#also the idea of different chinese languages being called 'dialects'

[liu-anhuaming]

My biggest pet peeve in language learning circles is and always has been when people call Mandarin "Chinese" even though there is not one Chinese language but rather many different Chinese languages (plural! china is linguistically quite diverse), and "Mandarin" 官話 is actually considered its own language family with even more dialects under it and not just one language. I think accuracy matters when talking about what languages you're studying

anyways, here's a tweet on this topic that has been stuck in my mind from the moment i first saw it

[kairoseas]

hi. <3 i'll never get enough of how you gush about sukuna being cultured and a lover of the arts, you consistently put out headcanons that also inspire me to write my own interpretations and i appreciate you so much for it.

but my main question is, what kind of art do you think modern man sukuna would like? in an alternate universe where he was born in the current era. so many fics about him being a chef, a tattoo artist, a history professor — but i'm eager to know what you think.

*cracks my fingers* I've stared at this ask for hours. Lets do this.

Basically, I can see him doing a little bit of everything. He's studied the proper way to produce haiku in canon, references thousands-years-old poetry, and shows himself to be something of a connoisseur of the arts by speaking in a flowery, ornate sort of language, using words like "uo" (Most notably: he references a Chinese poem in canon by the name of "Odes to Bei-jin gu (No. 4)" during the binding vow with Yuuji, uses "shiremono" instead of the modern "baka"when insulting Mahito, calls himself "datenshi" which in modern times means to strike instead of using it like he does for "fallen angel", etc. He uses outdated, ancient dialect borrowed from literature, essentially.) He's well read, refined, I dare venture to say he might have gone further and consumed Heian Era arts himself as a human being before becoming a curse, and he carried over the love of art as a result. (It scares anyone expecting an unrefined, unintelligent monster.) I even posed this to my groupchat to see what my writing partner thought, and they and I have never entertained the idea of him being a history professor, but with some thought, we could both see it. Listen. this is one of the things i want to express about him so much and in every world/au/verse: he's a man of culture. He's a man of the arts. Some arts more than others, of course, particularly the culinary arts as opposed to song writing or directing, but that's not to say that he doesn't have a vague interest in other things. Especially in a modern day sense; he is someone who consumed information on anything that he likes like a man starving. He'll know vague trivia, fun facts, and all sorts of things. Phones and Google tend to be great companions to him when he's engrossed in learning about something. But this is also where I feel like he is more akin to Megumi's interests since he also finds better company among books than in the company of other people. Or Gojo, who also consumes information at a rapid pace. In my writing, he tends to fall into being a tattoo artist (mainly because of the precision required to be good with needlework, and he's someone who can design free-handed as opposed to having a ready-made design to reference for every client. Not to mention that he gets to work in a little bit of everything as a result of different personalities coming in, and he's forced to scheme out and draw all kinds of things for the client's approval. Cats, calligraphy, in memoriam, cityscapes, watercolors (a favorite because it required prior knowledge of lighting and color theory), white ink, he's a wide-range artist that gets a good idea of the client's personality before he basically kicks them out to spend some time designing/sketching. It's also a talent forever being molded, and he can do it anywhere. That's not to say thats all he's up to though. Sukuna's got some talent in the kitchen for sure. He basically learned from consuming all kinds of information from books to video tutorials and watching others cook while he was younger and before he had a good idea of what he was doing. Megumi and Yuuji are his subjects for taste testing. It's the only time Yuu is allowed in the kitchen, frankly. Try to tell him how to work in his own damn kitchen though and he'll point a knife and tell you to get out. His kitchen, his rules. Don't like it? Eat shit then. I can see him liking a lot of arts. Painting, writing, haiku-making, music, composing, it can go on and on. Mostly because he can appreciate the time and effort behind those talents. Arts are the height of human capability.

[dakota-schuck]

Journal Entry | 2024

Theology

Taking a public stance on matters of spirit and faith is generally considered a bad PR move unless one is looking to make that stance their whole _thing_.

But I think my stance may endear me to both camps, even if I estrange some of the zealots in each.

I believe in God in the same way I believe in Microsoft Word.

When one describes the **spirit** of a thing, whether that's a rock, a tree, or a community, they're describing something about how it operates, about how it reacts, and how it navigates itself in various situations.

Looking at "spirits" as synonyms of "software" may seem very new and modern, but it is more traditional that one might first expect. The idea of a "daimon" in ancient Greece was that of a guiding spirit, an essence of a thing. Nature has daimons, cities have daimons, each person has their own personal daimon that might be thought of as a soul, personality, or social role. There's a material thing, and then there are the operating instructions that determine how it behaves.

Microsoft Word isn't just software, it's a specific software with specific owners and specific versions, only the latest of which is official canon, but many of which are still out there in the world, running on hardware, being used to accomplish all manner of tasks for better or for ill. Microsoft Word is what philosopher Daniel Dennett might call a "domesticated meme", and the same might be said for any strictly curated canon of ideas (such as Saint Michael, for example.)

Contrasted to domesticated, highly curated software that is managed by a regulatory body, there is the greater ecology of wild ideas in which these structures are embedded like gems in gold, their strict crystalline structures contrasting the curves of (relatively) soft gold.

In the software example, these might be all the wild code, all the viruses that exist because... well... they simply exist because they can reproduce and make themselves exist whether or not we want them to.

This distinction between wild and tame spirits might be most clearly articulated in the categories of "kami" and "yokai" in Shinto, which is a religion which has emerged from a synthesis of endemic Japanese spiritual practices and their reaction to Chinese influences, especially Buddhism.

I have come to have this view, of seeing spiritual and religious ideas as attempts to describe or influence the software that runs on human software, not out of some ideal or because I think that's how it _should_ be, but because I find this view helps me to be able to maintain literacy and fluency in two different conceptual dialects without having to choose sides.

When discussing matters philosophical, it's often good etiquette and genuinely helpful to try debate, to fight, to look for holes and exceptions in the academic tradition. In this way the scientific method has evolved, a process of systematically attacking one's own ideas and changing one's mind when proven wrong. But what is good manners in one culture is often the upmost rudeness in another. In both the realm of spirituality, the divine law of improv theater holds, that of "yes and".

I can tell someone their god isn't _this_, or that stars don't _that_, but I can also go to see a film and shout to the audience that that's not Frodo Baggins, that's Elijah Wood! This may sound like I'm dismissing the genuinely held beliefs of others as mere fiction, and in a way I am, but before passing judgement on me I ask that you hear me out on what else I so dismiss: Mathematics, I believe, is a useful story we tell ourselves; a language we invent rather that an objective absolute to discover. More importantly, I could degrade myself as merely a bag of bone and guts, a series of chemical reactions that's having a hallucination about being a person... but fuck that. I like the story, the fiction, that people are persons and have dignity and rights. If someone tries to take away my story of personhood they have declared enmity upon me. If I'm allowed to identify with a violent fierceness to the hardware that runs my software, then who am I to deny others that same madness?

Similarly, if I don't like something in Microsoft Word I generally don't go into the base code and make my own edits, and insist others have to modify their own copies of the program in the same way I did. I accept that this is the current version of the software and may point out some bugs for later patching, but Microsoft is in charge of that decision.

I could delve deeper into several related rants about non-dualism, about recursion, but that's for another time.

Looking at things this way has helped me stay true to my own experience while also respecting the experience of others.

I will not tell you, whoever you are, that this is how you must see things, and I would rather not say it's even true. What I will tell you is that at least one person has found a lot of usefulness and beauty in being able to see both sides along this particular divide, and I feel that if I closed one eye or the other I would miss out on so much of the astonishing artistry of this queer and contradictory world. I like the view from here, and if you like it too, all the better.

Dakota Schuck

Journal Entry | 2024

[meiming-thinks]

LETS TALK ABOUT CHINESE

so what is Chinese?

at first you might think “well its a language, duh” but heres the thing. the “language” that we call Chinese comprises many different dialects. the prestige dialect of Chinese is Beijing Mandarin, a futher dialect of Mandarin, which is already a dialect. then theres Shanghainese, which is a dialect of Wu, which is also much of the time put under the umbrella of Chinese. AND THEN theres also the Yue languages, which guess what, are also considered dialects of Chinese. there are four main dialects of yue (which are considered dialects of chinese): Guangzhou, Wuzhou, Hong Kong, and Macau. guess what. they’re all also called Cantonese. which is considered a dialect of Chinese.

now the line between a “language” and a “dialect” is usually considered to be mutual intelligibility, but its a fuzzy line. dialects are forms of a language that have unique grammar and pronunciation and some unique words but are closely related and can be understood by other speakers of the language, in general. BUT, if the language spreads out over a large distance, and there are natural boundaries, you may get a “dialect gradient”. i dont know if this is the actual term but basically you have dialects that get less and less mutually intelligible the further away you go. for example Korean. the Korean dialects go from north to south, or south to north, and as you go south for example, they get less and less intelligible for a speaker of a far northern dialect. eventually, a speaker of a northern and southern dialect may not be able to understand each other. however, its all still considered Korean. so this illustrates how the line between dialect and language is fuzzy.

so are Mandarin, Yue, Wu, Min, Hakka, and all the other dialects, and their “sub-dialects”, really just dialects of chinese after all? well, the Chinese dialects are about as different from each other as the Romance languages in Europe (French, Italian, Spanish etc). so why do we consider French, Italian, and Spanish different languages, but not Cantonese, Mandarin, and Hakka? well surprise surprise, the answer is how people think about them. oftentimes people decide to distinguish different languages to distinguish different peoples and different countries. for example, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the language of Serbo-Croatian was split into many different languages. they used to be considered the same language. if you want to see this for yourself, go on google translate, type in any phrase, and translate it into bosnian, serbian, and croatian. it will most likely be nearly the same in all three. however, serbian, bosnian and croatian *are* different languages. why? because we say they are. language is so much more than just the words we say, its deeply connected to our sense of identity, nationality, and unity. and Chinese being one language helps to solidify a sense of national unity.

NOT TO MENTION WRITING SYSTEMS

oh boy this is a fun part! the Chinese language/s is/are written with one, universally understood writing system. Hanzi is a writing system that can be understood by a speaker of any dialect, because it has to do with the meaning of words more so than their sounds. while an italian speaker could read “toi et moi mangeons des pommes de terre” and have no idea what it means, a Guangzhou Yue and Beijing Mandarin speaker could theoretically text back and forth with no issues (notwithstanding grammatical differences), because each character literally means a word, not the sound of a word. this feature of chinese helps to unify every speaker of every dialect.

so is Chinese one language with many dialects, or many languages of one language branch, or something else entirely? well i dont think its for me to decide. the political, social, and linguistic factors make this a question that isnt so easily answered, so i would love to hear your opinions!

[meichenxi]

I just had my first Korean lesson on italki!!

