gloriousbookwyrm

[gloriousbookwyrm]

Thanks!

So I watched that movie you recced, and it hit all my favorite relationship tropes and I really want more of those two. The youtube comments seemed to indicate there’s a book series, but I cannot read Chinese and am deeply unlikely to learn in the near future. Do you know if there’s an English translation somewhere (and also what the name of the series even is)?

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Ohohohoho!

Okay, so, I will preface all this by saying that I haven't read most of the books and have only seen like half of the adaptations, so talking about this franchise in public is a little like being stupid about Sherlock Holmes stories in front of the ravening hordes of ACD fans who have Opinions™.

(In fact, Holmes is a pretty good analogy in terms of there being one original author, a lot of broad popularity, and a bajillion adaptations with new ones coming out all the time and many of them causing anger over the OOC.)

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Big picture, the franchise is DMBJ/Graverobber Chronicles/Lost Tomb. (Not Locked Tomb—that's the lesbian necromancers—but Lost Tomb.) It's a series of mega-popular webnovels about a naive young guy from a family of tomb robbers and his two besties he runs into at the beginning of the series. None of these three characters appear in the tentacle movie.

In addition to finishing the main novel series, the author has written a number of side stories or stories set in the future after the main plot. A lot of this stuff is unfinished. Multiple WIPs is not only the fanfic author way but the webnovel author way!

At some point in the books, our three heroes encounter various cool and mysterious side characters, including Black Glasses/Shades/Hei Xiazi/Hei Yanjing and Xiao Hua/Xie Yuchen.

In Ultimate Note, the actors had fantastic chemistry. The characterization was a little off from the books, and the timeline was butchered, so the Trufen™ were annoyed, but everybody else was like "That! Now! Yes!" The characters seem much younger there and Xie Yuchen is supposed to be actually young. The vibe is different than in the movie, but I ship both versions hard.

The author has teamed them up in some stories (as a consequence? Was this after Ultimate Note came out? I'm still a n00b to this vast and confusing fandom).

The book you're looking for is the adventure in Russia that is referenced in the final scene of the tentacle movie. The fan translation is machine translation that has been cleaned up, but the fan has done some research to clarify cultural points and improve the translation, so it's pretty decent as these things go. Would I love a really artistic, skilled translation by a bilingual fan? Sure, but them's the breaks. I thought it was still a fun read, and it's quite slashy.

I will say that some fans interpret "immortal" in the scene where Xiao Hua talks to the corpse as being the same kind of immortal as Hei Xiazi, and this is something a better translation could address. But even if they're different types of immortal, I still find the scene very interesting in light of how shippy I find heihua (the smooshname for our two dudes) and the fact that Hei Xiazi is listening to Xiao Hua's whole speech. I just... have a lot of feelings! You'll see what I mean when you get there.

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In terms of the franchise overall, the main three are Wu Xie (young, naive, goes through his "mob widow era" later and gets all dark), Zhang Qiling/Xiaoge (amnesiac, mysterious, turns up to save Wu Xie a lot, often with his shirt off and tattoos on display), and Wang Pangzi (The Fat One™ but also the hottest in some adaptations, fight me!).

Fandom mostly ships Wu Xie/Xiaoge (smushname "pingxie"), but some people—who are correct and right—ship OT3.

My faves are partly popular as a ship because they're fun together and partly because it gets both of them out of the way of pingxie. Hahaha.

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Anyway, the side character side story novel is Moving Forward Through the Flowery Night; The End Comes Without A Sound.

Black Glasses and Xie Yuchen head to Russia to investigate a mysterious floating corpse in an Orthodox Church. In the midst of it all, they are recruited to help protect a Russian family from a deadly attack by a feng shui master.

The main fan translation is by merebear. You can find it here.

[gloriousbookwyrm]

Oh I’m so glad I listened to this rec, “This evil god’s plans succeeding isn’t as bad as you dying!” is like candy to me!

I was reccing it to everyone at Escapade, and I'll rec it again here. Do you like tomb raider fake archaeology genre shenanigans? Do you like the kind of dude adventure fiction hoyay that makes you go "Are you sure this was supposed to be straight?" Do you want a movie that requires not one single brain cell?

Have I got the movie for you!

[gloriousbookwyrm]

I was reccing it to everyone at Escapade, and I'll rec it again here. Do you like tomb raider fake archaeology genre shenanigans? Do you like the kind of dude adventure fiction hoyay that makes you go "Are you sure this was supposed to be straight?" Do you want a movie that requires not one single brain cell?

Have I got the movie for you!

[gloriousbookwyrm]

Chapters: 4/4 Fandom: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Additional Tags: background binggeyuan, Social Media Fic, POV Outsider Summary:

YouTuber SaintessPlumBlossom has released an expose on Cnet influencer HeavenlyPup666. But she’s a drama youtuber, so expect ridiculous allegations and over-the-top reactions to mundane things.

He’s just a normal dude doing a bit for the internet.

…Right?

– Bingge becomes an influencer. Based on Red-Garden’s post.

Finished! I wrote this in 24 hours because I was possessed by the spirit of drama YouTube

[gloriousbookwyrm]

kitty car 🐱

[gloriousbookwyrm]

Here's one of the shots that I animated on Kpop :D

It showcases one of my favourite new workflows that we used on the movie, which is a separate mouth rig that we could bring in to place overtop of the character's faces to create that big chibi look. It used secret technical wizardry to allow it to have depth without crashing into the face in 3D space. We could use it to break the silhouette of the face too. Made it a lot easier to animate lip sync on a mouth full of shrimp chips.

