#so i double rec it

[graceofgondor]

oh yeah here's what i've been doing the past three days btw

part 1

[shellibocs]

if you ever wondered what amara's spotify looks like

delilah belongs to @loriane-elmuerto | wally belongs to @auricfog | poe + gabi belong to @risingsh0t

templates - one. two (i heavily modified this js).

tag list! (opt in/out) @jamessunderlandgf @lavampira @queennymeria @chyrstis @derelictheretic @benwishaw @boldly-ho @spookyrares @devil-kindred @florbelles @roofgeese @ruvviks @strangefable @confidentandgood @leviiackrman @carrionsflower @simplegenius042 @thedeadthree @socially-awkward-skeleton @imogenkol @malefiquinn @neonshrike @d-esmond @captastra @gothimp @statichvm @calenhads @poetikat @nonfunctioning-queer @ghostfvcker @dickytwister @inafieldofdaisies

[renshengs]

Hi!! I see you post occasionally about cdramas. I went to China this summer and I learned a little Mandarin (like enough to say, “I don’t speak good Mandarin.”) Would I be able to muddle through cdramas with captions? (Also any suggestions on which ones to watch and where to watch them?). Thanks so much <3

ooh i hope you had lots of fun there! with subtitles i think you could absolutely make it through most cdramas; it depends on how good the subs are, honestly, because alas translating mandarin chinese to english (or any latin-based language, for that matter) is i think one of the most difficult language translations possible because the chinese language is just so rife with chengyu (idioms).

as for recs, i do have a handful i watched recently enough that i feel more confident in trusting my own taste LOL. i almost exclusively watch historical dramas, so these are definitely going to be very skewed to my personal preferences.

also, this will be long because i love my cdramas. bear with me!

word of honor/山河令 (2021)

episodes: 36

genre: wuxia (chinese martial arts fantasy; think of crouching tiger hidden dragon), dangai (cdrama adapted from a chinese gay romance novel), adventure, political intrigue

arguably the most explicitly gay cdrama that's come out in the last decade despite censorship issues in chinese tv broadcasting

a lonely ex-assassin retires and begins a slow 1-year suicide by poison, but his death plan is interrupted by a flirtatious (& dangerous) man with a mysterious background + a newly orphaned kid he accidentally becomes responsible for. cue politics and drama!

if you don't mind dealing with low-budget CGI—though the show is so immersive it hardly makes a difference—the story features: fascinating & subversive themes about life & morality, a well-written cast of bloodthirsty women, an incredibly charming found family, and an absolutely fantastic, dramatic, devoted slow burn between the two male leads

if you prefer more mature romance—lots of flirting & sexual tension between two highly intelligent & capable men who are 1) attracted to each other from the get-go 2) constantly trying to outmaneuver each other & figure each other out... this is the one!

if it means anything, i am recommending this one first because it's my all-time favorite cdrama! especially if you are queer like me :)

you can watch it subtitled on netflix or fully free & subtitled in HD on the official youku youtube channel

the double/墨雨云间 (2024)

episodes: 40

genre: historical, romance, political intrigue

if you too are tired of stories about shallow, badly-written girlbosses with no dimension... this is the show for you!

protagonist is a happy woman who gets framed for adultery & buried alive by her husband—she survives and returns to enact revenge upon those who hurt her & her loved ones by assuming the identity of the young woman who died saving her. she makes many enemies and allies along the way + catches the attention of the emperor's notoriously cold & keen-eyed right hand man, duke su, who eventually becomes her very supportive love interest <3

high stakes & a plot that makes you hold your breath, GORGEOUS cinematography

a long list of complex and important female characters, most of them nasty and corrupt, all of them sympathetic and interesting. the show is good at making you assume at first that their characters won't be done justice, but just wait :)

from your resident het romance skeptic: excellent dynamic! protagonist and her duke are both confident, calculating schemers always trying to outsmart each other, but eventually join hands against common enemies. extremely slow burn with lots of tension and a refreshing lack of miscommunication

you can watch with subtitles on netflix, youku, and definitely some p/racy sites for east asian dramas

mysterious lotus casebook/莲花楼 (2023)

episodes: 40

genre: wuxia, adventure, mystery

a heroic & famous swordsman suffers a defeat at the hands of his nemesis and vanishes and is widely presumed dead. timeskip a decade, he's been living in disguise as a doctor to escape the burden of his identity when the past he's been hiding from starts to catch up to him when he scams a talented & stubborn young swordsman whose past is connected to his

if you like sly 30 yr old protagonists, identity shenanigans, & mystery-solving with gay polycule undertones, this is the one for you!