Intelligent Thoughts On The Language As A Whole After One Hour Of Exposure: 

- aspiration my beloathed. it really is karma when the aspirated and unaspirated /t/ being allophones in English in the beginning of a word and that being a better cue to whether something is ‘voiced’ or not than actual voicing which helped me so much with learning Chinese (because Chinese operates on a very similar system as English where aspiration is actually more important, hence why wade-giles etc had everything spelt <ch> and <ch’> or <p> and <p’> rather than just <p> and <b> like pinyin) comes back and bites me in the arse whilst learning Korean. but LUCKILY for all parties concerned (me), I spent a summer teaching myself how to unaspirate my /ptk/ series for Hindi and distinguishing them by voice alone, which is not something natural to me as a native English speaker, so I am actually already fairly good at the aspirated/non aspirated distinction. I just need to actually remember to use it. learn languages it’ll be fun they said

- on a similar note. THE FAMOUS KOREAN GLOTTALISED STOPS!!!! guys come on!! the famous - ok maybe it’s just me / other linguists who know that one, but Korean basically has (and forgive me this is all remembered knowledge, I haven’t done any research myself since deciding to learn it) three series of stops. 1) unvoiced and unaspirated, 2) ‘tense’ or ‘fortis’ or ‘hard’ or ‘glottalised’ stops, which yeah as the name suggests nobody has any idea what to do with, they’re the subject of many many angry phoneticians’/phonologists’ drunk midnight duels, and 3) aspirated stops. the last are easy, we do them naturally in English all the time; the first are unideal but I should be ok bc of my time with the TERRIFYING MONSTROSITY that is the Hindi stop series; the second ones....well. well well well. the way the teacher did them in the lesson really was glottalised. (record scratch - quick phonetics lesson - we usually use something called the ‘pulmonic’ system i.e. the lungs to push air up through the voice box and create consonants, but you can also use the ingressive system i.e. breathing in [try it with [b] and [p]] and the epiglottal system which is where you use the glottis to create a little bubble of air way smaller than you’d get with the lungs and under way higher pressure, and when you release it it sounds very spitty and extra and cool. na’vi uses this.) glottalised X = epiglottal but either way it’s cool and I don’t know much about it so maybe expect some posts later? 

- I don’t think the guy released how hard I was quietly fangirling about a set of consonants 

- oh LOOK batchim they’re unreleased sometimes!! how exciting!! I love a good unreleased consonant. the pressure is killing me. and ANOTHER famous thing!!!!!!! all of the twenty gazillion consonants that all get pronounced as [t] in final position!!!!!!!! if you don’t know this one (very reasonable) this is exciting because it means that when combined with postpositions you get some really really interesting backformations - basically people know that something ends in a [t] but they don’t know whether that is an underlying [t] or [s] or what! and then sometimes a loanword that then ends in a [t] in English gets hyper corrected to an [s]. or....something. again, this is knowledge four years hence. anyway it’s very cool. 

- we really did just ‘learn hangul’ in one hour huh. wow. I mean my brain hurts and I need to consolidate but. what a change from chinese. 

- Korean appears to have preserved elements of Middle Chinese phonology / non-Mandarin dialects in its loanwords!!!! which I mean makes perfect sense. but there’s loads and loads of [m] going on where you’d expect *mumble mumble maybe w* and that’s more like Cantonese which obviously preserves different features and....yeah I feel like I’m standing on the edge of a cliff about to be thrown into a precipice but as the protagonist, it will only make me stronger

- already seeing lots of Chinese loanwords. that’s cool. that’s very cool. I can get behind that. shame about the tragic loss of the palatalised-retroflex distinction (q/j/x vs ch/zh/sh) but I guess some sacrifices had to be made

- korean. had tone???? and I THINK I read somewhere waaaaay back in first year of my degree that maybe there are dialects in which it is either being reintroduced (naturally, I hasten to add, because that makes it sound deliberate) or it hasn't fully left - YES I JUST CHECKED and the first thing that comes up is ‘tonogenesis in contemporary Seoul Korean’ BROOOOOOO do you understand why that is so exciting?? we essentially have 0 opportunities to study the process of tonogenesis in Real Life, and endless opportunities to see the loss of tone / the drastic consequences after it is lost, and that could potentially be vital in helping map and better understand the histories of languages in the sino-tibetan language family and others....

- next lesson! we are learning subject markers! and getting started! with verbs!!!!! you know I could literally die for verb final languages. I don’t know why. but I just think they are the sexiest thing on the planet

Conclusion: 

- Korean seems cool?

- bring it on.

[vitaliciouscreations]

Drop of Paradise - Part 2

Previous | Next

Note: Bridgette and Sabine speak a little English in this part, but since I’m writing this in English, all of the “English” is really badly translated French. I’m so sorry for the badly translated French. Edit: Thanks to @dargeon-lissa the French is now significantly less badly translated.

“Hi, Marinette!”

Marinette turned her head to look at the door of the bakery and smiled when she saw Rose coming through it, followed closely by Juleka. Unfortunately Juleka was followed closely by Lila, and the smile dropped from Marinette’s face before it even had time to fully form.

Rose skipped up to the counter, happy and cheerful as always, and beamed at Marinette. Juleka gave Marinette a much more sedate smile. Lila, behind the other two, gave Marinette a downright nasty look that Marinette was kind enough to ignore.

“Hello, Rose. Hello, Juleka.” Marinette took a moment to swallow her pride and put on her customer service face. “Hello, Lila. What are you doing here?”

Had that sounded too demanding? Too rude? Marinette sent a look to her mother who was tending the register, but she didn’t seem to be paying attention to Marinette’s conversation with her friends. Or rather, her friends and Lila, but Sabine didn’t know about that.

“Lila knows a producer in Japan who works with Babymetal!” Rose said. “He’s looking for a new sound and Lila said that Kitty Section would be perfect! We called an impromptu band practice so Lila can send him a recording! Isn’t that just fantastic, Marinette?!”

“It would be fantastic if you guys caught the attention of someone like that in the music business,” Marinette agreed. “But don’t get your hopes up, okay?”

Rose’s excited smile dropped off her face and Marinette hated it. She hated seeing her friends upset, and she hated being the one to upset them. More than that, though, she hated Lila for offering out fake opportunities like she did. Winding Marinette’s friends up like puppets when she knew eventually the strings she had them dancing on would unravel, along with every lie she’d ever told them.

“Why shouldn’t she get her hopes up, Marinette?” Lila asked in a sickly-sweet voice. “A little optimism is good, right?”

Not when it gets them to believe liars like you, Marinette thought, biting back the words and glaring at Lila. Rose and Juleka shifted uncomfortably.

Marinette forced herself to stop glaring and instead focused on Rose and Juleka. “So, are you guys here to get some snacks for practice?”

“Yup!” Rose chirped. “It’ll be just the five of us, so I was thinking we’d get a box of twenty assorted macarons? And maybe a bag of croissants. Is that alright?”

“That’s just fine,” Marinette said with a smile. “Any preferences on what flavor of macarons?”

“Surprise us!”

“You know,” Lila began as Marinette turned her back to begin the order. “My great grandfather used to own a bakery back in Italy.”

“Really?” Rose asked, already on the hook.

Marinette heard the door to the bakery open as Lila continued. “Oh yes. He taught me how to make the best tiramisu in the world! Of course, I have a hard time baking now with my arthritis and everything, so I have to settle for buying baked goods nowadays.”

“Oh,” Rose crooned. “That’s so terrible.”

“That sucks,” Juleka mumbled.

“Mom,” Marinette called out. “Do you know if the new batch of strawberry cheesecake macarons is done yet?”

Marinette’s mom didn’t respond. Marinette dropped the fifth croissant into the bag and then glanced over to see why her mom hadn’t said anything. Then she nearly dropped the bag.

Standing across from her mother at the counter was none other than Marinette’s favorite cousin, and she was quite the spectacle. Bridgette was wearing a gorgeous gradient blue-to-purple cheongsam that Marinette was dying to get a closer look at, along with a big, floppy sun hat and novelty Eiffel Tower sunglasses. She also had a duffel bag slung over her shoulder and a huge grin on her face.

“That’s a… look,” Lila said in a rude voice. For once Marinette didn’t even mind her comment, too surprised at seeing Bridgette.

“Bridgette!” she called out, and Bridgette turned to look at her. Her grin widened even further upon seeing Marinette and she strode over.

“Ah, et Marinette. Je ne veux pas sonner comme une vieil dame très sentimental, mais tu as tellement grandi depuis que tu as quitté Eden. Tu es presque une adulte maintenant!” Bridgette said in what Marinette recognized as English, but couldn’t understand.

“Oh, Bridgette, Marinette ne sait pas encore parler anglais,” Marinette’s mother said, also in English.

“My bad,” Bridgette said in much more understandable Eden-dialect Chinese, and grinned at Marinette. “Hello Marinette. It’s very nice to see you again.”

“Yeah!” Marinette agreed, switching into Eden-dialect Chinese as well with only a little difficulty. “I’m happy to see you too, Bridgette!”

Bridgette laughed sweetly. “Thank you, Marinette. I see that your sweetness hasn’t changed with your age. But, ah,” Bridgette cast a look in the direction of Rose, Juleka, and Lila. “Don’t let me interrupt you and your friends.”

Bridgette waved at Marinette and headed back over to Sabine, and Marinette turned back to Rose, Juleka, and Lila.

“Wow, Marinette!” Rose exclaimed. “I didn’t know you spoke a language other than French! And who was that? She’s so pretty!”

Marinette smiled at Rose. “That’s my cousin, Bridgette. She came to help me with my presentation for multicultural week.” Marinette set the bag of croissants down on the counter. “I’m gonna go check if Papa has finished with the new batch of strawberry cheesecake macarons. I know they’re your favorite, Rose.”

“I can handle that,” Marinette’s mother said, coming over to them. “Marinette, why don’t you show Bridgette upstairs to your room? I know you have a lot of things you want to talk about with her having to do with your upcoming presentation.” She gave Marinette a knowing look, and Marinette blushed.

“Okay, Mama, but call me down if you need any more help.” Marinette turned to Bridgette. “C’mon, I’ll show you upstairs.”

Bridgette blinked at her uncomprehendingly.

Marinette’s cheeks heated even further. “Ah, sorry. I guess you don’t understand French. Mama suggested I show up to my room, so…”

Bridgette nodded. “Of course. Thank you Marinette.”

Marinette ushered Bridgette through the gap in the side of the counter and lead her into the back. It looked like the new batch of strawberry cheesecake macarons were indeed done, so Rose would be happy.

“I actually wanted to ask you about something,” Bridgette said as they reached the stairs at the very back of the bakery. “Like you said, I don’t speak French. I decided English would be a better language to learn considering how broadly it is spoken across the world. That, and it was easier to learn in Eden than French was.” Bridgette laughed into her hand as they reached the top of the stairs. Marinette began to take her shoes off, and Bridgette followed her example.“I was told that giving my presentation to the French President and Parliament in English would be fine, but I doubt your classmates will understand it as easily. So, I wanted to ask you if you’d be okay with acting as a translator during the presentation at your school?”

“Of course!” Marinette agreed easily. They reached the steep stairs leading up to Marinette’s room. “Watch your step.”

“Thank you, Marinette,” Bridgette said. “For the warning and the future translation.”

“Of course,” Marinette said again. She lifted the trap door and climbed through it before holding it open so Bridgette could do the same. “This is my room. We figured you could sleep in here for as long as you’re in Paris. You can take the chaise or the bed, your choice.”

Bridgette smiled at her. “The chaise seems just fine, Marinette, but thank you.”

Marinette smiled back. “Yeah, of course. Now, ah, do you want to get settled in, or…”

“Actually,” Bridgette said with a sly smile. “I am quite interested in hearing what you have to say. Aunt Sabine mentioned you have a great many ideas on things to do for your presentation?”

