#lotus media

[k-wame]

ADAM DIMARCO & THOMAS ELMS 2020 • The Order • S2·EP3 • dir. Mathias Herndl

[a-memory-a-distant-echo]

hey not to be deeply weird about it but just to check, has everyone else already seen this interview with xiao shunyao in which he (correctly) argues that actually di feisheng is a deeply loyal and affectionate character, and also that li xiangyi gives di feisheng a reason to live?

i'm so fucking normal about it

[dingyuxi]

[bbcphile]

WIP Wednesday (MLC amnesia fic edition)

Happy Wednesday! I'm taking one more week off sharing excerpts of my long fic to share bits from the amnesia/discovering mind control bug fic! (It's finally all drafted and will hopefully be posted on AO3 soon!) Enjoy! (You can find the previous excerpt here.)

“A-Fei,” Li Lianhua murmured, his voice shaky as though it had been drawn from a-Fei’s own lungs. His pupils dilated as his gaze slid to his waistband, then trailed a burning path from a-Fei’s navel to his throat, before fixing on his lips. “This isn’t–” He swallowed, his finger twitching against the band of a-Fei’s pants. “You don’t remember all the reasons we shouldn’t.”

That was all the answer he needed. “I don’t care,” a-Fei said, lurching forward to cup Li Lianhua’s face with his hand. “Neither should you.”

For an instant, Li Lianhua leaned into the touch, his eyes falling closed, and his head tipping back with a shuddering exhale.

Then he pulled away, lowering a-Fei’s hand with him. “I can’t. I can’t, a-Fei.”

This didn’t make any sense. He obviously wanted to. What was stopping him?

Oh. Of course. “Is there someone else? Fang Duobing?”

Li Lianhua’s eyes bulged. “What?”

It didn’t take long to come to a decision. “I don’t mind sharing,” he said with a nod.

Li Lianhua flushed. “Why would you–it’s not–he’s my–” he spluttered helplessly, before abandoning any attempt at an excuse and hitting him on the arm instead. “Don’t be ridiculous. And anyway, I’ve seen your so-called sharing at dinner. No thanks.”

A-Fei crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re not a chicken leg. And that wasn’t sharing. I know the difference.” He couldn’t exactly remember sharing things in the past, but he couldn’t remember most things at the moment, so that didn’t have to mean anything. And regardless, it was just another skill to master. He could do it.

Li Lianhua was worth it.

[seventh-fantasy]

re: jianghu as a queer space in mlc

here to answer @redemption-revenge !! in reply to this post

(also tagging @markiafc @ananeiah <3)

there are many definitions of jianghu, but this is specifically based on the framing of jianghu as the space people retreat to, away from the mainstream sphere governed by the imperial court. in that is a sense of rejection and defiance against the patriarchal, heteronormative values and norms, which had been enforced through a fixation on upkeeping order in the society. as such i guess it's not too much of a stretch to interpret jianghu as a queer space in a way that's characterised by a spirit of nonconformity to the norms. consequently, it makes sense for stories set in jianghu be used to illustrate and navigate queer identities/experiences/feelings - which I came to believe mlc had made really good use of.

there's always kind of a dichotomy between 江湖 jianghu and 庙堂 miaotang (ie. imperial court). like in mlc, there are two separate, distinct law enforcement bodies from the respective spheres - and jianghu strives to keep imperial court from interfering in their affairs. like how li xiangyi firmly stands against getting imperial court involved in jianghu matters. like how fang duobing is actively running away from the grip of the royal court on his life choices. the rejection of the mainstream (very conveniently and broadly put, confucian) norms in mlc also manifests in many of its key relationships being non-familial (in the sense of blood/marriage-based kinship) and there being little emphasis on the main characters' biological familial ties. (anyway this is for a whole different meta on its own... edit: it's here)

it's then actually a sort of irony that the imperial court's institution of law and order is what sigu sect/baichuan court had been formed to be a de facto counterpart to. so when li xiangyi becomes li lianhua, it triggered the process of deconstructing the meaning of installing such an institution and the need to maintain order to a fundamentally nonconforming space such as jianghu. mama fang's seemingly throwaway line of criticising li xiangyi and his mission is in fact the thesis statement in this particular reading of mlc's story: jianghu makes its own rules. nobody should dare to do it in its place.

now deprived of all means to fight like he used to, li xiangyi's new life as li lianhua is essentially a refresh of how he views jianghu. the death of li xiangyi the leader of sigu sect and top of wulin, meant taking apart the idea that jianghu is a lawless arena where the fittest fight to the top for power and control over wulin. and li lianhua then putting together lotus tower, living a life focusing on a domestic lifestyle this time for real far from the reach of the governance both from the imperial court and sigu sect/baichuan court, is him living the jianghu that's defined as a space away from any form of conformity.

