#so the thing is. chinese IS hard to learn to read in that it just takes more hours of study as a language

[jessiesjaded]

It is funny sometimes seeing people get uppity about translators not doing exactly 1:1 translations of media, whether it be a book or a game or a series- and I get it from the perspective of say, 90s and 2000s anime adaptations that completely altered plot points, completely nixed entire lines of dialogue or alter characters enough that they were barely reminiscent of the original- think Sailor Moon and how the US dub censored anything gay in it. Those complaints I understand, completely.

And then with the advent of translating tools sometimes a company has pretty clearly been cheap or lazy and has just slapped it into an online translator and hodge podged it together, losing a lot of important details along the way, just to save on paying a proper translator and that is something I find absolutely shitty and extremely fair to point out- especially when it's a big corporation.

But the flipside people seem to forget is that sometimes there's not an exact word to translate to. Sometimes translations done to T will lose the humour or the feeling of the original so the translator will change it just enough to still get the expression across in a similar way as the original without bogging it down or losing its charm- localising something isn't always a bad thing as long as it overall stays true to the original. Translation is an art at the end of the day, sometimes whats on the page needs a little extra help to really pop, I have a lot of respect for the people who put in the effort.

[skitskatdacat63]

you have the time and resources to learn any language(s). what would you learn and why?

Omg Keke sry I forgot to answer this bcs it made me think too deeply 😭

My instant response would just to be to blurt out: ALL OF THEM!!!! I mean I have unlimited time and resources, no? I love all of them and truly learning any additional languages is my dream. Obviously tho my main focus is Germanic languages 🤭🤭 but if I had to pick, I'd probably say: German, Russian and Chinese(Mandarin) and...LATIN.

German because it's already taken up so much of my life, Russian bcs it is my second language love and I listen to so much slavic music, and Mandarin because it's really difficult to learn coming from English so I think I'd need all the help I can get, and Latin bcs there's so many silly things I'd love to do with it

[rigelmejo]

hey my guy, didnt mean to talk shit about lack of brevity - it was meant as a like semi affectionate ask for line breaks.

I want to read your post! It is not too long!! But my brain is Dying. dyslexia is turning everything to mush the second i get five lines into your para.

(semi affectionate bc you are a stranger to me but i do vibe with your language learning goals? parasocial blablabla?? hopefulyl you feel me)

I feel you. <3 I will try to break those huge paragraph chunks a bit more, I'll think a bit. Part of it is that I try to write some posts as numbered lists where a numbered item has to be 1 paragraph even if it gets long. Then it DOES get long since I only have 1 paragraph to do it, then it gets so long I turn it into Regular Text instead of Numbered List format. Then it's just huge paragraphs from when I was trying to squeeze it into a numbered list format.

Maybe an alternative could be sections with headers or capital letter titles or in bold, to separate things. Instead of numbered lists. Then it would be easier for me to split sections into multiple parapraphs possibly. Again I will think on it. Apologies in advance though for the blocks of text I'll inevitably post at times. I just kinda end up writing long rambling a lot when I'm trying to jot down ideas (as seen by my horrifically long tags and main blog fandom bullshit lol sjdjjd)

Tldr: I'll try maybe more header titles bolded or capitalized or on their own line, to break up sections. Then maybe I'll be able to add more paragraphs without it being hard to locate which section is which. While having maybe a bit more line breaks hopefully.

[kitchenwitchtingss]

50 KITCHEN WITCH TIPS TO MAKE YOU FEEL MORE WITCHY

(And other useful things I've learned over the years)

Hi! This is a list of dos, don'ts, tips, tricks, and other fun things that I've learned over the years. I always love finding more effective and efficient ways of doing things so if you have any cool things you'd like to add, leave them in the comments or reblog. I'd love to read it.

Anyways... On with the list ^_^

Light candles around your kitchen space (just make sure nothing flammable is near you)

Annotate your cookbooks with the correspondence of the ingredients.

Mediating is really good to calm the mind before cooking.

Cut oranges and lemons thinly, dry them, and hang them with twine around your kitchen

Need a cleansing tip? Open all your windows near your kitchen. Let some fresh air in.