Marinette flushed. “Ah, yeah. I guess I got a little enthusiastic. I’m just… really excited.”

“You should be excited!” Bridgette exclaimed. “Eden is finally revealing itself to the world. It’s all very exciting! Now, tell me more about these ideas.”

-

Lila Rossi was the daughter of an important Italian diplomat who brought her daughter with her wherever she went. From Venice to Barcelona, and London to Paris. With so many changes in location over the course of her short life, Lila had developed some very specific abilities. Among them the ability to fit in at any new school by telling people what they wanted to hear, and the ability to say those things in many different languages. Including English.

Eden. Of course that little brat was from Eden. The biggest news story of the century, and of course Marinette Dupain-Cheng was at the center of it. She was at the center of everything Lila deserved to be at the center of, wasn’t she? And come next week, she would be the center of everyone’s attention for weeks to come.

Lila shook her head, well-concealed rage coursing through her veins as she exited the bakery behind Rose and Juleka. Not if Lila had anything to do with it.

“Have you guys heard about Eden yet?” Lila asked as the three of them began to make their way down the street.

“Of course!” Rose exclaimed. “It’s so amazing! A secret Chinese city hidden in the mountains, a secret for millennia? I’m getting inspired just thinking about it! Maybe we can write a Kitty Section song about it!”

“That would be awesome,” Juleka mumbled. Ugh, Lila hated the mumbling.

“I could help you with it,” she offered. “I know a lot about Eden that most people don’t. I actually volunteered there for a whole year when I was younger.”

“Really?!” Rose squealed, and Juleka looked at Lila with interest. Lila hid a smirk. Too easy.

-

Translations (what I meant for the translations to say, anyway):

Ah, and Marinette. Not to sound like a sentimental, old woman, but you’ve grown so much since you left Eden. You’re almost an adult now.

Oh, Bridgette, Marinette doesn’t know very much English yet.

[fyexo]

200806 LAY's Track-by-Track Breakdown of New Album, 'Lit'

As I continue in my music career, I've wanted to challenge myself more and think about what this new album means to me as an artist. I've realized that I wanted to create something that told my life's story, but also mixed in and talked about the complex things of life. I also wanted to stay true to my culture and show how diverse M-Pop is through combining and mixing different sounds and vibes. M-Pop is a movement that I hope to grow as more people participate in improving it. Many people aren't familiar with M-Pop yet, but my definition of M-pop is songs that mix Mandarin and English or other languages into the lyrics — while putting together ancient elements like legends and folktales with contemporary topics. In my life and career, I've explored all different types of music from traditional Chinese music, to K-Pop, to J-Pop, to R&B and more. Learning and performing all these different genres inspired me to try to bring the world closer through music and promote a message of peace and love with no boundaries. I want to make beautiful fusions and showcase Chinese culture to the world to let them know we have great artists and that we are about peace, love and respecting all cultures. This album is a mixture of hip-hop, reggaeton and trap with a blend of Chinese and modern influences. It features the "Changsha" dialect of my hometown. We included Beijing opera elements, as well as Chinese instruments like percussion, Hulusi (gourd flute) and guzheng (zither). I'd like to express and showcase Chinese culture to the world and make a way for other Chinese artists to follow suit. I like to reimagine myself as the reincarnation of Xiang Yu, and if I was him in my past life then I have to use all my strength in this life to change my fate. With each song on Lit, I hope to show how these deep feelings can be presented through the cultural fusion that is M-Pop. "Lit" I wrote this song for those who have been made fun of or belittled because of their dreams, including myself. I believe that everyone has their own guardian spirit and in the music video, the dragon represents my aspirations. So, I truly think that if you have something you want to go after, you should definitely go for it because even though you don't become a "dragon," at least you know what it takes. "Jade" When I was working on the song with Murda Beatz, I had a Hulusi [gourd flute] and just thought about adding it to the beat. We wanted to make the song about a woman and that's when I thought about naming the song "Jade." You know how other countries have diamonds? In Chinese culture, we have jades instead. This got me thinking about the story of Xiang Yu and his love, Concubine Yu, which I added verses from "Peking Opera" Farewell My Concubine, to tell their tragic story. "Eagle" In China, there are two rulers of the sky: The sun and the eagle. So, in the lyric where I sing, "When it's just me and the sun up the sky/ there's nowhere for those sly hares to hide," I'm thinking about Xiang Yu at his peak dominating; feeling undefeated and full of ambition. "H2O" I had this sudden idea that I wanted to create something really different, so I added a couple of Chinese instruments to the mix such as the guzheng [Chinese zither], traditional percussion and Hulusi. I swapped out the drum track I made in the original demo for this song with the new one I made and added a few changes. "Fly" We put a few sample Chinese percussion sounds into a keyboard, added a bunch of reverbs and some effects to create a whole new feel. When you do that, it creates new percussion sounds. This is about letting go and being in a free state because all I can do is fly. "Soul" This is the last song of the first half of the album that transitions into the next song, "Changsha." After reincarnating, you come back to Changsha (my hometown where I was born) as a child and reborn again after meeting your mother. The song is quite spiritual and is different from the others. Even without a topline over it, I really liked it a lot when I first heard the beat. "Changsha" I received the honor of collaborating with Grammy-winning producer Scott Storch on the track's composition and arrangement. The lyrics were written by my friends Kungfu-Pen from my hometown, PISSY from Chengdu, and myself. We chose to write in Mandarin and in the Changsha dialect since it is about my hometown, and also added some English. To open up the composition, there is a really light melody in the Chinese flute. This song, out of all of the songs in the album, is probably the most driving song that became a huge motivator for me. This is why I wanted it to be the lead single for the second part of the album as it's very special to me. "Mama" I would call this song M-Pop since there are lots of traditional instruments that have a very Chinese, pan-Asian influence. My mother is from Changsha where there is the Xiang River and, to me, flutes represent flowing water. This song is based on the culture of Chinese families with the upbringing of their children, and their love for them. This is the initial theme I went for in this song. In the end where I sing in English, "Let me fly, fly away," this sums up how Chinese parents may want to protect their kids, but this also stops them from dreaming. "Boom" The core of this song has a very Latin and reggaeton vibe, and I wanted it to be a pre-single for the second part of the album to show the versatility in my music. Unfortunately, I do not know any Latin artists and wished I could have added some Spanish lyrics to it. When I get the chance, I hope to learn Spanish so I can make M-Pop more diverse to bring all fans closer together through this music. "Call My Name" I wanted to make this song really interesting where it's kind of like a R&B song that has hip-hop in it and puts together Chinese and English lyrics. Then for the theme, it's a call for love — let's say you like someone, but you can't be together with that someone due to circumstances. "Late Night" I'm talking about my fights with self-doubt and complicated feelings of not knowing whether or not I am on the right path. I'm currently in the process of achieving my goals, dreams and ideals, but I feel like I'm also losing my way. Stylistically, I still define this song as M-Pop. But I also wanted to blend different elements of EDM, R&B,and hip-hop. This is something that will keep maturing within myself when making music. "Wish" This is about unspoken love, but it's also a very sad story. It's like even though the text you've edited over and over again was never sent to the person you love, you know what's going to happen if you do actually send it, so you just accept how it is. What is this wish for? Well, it's for none of this to come true, that you never told that person via text, "I love you."

Lay Zhang @ Paper Magazine

[happyzyx]

LAY's Track-by-Track Breakdown of New Album, 'Lit'

As I continue in my music career, I've wanted to challenge myself more and think about what this new album means to me as an artist. I've realized that I wanted to create something that told my life's story, but also mixed in and talked about the complex things of life. I also wanted to stay true to my culture and show how diverse M-Pop is through combining and mixing different sounds and vibes.

M-Pop is a movement that I hope to grow as more people participate in improving it. Many people aren't familiar with M-Pop yet, but my definition of M-pop is songs that mix Mandarin and English or other languages into the lyrics — while putting together ancient elements like legends and folktales with contemporary topics.

In my life and career, I've explored all different types of music from traditional Chinese music, to K-Pop, to J-Pop, to R&B and more. Learning and performing all these different genres inspired me to try to bring the world closer through music and promote a message of peace and love with no boundaries. I want to make beautiful fusions and showcase Chinese culture to the world to let them know we have great artists and that we are about peace, love and respecting all cultures.

This album is a mixture of hip-hop, reggaeton and trap with a blend of Chinese and modern influences. It features the "Changsha" dialect of my hometown. We included Beijing opera elements, as well as Chinese instruments like percussion, Hulusi (gourd flute) and guzheng (zither). I'd like to express and showcase Chinese culture to the world and make a way for other Chinese artists to follow suit.

I like to reimagine myself as the reincarnation of Xiang Yu, and if I was him in my past life then I have to use all my strength in this life to change my fate. With each song on Lit, I hope to show how these deep feelings can be presented through the cultural fusion that is M-Pop.

by Lay Zhang for Paper Magazine

"Lit"

I wrote this song for those who have been made fun of or belittled because of their dreams, including myself. I believe that everyone has their own guardian spirit and in the music video, the dragon represents my aspirations. So, I truly think that if you have something you want to go after, you should definitely go for it because even though you don't become a "dragon," at least you know what it takes.

"Jade"

When I was working on the song with Murda Beatz, I had a Hulusi [gourd flute] and just thought about adding it to the beat. We wanted to make the song about a woman and that's when I thought about naming the song "Jade." You know how other countries have diamonds? In Chinese culture, we have jades instead. This got me thinking about the story of Xiang Yu and his love, Concubine Yu, which I added verses from "Peking Opera" Farewell My Concubine, to tell their tragic story.

"Eagle"

In China, there are two rulers of the sky: The sun and the eagle. So, in the lyric where I sing, "When it's just me and the sun up the sky/ there's nowhere for those sly hares to hide," I'm thinking about Xiang Yu at his peak dominating; feeling undefeated and full of ambition.

"H2O"

I had this sudden idea that I wanted to create something really different, so I added a couple of Chinese instruments to the mix such as the guzheng [Chinese zither], traditional percussion and Hulusi. I swapped out the drum track I made in the original demo for this song with the new one I made and added a few changes.

"Fly"

We put a few sample Chinese percussion sounds into a keyboard, added a bunch of reverbs and some effects to create a whole new feel. When you do that, it creates new percussion sounds. This is about letting go and being in a free state because all I can do is fly.

"Soul"

This is the last song of the first half of the album that transitions into the next song, "Changsha." After reincarnating, you come back to Changsha (my hometown where I was born) as a child and reborn again after meeting your mother. The song is quite spiritual and is different from the others. Even without a topline over it, I really liked it a lot when I first heard the beat.

"Changsha"

I received the honor of collaborating with Grammy-winning producer Scott Storch on the track's composition and arrangement. The lyrics were written by my friends Kungfu-Pen from my hometown, PISSY from Chengdu, and myself. We chose to write in Mandarin and in the Changsha dialect since it is about my hometown, and also added some English. To open up the composition, there is a really light melody in the Chinese flute. This song, out of all of the songs in the album, is probably the most driving song that became a huge motivator for me. This is why I wanted it to be the lead single for the second part of the album as it's very special to me.