with that, there's also a sense of queerness to this particular way of living as li lianhua, if you consider the chinese conceptualisation of gender being more social than biological. if femininity and masculinity were respectively characterised by inner/domestic sphere and external/any space outside of that, dare I say...it actually makes li lianhua's moving house mindblowingly smart as a metaphor for gender fluidity. lonely wanderers are common in wuxia but housed lonely wanderers? he carved for himself a domestic (ie. feminine) space in the wilderness - among a jianghu space that's still dominated by masculine values of aggression and competition. and being freely mobile makes this feminine space more fluid and less tied down than the more rigid, inert domestic, feminine spaces in traditional mainstream society. when you combine it with how his character has been fem-coded - even as li xiangyi (eg. yin-coded powers/energy) (also a whole other meta on its own... edit: it's here now), it speaks to a part of him that has always found appeal in qualities conventionally associated with femininity of stability, gentleness and non-aggression. and a rejection of expectations to fight and destroy. he is defining who he is in his own terms, in the true spirit of jianghu.

[soulthesimmer]

ahem.

for those who remember trevor clifford, bonita's baby father... well, the article is true. he is no longer with us. 😫 yes, he was an asshole, but he didn't have to go out like thisssss. i still wanted him to turn his life around lol.

excerpt from mag:

International SimBA Mourns the Loss of Young Star, Trevor Clifford, in Apartment Fire

International SimBA star, Trevor Clifford, perished in a fire that engulfed his apartment early yesterday morning. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Clifford, a beloved teammate and father to a young son, was considered a rising star in the league. "He had an infectious smile and an even brighter future," said his coach, David McLean. "Our hearts go out to his family and loved ones during this difficult time."

[tiny-breadcrumbs]

Let us together closely lie, and kiss; There is no labour, nor no shame in this

-Gaius Petronius

[mx-myth]

Thinking about how everyone wears different colours in mlc and how they're all connected...

Li xiangyi wears red. Yes it means happiness and joy and luck (ignoring the wedding symbolism for now) but it is also the colour of blood. He wears this bright, bold colour and still ends up dying on that ship.

Di feisheng's main colours are, for the sake of simplicity, black and red. Red for lxy but it's always darker and more muted on him - there's more blood symbolism for him (based purely on his reputation in the jianghu) but also more wedding symbolism compared to lxy. Black, tragically enough, corresponds with the element of water - it was a pitch-black night when he fought lxy, on a black sea, on a black ship - and that even fits with the western idea of black being for death. But he also wears bolder colours - we've seen him in purple and blue, for example - and this parallels fang duobing's outfits. Inherently a lot of the characters obsessed with the past (jiao liqiao and shan gudao, to name some) wear bold colours while characters who have left it behind/who are looking towards the future wear lighter colours (more to be said about this) and I think this is dfs turning away from the last and towards that future.

Brilliant example of this is qiao wanmian. She wears lighter colours and she gets over lxy and but I think it's important that one of her most iconic outfits is pink. Yes we all know how she and dfs are foils - this is yet another element of that. Pink is white and red: white, for death, for lxy; red, for happiness and weddings, also for lxy. Learning to live with her grief was definitely a long and lengthy process but it also helps her become her own person - she lets go of lxy and eventually learns that she has her own power, that she's strong in her own right, that she doesn't have to rely on men. She leaves xiao zijin and becomes the new leader of the new sigu sect and, while it's likely last her time to become a legend in the jianghu, she's certainly an inspiring figure.

Opposite of this is jiao liqiao. She's firmly still chasing after the past - her desire for dfs to love her back, her one-sided love rivalry with lxy. Her red is wedding red for dfs but it's also a giant fuck you to lxy - look, I'm better than you, I've got his attention and you don't. It's still true to an extent in the present, since she believes it's still dfs' attention that li lianhua wants (it is not). A-mian lets go of lxy (with some help for llh) but jiao liqiao never lets go of dfs, even when he outright rejects her. She's chasing her ideal of dfs, not who he actually is.

(I'm not going to talk about shan gudao. Same colours as dfs but the evilness is boosted to 100. He wears black and red as the classic Evil Colour Combo.)

Then we have the con man himself, li lianhua. In this new life of his he wears lighter colours - some blue, some green, but an overwhelming amount of it is white. As the show progresses he loses the blue and green. Yes he's looking at the future now but it's in the manner as someone staring down the barrel of a gun. There's nothing to say here because llh has it all planned out. He's already started dressing for his own funeral.