as for potential shipping: if you like age gap stuff and/or devoted puppyboys and/or "A has idolized B (adult) since they were a child; now A is grown-up and wants to protect B" trope. OR if you like 30 yr old nemeses who act divorced. the 3 main guys all have chemistry; pick and choose your ship at will!

to save text, last year i made a passionate powerpoint post explaining the whole show, spoiler-free, in more detail!

you can watch it with subtitles on iqiyi for free or on aforementioned [redacted] sites

love between fairy and devil/苍兰诀 (2022)

episodes: 36

genre: romance, xianxia (chinese high fantasy), adventure

high budget CGI? in MY cdrama? it's more likely than you think!

please ignore the horrendous english title. a translation of the original chinese would be "the parting/goodbye of canglan", canglan being the main characters. the story is tragic but ends happily!

on the surface appears like an old-fashioned good girl x bad boy love story, but is far more emotionally interesting & 100% deserving of its sheer popularity

brave & kindhearted low-ranking 1,500 yr old orchid fairy spirit accidentally soulbonds with a 30,000 yr old demon lord war prisoner who just happens to be the nemesis of her realm, except she reaps all the benefits and he just suffers (hilariously)

very star-crossed, VERY funny bodyswapping, & with far more heart and consistency than many people assume. the romance is difficult in ways that make sense! genuinely thought my picky ass would not be charmed by this show and found myself fully crying by episode 8

oh, and gloriously stunning costuming. everyone looks good, all the time, even when they're covered in blood <3

if you're interested, here is the powerpoint post that convinced me!

you can watch with subtitles on netflix, or iqiyi & viki for free!

a journey to love/一念关山 (2023)

episodes: 40

genre: historical, romance, adventure, political intrigue

also female-centric! an infamous and deeply complex assassin protagonist hellbent on revenge against the people who framed her finds herself making a deal to train a timid princess into becoming a political force of nature, ft. her supportive and equally capable male love interest, his group of incredibly lovable and memorable best bros, a gorgeous cutthroat young marquis with an oedipus complex & a complicated backstory (who absolutely steals the show whenever he shows up), & a headstrong tomboy princess with a sweet and loyal heart

a fast-paced plot that never drags + excellent soundtrack + incredible action scenes + a genuinely convincing crossdressing plot where the female character actually passes as a man

unreasonably funny considering the political drama. i truly cannot understate how Fun this was to watch, especially if you like deadly domineering women who are badly socialized and hilarious, and female characters establishing positive and meaningful bonds with each other.

if you've never watched a cdrama, i will warn that most of them Do Not Pull Their Punches when it comes to making viewers cry. this one has shakespearian tragedy levels of death, including of major characters

you can watch with subtitles on iqiyi, and i'm sure some [redacted] sites also

hoping this list can be of help to you, anon! i cannot state how happy it makes me to see anyone express an interest in watching cdramas. i grew up on them, their long dramatic storylines and star-crossed romances, and they shaped my taste in fiction in more ways than i can say. if at any point you get around to watching any of these, feel free to yell in my inbox about it, and most importantly have fun and enjoy! <3

[crimeronan]

i know a bunch of people are looking for new hip-hop and rap artists to listen to -- can i please please please direct your attention to darrnell bradley. i found him through youtube recommendations about a week ago. he does character raps for anime & other fandoms n his lyrics are. So Fucking Good. his style is a blend of modern hip-hop and early-aughts alt emo bullshit & even though i don't share a lot of fandoms with him, i have loved Literally Every Song I've Heard Thus Far. including for fandoms i'm not in.

