Latest Posts by asathorin - Page 6

Just watched Mean Girls!

I wish I were both more like and less Cady. I will not elaborate.

Please, for the love of god, please don’t be this person. No matter how long it’s been since an update, no matter how many unfinished stories are sitting on their account, no matter what - do not be this person.

Not only is it insanely rude, but you also do more damage than you think be being such a self-entitled ass about something someone created for free and for fun. “This author” can see what you say.

RIP decency indeed.

Jiangzuo Alliance (sort of) Leverage AU?

For my @nif-exchange recipient, @star-shadows, who prompted “The brotherhood of the Jiangzuo Alliance”. Sadly I’m not good with words/art/ideas so I just made… this. I hope someone else fills your prompts because I’m also into them!

This is mostly animated because I can’t actually draw anything more complicated than basic shapes and wanted to distract people from looking too closely at the details. I also had to come up with increasingly contrived ways to cover up the hands, because hands.

Art references:

MCS & Li Gang

Gong Yu

Tong Lu

Zhen Ping

AO3 link if images don’t load (@ tumblr why): http://archiveofourown.org/works/12822456/

reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something

Proving a point to my boyfriend.

PLEASE REBLOG if you (male or female) believe it is perfectly okay and natural for a guy of any age to cry

One of my favourite comics 😭

Improbable Compatibility Store / Patreon

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.)

Thinking about how in a way, the identity of Li Lianhua dying was actually for the best, especially if he truly wanted to live for himself.

Li Xiangyi was the street kid unaware of his bloodline, who's adopted by a loving if not slightly dysfunctional (settling your couple quarrels through having the brothers fight to hone their skills was not healthy change my mind) family. And then as a teenager, he defeats this random villain and now he's not just a person, not anymore. He's the fastest sword in the land, he's the leader of the Sigu Sect, and maybe he did establish the sect with the noble intentions of helping people just like his childhood self, but in the end he's a teenager and he becomes a figurehead, a banner, and one command from him could move troops, and he doesn't know how to deal with this much responsibility but he can't delegate it because no one else is competent enough is expendable enough. In the end, Li Xiangyi wasn't living for himself, but for the powerful Sect he established and the ideals he's unwittingly become the figurehead for.

And then he becomes Li Lianhua, and this time it's more obvious that he's not living for himself. His one motive for surviving is to find his shixiong Shan Gudao's corpse, and it's my personal belief that if he'd found his corpse 5 years earlier, he would've buried himself next to his shifu and shixiong within a year. He says he's happy with his more relaxed life, and I'm not saying he's lying, but I also feel like the only way he could enjoy that life without the guilt crushing him was to tell himself "this isn't forever, this doing nothing will end. I can enjoy this because this helps me find my shixiong before I die." But then he finds out that instead of finding his shixiong's body, and therefore neatly tying up all his strings in life, most of what he thought was true is a lie. In a way, he survived only for Shan Gudao, then realized his one motive for surviving was a lie, so really, is there any reason for Li Lianhua to exist anymore, especially when this identity has gotten tangled up with his old life again?

And maybe, a few months after Li Lianhua is publicly considered dead, fortune teller Li will start following Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing around, but that's not part of the narrative. The point is, in order for the narrative to complete itself, Li Lianhua had to die.

Even about Li Lianhua, Fang Duobing got tricked successively at the start but he learnt so quickly? He caught on so quick so that Li Lianhua's many deceptive efforts later on mostly fail?

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.)

ARSENIC FOR TEA SPOILERS

(also I haven't read AFT for a while so please excuse any errors)

Stephen Bampton is so nuanced to me because YES he's a murderer, attempted murderer and also was very willing to be complicit in another indirect murder (Lord Wells would have likely been hanged if he'd been arrested) but on the other hand he's a poor, homosexual 17 year old who likely doesn't have a great time at school because of this (remember Hetty saying how she's been secretly darning his socks???) and I'm assuming boys at Eton would have picked on nearly anyone who had a hint of being an outsider. Violence or at the very least ostracization has likely been used against him his whole life and so that's his first resort.