[gloriousbookwyrm]

Rating the birds in my backyard by tendency toward violence

Northern Cardinal, 4/10

I'm sometimes worried the male is sexually harassing the female but I'm pretty sure they're just doing some elaborate public pickup roleplay. The rest of us didn't agree to participate in your kink, guys.

American Robin, 1/10

Literally just some dude hanging out. Never bothered anyone but worms. Big fan of the way you just stand there in the middle of the grass like you forgot what you were supposed to be doing.

House Sparrow, 10/10

You're a gang. You're participating in gang violence. There's ten billion of you living in a single wood pile and it's been civil war for three years now. When will the bloodshed end?

Tufted Titmouse, 1/10

A shy baby. A pretty little guy. I saw you on the neighbor's garage roof and time stopped. There were anime sparkles around you. Come back.

European Starling, 9/10

Why is it always you? Listen, I know, I KNOW the sparrows are the problem, and YET. When the fighting starts, it's always you in the middle of it, provoking them and then screaming like you're an innocent bystander defending yourself. I'm onto you.

Carolina Wren, 3/10

This rating is not for physical violence, which you don't engage in, but for your role as an incurable narc. A tattle tale. I know they're fighting again, okay? I see it. Our yard has been a warzone for years, you don't have to make a big announcement every time someone misbehaves.

Eastern Wood-Peewee, 0/10

If this were "birds who think they're better than everyone else," you'd get 10/10.

Red-bellied Woodpecker, 6/10

It's a utility pole. It's not a tree. You're surrounded by trees that are full of bugs. But there you are, on the utility pole. Committing vandalism.

American Crow, unrated

For who am I to cast judgment on the actions of La Famiglia? I assume you are doing what is best for the neighborhood. If I could, though, without criticism, make a single observation. That when large numbers of you gather in the ominous dead cottonwood - no? No, you're right. None of my business.

Great Crested Flycatcher, 5/10

Frankly, I think you could be doing more. I think your name implies a great potential. I think you should massacre the insects. I think your beak should drip with viscera.

Stay tuned for more criminal activity!

[gloriousbookwyrm]

in the future, we have computers that are basically super effective counting machines, and the counting gets so complex we can use them to communicate and display images and play music. some people make music entirely on a computer. there are these things called vocaloids, which are computerized voices that you can make sing whatever you want, and the companies that make them like to create characters to go along with each voice. this one is named miku. it's a Japanese name. yeah the Japanese will open the country back up eventually. now, we also have these undergarments called binders. they minimize the appearance of breasts and some people find that nice for gender purposes. yeah we've written a lot about the sociological concept of gender since your time. women can vote now too, it's crazy. now stay with me. there's this street in New York city called Broadway that has a ton of theaters on it and it's famous for really big musicals. and one musical is about you and your buddies rapping together. well rap is a type of music black people will invent after we make it illegal to own them. yeah sorry not sorry about that. anyway that's you

[gloriousbookwyrm]

"all the wrong people are unlearning shame" right yes, and i assume that all the right people are still trying to convince themselves that their own shame is ennobling, and as such their open resentment towards people with insufficient shame is a valuable moral service

[gloriousbookwyrm]

This is still one of the greatest things ever made.

[gloriousbookwyrm]

I'm in your house picking your shy, uptight man like a lock.

[gloriousbookwyrm]

How To Tell Your Cat That You Could Walk To His Food Faster If He Weren't Weaving Under Your Fucking Feet In A Beautiful And Intricate Idiot's Ballet

[gloriousbookwyrm]

I just think the difference is neat

[gloriousbookwyrm]

I'm convinced mama dragons carry their babies around in their mouth for protection, like how crocodiles do...

[gloriousbookwyrm]

happy pride! this dragon is gay <3

[gloriousbookwyrm]

Loving this letter that one deeply hilarious National Trust employee was clearly tasked with writing to dress one of the rooms at the property we visited today:

I'm sure they never anticipated Dr Tall Gf and I, who spend half an hour minimum in every single goddamn room, and will therefore notice every single thing, including your funny little jokes!!!

(Letter reads:

Fourth Dec. 1772

Dear Brother,

Whilst I am most delighted to welcome you to my home I must also let you know that quite recently I did engage a local artisan-builder to undertake the plasterwork here at Mompesson House. I have had many wonderful ideas for the plasterwork: to whit, peaches, Inigo Jones and Alexander Pope, King Midas, shells, a Green Man who is most distinctive, the Goddess Athena, a lady with the head of a cornucopia, a Large Eagle, several sundry fruits as well as the aforementioned peaches, and so on. Suffice to say, it will be most grand but also cause a lot of mess. Anyway, my great hope is that one day the plasterwork will be so historically significant that it will pass onto some kind of National Trust that protects buildings and their furniture and so forth. I am sure the employees of such an institution would be kind, generous, thoughtful, attractive, most engaging and witty, probably extremely sexy and certainly in general a delight to be near. Visitors of the future witnessing my noble plasterwork will be so grateful that they will no doubt spend plentiful money in the tea room and secondhand bookshop I should think.)