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Typhoon Ulysses PH Relief Drive

Hello people, it’s me again, ancient_moonshine on ao3. Thanks to you and your generous donations, my friends and I were able to start our own charity drive which primarily seeks to help pandemic-affected jeepney drivers and their families. :D We’re currently aiding 9 jeepney operator and drivers’ associations within Metro Manila, with 637 members total. To date, DIWA has set up four community gardens for four different jeepney operators and drivers’ associations, as well as provided some of the drivers’ children with gadgets and internet for distance learning purposes. Through the Rotary Club, we’ve also coordinated with the Department of Health to provide them with maintenance medicines, and Rebisco food company to give them food packages. In the aftermath of Typhoon Rolly, we’ve also helped out evacuees from Guinobatan, Albay, by providing them with water after lahar buried their homes.  Check us out at facebook.com/Diwa Uplifts. However, I have to ask for your help again. I’m sure people have heard about the terrible flooding Typhoon Ulysses caused in the Philippines [international name: Vamco], right at the heels of Typhoon Rolly [international name: Goni]. Our current beneficiaries are drivers belonging to the San Mateo Maly-Philcoa Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association based in San Mateo, Rizal City, and the Tumana-Balara Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association in Balara, Quezon City. The drivers of both JODAs live in Rizal and Marikina, the worst-affected cities in Metro Manila, and many of them wound up with their homes and belongings submerged in floodwaters. These people are now staying in evacuation centers, or living in their jeepneys in their terminals while they fix up the damage to their homes and try to salvage their belongings. I will spare you the images because they’re honestly extremely upsetting, but here are some links to news sites for you to see how bad the damage is:  https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1359823/typhoon-ulysses-triggers-worst-floods-in-metro-manila-in-years

https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/11/13/Marikina-state-of-calamity-Typhoon-Ulysses.html https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/12/asia/typhoon-vamco-philippines-intl/index.html

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/multimedia/photo/11/12/20/massive-flooding-in-san-mateo-rizal At the rate deforestation and climate change are going, and given their locations [quarrying and deforestation in nearby mountains and watersheds basically sent water rushing down their slopes and rivers swelling because there were no trees left to absorb it] the problem our beneficiaries are currently facing stands to be a recurrent one. To make matters worse, the quarantine [longest in the world] and the jeepney modernization program have sapped their sources of income dry. Hence, our drive hopes to provide them emergency relief kits and go bags, to give them resources they might not otherwise be able to afford, just in case another typhoon sweeps across Metro Manila. [and there stands to be at least 4 more, this year alone]. We pray they don’t need them anymore, but just in case…  Unfortunately, donor fatigue is a thing, and honestly local resources have been sapped dry [Ulysses did not affect Metro Manila alone, it also hit Cagayan, Pampanga, Aurora, practically the entirety of Luzon]. So this is us, the members of DIWA, asking the international community for help. So far a rough estimate of the minimum that our grab bag will cost [food, toiletries, and meds excluded given we hope to get those via donations in kind] are the following: GRAB BAG COSTING PhP110  - 1 clear bag PhP155  - solar flashlights PhP4.36  - 1 whistle   PhP14 - 1 roll of tissue Per bag cost: PhP283.36 Total: San Mateo Maly-Philcoa JODA - 50 members x PhP283.36 = PhP14,168 ; roughly USD 294.45  [USD 1= PhP 48. 28] Tumana-Balara JODA - 62 members x  PhP283.36 = PhP17,568.32; roughly USD 363.88 *If solar lamps only for Tumana-Balara JODA [depending on our budget, Marikina LGU is comparatively experienced at disaster-preparedness, so priority for the kits is San Mateo]: 62 members x P155 =  PhP9,610 [roughly USD199.04] For international donors, our Paypal account is rayaalte@gmail.com. You may find a link to our transparency sheet in the above image, as well as links to our official socmed accounts.  Please send me a PM if you wish to donate, and a screenshot of your donation. Unfortunately gifts are closed for the moment since I still have a backlog, but even a simple share means the world to us. ;___; Thank you so much for your support, and may we see better times ahead.  Thank you so much. <3

[northofthecosmos]

Rant: ChenQingLing is a disgrace.

Disclaimer: this is a rant, and it’s antiCQL. So those who like it, pls ignore and refrain from posting your counter arguments to me. I just want to vent my displeasure of this live action and only welcome those who agree with me to comment and share.

Being a massive fan of MDZS, I just have to get this off my chest. I am sick of all these brainwashing and gaslighting by so called “fans” of the original work who are singing high praises for this shambles of an adaptation.