(the shigaraki song below gave one of my partners such powerful autisms that she Immediately had to show me his backstory episodes. i now know more about tomura shigaraki than i do about any of bnha's actual protagonists.)

here are some specific mood-based recs:

ruthlessness/righteous fury (miguel o'hara)

"wow it's fun being the most powerful person in a room" (gojo satoru)

I Am So Fucking Mad (jinx arcane)

well. that's gonna haunt me for a while (tomura shigaraki)

crazy girl fucks me to death asmr (general yandere. trust the process)

the guy has less than 8k youtube subscribers and less than 5k spotify listeners which is. crazy. check his stuff out it is. So Fucking Good.

[danidoesntart]

This scene from the beginning of @mostmagical's fic Professeure (of your love) has been embedded in my mind since I first read it. I couldn't stop imagining Marinette's stupid lil face

[mosspodge]

HEY MOSSY WHATS UR FAVORITE SONG im looking for new music :]

first of all, thank you for the huge compliment!!! you should also know you are saying this to someone who spent 15 minutes listening to the spider man game pizza theme in the car yesterday so. Yeah!!!

All that sillyness aside, I listen to way too much music (my usual playlist is +1,300 songs) of way too many different genres and i am happy to share them with anyone and everyone!! Gonna try and limit this to 10~ish songs for now, since otherwise I will end up with a list 100 songs long lol. Also I am a rare Apple Music user so I'll try and link all the songs to youtube so that they're easier to listen to!!! also bc Spotify confounds me lol OK there was WAY more text than i thought so MUSIC RECS UNDER THA CUT

MOSSY'S COOL MUSIC RECS

DRIVING MY LOVE - Anri GOSH her entire TIMELY!! album is amazing, but this is the song that's been sticking in my mind the most lately. Citypop is a very fun genre of music that came about in Japan in the 70's, and Anri had (to me) some of the most fun songs in the genre :>

New River and Soap - The Oh Hellos OH BOY OH BOY THE OH HELLOS!!! I LOVE this band!!!!! If you were on art social media a couple years ago you probably have heard Soldier, Poet, King, which is by and large their most popular song. New River is one of my go-to songs when I am going through it. Absolutely love the imagery of the song, allowing new and difficult experiences carve new landscape through yourself. Soap, it is important to note, is the culmination of their four-part EP series Four Winds, and is kind of the resolution to that whole series of songs. It's really interesting and worth looking into! I must note that this is a Christian band in case you find that uncomfortable, but I would still recommend checking them out even if you do- the Four Winds EPS focus specifically on their struggles with God amidst the uh. Bad US Political Climate and all that. Most of their music on the topic is pointed and metaphorical (see: Passerine) and so that knowledge isn't super necessary to enjoy the music, I just think it's neat :] And not every song necessarily touches on the subject- these two specifically don't! Also I GOT TICKETS TO SEE THEM THIS YEAR LETS GOOOOO sorry this section is so long i just really like this band

No More What Ifs - Persona 5 Royal, covered by the 8 Bit Big Band Ok back on track lol. This song is absolutely my favorite from the game, but MAN THIS COVER. The 8BBB is one of the best video game cover bands out there imo, and they COMPLETELY outdid themselves with this one. They actually added a few extra lyrics to the song to better round out the overarching theme of both it and the game and MAN. i will never listen to another version again. The album this will be a part of isn't out yet sadly, but I would 100% recommend checking out their other stuff!

Bones in the Ocean (2023 vers.) - Longest Johns There's a lot to be said about this one but it's best if you just listen to it tbh. I will say that this is a new recording of one of the band's first original shanties, and that it includes all former and current members. Would highly recommend all the other songs on this album too, aside from this song it's a very fun listen! But ourgh this song,,,, if i had time I'd make a dozen animatics for it

エビチャーハン! (You’re Telling Me A SHRIMP Fried This Rice?!) - JamieP best miku song no quastion

'Tis Autumn - Nat "King" Cole Trio There's only one song to kick off the fall season and it's absolutely this one! Also The Autumn Leaves, which Nat King actually sung in Japanese once which is cool. He was an incredible musician and all of his songs are great, but Tis Autumn is probably my favorite :>