"Mama"

I would call this song M-Pop since there are lots of traditional instruments that have a very Chinese, pan-Asian influence. My mother is from Changsha where there is the Xiang River and, to me, flutes represent flowing water. This song is based on the culture of Chinese families with the upbringing of their children, and their love for them. This is the initial theme I went for in this song. In the end where I sing in English, "Let me fly, fly away," this sums up how Chinese parents may want to protect their kids, but this also stops them from dreaming.

"Boom"

The core of this song has a very Latin and reggaeton vibe, and I wanted it to be a pre-single for the second part of the album to show the versatility in my music. Unfortunately, I do not know any Latin artists and wished I could have added some Spanish lyrics to it. When I get the chance, I hope to learn Spanish so I can make M-Pop more diverse to bring all fans closer together through this music.

"Call My Name"

I wanted to make this song really interesting where it's kind of like a R&B song that has hip-hop in it and puts together Chinese and English lyrics. Then for the theme, it's a call for love — let's say you like someone, but you can't be together with that someone due to circumstances.

"Late Night"

I'm talking about my fights with self-doubt and complicated feelings of not knowing whether or not I am on the right path. I'm currently in the process of achieving my goals, dreams and ideals, but I feel like I'm also losing my way. Stylistically, I still define this song as M-Pop. But I also wanted to blend different elements of EDM, R&B,and hip-hop. This is something that will keep maturing within myself when making music.

"Wish"

This is about unspoken love, but it's also a very sad story. It's like even though the text you've edited over and over again was never sent to the person you love, you know what's going to happen if you do actually send it, so you just accept how it is. What is this wish for? Well, it's for none of this to come true, that you never told that person via text, "I love you."

[linguacoreana]

The modern nation-state informs our modern concept of distinct languages

Most people’s understanding of what a language is has a strong overlap with border of a nation. Our conception of the modern nation-state is part of the reason many people think this. When you go to Germany, people speak this thing called German. From the northern areas near Denmark to the southern areas near Austria, people share a system of speech. Then, when you cross the border into Austria. Something distinct happens with people’s speech. This is a huge oversimplification.

The overlap between language and national borders is relatively new in the grand scheme of things. Languages are extremely fluid things, and the borders between nations cannot match with the borders between languages. Sometimes, speakers can share a country but have a difficult time understanding each other. Other times, speakers that live 50 kilometers apart with an international border between them can understand each other perfectly. Language has no borders and does not care about our national boundaries.

Medieval Europe didn’t have “nations” and therefore “languages”

In history, humans mostly existed in groups of a few dozen, and it is likely that they couldn’t travel far before it became difficult to understand other group’s style of speech. With agriculture settling people down, many people could only understand the people only in the nearby towns. That meant you could understand the people in your village and maybe the nearby villages, but the farther you got, the weirder people spoke. They formed dialect continuums, where Person A can understand Person B, and Persona B can understand Person C, but Person C cannot understand Person A.

Dialect continuums are very typical of earlier agricultural societies. People didn’t travel far, so people only communicated to the people in the nearby villages if they ever left their villages. Nation-states as we know them did not exist, but the language people spoke were no more or less fluid because language has no borders.

Like most things, Louis XIV started this whole thing

The surprising progenitor of a quite few of our modern trends, Louis XIV of France consolidated his nation-state, and he had to therefore consolidate the language spoken, which was less intelligible across his whole realm.

Ever since classical Rome, the descendants of those speaker slowly diverged more and more. In a process similar to biological evolution, isolated populations slowly start to build up speech changes that accumulate over time until groups that once had been speakers of the same language become totally unintelligible. As such, people in the south of Louis’s kingdom spoke something quite distant from his own language. As such, consolidation of legal codes and the erasure of local traditions was part of the process of building a stronger centralized state. Where there once was spoken Occitan or Catalan, French was slowly encouraged and local varieties discouraged. This new nation-state needed to spread the idea that your way of speech is not just another descendant of Vulgar Latin; you are speaking French wrong.

The current organization of our world with nation-states having unique cultures, which include language, is a very new concept in relation to history. Tom Nicholas made a great video on the history of the nation-state. The creation of the modern world with of rights and the public sphere and nations defined by shared features led to this new era of language where languages need to be carefully defined and maintained. Therefore, to create a nation meant to manufacture a standard variety of the language where there were only vaguely related dialects before.

Germany and Italy, late to the nation party, were also late to the language party

French is pretty centralized, and English is pretty centralized. Therefore, most European languages experienced this, right? If we look at the later members of the nation-state party, we’ll see their languages missed a large amount of time to centralize as well. Spain, Portugal, France, Russia, and Britain centralized earlier. Germany and Italy unified in the 19th century. You’ll notice that these languages have huge regional differences. That’s because they’ve only been united for around 5 generations. It takes a long time for languages to erase regionalisms. When these places have no borders, it is easier to understand the idea that language has no borders.

While people may speak German and Italian in everyday life, still a significant portion of the population might speak another intelligible language at home, that intelligibility being debatable depending on the language. A study by ISTAT in 2006 found that only 45.5% of Italians spoke only or mainly in Italian within the family.

This would be like Americans speaking American English at school and speaking Dutch at home. Italians are not a nation of immigrants. People didn’t move to the new nation of Italy; the new nation of Italy moved to the people. This tells us that, whether implicitly or explicitly, the public sphere and the participation in the nation-state encourages the abandonment of traditional local speech varieties.

Eastern European languages that did not have the same nation-building history do not have the same linguistic distinctions

If English and French have been successfully centralized, and Germany and Italian are partially on that path, Slavic languages show us the decentralized languages of Europe.

I speak Bulgarian at home. I don’t have an issue understanding anyone who was born within the borders of the Bulgarian Republic. One day, I was serving customers in my customer service job, and I heard some customers speak something I fully understood. They were discussing what coffee to buy. I butt into their conversation and said in Bulgarian, “Excuse me. Are you guys Bulgarian?” He then responded, “No, brother. Macedonian.”

He ordered fully in Macedonian, and I understood every word. Some vowels sounded different from what I was used to. When he said the number of his table, I did not understand him at all. Other than these exceptions, we communicated perfectly fine. In the same way that New Yorkers can communicate with Alabamans if both avoid some regionalisms, Bulgarians and Macedonians could communicate perfectly.

Because of historical forces that are way too complex to describe in a few paragraphs, the languages of Eastern Europe mostly did not experience the same nation-building projects that Louis XIV, Robert Walpole, or Otto von Bismarck brought to their countries. Eastern European nations switched from sphere of influence to sphere of influence, where each power influenced division rather than conscious assimilation to a greater nation. As such, Serbs can understand Croats, Slovaks can understand Czechs, and Bulgarians can understand Macedonians.

China shows us that languages can diverge for hundreds of years, but can be reunited under one dominant language in recent years

China has a similar situation to western Europe. Most of its languages (or “dialects”) descend from Middle Chinese, which was spoken in classical China. Those language diverged in isolated populations throughout the centuries to the point of being unintelligible. While many people may be within the boundaries of the nation, their speech is not identical because, again, language has no borders. To this day, the linguistic diversity in China is very impressive. However, government initiatives and advantages encourage the whole country to learn Mandarin. Recently, the Chinese version of Tiktok gave 10 minute bans to some creators for using Cantonese during livestreams. While people can still speak their local language on the street and at home, there is a trend that local varieties are disappearing from some systemic disadvantages. Younger generations are speaking Mandarin more and their local varieties less.

Looking at China, we can see how diverging languages can again converge into one of the sibling descendants. The European equivalent would be western Europe to lose their local varieties of Catalan, Occitan, Portuguese, Spanish, etc. in favor of French. This is a unique position because the abandoned and adopted languages are related. Speakers bring the local accent and some vocab preferences because there are some parallels.

[liang-rexy]

I have been taking some asks on Lofter. 😂Well, people can ask my "Wings of the Ravens"AU Danny some questions or ask him to do something. And I plan to post the answers here. 😂

I am not really sure about whether I should take asks here as well or not. 🤔 I do want to, but I'm unsure… 😂 I haven't really tell you about this Danny's situation/ detailed backstory. Although taking asks is supposed to be a way of telling people about the information of this AU and something about this Danny, it's also possible that the answers will be confusing.

(↑Explanation <translation>: Ask this Danny or something. This Danny is from an alternate universe. The answers are in Cantonese/ Mandarin, and might be a mixture of Mandarin/ Cantonese and English <it really depends on the the words and phrases btw>. I will translate the answers. You can call the AU "Wings of the Ravens", although the name is originally just the project's name. There are differences between this universe and the Canon universe, and characters are OOC in some ways. )

I use simplified Chinese characters. Most of my writing/ little comics are in Mandarin/ Cantonese. (I can use some words from other dialects or languages sometimes… )

The majority of the answers are in Cantonese. I use the Cantonese of Nanhai/ Foshan (It's basically the same as the Cantonese of Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao and Shenzhen, though Cantonese speakers in these places don't speak in exactly the same way, you know. Some certain words and phrases are a bit different.). Sometimes it's in Mandarin, or a mixture of Mandarin and Cantonese. My writing can definitely confuse people. 😂A friend on the Internet asked me whether I understand Mandarin or not. Well I certainly can understand it and I use it frequently. (They thought they offended me and apologized, but I wasn't offended at all, so I just explained my writing habits to them. 😂😂😂) It's really fine to ask that. 😂

I always translate my stuff by myself. I do think translating is very interesting (and hard)! 😬😬😬 I also seek help from my family and friends. You see, I often write a Mandarin/ Cantonese version(s) and an English version of the dialogues or text of my little comics or drawings. Translating Mandarin/ Cantonese into English isn't as easy as translating English into Mandarin/ Cantonese for me. Sure I can read bilingual books, watch videos with bilingual captions and use a translator in order to find references. (And dictionaries are my friends.) 😂 But translating is still difficult and challenging. Sometimes I'm not satisfied with my translation and it feels horrible. 😭 I also need to be careful with the words I use when I translate dialogues. Some words have different spellings. For example, I use "dialogue" in this post, and I know there's "dialog". 😂

I sometimes don't want to translate some contents because of laziness (or embarrassment. I write nonsense and make shitposts sometimes…). But if I really don't translate it, some people will hardly understand it. (I will often translate some particular contents immediately if someone just ask for a translation) (So I am going to translate the answers anyway. 😂😂😂)

Ah, I am being verbose. 😂😂😂

There are times that I cannot understand what people here are talking about (Perhaps because people have different cultural backgrounds?), and I don't know how to respond to them, or whether I should respond or not. I have this problem even when I talk to people who use Mandarin/ Cantonese, so maybe I don't know enough information of how people talk on the Internet. 😂 If I take asks here, there will be chances that I have no idea what you are saying.

Also, I already have a lot of questions to answer. I write and draw the answers, and it takes time. 😂😂😂

(I'm being long-winded… )

😂😂😂

Anyway, are you guys interested in asking things about this weird little alternate universe? 😂 If I do take asks here, (I'm not going to let Danny answer every question though… It depends on the questions) (And I have to be cautious about sth really NSFW, political events or sorts of things here) you will have to wait for some time, and of course the answers are usually in Cantonese.