The live action series should be ashamed of themselves because they’re simply using the popularity and following from the franchise and totally disrespecting the core of the story and characters. Before these nincompoops come and wax lyrical about adaptations being different from the source material, there is an obvious difference between a genuine adapatation to screen whereby the major plot lines are maintained, the core stories are maintained, the character histories are maintained and superfluous or extrapolated materials are minimised, also where there are obvious gaps of non-explained or non-elaborated space only is where things are created and imagined. Whereas a rubbish excuse of an adaptation is what CQL has done. Because what it did was to use the characters names, take the fantasy world setting and cool elements, and then totally walk over the storyline by completely meshing and mixing and stirring everything and everyone into a big pot of dog poo. And testament to them just using the franchise’s popularity to milk money and attention is by completely unashamedly BL-bait with all the WangXian interactions including many that are either not in the book or extras, or not in the right context or scene, or completely nonexistent and made up. And then the shameless tag that it’s just a platonic bromance since censorship in China wouldn’t allow this. Right.

So let’s talk about the plot. So WWX is not some grandmaster of demonic cultivation since it has already been going on behind the scenes with Xue Yang casually helping WRH practise some hardcore demonic cultivation and the fact that the Tiger Stygian Amulet is just some relic that’s been around for ages. Nothing to do with WWX’s ingenuity and talent for harnessing the resentful energy stored in that sword found at the TuLuXuanWu cave. Then apparently the TianNu statue that comes to life was already something that he and LWJ had encountered before in their youth whilst they go along to hunt for the Amulet pieces. And then WQ apparently is able to influence the zombified with a flute like instrument anyway. And then apparently Lan Yi and WWX’s mum knew each other cos nothing spells more destined love than when your respective previous generation also had some sort of bond and connection. And the bunnies were really reared by her so not a sweet little homage of the Wangxian love. And the forehead ribbon is not just ugly aesthetics wise but LWJ can’t decide if he’s steadfast about it or he is nonchalant about taking it off and tying it onto WWX’s wrist even when he was not intoxicated. And then WWX was already using some unexplained paper puppet powers which was apparently not seen as demonic cultivation in his youth to mess about, and he apparently could manipulate LWJ quite easily to get him drunk. And when things that are not canon like LXC and JGY they just had to make their first meeting so obviously charged with innuendo. And then WQ since the actress invested in the series, had to be important, so she is given some all so noble duty of being the good guy in the bad camp who is doing stuff that she doesn’t want to but she is still good and should be liked though she’s still a bad guy nonsense trope. So she goes to GuSu to get the amulet piece for WRH, because only when he gets the piece will she be able to somehow bring WN away. And WN was a great enough character both alive and dead as the Ghost General with his design from the source material, but no, they want to embellish it that he’s afflicted with some condition that makes him susceptible to being possessed and taken over by evil spirits. Wtf. And naturally, WQ should somehow capture JC’s eye, because why would JC want to be infatuated with a Wen person when eventually they cause the demise of his parents and his clan. But hey maybe he’d be so selective thinking WQ didn’t do it though so that’s okay. Like wtf.

Let’s talk about the actors. I like WWX’s look, the actor has a good face, he “looks” like a WWX, but damn his acting is bad. And damn, he cannot do the duality of WWX, because he does not exude that dangerous aura and the strength and power that WWX naturally possess because of his natural abilities, evident even before he was a Yiling Patriarch, much less if this guy wants to play a convincing Patriarch. He does all these ogling of LWJ from the get go since they met, cue all the cheap BL baiting. And he pouts and stomps his feet and acts cute the whole time. WWX is cheeky, naughty, devious, mischievous, but not girly, not a sissy. Wtf. Then we move onto LWJ. So that guy is some boy and heartthrob, but damn he has neither r looks nor the presence nor the acting skills to touch LWJ. WTF. The moment he appeared he made me want to slap LWJ, want to cry for his ru8ning of his whole imagery. The action sequence is so wooden, and the expressions are so constipated or dead. Everybody else looked bad. The actors I think chosen right for their looks were WWX, WN (alive version, the ghost general version has such awful make up it makes me cringe), NHS, JGY, XY (he apparently got to get a good looking dude to play him who also looks kind of evil and yet looks like an anime character walked out of the anime) and maybe JC (that’s because aesthetically he actually can be considered good looking and that is ridiculous because he’s better looking than the Twin Jades of Lan in this). LXC and his butt chin hurts my eyes. WRH looking like some voodoo witch doctor gone drag in his evil volcanic dungeon lair makes me want to throw an encyclopaedia at someone’s head violently. NMJ looking like a complete perverted uncle complete with hentai stache is just blasphemous. JZX just looks weird, no better way to put it.