I'm not saying he deserves forgiveness or redemption but maybe some more understanding??? Stephen has been proven to time and time again that adults cannot be trusted - Mr Curtis, obviously, and his father for leaving him and his mother for cheating and then Lady Wells for also cheating, and he also probably felt this way about the police who couldn't catch Mr Curtis the first time round. I'm not saying he was right in what he did, but Stephen could have very possibly thought he was doing Bertie and Daisy a favour by getting rid of their parents and letting Lord Wells take the blame as 'adults can't be trusted'. A lot of what he does seems to be a misguided sense of protection for others and self defence. And he does constantly reiterate to Hazel and Daisy that he's going to keep them safe, that nothing's going to happen to them. Stephen might possibly have also seen how Bertie's parents treat him (reading between the lines, it seems Bertie is mostly ignored and/or seen as a burden child) keeping up this thought process that 'adults can't be trusted'.

The calculated murder almost (ALMOST) makes me want to sympathise with him, as yes Stephen clearly wants to hurt Mr Curtis but then he doesn't want to hurt anyone else? He thinks that when Mr Curtis is out of everyone's lives, not only his but Bertie's too, then things would go back to normal, or at least he wouldn't have to relive the hurt of what Mr Curtis did to his family. However, I do say that it ALMOST makes me want to sympathise with him because in the second half of the book, Stephen gets panicky and resorts to unplanned murder attempts (ie. pushing Lady Wells down the stairs who he thought was Lucy) which screams to me that maybe, not a violent streak as such but definitely an 'angry when fearful' streak was always within Stephen.

In essence, I don't think Stephen murders because he's a cruel person, even though he nears this when pushing someone down the stairs, but murders because he wants to protect Bertie. Ok and yes quite possibly vengeance. As with all the murders, it always goes too far and too deep.

“I am now a weak scholar and can never again beat you in a fight. What are you smiling about?

“You’re the one who has the advantage. Even if you hit me, I wouldn’t dare hit you back."

“You’re the Crown Prince now. If I hit you, that would be a death wish.”

Advanced Bittersweet Evasion, A Masterclass by Mei Changsu. (aka Nirvana in Fire, ep. 52)

when will my husband (arcane season 2) return from the war (get back into production because SAG-AFTRA and VFX workers got a fair deal from the AMPTP)

Steal their look 👗

what are the best wings you’ve seen on a bird

here are some of my favorites :)

sunbittern

lilac breasted roller

bluejay

x

Film nerd is an exaggeration and you know it //:

Damn I wonder who said this (fine, one film nerd plus another entity)

What do you do in your journey to become cultured?

Well I missed out on pretty much everything culture in my childhood :( then I got to uni and made friends so basically whatever culture they know I'll know (I watched a lot of films last year for example because two of my friends are film nerds), I want to watch atla and lok and toh, I am playing some games with friends when I can (they have switches, I don't and can't get one but I will play with them occasionally), I am just learning a lot of stuff in general that people know. Goodbye for now as I am about to watch mummy (with the film nerds yes) but ask away more if thou wish

Every day I think about Li Xiangyi and his two swords and go a little more insane. The unbendable, unyielding Shaoshi that carried Li Xiangyi to the top of the world, and was found and lost and found again. The flexible but equally lethal Wenjing that remained with him in his life as a ghost, looking for the brother that gave it to him. Shaoshi, which his master gave him, which he left behind for so long in favour of his master's wine gourd instead. Wenjing, the blade that had always been soaked in blood and betrayal, undoing the meaning of the decade he had spent with it. Wenjing, abandoned after he realised it was a mark of everything broken and bitter in his past. Shaoshi, which he took up and carried again till he could, and shattered the moment he decided to run once again. Shaoshi, whose shards Di Feisheng found and kept. A swordsman shouldn't have weaknesses, Di Feisheng told him long, long ago. What does it mean, then, when a swordsman carries a sword that is broken and nothing more than a memory?

I am eagerly watching Mysterious Lotus Casebook*o* so good!

idk what will the ending bring (nothing good, knowing Chinese dramas); but in my mind Di Feisheng (“gay as hell to have arch nemesis; what’s he arching? his back?”- meme personified) will always aggressively care for Li Lianhua (there probably will be threats of the snake pit at least twice a dayXDD)

Sketch

so i was doing research for translation (while procrastinating, as you do), and well. here's a breakdown of 悲风白杨 / bitterwind poplar, the martial technique di feisheng created.