(At least answering questions is not as tiring as making a graphic novel. I feel uncertain about making a comic/ graphic novel or even staying in the fandom, so I started taking asks on Lofter last month. )

My actual "problem": I realise that people can get creative and ask something pretty weird (REALLY WEIRD) or something that I haven't thought of. Some people give me inspirational and even cool ideas, and I want to draw. To draw answers, I need to do some kinds of researches or studies. I "study things" and then forget to draw the answers… (Creating is hard and tiring) (It took me a week to finish one freaking answer… WHY)

(And at the moment there are eleven questions waiting for their answers…)

(I really need to draw the answers… right now. ) (Someone asked Danny to eat Blood Blossoms…WHY)

By the way, I don't think I know how to take asks here. 🤔

Thanks for reading my stuff. 😂😂😂

Rexy Leung's 56th original post. 发布于2020年7月12号。

[wishonastarx3]

I saw this coming... I’m so fucking tired of this.

I don’t care who reads this, if you actually know me in real life then you probably know that this is how I feel from my instagram story. I apologize in advance of the language in this post. These are my emotions and thoughts. (And yes I am aware that within the AAPI community there are it's issues, but that's not the point of this post)

I’m SO SICK AND TIRED of this shit. What happened on Tuesday WAS NOT OKAY. EIGHT PEOPLE ARE DEAD and SIX of them were ASIAN WOMEN. Click the hyperlink if you live under a rock or if you just don’t watch the news. I don’t know how you people live. 

The Asian and Asian American community in this country has been saying for the PAST YEAR that we are NOT OKAY and that we NEED HELP. Donald FUCKING Trump REPEATEDLY kept saying pre pandemic, “CHINA! CHINA! THEY’RE STEALING OUR JOBS!!! CHINA IS EVIL!!!” and of course his base bought into that. BUT when the freaking pandemic started it was “THE KUNG FLU” or the “CHINA VIRUS”. So now, let’s make the target on our backs EVEN BIGGER NOW!!! (I still don’t understand HOW there were Asians who voted for him... but that’s beside this point of this) 

This past year has had over 3800 reports of Asian American HATE CRIMES against us. These fucking cowards are going after our ELDERLY COMMUNITY like the BABY BITCHES that they are. WHY?! JUST FUCKING WHY?! What does this do for you? It makes me SO ANGRY to see these videos of the elderly community being ATTACKED and KILLED. I watched on video of a toisan lao (old Chinese Woman) in SF who was being attacked and she fought back against her attacker (AS SHE FUCKING SHOULD. HE ENDED UP IN A STRETCHER). But that really... that one really struck a cord with me as that’s the dialect my family speaks and it made me think “fuck. That could have been my grandmother. That could have been my grandfather.” Going after the community that doesn’t speak english, LITERALLY POWERLESS and that is old like a bunch of COWARDS. I, as a 5′9 Asian American woman from New York City has dealt with my far share of harassment... but the fucking elderly? Really? 

This pandemic has just gave them an EXCUSE to attack us. As if we weren’t already being harassed and marginalized before!!! But of course, one will say “but how can that be? Asians are the model! You guys are the best minority group out there. Everyone loves you!” HAR HAR MOTHER FUCKER

So lets set up some points

The Model Minority Myth - the “idea” that Asians are the smarter minorities who end up becoming the doctors and lawyers who are good at math, science and end up going to Harvard. I’m sorry... what? This is pathetic. AND A FUCKING MYTH  I’ve dealt with these AWFUL cliches and stereotypes. Are they good stereotypes? Sure...? BUT do you understand:

What that does to the individual? What about the Asians who do not want tot be doctors? What about the Asians who then have to deal with the mental illness that goddamn society created for us? (I’m not even going to go into the lack of Asians in entertainment business. That’s a whole separate headache.)

WHY ARE WE IGNORING THAT IT’S ONLY A SMALL GROUP OF ASIANS THAT END UP DOING THAT?! Are we going to IGNORE the Asians who don’t go to Ivy Leagues? Or the ones that are living below the poverty line? 

This literally created the Racial Triangulation between the minorities! White people have put Asians on a pedestal in comparison to the other minorities and YES other minorities HATE us for that reason.By saying that we are the “Model Minority” it LITERALLY creates this thought that we better than the “other minorities” but yet we still ain’t white. So we aren’t a part of the majority therefore putting us in no mans land. 

THE NEGATIVE stereotypes - OH and TRUST ME there are A LOT. These are just the ones at the top of my head. 

The FETISHIZATION  of Asian Women - this shit ain’t new. This is literally what the term “yellow fever” means when referring to MEN who only like Asian women. The fetishization of asian women LITERALLY GOES BACK TO 1890s when the short story “Madame Butterfly” was written when a WHITE MAN was in Japan and fell in love with an Asian girl (WHO WAS 15 BTW). There are literal journal entries of European and American men who were in Asian at the time who said LITERALLY SAY HOW EXOTIC Asian Women are, that apparently our vaginas just “feel different”. I’m sorry... WHAT?! I HATE nothing more than when I have dealt with men saying some bullshit about how “exotic” I am. Also lets not forget how American society has de-masculinate the Asian Man. Saying that have small dicks and that they are skinny and scrawny, therefore aren’t men. So you like only half of us? 

Our Food - WE DO NOT EAT DOG. I grew up being told “YOU EAT DOG! YOU’RE CHINESE!”... fuck you. And now, Asian food is seen as “amazing” I’m happy you like our soup dumplings and bao. But you were the same fucking people who told me I ate dog. So you love our food but not the people? Okay. I see you. Oh and I didn’t forget about the people who have gagged at Asian food. 

Mocking how we look and our language - Am I the only Asian American who had people pulling their eyes and saying CHING CHONG at them? Please, get hit by a bus. And isn’t ironic how now “fox eyes” are a make up trend? funny isn’t it? 

People telling us to “GO BACK TO CHINA!” “GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM” 

I’m sorry. Who educated you? Asians have been in this country since the 1850S. WE BUILT THE DAMN RAILROADS. SOME OF US WERE KIDNAPPED HERE TO BUILD THAT SHIT. (Another note is how ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY IS NOT TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS. This needs to be addressed and changed.) 

Also for MYSELF - my GREAT GRANDFATHER BUILT THE DAMN RAILROAD and SERVED IN THE ARMY in WWI. My Great Uncles were in the Air force in WWII and my GRANDFATHER served in the KOREAN WAR where he was shot in the ear and received a Purple Heart. I FUCKING DARE YOU to tell me to go back to my country. MY FAMILY HAS DONE MORE FOR THIS COUNTRY THAN HALF OF THESE RACIST MOTHER FUCKERS. 

Hate crimes in America have been happening since the 1880s. Yellow Peril goes back to the 1880s when Asian were literally depicted as these murderous group invading from Asia. And of course, they depict us with slanted eyes and with long braided pony tails. THIS SHIT AIN’T NEW. There has also literally been LAWS banning Chinese from coming to America. i.e THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT oh and lets not forget Japanese Interment during the 1930s. THIS SHIT AIN’T NEW. ALSO let’s not forget the Vincent Chin Murder in the 1980s when a Chinese American was BEAT TO DEATH because his attackers thought he was Japanese and they were blaming the Japanese for taking their jobs. 

As I sit here, feeling not as angry as at the beginning, if history has taught me anything, fear and anger has been the drive for these crimes. In the 1880s we were thought to be evil and that we were going to take away all of the jobs (but low and behold, some of us were KIDNAPPED here). During WWII it was right after Pearl Harbor after Japan bombed it. Vincent Chin, his attackers were angry at the Japanese. Current day, Donald Fucking Trump decided to put the target on our communities back with both jobs being sent to China and with the Coronavirus being our fault. 

What happened on Tuesday with the Atlanta police officer saying that the 21 year old was “having a bad day” WAS BULL SHIT. I didn’t know killing 8 people was a RATIONALE  RESPONSE. Okay then. Call it what it is, A HATE CRIME. This man was saying he had a “sex addiction” and that he wanted to get rid of the temptation and he associated ASIAN WOMEN and the ASIAN SPA to be that temptation. AND WHY IS THAT?!?!?!? THE FETISHIZATION OF ASIAN WOMEN. 

And before I get off of my soap box, THE MEDIA WAS PRETTY FUCKING LATE TO JOINING THIS, AND CALL IT WHAT IT IS, A HATE CRIME. SO MANY of the crimes against the Asian elderly go unreported or are not deemed hate crimes WHEN THEY ARE. SO MANY of them do not know English or enough English and can not report what was said to them. And what sucks too, my dad even said it, I think your grandparents would just take it because they would see this as “I immigrated here, I have to take this shit”. WELL THAT TRAIN STOPS HERE. WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED. WE WILL NOT SHY AWAY. WE ARE TAKING OUR SPACE THAT IS RIGHTFULLY OURS. I fucking PROMISE you that if you try to do so, you will have hell to deal with. 

I’m not going to get into the subject of the people who are SILENT during this but were ALL OVER social media for their BLM support. I’m just going to leave it at we are asking for your help and to amplify this. Please. 

To my non Asian friends who have reached out to me, I do appreciate it. I really do. But please rather than telling me you are here for me if I want to talk, I BEG of you, please read and learn about the history as well as the Asian/Asian American experience in America. It’s really not as rainbows and butterflies people have been thinking. Hate against Asian and Asian Americans started before 2020. 

To my Asian brothers, sisters, aunties and uncles PLEASE stay safe.

[allenwalkerbitch]

D.Gray-man characters and language

So this is by no means an original idea for a post, but I wanted to share my own headcanons for what accents/languages the DGM characters speak in because I've been thinking about it a bunch lately.  Long post imminent, so it's under the cut.

I accidentally deleted this post earlier so please give this one some love :(

I bring up details of stuff with the fourteenth once or twice, so here's a spoiler alert just in case.

Allen

Of course, we all know Allen is British, but that still leaves a lot of variety in accents.   Now as far as I'm concerned, it's pretty much canon that Allen speaks in a stereotypical "posh" received pronunciation accent most of the time.  He speaks very formally/politely in Japanese, and I feel like that's the best translation.  But! that sure as hell doesn't cover young Allen, or what he starts to slip into getting a little bit casual.  For that, I've always liked to imagine him as sounding very northern, or maybe Scottish.  At first, my only justification was that it would be a fun contrast between his two voices, but I've since realized that Campbell is a Scottish name, and since we don't know how the hell Allen was tangled up with the Campbells way back when or where they met, I'm using that as my excuse.

Also, since he spent so much time traveling around the world with Cross, I imagine that he probably knows a few key phrases in a lot of different languages, but he's only really fluent in English.  

Lenalee

Since Lenalee grew up at the European branch of the Order, she probably also speaks British English with an accent pretty close to Allen's received pronunciation, just because that tends to be what's in dictionaries/what gets taught in schools.  But, since she spends so much time around people from all different parts of the world, I imagine that there's a lot of miscellaneous words that she's learned from specific people in their accents, so her vocabulary sounds a lot more varied than Allen's.  

I don't think she'd have a Chinese accent since she was brought to the order so young, but she can still speak it decently well.  Once Komui joined her at the European branch, the two of them began to have some of their private conversations in Chinese, just for the sake of keeping up with it.  

Kanda

To be honest, I'm not really sure what Kanda would sound like.  On one hand, he grew up in the Order like Lenalee, so you could make a pretty good argument for him sounding the same as her.  