Cutting sigils into apples, pie crusts, and carved potatoes.

Save lemon and orange rinds, freeze them, and then use them to clean the garbage disposal.

Make infused oils and honey: Things like garlic honey, lavender honey, herb oil, sun oil, moon oil, dandelion oil, and other different edible oils are very fun and useful to make.

Hid sigils in pages of your cookbooks and kitchen witch journals.

Add some plants! Snake plants and spider plants don't need too much light, and growing your own herbs in your kitchen is awesome too. Basil, lavender, thyme, aloe vera, rosemary, etc. are good fits. You could also add some plants that require more sunlight on the kitchen window sill. Like cacti and succulents.

Bring crystals into your kitchen space such as rose quartz, clear quartz, amethyst, or whatever you want the space's intentions to be.

I keep a small money tree on the sill, along with cacti for luck and protection.

Make a simmer Pot! Mostly because it makes the whole house smell good, easy, and fun.

Stir clockwise for best results!

Learning how to pickle things is actually pretty witchy. Plus, anyone could do it as it requires absolutely no kitchen experience. You could pickle any vegetable, even if you don't like pickles. I originally learned this after having to take shelter from a natural disaster. A person brought a bunch of stuff and taught us how to pickle things with different spices and herbs. Very fun!

Decorate your kitchen with your favorite stuff. Crystals, decor, heat mits, that cool mushroom cake stand you've been eyeing at the World Market for the past 2 weeks, cool looking curtains, sun catchers. Why stop there? Paint the walls, hang shelves full of marked-up cookbooks that are a little too well-loved and thumbed through.

Wanna be the person that has the amazing-smelling house every time people come over? Syrups take some time to simmer down, it's actually a pretty good time to leave it on the stove to simmer. Since syrups have a lot of aromatic ingredients, it acts as a really good-smelling simmer pot.

Hang up herbs to dry with twine from cabinets that are rarely used.

Invest in that new set of plates and cups.

Homemade jams, butter, sauces, and syrups are your best friend.

Crochet or knit your own dish rags, pot holders, etc.

Don't pour extremely hot things into a glass that's not Pyrex, it will break, and you will be very sad about it.

Don't cook anything while extremely upset or emotional (For safety reasons)

Make recipes you want to make, not just because you'll like the effect. Make it because you think it's tasty.

Chinese Five Spice works in place of herbs for protection and luck spells a lot of the time! It's cheaper to buy 1 spice than 4 different spices that total up to 15 dollars when you could just spend 3-4 dollars.

Take a shower before cooking (I don't know how to explain this one other than it makes you feel better)

Don't use microfiber/plastic material clothes on hot burners, it will fuse to the burner and melt. It is VERY hard to get off.

I don't know if I need to put this one but I did see someone do it so nonstick pan = wooden utensils and plastic utensils, metal pan = metal utensils. Do not use a metal spoon in a nonstick pan, please. It can make you very sick.

Keep your pets away from hot oil, open ovens, and hot pans.

You can proof bread dough in the fridge overnight if you don't have the time to bake, or want to eat fresh bread right in the morning.

Need a quick witchy meal for dinner in 12 minutes? Use premade tomato pasta sauce and doctor it up with thyme, rosemary, and garlic, for protection and distilling stagnant energies. Serve with pasta of your liking.

You can substitute Butter for Crisco/shortening, buttermilk for 1 cup of milk + 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, and heavy cream for 1 cup of half and half plus 2 tbsp of butter.

Use leftover animal bones to make bone broth

Teach yourself the art of bread scoring (It's fun, and you can show it off to your loved ones!)

Collect and hoard your own and others' family recipes.

Sometimes the food doesn't have to be a spell, sometimes it just makes you feel good and you don't know why.

Listen to your favorite music in the kitchen, it makes the monotonous things like chopping veggies move faster.

Invest in a vegetable chopper if you don't like chopping vegetables.

Find a really good hot cocoa recipe and make it once a week. Master it. Just for your own happiness because hot cocoa is really good. You could also be the friend/family member that makes the best hot cocoa ever.