悲风, which i've translated as bitterwind, refers to the ear-piercing and mournful howl of the wind. when put together with 白杨, it likely references this couplet from the anonymous han dynasty poem 《去者日以疏》 / the dead become estranged with the passing of time: 白杨多悲风，萧萧愁杀人！ / how mournful is the wind that howls through the white poplars; the soughing sorrow weakens the heart! among other things, the poem describes an intellectual's forlorn confusion at not being able to find a way out/forward.

on the other hand, the 白杨 / white poplar is known for taking root easily even in harsh circumstances, and for growing straight and true with sturdy branches. therefore, in chinese tradition, it signifies an indomitable spirit that will not bend nor yield, and is strong enough to not be shaken. it also features in 《白杨礼赞》 / in praise of the white poplar, a 20th century essay written by the novelist 茅盾 mao dun, in which he commends the white poplar for unwaveringly reaching to the skies, then likens it to the tenacious and diligent northern farmer, whom he praises for being frank and striving for progress.

i literally do not have the capacity to think any further on this right now so. yeah. :))

li lianhua's final letter to di feisheng

i hear the official eng subs weren't great so here's my own attempt at a translation (under a read more bc fuck it's Long)

edit: translated qiao wanmian’s letter to li xiangyi as well, which mirrors this one!

十年前

Ten years ago,

东海一决

during the duel of the eastern sea,

李某蒙兵器之利

this unworthy Li made benefit of whetted blade

借沉船之机与君一战犹不能胜

and capsizing boat whilst battling thee but was yet unvictorious.

君武勇之处

Thy martial prowess and valiance

世所罕见

are unexampled in this world.

心悦诚服

Mine heart delights in it, and by mine own will yields to thine eminence.

今事隔多年

The affairs of today are by many years separated.

沉疴难起

By pains alone would a lingering malady be cured.

剑断人亡

The sword hath broken—the man hath perished,

再不能赴东海之约

and can no more honour the accord to duel by the eastern sea.

谓为憾事

Such is the cause for most sincere regret.

余感念君所赠之忘川

I recall in deepest gratitude the flower of oblivion bequeathed by thee,

然终有负君之所望

yet did forsake all thou hadst longed for in the end.

江山多年

The rivers and mountains of this land have many years endured,

变化万千

their changes reckoned in the tens of thousands.

去去重去去

Partings upon partings, farewells upon farewells;

来时是来时

the coming times shall be the coming times.

方多病习我之功法

Fang Duobing hath been studied in my skills,

资质上佳

and his own endowments of the utmost excellence.

不暇多日

Shouldst he not keep idle days,

定不在明月沉西海之下

he shall surely be not beneath the bright moon sinking into the western sea.

君今无意逐鹿

Thou hast not now any desire to pursue the throne,

但求巅峰

but instead to seek the height of skill.

李某已去

This unworthy Li hath since gone;

若君意不平

if thy desire be not appeased,

足堪请其代之

he shall suit, shouldst thou bid him succeed me.

李相夷绝笔

Thus end the last words of Li Xiangyi.

footnotes

i've translated this letter into (my best attempt at) early modern english to try and reflect the formality li lianhua is writing in. also because he uses 君 for di feisheng throughout, which is a literary second-person pronoun, and i wanted to emphasise that. i know thou is actually the informal pronoun, but given how archaic it sounds in comparison to you, the actual formal pronoun in early modern english, i thought it a better fit. (for all the feihuas out there: 君 was also used by women to address their husbands, so actually i thought the informality might work in my favour here LOL)

if you saw this post before, you might have noticed that my translation of the third and fourth lines changed slightly lmao. ty to @/presumenothing for the reminder and ofc my fav @/bat1lau4can4 for talking through it with me and being the 文言文 expert i need <3

for the purposes of my goal in the above footnote, i've had to take some creative liberties in my choice of vocabulary. for example: unexampled is not quite an accurate translation of 罕见, which actually means rarely seen.

i phrased 心悦诚服 as mine heart ... yields but that's a somewhat liberal interpretation of the phrase lol. there is a heart in it; it's just maybe not the thing that's yielding, to be precise. close enough imo though!

江山 literally translates to rivers and mountains but is often used as a metaphor for a country as a whole, hence my translating it as the rivers and mountains of this land.

grammar is not as important as Vibes.

逐鹿, which i've translated as pursue the throne, literally means to chase the deer, and stems from the 《史记》 / records of the grand historian.

绝笔, rendered here as last words, specifically refer to the last words written by one before their death.

Commission for @the-wintry-mizzenmast

well… behold my attempt on “okay i’ll make a quick environmental sketch just for practice and i definitely won’t spend 16+ hours on it”

Gu Xiang

Xiao Jingyan - from Nirvana in Fire /  琅琊榜

Word of Honor as The Onion News headlines part 1 (-> part 2)

After passing peer review here is my drama recommendation tool

Maybe I will update it in the future but for now I am happy to have watched enough good dramas to make it.