Lastly, the one and only fang duobing. He wears lighter colours too (in fact, he and a-mian are the only two I'd truly describe as wearing pastels). It's fascinating to note that there was no distinction between blue and green (his main colours) in old China. The symbolism of it is while it's the colour representing east (hahahahaha) it's also the colour of spring. I will never stop with the fdb/spring symbolism - he brings new life, he brings a new beginning, life will always go on if there's spring. (Spring is also the season when peach trees bloom, and isn't that something.) An interesting note is that he never wears any of li xiangyi's signature red. He really does leave lxy behind because he accepts that he's gone, because he loves li lianhua.

[reticent-fantasies]

Ok but the use of coloured eye shadow in season 2 of White Lotus? How in episode 1 we get Lucia wearing the blue eye shadow commonly associated with sex workers and no one else really wearing colourful eye makeup. Then in episode 4 we get Mia wearing the bright pink eyeshadow as she embraces sex work and even Portia wearing heavier eye makeup when she has dinner with Jack. I just think that’s such a masterful detail that goes along with the Madonna/Whore complex theme that’s gone on this season.

[problem-of-ros]

x.

xx.

The ship transcends the descriptive categories of place, vehicle and artefact; it is a cosmos, which requires its own cosmology.

[irondad-defensesquad]

i really don't get people who say that steve is the good example of masculinity when 1) he pretty much becomes a hero bc of some damn serum that makes him buff (not to mention how ableist that might be given that steve was born scrawny, and was only "useful" when he became strong), and 2) steve barely openly cries beyond two tears iirc, and none of them are for his literal best friend who dies TWICE. steve is literally the white cis male creator's pet that gets little to no character depth, that is never depicted as flawed, that gets everything he wants and never faces the consequences.

mcu steve really fucking sucks.

[matchasilver]

Requested Koi pond art! @reicchel bc she was asking about it! :3c

Mediums: watercolor and gouache

This is my second attempt at this piece, my first attempt is under the cut:

[soulthesimmer]

and the simtember "vogue" cover goes to... brytani cho who is reinventing herself and talking all about it, including her new bff, lotus.

some quotes from b cho's article:

"We click. It's as simple as that. This girl's got a fire in her belly that reminds me of why I got into this business in the first place. We push each other, you know? Keeps us both young, or at least feeling that way."

"Our friendship might seem odd on the outside. But honestly? It's the most refreshing thing that's happened to me in years. We challenge each other, laugh until our sides hurt, and keep it real. What more could you ask for in a friend?"

"People think fame changes you. It can, sure. But Lotus? She's reminding me of what truly matters. It's not the glitz and the glam, it's the connections you make, the people who lift you up, and the fire that burns bright inside."

"They call me B Cho, the bad girl of comedy. But honestly? Lotus is the real rebel. She's not afraid to be different, to chase her dreams with reckless abandon. That's the kind of energy I want to surround myself with."

"This might sound cheesy, but Lotus makes me believe in the power of second chances. In finding new passions, new friendships, and a whole new perspective on life, no matter your age. We're more than friends, we're a team, a force to be reckoned with. Watch this space, world!"

[httpiastri]

WAIT OMG I JUST REALISED THIS MEANS I CAN WATCH CLIPS FROM PREVIOUS STREAMS I MISSED

- 🪷

AAAAAAAAAA THIS IS THE GREATEST DISCOVERY EVER 😭😭😭😭 just have to share this clip that ive been going crazy over:

likeeee nonnie im so wrecked 🫠 the way you talked about christian's humor? i feel it 110%?? just the tone of his "hAAA?????" has me actually laughing out loud every time i rewatch it 😭 but also the way pepe laughs (and his gorgeous smile, kill me) at every word he says like man we get it, you're down bad for him 😭 but also pls keep it up because i'm down bad for you and your laughter makes my life brighter and-

also omfg his little stubble?? kill me????? i may have been thinking about helping him shave for the last like month or so but that's a thought for another time……

[difeisheng]

hi hello!! i too got dragged into 莲花楼 hell bc of you lmao specifically your post about llh at the end being a ghost!! and then i watched the opening ep and just. fell head first in rip. love when a narrative is haunted by the main character no matter whether they're alive or dead

omg it was the ghost post that did it, i'm so glad there's other people here enjoying these themes with me <3 we are all on the same wavelength. and i'm so glad you're liking the show!!! it really grabs you quick and then before you know it you're building a house in brainrot territory hehe

[rachaelmayo]

Today I give you... Ganesha! This piece is titled Obstacles, BEGONE!. It was a commission for a friend back in 2012.

My friend gave me free rein to do whatever I wanted, design-wise. He wanted the color scheme to center around bright orange, so I went with a simple split-complementary scheme that I thought would give Overwhelming Orange a good balance.

I'm pleased with the way this piece turned out. There are elements gleaned from many statues and paintings of Ganesha I've seen, and bits that I included that follow my own design sensibilities. I used watercolor, Prismacolor pencils, and gold paint pen to pull this picture together.