A Dragon Twist On Warring States Period Hanfu

Wait also, he's really young and sheltered and new to the jianghu? Damn he learnt fast

Just saw a post calling Fang Duobing a dimwit, 'all muscle no brain', dumb, and someone who relied on Li Lianhua doing all the solving and then took all the credit for it.

I can't disagree more. Yes, LLH usually ended up putting all the pieces together in the end, but a lot of the time Fang Duobing picked up on clues and noticed stuff no one else had noticed. He was involved in the investigating just as much as Li Lianhua was and he most certainly did not 'take all the credit'. To me this does not describe Fang Duobing at all.

I'm actually tempted to go back and show how smart Fang Duobing actually is. The only thing he's dumb about is Li Lianhua.

(Please don't try and find the post and start trouble. I'm simply vehemently disagreeing with someone's personal opinion on a character. They have a right to have it and I have a right to completely disagree.)

Upgraded to Photoshop CC; trying to figure out where everything is.

The screencaps I used were taken from this very convenient REFERENCE SCREENCAPS ALBUM.

Words:

Edward Hirsch, “Self-Portrait” I suppose my left hand and my right hand will be clasped over my chest in the coffin and I’ll be reconciled at last, I’ll be whole again.

Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson, “Winter Song”

琅琊榜 OST: “赤血長殷“ + English translation by @chiyanjun

E.E. Cummings, “[i carry your heart with me (i carry it in]”

must enemies turn into lovers? can't they be the mirror of each other, connected by a defining trait of their character and arc, but ultimately separated by fate or ideology? can't they feel each other's presence in the crowd, a tether, a like calls to like, and at the same time repulsion for the distorted reflection they find in their enemy? can't they be each other's most feared destiny? can't they squash every time they meet the tiny fragment of empathy and connection that refuses to die, despite the opposite ideas, despite the blood, despite and because of the tragedy of it all?

Cheng Yi in wedding dresses

(Immortal Samsara 2022)

(Mysterious Lotus Casebook 2023)

+bonus

(Deep Lurk - not released yet)

(At this point i think there's a clause in his contract that determines at least one scene dressed as a woman, and we like it)

My babies are all grown up 🥹

Tumblr is currently serving me an ad for "Voda, the LGBTQ mental health app" offering "daily meditations, self-care and AI advice" and as a therapist I am begging you not to download an app where an AI tries to help you with your mental health. Please do not. They tried to have an AI chatbot counsel eating disorder patients and it told them to diet. That shit is not safe. Do not talk to an AI about your mental health please. You don't need to talk to a professional but talk to a PERSON. Edited to add: OK, it's been a long day and I wrote this when I only had the information that was in the ad. It looks like they may not actually have a chatbot, but something that just... churns out pre-programmed advice? That's genuinely a lot safer! But calling it "AI advice" feels a little misleading. This app may be perfectly fine and safe to use, but should probably stick to the fundamentals that people want from a mental health app and not try to use AI hype to market, since the intersection of AI and mental health support is VERY DICEY and bad shit has happened there before. And you should probably do further research on how they are using your data, since that is also an area where mental health support apps have gone bad before.

All amazing points and so important to take in. I think I have done a couple of these, but not habitually or intensely. But it's good awareness for me.

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Ma Xiuying from the Radiant Emperor duology!

Design/research notes under the cut

The characters read 馬秀英 (Pinyin: mǎ xiù yīng), her personal name, and 孝慈高皇后 (xiào cí gāo huáng hòu), her name as Empress.

There's certainly no dearth of material on Chinese clothing history out there. That is, if you can read Chinese, which I can't, so everything I have is from secondary and tertiary sources and/or relies on translation software. Fortunately, we're dealing with historical fantasy here, so some anachronisms are not only allowed but encouraged.

While Shelley Parker-Chan takes many liberties, the books are still set in a very specific time period, which is both a blessing and a curse. Most readily accessible resources will tell you about dynasties, which can span hundreds of years, and the duology takes place in a transitional period. So how to dress a Semu girl from the Yuan dynasty who lives with Nanren rebels wanting to revive the Song dynasty and who later becomes the first Ming empress?

Let's go through them one by one. The best resource was this book which is on the Internet Archive. I disregarded Mongol and Semu influences for the design since clothing is very much political and a way to either stand out or fit in with the surrounding society, see for example Wang Baoxiang wearing a topknot in Khanbaliq. Ma, I imagine, would want to fit in with the Nanren around her, so she's pretty much wearing the attire of Han women under Yuan rule. For the hair I went for something that looks youthful while being plausible, though I found very little on hair in this period, so who's to say.

The next one is from a specific scene in the book, so there is some description to go on: red, long sleeves with gold embroidery, high hair, red and gold ribbons. Since this is the scene where Ma declares herself queen and future empress in front of the Red Turban, it has to be a very deliberate dress. It therefore takes inspiration from Song aristocrats' broad-sleeved gowns as well as from 翟衣 (dí yī), the highest ceremonial gown of both Song and Ming empresses. (Some examples for 翟衣 are in this post, which also features the bird shaped crown I just had to include, and this post.) Her hair still has the loops, but it's much more sculpted.

Finally, Empress Ma! This is mainly based on the two actual portraits I could find of the historical figure that Ma is based on, with elements taken from other portraits and paintings. It includes 凤冠 (fèng guān), the phoenix crown, 霞帔 (xiá pèi), the sash, and 禁步 (jīn bù), the jade belt. This video shows how Ming dynasty layers are worn, but it refers to a much later period so it's not quite the same as Ma's.

(Some additional, historically irrelevant notes: I realized too late that a right-to-left timeline might be more appropriate. Oh well! Also, how the colours photograph frustrates me, I swear I did not make her this deathly pale. And finally, some of the characters look a bit smudged because my cat spilled water on them. I did what I could to save them.)

okay tumblr I think it’s time I tell you all about rocks chonch, I have given this talk three times and it has given everyone present Much To Think About, I am all about accessible education

very long transcript and photo sources under the cut

Afficher davantage