Focaccia Bread Lasts a very long time, and it's very easy to make!

Keep a first aid kit near where the oven is, in case of burns, cuts, or serious injuries where time is everything.

Quick Bread and no-rise loaves are simple for beginners, tasty, and take little time. They also feel very witchy to make.

Study a bit of Herbalism! It's fun and really helps better understand the herbs you're putting into your food.

While something is boiling, put your wooden spoon over the pot to minimize the chance of something boiling over.

Try a bit of coffee magick, it's simple to get into, and gives you a boost of energy to take on the day!

If you're over 21, wine-making is a very interesting way to celebrate the sabbats. Just with that, make sure you KNOW what you're doing. With anything fermented, there's always a risk if you don't store things correctly. Apple wines, strawberry wines, dandelion wines, etc. all very cool to experiment with. If you're not over 21, vinegar is a similar way to experiment.

Hang up some witchy things, sigils, photos, cool magnets, and other things that give you joy on your fridge. (Sometimes if you are lucky they have some fun magnets at five below)

If you live in the US, for some reason, there are a lot of books in the book section dedicated to witchcraft and spirituality. At least where I live. And they are all under 5 dollars!

Teas are the cheapest and easiest things you can practice being a kitchen witch.

[olderthannetfic]

Now I'm wondering how countries like Japan and China teach literacy.

Since kanji / hanzi don't really have that much in the way of phonetic elements, they kinda have to teach them by memorization and I don't think they have many reading comprehension problems over there.

(Although both countries do have supplementary phonetic writing systems in the form of bopomofo and pinyin for China, and the kanas for Japan)

--

FAVORITE SOAPBOX TOPIC UNLOCKED!

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!

It's a little closer to teaching vocabulary than spelling, but the same kinds of principles apply: You teach the building blocks, like the traditional radicals, which aren't so different from teaching Latin and Greek roots in an English class for English speakers.

And, as a matter of fact, lots of those radicals do predict pronunciation, just not in every single case. They can also be clues to meaning, but again, not absolutely consistently. Many characters have a sound-cueing radical on one side and a meaning-cueing radical on the other. It's just that only some are still useful in the modern day, while others are more like the English word 'plumbing' where knowledge of Roman lead pipes explains why this word comes from the one for lead, but the root probably wouldn't help a kid learn the word in the first place.

One similarity to teaching phonics would be teaching students to tell very complicated and similar characters apart: you want to help a student spot all the little building blocks of the character and then spot the ones that are different, not just glance at the whole character and get a general overall vibe. If you do a whole look-based approach, too many characters are too easy to mistake for one another.

Remembering a bajillion Chinese characters is hard if you're trying to memorize them in a year and not all of elementary school, but I think people who don't read them underestimate how many component parts there are and how approachable they can be if you start by learning fundamentals, not just memorizing a few individual characters as though they have no relation to anything else.

They're actually pretty systematic, just in the way that English spelling is with its overlapping systems and historical artifacts, not in the way that highly regular Spanish spelling is.

Having taken a lot of Japanese classes, I will say that Japanese as a foreign language textbooks often do a piss poor job of this and totally do teach kanji in a sight words-y way... But my Mandarin class started with important foundational concepts that served me well in Japanese later even if I bombed out of Chinese class at the time.

Can you tell how irritated I am by all the foreign language learners who think characters are sooooo hard when, really, it's just their crappy textbook? Haha.

They're moderately hard in the way that learning a full adult spectrum of vocabulary is hard, but people do that for foreign languages all the time. The countries that use characters do tend to make sets that are smaller for certain kinds of applications, same as we have things like simple English wikipedia, but a literate adult will always know lots more, whether it's from their career in engineering or their predilection for historical romance novels.

Uh... anyway, the answer is "Bit by bit in elementary school, just like in any other country".

[lilac-nites]

List of Lolita Resources

Someone in my comm encouraged me to make this list of resources for new lolitas. We were talking about how hard it can be to find information from Google search and there's just so much misinformation out there. I have a list of links that I've bookmarked and read over the past decade for when I finally become a lolita. I organized the list by sections in a specific order. It goes from information about the fashion and then to where to buy it.