On the other hand, though, he seems to have been born knowing how to speak rather than learning slowly like a normal kid, so his accent/dialect might depend on whoever he was in his past life.  And if that were the case (assuming that his past self had a Japanese accent), would he keep it or would he lose it over time as he spent all his time around Europeans?

OR, since he has an artificially generated body, would his voice maybe also be programmed in from scratch?  And if that were the case, would it be standard received British received pronunciation like what Lenalee was taught, or would it be something else?

In other words, I have no idea what the fuck Kanda would sound like.  The only thing I can say for certain is that he speaks English and probably knows a few miscellaneous phrases in French from spending so much time with general Tiedoll.  Other than that, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Lavi

As part of his Bookman job, Lavi would have to be very good at chameleoning his speech.  There's no telling what accent he spoke in as a child in the same way that there's no telling what country he was born in or what his birth name was.  I'd bet he's fluent in about ten languages, and he knows some basics in many more than that.  He speaks however he needs to in order to blend in with whatever group he's with.  At the order, that probably means something similar to Lenalee.  Just a nondescript, textbook sort of British accent with whatever extra words and phrases he's picked up on his travels mixed in.  

Bookman would, of course, be much the same, but even more advanced in his adaptability.  He's been doing this for eighty some years.  

Miranda

Miranda is German, and you can hear it.  I imagine she learned English growing up, but she never had much reason to speak it, so she wasn't really what you could call fluent before joining the Order.  Due to this, her accent was very thick at first.  Over time, though, her vocabulary and accent both improve, and she's pretty fluent by this point, since she now has to use English for the day to day.   Still, I imagine she's relieved on the rare occasion that she can speak to Link or Marie in German like she's back home.  

Marie

Marie grew up in Austria speaking German, but he's also been with the Order for at least a decade.  He's a pretty smart guy, so he's quite fluent in English at this point, but he still has a bit of a German accent.  In a way, though, it kind of suits him.  

Krory

Given his affluent but secluded upbringing, I imagine that Krory learned to read and write in English growing up, but he never really spoke it before meeting Eliade.  As such, his accent was pretty thick for a long while, to the point of being almost incomprehensible to many people, and his speech wasn't very smooth/fluent.  However, between speaking English with Eliade and at the Order, he's gained much more confidence speaking and his accent has been reigned in quite a bit.  

In addition to English, it seems likely that he would have also learned the textbook version of another language, maybe Spanish or French.  

Timothy

Timothy speaks French, but he was taught English as part of his schooling.  He wasn't what you'd call a great student, though, so his English was pretty crummy until he was brought to the Order.  He can speak it decently well now, but he'd still much rather speak French when given the chance.  

Running with the Krory knowing a little French thread and the fact that he tends to big brother younger exorcists, I imagine that he probably goes out of his way to speak it with Timothy.  Reviewing a language that he used to study gives him something to think about besides concern for his friends, and it gives Timothy a way to feel a little more at home there.  

Chaoji

Seeing as he worked as a sailor in a big coastal city, I imagine that Chaoji was used to dealing with people from all different places.  He knew enough English to get by in simple conversation before joining the order, but he wasn't quite what you would call fluent yet.  He's been working hard on learning since joining, however, and though he still has an accent, he can keep up with just about anyone speaking nowadays.  

I'm stopping for now with just the exorcists done, but expect sequel posts to this in the future.  

[mxtons]

        richard  madden  !    |        look  at  those  camera’s  flash  for  bellamy  maxton  (  he  +  him  )  !  the  thirty  year  old  television  star  is  famous  for  their  role  as  sir  erik  in  the  hit  show:  royals.  the  tabloids  portray  them  as  being  frivolous  and  pugnacious,  however  they  are  actually  very  insouciant  and  audacious.  seeing  them  always  reminds  me  of  worn  bomber  jackets,  dark  circles  under  bright  eyes,  and  empty  chinese  food  cartons.

hello  !  my  name  is  cait  and  i’m  always  late  to  the  party  so  this  is  no  surprise  !  i’m  Super  Excited  to  be  here  and  can’t  wait  to  interact  w  all  of  you  !  will  i  be  using  icons  ?  will  i  be  using  gifs  ?  who  knows  !  there  is  ...  a  Lot  to  bellamy  (  who  i  refer  to  as  bell  ,,,  he’s  not  Entirely  happy  that  his  childhood  nickname  got  leaked  a  couple  years  back  ,  since  it’s  what  his  sister  calls  him  ...  but  it’s  caught  on  and  he’s  rollin’  with  the  punches  !  )  so  this  is  just  a  general  rundown  !  i’ll  add  more  to  his  page  at  some  point  ...  but  i’m  impatient  so  here’s  the  need  to  know  !  TW  :  ABUSE  ,  ALCOHOLISM  ,  DEATH  .

one.

full  name  :  bellamy  james  maxton  . nicknames  :  bell  ,  maxton  ,  etc  . age  :  thirty  . birthday  :  tba  . gender  +  pronouns  :  cis  male  +  he/him  . sexual  +  romantic  orientation  :  bisexual  +  biromantic  (  not  public  .  ) birth  place  :  glasgow  ,  united  kingdom  . current  residence  :  santa  monica  ,  california  . spoken  languages  :  english  and  broken  bits  of  scottish  gaelic  . height  +  body  type  :  5'10"  /  athletic  . occupation  :  model  /  actor  . martial  status  :  divorced  . accent  :  scottish  ,  west  central  dialect  . sibling  status  :  middle  child  . faceclaim  :  richard  madden  .

two.

grew  up  in  scotland  ,  youngest  of  three  children  .  father  passed  when  bellamy  was  seven  .  his  father  was  his  idol  and  the  day  he  lost  him  was  one  of  the  worst  days  of  his  life  .  ever  since  then  he  had  to  deal  with  an  absent  mother  with  a  tendency  to  drink  herself  to  a  better  day  .  with  bell  the  spitting  image  of  his  father  ,  his  mother’s  fury  was  taken  out  greatly  on  him  .  the  abuse  continued  from  his  older  brother  ,  ignored  and  looked  down  upon  as  a  stranger  among  family  .  before  his  passing  ,  bell’s  father  dotted  on  him  and  spent  more  time  in  his  youngest  son’s  company  ,  something  his  oldest  son  has  never  forgotten  .  only  his  sister  was  kind  to  him  ,  someone  who  has  come  to  be  one  of  bellamy’s  favorite  people  in  the  universe  .

left  the  house  at  eighteen  against  his  own  desires  .  he�� jumped  from  one  friend’s  couch  to  another  ,  eventually  leaving  the  country  at  twenty  with  a  friend  who  had  convinced  him  to  leave  .  it  was  an  impulsive  ,  drunken  choice  he  had  made  but  with  nothing  holding  him  to  scotland  and  a  tiny  interest  in  traveling  ,  he  got  a  visiting  visa  to  the  united  states  .

his  temporary  visa  was  to  last  a  month  .  he  stayed  with  friends  in  santa  barbara  ,  california  .  the  warm  ,  sunny  beach  was  his  favorite  part  and  despite  not  liking  the  big  crowds  ,  he  did  like  the  sound  of  the  waves  outside  of  his  window  .  he  partied  every  night  ,  though  kept  to  himself  unless  he  was  drunk  enough  to  socialize  ,  and  slept  throughout  most  days  .  there  came  to  a  time  where  the  guy  he  was  staying  with  demanded  some  type  of  payment  ---  bell  had  definitely  made  his  share  of  a  mess  .  it  was  then  he  dove  into  modeling  .  something  that  was  done  by  accident  ,  a  way  to  get  a  couple  hundred  dollars  ,  turned  into  a  short  lived  career  .

what  started  as  smaller  brands  ,  a  local  sunglasses  ad  and  hand  modeling  turned  into  much  more  .  he  hated  his  picture  being  taken  but  adored  the  feeling  of  becoming  someone  else  entirely  .  plus  ,  the  money  was  amazing  .  he  turned  his  stay  into  a  work  visa  ,  extended  through  the  year  and  went  where  the  money  took  him  .

shortly  after  his  twenty  third  birthday  ,  he  auditioned  for  what  would  be  his  first  role  .  it  was  through  contacts  ,  someone  he’d  met  while  on  location  for  an  ad  he  was  modeling  for  .  he  expressed  his  desire  for  something  more  when  they  mentioned  needing  someone  for  a  smaller  role  in  a  newer  tv  show  .  bellamy  landed  the  role  ,  though  it  was  short  lived  as  the  show  only  lasted  one  season  .  from  there  ,  he  knew  acting  was  what  he  wanted  to  do  .

modeling  has  somewhat  stopped  altogether  for  him  ,  giving  him  more  opportunities  for  roles  .  while  working  on  a  movie  a  few  years  ago  ,  he  met  a  woman  that  would  come  to  be  his  wife  .  they  had  a  whirlwind  love  ,  something  quick  and  detrimental  to  the  both  of  them  .  the  two  of  them  were  engaged  only  a  few  months  before  they  tied  the  knot  .  though  arguably  in  love  ,  they  just  didn’t  fit  and  the  paparazzi  tore  them  apart  (  rumored  affairs  ,  pictures  of  bell  with  other  woman  ,  etc  ...  ),  among  other  things  .  they  weren’t  good  for  each  other  .  a  fuckin  fool  ,  bell  didn’t  sign  a  prenup  and  she  took  a  lot  from  him  ...  he’s  still  bitter  about  it  ...  REFUSES  to  work  on  a  project  with  her  !  this  is  a  wanted  connection  but  everything  just  ended  badly  with  him  ,  they  shit  talk  each  other  ...  anyway  ...

seven  years  later  ,  bell  has  earned  dual  citizenship  between  the  usa  and  the  uk  and  spends  most  of  his  time  in  california  ,  having  an  apartment  in  santa  monica  .  he  owns  a  flat  in  the  uk  where  his  sister  lives  and  visits  when  he  can  .  he  has  a  black  cat  ,  lovingly  named  nightmare  that  guards  his  apartment  while  he’s  away  for  work  .  he  has  a  neighbor  take  care  of  her  ,  this  is  a  wanted  connection  !  

he’s  currently  on  royals  and  has  been  on  since  the  pilot  !  his  character  is  adored  by  fans  ,  mostly  for  his  heroics  and  charm  !  picture  ...  yeah  ,  yes  ,  picture  robb  stark  but  as  a  loyal  knight  to  his  king  !  bell  shares  the  desirable  bachelor  status  with  his  character  but  that’s  about  all  they  share  .  he  does  not  use  his  accent  on  the  show  ,  but  does  use  a  british  accent  .  he  loves  to  fuck  around  on  set  but  when  he  hears  ACTION  he  immediately  goes  to  work  !  publicly  he  would  Never  be  involved  with  a  costar  ...  but  privately  ?  he’s  probably  fucked  a  good  amount  of  them  ...  wanted  connection  !  same  with  people  from  other  shows  !  

personality  wise  ,,,  bell  is  ...  okay  .  he’s  fine  ,  not  the  best  person  to  be  around  but  he’s  never  fake  !  the  only  time  he  really  tries  to  be  different  is  with  the  press  /  in  interviews  but  with  other  people  he’s  himself  ...  which  isn’t  the  best  thing  ??  he’s  nice  ...  to  a  fault  ...  but  he  doesn’t  really  like  the  spotlight  ,  doesn’t  like  small  talk  and  loves  keeping  to  himself  .  not  good  with  emotions  or  soft  shit  ...  a  broken  man  who  Really  needs  therapy  .  of  course  ,  he  does  like  to  party  and  make  a  fool  of  himself  when  under  the  influence  ...  just  depends  on  the  day  !  

three.

wanted  connections  !!

ex  wife  .  explained  above  !

babysitter  for  his  cat  .  preferably  a  neighbor  or  someone  who  lives  nearby  .  probably  not  someone  nightmare  likes  ,  but  they  feed  her  so  she  tolerates  them  .

costars  (  of  royals  or  other  shows  ,  maybe  they  were  on  something  else  together  ??  )  who  he  slept  with  !

costars  he  either  got  along  with  ,  learned  from  ,  they  learned  from  him  ,  or  competitions  ??  someone  he  beat  out  for  a  role  ??

someone  he  was  involved  in  rumors  with  ??  

a  pr  girlfriend  ---  this  will  be  something  that  is  just  now  starting  ,  probably  in  time  for  awards  season  coming  up  !

anything  !!  hit  me  with  ideas  !!

if  you  like  this  i’ll  tumblr  msg  you  for  plots  !  i  also  have  discord  if  you’d  prefer  that  ,  just  let  me  know  !