Catch You Catch Me (Card Captor Sakura OP) - Gumi Do you want to get ready in the morning feeling like a magical girl? Boy howdy do I have a song for YOU! Seriously the amount of people I've shown this song to under that premise who have come to me the next day saying that it worked is a lot lol. Card Captor Sakura has been a big comfort show for me and MAN the music is *chefs kiss*, especially the OPs!!! Linked the full song, but I would also recommend watching the opening itself :D

#41 - Dave Matthews Band "wow you like dave matthews lol thats such dad music" ok listen. I have been listening to DMB since before I was born. Saying I'm biased is probably an understatement here. But his songs are very good and I like them ok. Anyways #41 is a really stupid name for a song but I love the band in it, the weird lyrics, just the overall jazziness of it. If you wanna listen to more Dave stuff I would highly recommend the stuff from his solo concerts with Tim Reynolds- its just 2 guys jamming out on guitars, it's great. Stuff like One Sweet World, Still Water, Grey Street (This one's a tough listen for me but I love it). For the fun full band stuff I love So Much to Say, Ants Marching, just the older albums in general

Stay I Pray You - Anastasia (The Musical) I am allowing myself ONE (1) musical song. My sister is a huge musical fan and an even bigger Russian History nerd and an even BIGGER Bolshevik Revolution nerd so I watched Anastasia with her a lot growing up. Eventually they made the musical and it's actually tied for my favorite (Phantom is pretty hard to beat)! I got to see it tour and MAN. all the music is amazing, but this to me is the standout song- largely because this song, despite not being in the movie, actually was kinda in the movie- there's this bit in In the Dark of the Night that they took and made into a completely different song which is a fun nod to the movie!!

Music to Soothe The Savage Snake Plant - Mort Garson Got overwhelmed by my options at this point so I'm defaulting to one of my favorites! I believe another song off this album got popular recently, but I will forever know this one from it being used in the final scene in The Adventure Zone, my first and favorite DnD podcast! Honestly I could recommend a dozen songs from the podcast, but this one in particular always sticks out to me. While I'm here you should also go listen to The Adventure Zone, it's a great podcast, especially their first story (Balance, just start at the bottom lol).

wow that. was a lot more than I meant to write lol. Special shoutout to Virtual Insanity, the bane of my existence and my personal hell. It was my #1 most listened to song last year coming to a total of *checks replay* 239 plays, over 50% of which occurred within the span of a week. another shoutout to The Housebuilding Song. i swear i listen to you once a year how are you always in my top 25

[synthbug]

YOURE IN MELBOURNE ??? OMGGG WHAT R U DOING IN AUSTRALIA THATS SO FUNNN !!! HQVE AN AMAZING TIME !!!! r u going to sydney???

AHH ALASSS MY AWESOME FRIENDS ALL IN SYDNEY BUT IM NOT HEADED THERE !!</3 I DID go there 2 years ago tho☝️ and had SO much fun I climbed ur Bridge the bridge that you own ☝️ :] I'm here on holidayyyy YAY! And I have been having an AWESOME TIME THANK UUU<3💙💙🦋🦋 I LOVE THE CREATURES HERE !! IM WAVING A BIG WAVE TO YOU SOMEWHERE IM WAVING <3 HIIII HIII :]]]]‼️‼️

[what-have-i-unleashed]

is that a song rec i see 🤨

if we're doing that, then oh my god the chorus of maria (by hwasa) is so double homicide coded. like dust telling sans "why are you trying so hard, you're already beautiful" is just. OUGH.

MARIA BY HWASA MENTIONED!!!!!!

BJBXVVHCG THAT SONG WAS SO GOOD IT WAS ON MY MOST PLAYED EVERY YEAR!!! i think with the added meaning of the mv too it could be so interesting :D especially since hwasa is also christian and maria is very much a song she wrote for herself. oughhh i just imagine that scene where hwasa looks at maria in the reflection of the red waters.... now apply it to sans looking at dust in a pool of blood or something bhjjjvgsefhh IT'LL BE PERFECT!!!

[driftwooddestiel]

do you have any franz fic recs? i just finished itao...