To any new lolitas, there is so much information out there about lolita fashion that is still available. Part of the fun for me was researching the fashion, looking at coords, and learning what makes lolita lolita. There's so much information out there for you to immerse yourself in and even more stuff that's not listed in this resource list.

What is Lolita Fashion

Fyeah Lolita - This is my favorite blog and I still go back and read it. The last post was made in 2016 and the fashion has changed a lot since then, but it's pretty comprehensive and provides a good base knowledge. Imo, I think these articles (1 2 3 4) are required reading for anyone entering the fashion Lolita Fashion 101 - Bay Area Kei did several videos on lolita fashion during lockdowns. I recommend them for anyone that prefers video format. Raine Dragon's Lolita 101 series - Raine is a lolita that still updates her blog and has a lot of information on the history of lolita fashion. And she has a really great article on Chinese indie brands that should also be required reading for anyone new to using Taobao.

Costs of Lolita Manufacturing - One of the first things you'll notice is that lolita can be expensive. This resource breaks down the costs associated with manufacturing and why brands charge what they charge.

Substyles of Lolita Fashion

The below links are for the three basic styles of lolita fashion. If you research more, you'll find that there are more than these three, but I recommend starting with one of the three above to make it easier for to build your wardrobe. Classic Lolita Sweet Lolita Gothic Lolita

Where to get Lolita Fashion

Before even buying anything, you will need a tape measure to take your measurements. You'll need to measure your bust, waist, hips, and shoulder width in centimeters. That's how you will find out which clothes will fit you. Sizing can be different from brand to brand and country to country. I know many are used to buying using letter sizes, but it's best to go by actual measurements. Aim to buy clothes that are 4 - 6cm larger than your actual measurements to allow room for breathing/eating/etc. If you're brand new to the fashion, I highly recommend sticking to the sources listed in the videos below. It's very easy to get scammed if you don't know what to look for and I'd hate for anyone to lose their money on barely wearable clothes from Amazon/Ebay/Aliexpress. Where to Buy Lolita Fashion How to shop for Lolita Fashion online - secondhand is life for lolita fashion and there are so many options. PinkFakeFlowers goes in depth into the many ways to get it. I personally recommend 42lolita for anyone looking to buy from Chinese brands on Taobao.

Plus Size Lolita

Unfortunately, many of the Japanese brands and even some Chinese indie brands are not size inclusive. If you can't fit into the mainstream brands, don't worry there are still options. I always recommend Meta since they have a Plus Size and occasionally a Plus Plus size of their dresses and blouses that goes up to 160cm or even 200cm in some releases. Plus Size Lolita Crash Course Where to Start as a Plus Sized Lolita - This is a wonderful resource listing brands that are size inclusive.

Online Spaces for Lolita Fashion

Lolita fashion is pretty spread out now compared to the EGL (still recommend reading livejournal because its a cool time capsule of the lolita comm) days, but there are still groups on Facebook BSoLF - Great for beginners to ask questions and be helped by others. It's hard to search here but I recommend looking through the group for info. Your Local Comm (if applicable) - most are still on Facebook even if they still have a Discord. You can search for your local one on this list.

More Resources for New Lolitas

Lolita Tips for New Lolitas Three helpful tips for coordinating an outfit Lolita Tips Tumblr - I don't recommend Fanplusfriend anymore, but 42lolita is a good replacement. This tumblr is a great resource for inspo and there are many answered asks to reference. Unfortunately, polyvore is no longer a thing and many pictures are missing as a result.