[kuriquinn]

Wayward Son [SPN Fusion]

The Usual Disclaimers ETC (Also, Supernatural doesn’t belong to me either)

Author’s Note: So I didn’t actually write this recently, cuz I’m still not having a great time of it writing-wise, but I had outlined it like two months ago and just fleshed it out today. 

Warning(s): Appropriation of dialogue from the spn episode Lazarus Rising.

Dedicate to: All my followers who are part of other fandoms than the SS fandom :)

The only light in the warehouse comes from naked lightbulbs hanging and spluttering from the roof, loose wires winding down the walls to the generator.

Kakashi draws an obscure character on the cement floor with a spray can, one of countless symbols on the ground, walls and ceiling. Sasuke frowns at the nearest ones, studying them for a clue as to their meaning.

“I’m not sure I’ve seen most of these symbols,” he remarks.

“Traps and talismans,” Kakashi murmurs, adjusting his bandana around his face to keep the fumes at bay. “I had to dig deep into mythologies all over the world for some of these.” He glances up. “How are you doing?”

“The usual fare,” Sasuke replies, nodding at his stash of stakes, knives, tire irons, silver bullets and salt. “I suspect we can catch or kill anything I have ever heard of.”

“I still think this is a bad idea.”

Sasuke doesn’t reply.

He knows exactly what Kakashi’s thoughts on the matter are. If he’s being honest with himself—which he has always actively avoided—he feels the same. There’s nothing good that can come out of this, but he has learned better than most that ignorance can kill you just as much as knowledge.

His head feels too full, too busy since he awoke in an unmarked grave somewhere in Shiga Prefecture, surrounded by a field of dead earth and trees. He doesn’t remember Hell—it’s a small mercy, and one he doubts will last much longer, given his luck. All he remembers is being torn apart by the hellhound, and then waking up and looking for Kakashi, and then Itachi. His reunion with Itachi, and his brother being…different.

Sasuke knows Itachi is hiding something but getting him to open up will take time; it has never been easy to get him to talk, and there’s somehow too much distance between them to reach him right now. He suspects at least some of that is residual guilt—Itachi is the oldest, he was supposed to protect Sasuke and find a way to save him from Hell, but he couldn’t—and perhaps resentment of Sasuke for putting him in the predicament in the first place.

For bargaining his soul to keep his older brother alive.

But it’s been twenty-four hours since he’s been back, and he can’t do anything to deal with Itachi just now, and he’s never been good at waiting. With all the strange things that have been happening since he dug himself out of his grave—the high-pitched scream following him around, that seer Kin getting her eyes burned from her skull, the yōkai at the restaurant being too afraid to even try to kill him, the burning hand-shaped brand on his right shoulder—he wants answers, and he wants them now.

He wants to know why this—Sakura, Kin called her before her face erupted into flame—is hunting him.

He doesn’t say any of this to Kakashi, of course, and the man who all-but raised him and Itachi knows better than to prompt him. He simply nods, reluctant, and treads over to a rickety table nearby to take a pitch of some foul-smelling powder and sprinkle it in a large bowl.

Smoke wafts in the air, and Kakashi begins to chant in an ancient Chinese dialect; Sasuke doesn’t know what it means, but he’s familiar enough with most incantations to get the gist of it. He half-expects there to be an explosion, or the air to vibrate and twist the way it does when a ghost materializes, but nothing happens.

The smoke keeps billowing until it vanishes completely, and the warehouse remains empty.

Kakashi seems unsurprised, and hoists himself up to sit on the table, drawing a battered paperback novel out of his pocket.

“Is now really the time?” Sasuke grumbles, scowling at the lurid cover.

“It could be a while,” Kakashi answers, opening up the book. “For all we know, whatever it is that’s been following you around is out of phase with this dimension and needs time to materialize. Or it could be a yōkai created by whatever spell brought you back and is simultaneously existing and not existing. Sort of a Schrodinger’s Demon.”

He’s worse than Itachi when he gets started, Sasuke grumbles to himself. Out loud, however, he prompts, “If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be best to be prepared when it shows up?”

Kakashi’s attention remains glued to the bodie-ripper, but he lifts his rifle with his right hand, and Sasuke knows there’s no point to arguing with him. Besides, even when he’s supposedly immersed in his books, Kakashi has the best reflexes Sasuke has ever seen outside of the Uchiha family.

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke leans back against the table, arms folded and stares at the sealing circles, bordered by jumon incantations and mantras, and surrounding the Devil’s Traps on the floor.

What is there that exists that wouldn’t get trapped by that?

“Are you sure you didn’t get the ritual wrong?” Sasuke asks twenty minutes late when still nothing has occurred.

Kakashi glances up from his book, raising an eyebrow at him as if he’s just been insulted. Sasuke doesn’t back down—he’s said much worse to the older man in his time—and Kakashi shrugs.

“It’s a dead language,” he replies. “Older than Buddhism. One that isn’t spoken anymore. It’s possible I mispronounced something, but that shouldn’t affect the invocation itself.”

“But how can you be sure—”

A loud rattling shakes the roof.

“I’m sure,” Kakashi remarks, jumping to his feet with his rifle. Sasuke checks the two semi-automatics in his shoulder-holster, then puts his hand to the katana at his waist. The demon-slaying Kusanagi has killed every supernatural beast it’s come up against, and so it stands to reason he might need it now. 

The air is charged, like it might be just before a bolt of lightning arcs through it, and there’s a thundering sound moving closer. When it hits up against the far-end of the warehouse, the walls themselves tremble as if they are about to fold inward. Before they can do so, however, the wide door slams open.

The gust of wind that emanates from behind her makes Sasuke’s eye’s water, and he blinks rapidly to keep his eyes on the figure that has materialized in the doorway.

That’s…not what I expected.

The creature has the form of a petite woman, dwarfed by the giant doors still straining back against their wall. Her hair is the colour of cherry blossoms, a somewhat bizarre contrast to her pantsuit, tie and what appears to be an immaculate white lab coat.   

She glides toward them with a slow, deliberate ease that is marred only by the light bulbs that shatter above her as she passes, raining sparks down on her.

As she gets within their range, Sasuke and Kakashi both open fire, intending to slow her down.

It becomes apparent almost immediately that the bullets have no effect, and so Sasuke tosses his semi-automatic to one side and bends into a stance for battōjutsu.  

“Who are you?” he bites out, hand poised and thumb ready to flick his sword from his sheath.

The woman cocks her head to one side, as if confused by the question. “I am the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.”

“Allow me to thank you, then.”

He darts forward, drawing Kusanagi and slicing the blade upward and across her abdomen, before reversing the blade to shove through her chest. He waits for the flicker of electricity to sizzle through her body, the sign of the blade destroying its host, but nothing happens.

She doesn’t even flinch.

He is sure of this because his move brings him within inches of her face, close enough to observe that her eyes are a startlingly clear green for a Japanese woman. Something about them makes him release his hold on the sword and jump back.

What is she?

The woman considers the blade sticking out of her front, and then slowly pulls it out. There is no blood on it.

As the sword clatters uselessly to the floor, Kakashi attacks, charging forward while shooting his rifle point-blank at her face. With a movement Sasuke barely sees, she slides forward, taking hold of the weapon and using it to draw close, before touching the side of Kakashi’s head.

He crumples to the ground while Sasuke’s heart clenches, and the woman then looks up at him beatifically.

“We need to talk, Sasuke-kun,” she tells him. “Alone.” He swallows painfully, eyes flicking to Kakashi. “Your friend is alive.”

“Who are you?” Sasuke asks again.

“Sakura.”

“I figured that out already. What are you?”

“I have been called many things. Tennyo. Apsara. Angel of the Lord.”

“There’s no such thing,” Sasuke says immediately.

“Oh, Sasuke-kun…” she sighs, sounding disappointed and comforting at the same time. “This is your weakness. You have no faith.”

Lightning flashes—from where, he’s not sure, because they are still inside the warehouse—and he watches in astonishment as the shadows of two massive wings stretch out against the wall, like a bird about to take flight. An aura of unquestionable power radiates from the woman before her, and for a moment he thinks he sees something on her forehead gleam, and black designs crisscross around her body.

The electric light fades away and the image disappears, leaving the small woman before him, looking human but not.

“I apologise for earlier,” she says, looking contrite. “My real voice can be a little overwhelming to humans.”

It takes a beat for him to realise what she’s talking about, and he remembers the high-frequency, glass shattering scream that had him bleeding from his ears for several hours the day before. “That was you talking?”

A little overwhelming?

“Yes. I am sorry. Normally, certain people—special people—can perceive my true form and my true voice. I believed you would be one of them, but I was wrong.”

“And what form are you now?” Sasuke demands, flicking his eyes over her form again. “Holy hospital CEO?”

“This…this is a vessel,” she replies, sliding her hands down the curves of her body in a way that a human might intend as seductive, but comes off as clinical.  

“You mean you’re possessing that girl.”

“She is a devout woman. She prayed for this.”

“Bullshit. No one volunteers to give up their body,” Sasuke snaps. “What are you really?”

“I told you.”

“Even if I believed you, why would a celestial being pull me out of Hell?”

“Good things do happen, Sasuke-kun.”

“Not in my experience.”

In his experience, everything always goes to shit just when they seem to be getting better. He and his brother haven’t been able to catch a break since the fire that burned their mother to death on the ceiling of his nursery. The fact that he survived as long as he did before getting himself killed was dumb luck.

It has always been Itachi doing everything for him and protecting him. If anyone should be saved, should be given a second chance at life, it’s Itachi. Itachi, who was happy in law school before Sasuke dragged him off to look for their missing father, who was cursed with a demon’s powers, who had his spine severed right in front of Sasuke which led him to make the deal in the first place.

Sasuke clenches his fists, and Sakura frowns, cocking her head to one side. Those luminous green eyes fix upon him again, and he has the uncomfortable feeling she can see right through him.

“What is the matter?” she asks him. “You do not think you deserve to be saved?”

“Why’d you do it?” he asks harshly, though it comes out in a whisper.