HI YES OF COURSE!! admittedly the majority of franz fic i’ve read other than itao has been the one fic (which i’ll explain under the cut so this post doesnt get too long) but i’ve also read some random short fics on slacken_ties and the like which i’ll link (it’s been a while since i read them but i saved them in my notes app so they mustve been pretty good)

this one which is very short but fun: https://slacken-ties.livejournal.com/890859.html

this one which is an incredibly strange and silly franz-themed mad libs: https://slacken-ties.livejournal.com/321086.html

this one which is a crackfic that i for one find very funny and enjoyable: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46345735/chapters/116684737

aaand i dont really have any more specific recs unfortunately sorry 😭 but i highly recommend looking at slacken_ties on livejournal because that’s a community that was literally dedicated to franz fanfiction so there’s TONS of stuff. ALSO IF ANYONE ELSE HAS SOME RECS PLEASE DO SHARE IN THE REPLIES OR REBLOGS 👍 apologies that i havent got more recs 

onto the fic i mentioned before — it’s a 40-chapter fic from slacken_ties called uni fic which is . very intense and very good & was quite impactful in the franzdom. HOWEVER! i learnt quite literally as i was writing this post that the writer of it is planning to take it down/remove it from slacken_ties soon since they have plans for the story — they said i’m free to save a copy of it if i want, which i’m currently about halfway through making, but i’m not sure yet whether they’d be okay with said copy being shared within the fandom so i’ll have to ask. in the meantime you can read it on slacken_ties still for now but just know it’s possible it will be deleted in a few weeks. 💥UPDATE the author says they’re okay with it being shared privately among a few people provided it’s not posted publicly online. so if you want to read it you can ask and i’ll send you a file (i finished archiving my copy the other day), however i ask that you pretty please don’t share that file with anyone else & keep it private* 🙏💥 ALSO‼️ the fic does contain some themes and scenes that can be quite intense and uncomfortable & it doesn’t have warnings. i’ve also been working on a spreadsheet (yes…) of the chapters with individual warnings for each chapter so if you’d like to avoid or be prepared for certain topics then feel free to ask for the warnings. (spreadsheet isnt finished yet but its about halfway through right now). in case you couldn’t tell i’m a big fan of uni fic, i think it’s very interesting and i’ve read it twice in full haha. its a pretty intense fic to go through since its like. novel-length and also very explicit, so its definitely not for everyone, but imo its got a fascinating plot and is very well-written and interesting 👍 

*also on the topic of it needing some warnings, i haven’t finished making the chapter warnings spreadsheet quite yet so you might want to wait til thats done to read it seeing as it does contain graphic depictions of sexual violence & regular violence, among other things, and i really cannot stress enough that if you choose to read it without warnings you have to accept the risk you might encounter something you don’t want to read

[honeekyuu]

hi honee i have a question

would you mind telling me what sites you use for the tweets and texts in love$ick pls

i wanna write a social media au of my own but idk what sites to use T_T

soooooooooo i use the legacy version of Social Dummy which was taken off the app store a long time ago :// i also know TwiNote is used for tweets (ios, idk about android), but the rest im totally unsure about --

@nectardaddy @eggyrocks @mollyrolls sorry to pull you three in, but youre the blogs i read the most LMAO would you mind dropping what you use in the comments?? pls begging crying throwing up ily

[gnomewithalaptop]

So I came to know u from the Transcendence-AU blog and ur fics (mainly ur TAU ones) on AO3. & I just gotta say,1st. "I loved the Transcendence AU Dash Simulator GO!!!" post u did (I thought I saw another one by u &/or someone else on the TAU blog, or maybe it was just that post I linked. Did u do another post like that 1, or was it just that one?) was super funny and detailed; I loved it, would read other post(s) like that 1. Will say the rest in other Ask(s). 1/?.

Hi! I think tumblr might've eaten the second half of your ask, but I'm so glad you liked the TAU dash sim post! I had a ton of fun making it :-) To answer your question, I only ever did the one -- you might be thinking of the @baelhunters tumblr account? I know that whole blog was basically a huge meta roleplay where they went deep into the Mizar the Magnificent analysis, though I don't think they've posted in a while

Other than that, if you're looking for social-media style fics, the ones I can name off the top of my head are Digital Demon by Gauvain, the Transcendence Chatroom series by Haberdasher, Oregon Nostalgia by Zillieannie, and Highlights from SGCC 3015 by MaryPSue (this last one's only partially epistolary, though I did reference some of the usernames in there in my dash sim post!)

[posallys]

i think you're such an interesting person. how do all of your professors just know you?

i go to a VERRYYYY small school. i think there are only 4,000 undergrads; the biggest class at the university is like the one intro biology class because everyone has to take a lab science and everyone thinks bio is the easiest, and that has ~70 students a semester. most of my classes are 25 ish people, and the biggest class I've been in excluding the intro science courses was 35 in my microbiology class last semester. i sit up front and I make an effort to talk to my professors, and it's definitely working in my favor ❤️ but like. small school = everyone knows everyone, and it is MUCH easier to stand out as a good student in a lecture of 25 people, or even 70 people, than it is in a lecture of 400.

[lookmhees]

hi sasa! about my stand in novel, since you read the tags before going in, were there anything you were surprised with (either good/bad surprise)? what aspect do you think is the most enjoyable/compelling of the story despite there is still some cliches/cheesy/perhaps even predictable in the writing? i finished it recently as well and i love listening to another reader's thoughts about it

hi anon!

i know i sound like a yan mingxiu apologist at this point but i was honestly expecting him to be way worse, and then he wasn't! i was vaguely aware that he was, maybe, the less scummy of the 188 group because i read a tiny bit about that before starting the novel, but i was still prepared for someone downright evil (or evil for evil's sake, or whose actions would piss me off for most of the story only to have some kind of big reveal later that would make me rethink everything—not that i'm actually opposed to that approach actually, but i'm still glad it wasn't like that in pbd, at least for the readers, because i liked following his emotional journey in real time-ish) and, while he still wasn't great, let's say i don't approve of his ways but i could easily understand how he got there.

going to hide the rest of my answer under a read-more because i want to get into spoilers and sometimes a tag isn't enough:

i told @clairedaring when i started the novel that yan mingxiu was funny to me because it was so clear even then how oblivious he was being (and later on how he was going to be hurt by the consequences of his own actions, boy was shooting himself in the foot the whole time) and i stand by that. i did cry for him, but i also reveled in his pain after seeing him sow the seeds for a year. get karma'd. oh and his age was a nice surprise too! i'd assumed he would be older for some reason (maybe because of up poompat) but he's a babyyy. it just made so much sense that he would be so immature with his background and being that young; not that people his age are immature or i'd expect them to, obviously, but some things are a lot easier to understand and excuse (at least for me) once you know he's only 20. it also makes him way more believable and his actions generally easier to digest than if he was idk, up's actual age. anyway i went into the story with that mindset, so maybe that's why i never really disliked him. or maybe it's because i'm older and a few years ago i wouldn't have thought the same, who knows.

as for the most compelling/enjoyable aspect i'd say it's mostly the way the characters are written, which, bare minimum lol but they were just so believable as people? there was depth, there was consistency in the characterisation (oh the bar is in hell); i could understand why zhou xiang was wavering, and why it took him so long to notice/accept and to believe in yan mingxiu's feelings; i could see yan mingxiu's feelings developing early on and also understand why he was basically gaslighting himself into still believing he loved wang yudong, even though by then he was already starting to notice how he didn't even like him as a person (one of the things i found so amusing about yan mingxiu was the way he'd automatically redirect his thoughts about zhou xiang to circle back to "but the best part about him is definitely how his back looks like dong ge's", he's. so dumb) he was so set in his belief and so used to think about wang yudong as the person he loved that he didn't even bother to stop and think for a second if that was even true anymore. aughhh. i really think the characterisation was really strong; it's not like i don't latch onto random weak characters for no reason constantly but this is usually what's important for me in fiction, and specially in a story that is mostly about feelings i need to really care about the characters, otherwise what's the point.

the flow of the story (the english fan translation in my case, but i think this comes from the story itself) was really good too! that by itself would have made me read the whole thing pretty quickly even though i wanted to make it last, not gonna lie... but yeah, with those two things combined i had no chance. i would intend to read one or two chapters before sleeping and then end up reading anywhere between 20-40, so now i have to microdose the extras or i'll run out of yanzhou content, sobs.

and of course, not to be me, but the best thing about pbd is my sweet angel baby zhou xiang. i was pretty sure i was going to like him a lot just from reading claire's propaganda post (lol) and sure enough, by chapter 6 his doormat ways had bewitched me body and soul. i already adored him as a very social but also very lonely man who had resigned himself to be alone at the tender age of 29 (out of practicality? like granted, he knows better than me how his environment functions but he never had any trouble finding a hook up either? so why that level of cynicism, baby boy. it's not like he can't look for a partner outside of his circle either). a man that so desperately yearned for a loving partner/a family of his own but that settled for scraps, and sometimes not even that. i loved seeing him being domestic and at times even sweet with yan mingxiu in his original life, and how he was a bit like a puppy. i loved how softhearted he was, and how petty he got at times; how he wanted to take that role from wang yudong because he was jealous of him and, since he couldn't get yan mingxiu to love him, at least he could "win" somehow and not be second to wang yudong by taking that role away from him, even if it was only once and not what he really wanted/the only thing he actually cared about (ie yan mingxiu's heart); how he wanted to hurt and maybe embarrass yan mingxiu by telling him about "wang yudong"'s back in his first film being that of a stuntman (and oh how i loved what that caused). but mostly i loved that despite all that he was still, above everything else, softhearted; he stopped caring about wang yudong altogether as soon as he knew the truth about yan mingxiu, even thought he'd spent years suffering because of him by that point; he always took care of chen ying, whatever it took, because even though she was only his new body's mother she was the only mother he had and he'd already hurt her enough by taking the place of her son, doesn't matter that he had no power over that.

i loved watching zhou xiang grow as a person and learning to put himself first sometimes, and having the resolve to fight for what he wanted for once and not just put up with everything life threw at him. i didn't even like the yan family plot (could do without yan mingxiu's father beating his gay son, thank you) but seeing zhou xiang standing up for himself and their relationship made me so emotional and so proud of him. his development was really the best, and i just love him so so much.

also it's so funny to me how i imprinted on poom phuripan like a baby chick the first time i saw him (as guy in bake me please) and then i had pretty much the same experience with a character he's going to play lmao as if i didn't know he's perfect for the role already.

look at him! he's so beautiful, so zhou xiang-shaped. i thought about up from time to time while reading too, but i was picturing poom in my mind constantly without even trying to. 10/10, perfect casting.

also! cheesy is good! cheesy is fantastic, even. same with clichés and predictable stories that follow a certain formula; sometimes that is exactly what i want, and as long as it makes sense and feels natural to the characters and the story (ie they don't just do things/things just don't happen because it's what needs to happen next) i'm down with anything. also i don't know if this counts as predictable or just paying attention because after all that's what the mentions/clues were there for, but things like yan mingxiu's obsession with wang yudong's back and consequently zhou xiang's... the moment we got yan mingxiu remembering how he fell in love at first sight with wang yudong's back at 16 when he saw that now-classic scene of him getting out of the water in his first film i knew what was coming, specially because by that point we knew how long zhou xiang had been working as wang yudong's stuntman (not sure if we knew about him being uncredited yet).

and sure enough, he was never credited in the first place because they wanted the action scenes to help build wang yudong's fame, and yang mingxiu had been in love with zhou xiang's back the entire time. you don't get much more cheesy than that, and it's literally my favourite thing about the novel 😭

and i'm stopping myself here oh my god...

[treecakes]

sooo many emails i have to send i’m gonna start crying sobbing btw

[batsplat]

hello professor batsplat!! i know you’ve made a couple posts about your favorite races to watch (for valentino, casey, marc, etc) - is there a specific tag they’re under slash do you have the links for them? i’ve been trying to track them down but haven’t found them yet

not to brag, but this is some of my most innovative tagging work - it's under #race rec tag. I WILL be remaking the casey one over the winter, also I've gotten asks for pecco and jorge/dani. the former I was going to do casually given where he's at in his career and just need to like. finish it off. the latter I will need a proper run at over christmas because it's so fucking many races between the pair of them - and quite honestly there's some stretches of their careers where I need to refresh my own memory. I'll also do a 2006-7 250cc special edition for the 2 (two) people who have expressed interest, since this is of course a time period I am a certified expert in

[gotta-bail-my-quails]

they better give me two tolands to make up for this smh