So onto the make up, costumes and props. Make up is so shit that you can see up close where spots are done smoothed over or powdered down, the gore or the effects of veins and wounds are so fake and so obviously drawn on it looked like a 6yo went to arts class and took some marker pen and crayon and created these outcomes. The props are so cheap that the ghost hand looks like a rubber Halloween glove you get from the prop shop around the corner, the deity binding ropes look exactly like rough ropes. The Emperor Smile bottles look so tiny and white that it looks more like medicine bottles on ancient times than an expensive alcohol bottle. Where’s the YunMeng silver bell, the jade piece on LWJ’s robe. The forehead ribbon looks so cheap because it’s too thin and the stupid metallic piece in the middle is ridiculous. Why can’t they just stick with the original to have the silk cloth with the cloud patterns embroidered on the cloth. And the clothes, Lan sect is supposed to be ethereal, so why are they dressed in such plain white and tight clothes. They should have the flowing sleeves, the light blue tones, and the cloud embroidery. YunMeng needs to have their original violet colour, the Wen Sect does not need to be full body red like they’re getting married (see WQ), and the Jin sect needs their golden robes with the centrepiece of the JinXinXueLang peony, not some watered down white with yellow hues and nothing else to show for it. And what is with LWJ’s hair do and hair piece, it has such a disgusting look to it and it doesn’t look right. Do the bun properly and the accessory properly, not some weird plop of hair right in front on top of his head and then put a flat piece of elaborate metal on top of it.

I had been looking forward to seeing the epic ness of MDZS brought to the small screen. I had been completely prepared for changes in terms of the romance line being cut, but I fully expected the main storylines to be followed and perhaps elaborated on. Not to be chopped and changed and meshed up and violated like they’ve done so. And with the ability to get some really lovely natural scenery and some of the sets that actually look good eg the Lotus seat in Yun Meng was elaborate and intricate. So why won’t they invest in the right places like making the make up perfect, getting the costumes and looks correct, getting actual actors who can act cos even if they don’t look aesthetically good enough but if they’re solid actors it would flow so much better, and more vitally, why don’t they retell and elaborate on the existing epic storyline as it is! That’s the core of it, the MDZS storyline and major scenes are so awesome wit( their backstories, no changes need to be made, but merely elaborated and extrapolated on, not to be comepltely vandalised and violated. My heart breaks as for the sake of my love for MDZS, I’ve watched 8 eps and had to stop and restart so many times because of how jarring, unnatural, awkward, infuriating, irritating and frustrating the factors above contribute to my viewing. And now the greatness of MDZS as an original source material will forever be tainted by the sacrilege that is the Untamed.

[northofthecosmos]

me as soon as i touch the bed

Credit: phoen428

[northofthecosmos]

Wang Duo 汪铎 as Gongzi 公子 (李嗣源) | Bloody Romance 媚者无疆 → ep.10 

“My Lan He, all grown up.”

(for @northofthecosmos <3)

[northofthecosmos]

[northofthecosmos]

[northofthecosmos]

the holy grail

[northofthecosmos]

i personally love to over analyze everything and suffer

[northofthecosmos]

@boppotheclown

A little more in depth on the Desert Stills, Presentation, and Clothes

So! I realized that not everyone knows what I do about clothes or scene examination, and decided to explain why Crowley is definitely dressed like a woman and Aziraphale like a man in these two stills.

First, environmentally: all the men in these scenes are wearing turban style headwraps; all the women are wearing looser scarves. Aziraphale is clearly aligned with the men via framing; in both shits only men are standing behind him, and vice versa for Crowley. None of the men have long hair; Crowley does. None of the men are wearing belts or have their waists emphasizing via draping and cinching, but Crowley does. Environmentally, this aligns Crowley with women and tells us he is dressed like a woman.

Second, historically:

As we can see from these two helpful pages on Biblical clothing, Crowley is still dressed like a woman and Aziraphale is still dressed like a man; they are clearly apart of the same group so they are not dressed differently due to cultural influences.

Someone mentioned Thobes, Muslim clothing, and Beoduins, and I’d just like to say: don’t. They’re blending into the same group here, and Thobes and “Muslim clothing” didn’t exist at the time as it’s very likely around 33AD or earlier. Saying otherwise is not supported by given evidence, and is likely ahistorical, as is using any purely modern terminology in this context.

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@boppotheclown

mission accomplished babey

[northofthecosmos]

“how many demons can dances on the head of a pin？”

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@boppotheclown

Date night ready <3 A commission for  @asbestosheaven​

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When your favorite character dies but the writing of it is excellent

[northofthecosmos]

You ever get salty over something you know u have no right to be salty about and therefore u can’t talk about it without looking like a whiny bitch, so u just sit there marinating in ur own salt like some kind of human pickle 

[northofthecosmos]

[northofthecosmos]

@boppotheclown

Hey all, remember when I said I’d never do another picture-fic because I don’t have photoshop and it’s straight up the devil’s work? Yeah, I lied. 

someone give me validation this took forever 

Discredit - Excerpts from A.Z. Fell and Co.’s Yelp Page 

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