She smiles then, pleased at the question. Reaching out—farther into his personal space than he allows even his family—she settles her left hand firmly on his right shoulder. Immediately his entire body feels bathed in light, burning from the inside out, but it’s not a painful sensation so much as disquieting. There’s a very real, very terrifying sense that this woman—this creature---knows every molecule of his being.

When she pulls away, he is torn between leaning in and scuttling away from her as fast as possible.

At last, she tells him in a serene voice, “I saved you because it has been commanded from on high. Because you have a greater purpose.”

Staring into those clear, sure green eyes, Sasuke almost believes it.

I realise it’s an odd choice to have Sakura as Castiel, but I find that comparing Team 7 and Team Free Will, she has the most in common with Castiel. Also, the only brothers of consequence in Naruto are Itachi and Sasuke, so they had to be the Winchesters. I would probably make Naruto Crowley. You know, since he’s BFFs with Sasuke/Dean lol.

Don’t think I’m going to go anywhere with it, but the idea wouldn’t leave me alone :P

栗

[thesundowncrew]

the odd numbered :3 ?

Where Am I From? Malaysia Edition

1. favourite place in your country?

If we’re talking about states, because Malaysia alone has 14 of them (not cities, don’t get confused), I’ll have to go with my hometown which is the capital city and a state by itself, Kuala Lumpur (KL). It’s THE big city where everybody goes or wants to go. My house is in the suburbs on the outskirts of the city, but everything’s just really accessible where I live. Easiest and cheapest way to the city is by train, which I love doing. Lots of places to eat, lots of sights to see. Lived here all my life and I still haven’t scratched the surface of what it’s got to offer but it’s got some really cool places. It isn’t the cleanest or safest place on earth but hey, it’s home.

3. does your country have access to sea?

Yeah, we’re basically a peninsula so the coastal states have beaches and ports to the sea. I’ve not gone to all the states that do though. Sabah (a neighboring country of the East Coastwhich is NOT a state of Malaysia btw) is especially known for their beaches and seafood.

5. favourite song in your native language?

Hahaha my native language is honestly English since I can’t speak anything else, and I don’t listen to Malay or Chinese songs so NEXT

7. three words from your native language that you like the most?

I wouldn’t really call them my favorite but I like ‘em a bit, not just because of what they mean but the funny part is HOW we say it. With much needed exaggeration (and sometimes exasperation). 

First one’s ‘entah’ which can mean several things depending on context. It can mean ‘either’, ‘maybe’ or ‘possibly’ or just the *shrug* emoji expressing ‘I don’t know’. Example:

A: Kau nak makan apa? // What do you want to eat?

B: Entah ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ // Beats me bruh

—-

A: Oi, dia datang ke tak nanti? // Oi, are they coming or not later?

B: Entah dia datang, entah dia tak datang  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ // Maybe they’re coming, maybe they’re not coming, who knows what the future holds bruh

Second one is ‘mampus’ which literally means to ‘die’, get rekt or the ‘then perish’ meme. Example:

A: HEWWO ( o w o)

B: Mampus lah kau! // GO DIE!

—-

A: Kau sudah siap kerja sekolah ke belum? // Have you finished your homework or not?

B: AAH tak siap lagi! Mampus aku nanti! // AAH no, I haven’t finished it yet! I am so dead!

Third one’s not even really a word. Well, it IS a word but it has no real meaning. It’s basically a filler word used as an expression to emphasize the gravity of something, or just to fill in anywhere and everywhere. The ever infamous ‘lah’. You can use it almost anywhere in the sentence - at the beginning, middle and end - and to put even more emphasis, just extend or amplify the sound. Compare these two sentences:

A: Bosan. // I’m bored.

A: Bosan laaaaaaah // I’m so booooooored

—-

A: Mana aku tahu? // How would I know?

A: LAH mana aku tahu?? // How was I supposed to know??

—-

A: Sekejap! // Hang on a minute!

A: Sekejap-lah!! // Hold your DANG horses!!

9. which of your neighbouring countries would you like to visit most/know best?

Gosh I’ve only been to a few so I guess I’d like to visit the others like Philippines and Singapore! I don’t know which one I’d like to know best but I know Indonesia is one of the best places to go island-hopping cus they have so MANY. Also I’ve been to Sabah but not their beaches yet so I wanna go and taste their famous seafood~

11. favourite native writer/poet?

Only one comes to mind and that’s the late P. Ramlee. He could do it all. He acted, directed, sang and wrote his own songs. His films are the only Malay movies I enjoy watching. The comedies mostly, I was never into drama/romance too much. Here’s a whole documentary about him in case you’re interested (it’s an hour long but I cry every time I reach the end).

13. does your country (or family) have any specific superstitions or traditions that might seem strange to outsiders?

If we’re not including religious beliefs into the mix, there are a few that I know of from both my Malay and Chinese sides of the family. Stuff like.. it’s bad to cut your nails at night cus it’ll shorten your lifespan or you’ll get chased by a spirit. Or if a girl sings in the kitchen, it means she’ll get married pretty soon. Or if a person has a stye in their eye, it means they’ve seen perverted things.

Yeah I know, they’re fuckin nuts.

15. a saying, joke, or hermetic meme that only people from your country will get?

When you’re meeting up with friends, there’s always the one guy who’s still ‘on da way’. Also this entire video.

17. are you interested in your country’s history?

Kinda? A little? Maybe just the more modern history but not the ancient history like in the times of kings and queens, and half of it is because of the Malay propaganda most of our history books were re-written and messed up to praise the one major race above the others (wow sound familiar?)

19. do you like your country’s flag and/or emblem? what about the national anthem?

Eh it’s okay. I don’t remember all the words to the national anthem, I just pretended to sing it in school. The only time I’ve ever felt immensely patriotic was during this years elections.

21. if you could send two things from your country into space, what would they be?

I’ve no idea???

23. which alcoholic beverage is the favoured one in your country?

Majority of us are Muslim and we don’t drink alcohol, so I wouldn’t know. If I were to guess, I’d say Tiger beer?

25. would you like to come from another place, be born in another country?

Not really. I both hate and love my country and I can’t imagine myself being born anywhere but here.

27. favourite national celebrity?

Pfft I have none.

29. does your region/city have a beef with another place in your country?

Okay remember how I said Malaysia is made up of 14 states? You best believe at least one state has some major beef with another. I remember back in college, students that came from different states kept to their own respective groups and it’s not a secret that Malays are also pretty racist towards each other, just because we grew up with different backgrounds, accents, dialects etc. Sometimes it goes all the way back to ancient history, like back when the states were still clans and tribes and they’ve just carried their family feuds to this day.

My city though, I don’t think so. The capital city is like the neutral hub where everyone from all over comes to meet and mix around. Or maybe some states might have beef with us, I wouldn’t know.

[foneticairina]

Suprasegmental features, intonation or prosody

The phonological system of a language consists of two kinds of features: segmental features (phonemes, consonants and vowels) and suprasegmental features (pause patterns, prominence, pitch, tones). Suprasegmental features are also referred to as prosody, prosodic system or intonation. So far all the sounds we’ve been considering were segments: the individual speech sounds that we represent with IPA symbols. Now, we are going to concentrate on suprasegmental features (or prosody or intonation), in other words, the aspects of the phonology of English that have linguistic importance but are not usually regarded as something that is related to individual segmental phonemes.

Although no definition of intonation is completely satisfactory, any attempt at a definition must recognize that the pitch of the voice plays the most important part. The pitch of a sound is how high or low it is. However, the only things that should interest us about a speaker's pitch are those which carry some linguistic information. And for pitch differences to be linguistically significant, pitch has to produce contrast with other pitch variations, it has to be under the speaker's control, and it has to be perceptible.

Intonation in two common one-syllable utterances such as “yes” and “no”:

We have a choice of saying those words with the pitch remaining at a constant level, or with the pitch changing from one level to another. The word we use for the overall behavior of the pitch in these examples is TONE; a one-syllable word can be said with either a level tone or a moving tone. English speakers do not use level tones on one-syllable utterances very frequently but moving tones are more common. If English speakers want to say “yes” or “no” in a definite, final manner they will probably use a falling tone- one which descends from a higher to a lower pitch. If they want to say “yes?” or “no?” in a questioning manner they may say it with a rising tone- a movement from a lower pitch to a higher one. Actually, in English, there are five ways in which your voice moves: your voice may FALL, or FALL and RISE, it may RISE, or RISE and FALL or it may remain the same, not moving up or down.

In talking about different tones, some idea of function has been introduced; speakers are said to select from a choice of tones according to how they want the utterance to be heard, and it is implied that the listener will hear one-syllable utterances said with different tones as sounding different in some way.

Although it is possible to produce a few general rules to use intonation in the way that native speakers use it, they are certainly not adequate as a practical guide to how to use English intonation.

The pauses we make as we speak are going to have a key role in the message we convey. We divide the stream of speech into what are called tone units and give a hint of what we mean to our listeners.

Within each tone unit, we stress some syllables more than others, i.e. we make them more prominent, showing our listeners that those syllables carry more meaning than the others.

How high or low (pitch height) we produce an utterance will also add further meaning to what we say. This feature is called key and termination depending on the syllable where it occurs.

But not all suprasegmental features work in the same way in all languages...

There are two big groups of languages: tonal languages and intonational languages

TONE or TONAL LANGUAGES:

In this types of languages, the suprasegmental features have SEMANTIC meaning, i.e., if I change the intonation of a word or phrase, its meaning changes. The movement of the voice and its pitch are used to change the meaning of a word. When tonal language is written, typically diacritical markings are used to indicate tone and eliminate confusion. Probably the best-known tone language is Mandarin, which has five different tones. For example, the word ’ma’ can have a number of different meanings depending on the tone used. Although to most speakers of European languages they may seem strange and exotic, such languages are in fact spoken by a very large proportion of the world's population. In addition to the many dialects of Chinese, many other languages of South-East Asia (such as Vietnamese or Thai) are tone languages; so are very many African languages, particularly those to the South and West, and a considerable number of Amerindian languages.

INTONATIONAL LANGUAGES:

In intonational languages, on the other hand, the meaning of prosody is not so clear and obvious and there have been many attempts to describe and explain what the different prosodic features convey in a message. This is the case of English, in which intonation makes it easier for a listener to understand what a speaker is trying to convey.

Different approaches to the study of intonation propose different functions of intonation:

Attitudinal function of intonation: intonation enables us to express emotions and attitudes as we speak, and this adds a special kind of “meaning” to spoken language.

Accentual function of intonation: intonation helps to produce the effect of prominence on syllables that need to be perceived as stressed, and in particular the placing of tonic stress on a particular syllable marks out the word to which it belongs as the most important in the tone-unit.

Grammatical function of intonation: the listener is better able to recognize the grammar and syntactic structure of what is being said by using the information contained in the intonation: for example, such things as the placement of boundaries between phrases, clauses, or sentences, the difference between questions and statements and the use of grammatical subordination may be indicated.

Discourse function of intonation: looking at the act of speaking in a broader way, we can see that intonation can signal to the listener what is to be taken as “new” information and what is already “given”, can suggest when the speaker is indicating some sort of contrast or link with the material in another tone-unit and, in conversation, can convey to the listener what kind of response is expected.

I've summarized other details of the functions of intonation on Google Slides: