematic history
The Untamed
Episode: 29
Minute: 35
this scene. took my breath away
Lan Wangji: *tells Wei Wuxian he named a song after a combination of their names* Lan Wangji:Ā *goes out of his way as a high-ranking cultivator in the public eye to support Wei Wuxian as the rest of the cultivation world plots Wei Wuxianās downfall for his demonic cultivation* Lan Wangji: *does not deny when Wei Wuxian asks if he came to Yiling specifically to visit him* Lan Wangji: *makes Wei Wuxian promise him heāll let him help him through everything* Lan Wangji: *sees Wei Wuxian by the cliff at Bu Ye Tian and asks him to come back* Lan Wangji:Ā *grabs Wei Wuxianās hand despite his own arm being wounded in battle before Wei Wuxian falls to his death*Ā Lan Wangji: *grieves for Wei Wuxian for the 16 years he is presumed dead, trying to reach out to Wei Wuxianās spirit via guqin spirit inquiries, after being whipped, made to repent in the cold, and confined to the back-mountains of GusuLan Clan for 3 years as punishment for helping Wei Wuxian* Lan Wangji: *immediately dedicates himself to Wei Wuxian after finding him resurrected, assuring him that he still trusts him* Wei Wuxian:
do you have any thoughts on the conversation between wwx and lwj by the waterfall in ep 50? (āyou truly deserve your titleā/āyou tooā)
ohhhhhh weāre hitting some peak wangxians tonight!
okay so for a little context, this is right about when we find out that Lan Wangji has taken on the responsibility of Chief Cultivator. Wei Wuxian expresses his surprise at Lan Wangjiās choice, to which Lan Wangji responds that the two of them swore an oath, to é儸ę¶å¼±Ā chujianfuruo / eliminating the wicked and supporting the weakļ¼ę ę§äŗåæ wukuiyuxin / to have a clear conscience.
Wei Wuxian thinks about Lan Wangjiās words for a moment, then nods sagely before this exchange:
Wei Wuxian: čę¹ Lan Zhan, ä½ äøę§ęÆå«å å ni bukui shi Hanguangjun. / Lan Zhan, you are truly worthy of being Hanguang-jun.
Lan Wangji: ä½ ä¹äøę§ęÆéå©“ niye bukuiĀ shi Wei Ying/ And you are truly worthy of being Wei Ying.
The key word thatās tripping people up here isĀ äøę§Ā bukui ā literally,Ā āto not disappointā orĀ āto not be unworthy ofā orĀ āto not fall short of.ā The idea is that there is some kind of image or trait or archetype that something is associated with, and to say that somethingĀ äøę§ bukui that image/trait/archetype is to say that it does not disappoint that image/trait/archetype ā or, removing some of those double negatives, that something lives up to its reputation. So for example, we could say:
Ā ę¤åĀ cijian / This sword
äøę§ęÆ bukui shi / is worthy of, does not disappoint
å¹²å°éøé ēĀ Gan Jiang zhuzaodeĀ / forged by Gan JiangĀ [a legendary Warring States swordsmith]
to get to a sentence that more or less conveysĀ
this sword does not disappoint its making by Gan Jiang,Ā
or, with less negatives,Ā
this sword truly lives up to its reputation of being forged by the legendary Gan Jiang.
Itās a little twisty in English, thatās for sure. But back to wangxian! What Wei Wuxian is saying here is that Lan Wangji truly deserves his title as Hanguang-jun, Light-Bearer of the cultivation world. Heās marvelling that Lan Wangji isĀ exactly as good as people think he is.Ā Itās also fun to note that Wei Wuxian starts out that sentence at Lan Wangjiās most intimate, informal address ā Lan ZhanĀ ā and ends it at his formal title ā Hanguang-jun. Re-translated a little more loosely, weād get:
Wei Wuxian: Lan Zhan, you truly live up to your title/reputation as Hanguang-jun.
Lan Wangji,Ā on the other hand, completely turns the compliment back on Wei Wuxian by inverting the sentence/sentiment. What heĀ says might be best understood as straddling several English translations of the phrasing:
Lan Wangji: And you do not disappoint Wei Ying /Ā
And you are worthy of being called Wei Ying /Ā
And you live up to the reputation of Wei Ying.
The idea, here, being that 1) Wei Wuxian has lived up to the idealistic young Wei Ying whoād promised on a floating lantern all those years ago to eliminate the wicked and support the weak, and 2) that Wei Ying is the highest, idealized form of Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian comments that Lan Wangji has lived up to his lofty title of Hanguang-jun; Lan Wangji, in inverting the sentence and placing Wei Wuxianās personal nameĀ where Wei Wuxian put Lan Wangjiās title, is effectively saying that Wei YingĀ is the most admirable thing Wei Wuxian could be, andĀ that he lives up to it.
god, no wonder we get the adorable scrunchy smile of pure loving joy from Wei Wuxian at that compliment, Lan Wangji is such a smooth-talking little MINXĀ I canNOTā
#Lan Wangji is extremely talented at rendering the vastness of his love and care in breathtakingly short sentences
why would you relegate that in the tags?!
(I reblog by principle every post about eloquent!Lan Zhan)
Dad Mode Activated Wangxian Week 2020 | Day 1: Family
āGusuās Emperorās Smile tastes really good. I donāt know if I will ever have a chance to drink it againā¦ā
Ā All of my memories keep you near In silent moments imagine you here All of my memories keep you near Your silent whispers, silent tearsĀ
-Within Temptation, Memories
I made an A-Yuan āthrough the agesā gif! I love their part of the story, so bittersweet and heartbreaking and full of tenderness and devotion!
omg this hit me so hard I actually teared
WEI WUXIAN + OUTFITS āµ Requested by Anonymous
I saw this and couldnāt help it. Bichen is like boomerang. But a torch is neither. T.T Poor LWJ.Ā
thanks @bi-the-wei for captioning help.Ā
WangXian is the melody composed by Lan WangJi for Wei WuXian. It is how he recognized his soulmate after the latterās death, even though Wei WuXian now occupies a different body. WangXian is also translated as Forgetting Envies, and is a portmanteau of their names.
But first, a little background on the connotations of the family names, all of which are common enough but will subconsciously shape how these characters are perceived in the minds of a reader who is a native speaker. If you know Chinese, you might even get the feeling that the author got pretty tongue-in-cheek about the naming of her characters.
The Jin clan is gaudy and loud about their wealth. The word Jin é is literally āgoldā. The Lan clan has family emblems that are cloud-themed. The word Lan č is literally āblueā. The Jiang clan has roots in a province with lots of ponds and rivers. The word Jiang ę± is literally āriverā in reference to bodies of water in Southern China.
The surname Wei é is familiar to history majors, as itās one of the three nation-states in the Three Kingdoms Period. However, if youāre also a WeiLan shipper from the Guardian fandom, then you might have heard that Shen Weiās name Wei å· means āMountain god entrusts himself to Ghostā. (I might do another post on this sometime.)
In Wei Yingās Wei é thereās no mountain å±± involved; thatās the top part of the character in Shen Weiās Wei å·. The original meaning of the word é is grand and majestic ā the left half of that character means god or entrust, while the right half means ghost. Fitting surname for a grandmaster who deals with the deceased.
Now the fun part with the personal names.
Lan Zhanās formal name Zhan ę¹ means deep or clear, without impurities. It is often prefixed to the front of the word āblueā to describe the color of sunny cloudless skies, azure.
(As an aside, his elder brother Lan XiChenās formal name is Huan ęø, and means an expansive spreading of water with connotations of dispersion. Both Zhan and Huan have the water word root on the left half of the character.)
Wei Yingās formal name Ying 嬰 literally means babe. In ancient times it used to also refer to necklaces, but that didnāt stop people from naming their sons thus. Historically there are at least a handful of well-known figures with that name. The Taoist term YuanYing å 嬰 refers to a state of primordial transcendence, often considered an intermediate phase on the path toward deity.
The author really nailed it with their courtesy names.
WangJi åæę© / åæęŗ
Wang åæ means to forget. In English it may have negative connotations because itās associated with a passive disease and loss of treasured memories. In Chinese the act of actively forgetting can also be a positive renunciation of worldly troubles, so the character is somewhat more romantic than an English speaker would assume.
Ji ę© / ęŗ is typically used in common speech to refer to machines, mechanical things, opportunities, worldly things that have many parts intricately connected with each other. In more metaphysical discussions, it implies the intertwined destinies and sophistication of the mundane.
Iāve seen a classy tea store selling leaf blends named WangJi, among a collection of other poetic references and reminders of the otherworldly. To forget the secular calculations and intricacies of the world is to live freely and without distractions; as an antonym of precision, it has heavy Taoist flavors because of its seclusive connotations.
WuXian ē”羨 / ę 羨
Wu ē” / ę means none, nil, the lack of.
Xian 羨 means envy. WuXian is a perfect name for someone who embodies the untamed, envious of none. His outlook on life is never to bemoan his fate, come what may. He doesnāt know the meaning of jealousy. He is complete in and of himself.
WangXian as a portmanteau is so clever ā even though the other portmanteau is brilliant as well: WuJi ē”ę© / ę ęŗ is pronounced exactly the same as the Chinese term for āuntamedā ē”ē¾ / ę ē¾ (yes, those are the two characters you see inside the red stamp next to the showās title logo).
When a native speaker hears the term WangXian åæē¾Ø, they get the basic meaning of āforgetting enviesā, but at the same time theyāre inevitably reminded of this famous idiom:
åŖē¾Øé“铦äøē¾Øä» Zhi Xian YuanYang Bu Xian Xian Literally: Only envy the mandarin ducks, and not the deities. (Alternatively: A pair of love birds is more enviable than immortality.)
In a world of cultivators whose ultimate goal is to ascend into deity, lovers only envy the mandarin ducks, which are symbols of faithful monogamy and harmony, a tribute to growing old together, companions for life.
Storytelling via fight choreography
Here is the excellent analysis that this vidder is most famed for, and probably also one of the most watched wangxian clips on douyin.
(vidder: https://m.weibo.cn/profile/7344430321)
Lan Wangji
itās been years since I last posted here. but. this show is too great not to reblog