Bonus

These are just a mishmash of links to resources/lists/blog that I like. Lolita Collective

Lolita youtubers ask

Lolita tumblrs ask 20dollarlolita and her post on replicas

More plus size lolita brands ask Japanese Wikipedia entry for Lolita fashion and list of brands

Azuki Mikan

Buttcape

Old School Lolita

[ninyard]

The monsters and their ability to pick up languages is so interesting to me so here’s some random HCs about monsters + languages that are definitely not original at all:

- Neil learned French in Europe before him and Mary found their way to French-speaking Canada. He essentially had to semi-adopt the language discrepancies while he was there, and even though his fluency is in French from France, sometimes he messes up and pronounces things weirdly or differently (and Kevin frequently makes fun of him for it)

- Kevin has some rusty Japanese that he was forced to learn growing up. He can understand it pretty well, and can somewhat speak it to a lower level, but he can’t read or write it. He’s not fluent, and probably couldn’t hold a conversation with a native speaker, but he could understand his Japanese counterparts in the Nest when he needed to.

- In turn Kevin isn’t able to order in Japanese at a restaurant, but he could explain the rules of Exy to someone fairly coherently if he had to.

- This isn’t an original thought by any means but Neil and Kevin definitely speak in French when they’re by themselves just to make sure they don’t lose it.

- They sometimes make calls to each other on the court in French, and because of this, most of the team picks up very basic calls in French. None of them can actually speak it, but Andrew picks up a little more than the rest, having spent so much time with Kevin. Again, couldn’t hold a conversation, but every now and again he recognises certain words in their conversations.

- Neil is like a walking version of those White Guy Speaks Chinese And Stuns Waitress (he can understand her?!?) polyglot youTube videos. It becomes more of a hobby for him once he’s settled and the FBI are off his back, but the foxes are constantly shocked by how many languages he can speak. He is fluent in English, French, and German of course, with some conversational Spanish, but he can pretty much have a basic interaction in most of the languages of countries he’d been in. His Dutch is the worst, because he could never quite grasp the proper pronunciation of things, but one time he speaks to a waiter in Italian and Andrew can’t believe it.

- (RIP Neil Josten, you would’ve loved duolingo)

- When he goes to the Olympics he’s like a kid in a candy store. It’s like a subconscious bingo game for him to speak to someone from every country at least once.

- Aaron loves listening to music in German. He would definitely drag Nicky to a rave if they ever found themselves in Berlin.

- Katelyn asks him whenever they have their kid if he wants to raise them bilingual, but he decides not to because he only really learned German for Nicky and his brother, and doesn’t really speak it at all after he graduates.

- Neil and Nicky study Spanish together sometimes. It helps Nicky stay close to his roots now that his immediate family is pretty much out of the picture. It means way more to him than Neil even knows.

- Another unoriginal one but Andrew and Neil definitely do learn sign language in the future. I could talk about this one forever.

- When Kevin gets frustrated, he finds it hard to speak ANY language. He messes up words in English, forgets how to say things, and occasionally is the butt of the joke when he combines a French and English word accidentally.

- Kevin watches anime when nobody is around. He thinks dubbed anime is a crime.

- Andrew thinks he’s pretty good at German until he tries to have a conversation with Erik and realises wow native speakers talk a lot faster than we do. You wouldn’t know, because even if he just understands half of a sentence, he can usually piece together what is being said 90% of the time, and he would never admit out loud that he needs Erik to slow down when he’s talking so he can understand him.

- He is, however, REALLY good at accents. He has a talent for speaking gibberish but sounding as if he’s speaking fluent French. It drives Kevin up the wall when he does it, but he also hates when he can’t understand what Kevin and Neil are saying to each other.

And Bonus:

- Jeremy is really bad at accents. He is initially frustrated by Jean and his French, but once he understands that it is Jean’s first language (that the Moriyama’s took from him), he makes an effort to try and learn. He’s just really, really bad at it. Jean cringes every time he tries, because he speaks with a heavy American accent. Jean is not pretentious about his language, but he is, at the end of the day, French. So when Jeremy says bonjour in that hideous so-Cal accent, it’s in part endearing that he’s trying, but mostly like nails on a chalkboard.

[amphitriteswife]

📝✂️Ror/ Snv characters as Students📝✂️

Qin shin huang:

🪭 never listens to the teacher. Like ever. He just does a lot of shit and the teacher is fed up with him so they let it slide

🪭 He’s the type of student to never study or show up and still pass with ease. No one knows how, not even the teachers.

🪭’ Qin you have had like 43 periods of missed lesson and it’s not even the second semester. How the hell did u even pass my test’ ‘Sir, i am literally God’s chosen emperor’

🪭 If you’re partnered up with him, prepare to take the lead cause bro either doesn’t know shit or he aint even present to begin with

🪭Even though he doesn’t do much for projects, he still buts whatever you need for it as a way to repay you. Including if he gets food or drinks, he’s paying for them too.

🪭Has very random subjects. Mainly cause they have China in them, including Chinese.

🪭 ‘Alright, what subjects do you wish to choose to take exams from?’ ‘China’

🪭 Violates dress codes. You need to dress in uniform? He’ll wear the most lavish suit you have ever laid your eyes upon. The school has a gala and you need to dress fancy? He’ll pull up w the most casual and basic outfit ever.

🪭 If he’s actually present, which is a rare sight, he’s usually loud. Mainly cause he has lots of friends and basically knows everyone since you can get along with him greatly.

🪭 complains about a lot of subjects. Math? He hates it. Biology? It gives him big brain moment and he doesn’t get it. Literature? Not Chinese? He don’t want anything to do with it.

🪭 ‘Ma’am i’m innocent, why does thou must bestows such suffering upon me?’ ‘Qin i just asked you if you could read page 34 out loud’

🪭 popular with girls. U know how bro rizzed up Alvitr? Yeah he does that with other girls too. He’s one of the popular dudes so it’s not like it’s hard either💀

🪭He’s a kpop stan. You can’t prove me otherwise. He listens to BTS, Straykidz, Ateez, KAI, EXO, Tri.be, Itzy and a lot more.

🪭 has lots of friends to the point he almost knows the whole school. Even the new comers.

🪭He a player actually. You know how bro had like idk 39291819101 concubines? Yeah that doesn’t change here either. ‘Hannah? She was In February. Mao mao? She’s so last week’

🪭Throws house parties. The extravagant ones too. Big house, a pool, big garden, many floors. You name it. Funny thing is: it aint even the main house.

🪭won the vote for: ‘Who will most likely become a stripper at the end of the school year?’ In the year books. Most think it’s not even cause he needs money but because he’ll do it for fun

🪭 passed out during the School Gala cause he heard someone say that Sushi is Japanese.

🪭doesn’t eat cafeterias food. ‘I, Qin Shi Huang, refuse to eat this….stuff…I have my own glorious food. You’ll never catch him eat anything that isn’t Asian food.

🪭Bothers ppl during lectures. As in he turns and just stares. He’ll either smile or just keep staring to annoy you.

🪭 always goes to school functions, yet ends up being the one yall wait for to go back. He just disappears when yall arrive and spawns back 34 min late.

🪭Has started a campaign for trips to China

🪭 Had a lot of baby momma’s. He a cool dad and rich enough for it. Lowkey knows how to be a dad too

Poseidon:

🔱 he’s in the school’s swimming team and even won awards for it.

🔱 straight A+ student. He a boring one okay. He dont party, doesn’t even hang out after school. Straight home and learning.

🔱 You’ll only catch him drinking water during breaks and eating nutritious. He actually enjoys salad’s. Especially when it’s middle eastern ones. Does he know what’s in it? He thinks. But he dont care. If it healthy and it bussing it works for him.

🔱 ‘My body is a temple’ ahh student. It wouldn’t be surprising if his ass did Yoga or some meditation.

🔱 only goes to school trips if it’s on the beach or it’s for a grade. He the type of person that actually does the assignment instead of having fun.

🔱 he doesn’t have many friends and usually sticks to his brothers or has his earphones in. He’s the one that’s usually silent during that time too

🔱 He’s the honor graduate. Didn’t give a speech tho. He just grabbed the diploma and dipped. He did grab some food that was prepared

🔱 actually has a gf??🤨 like legit, and she’s the captain of the swimming team. He lowkey simps but he’s Poseidon so you probably will never notice.

🔱 was at a house party once. ONCE. Bro got wasted. He didn’t know punch contained alcohol, bro thought it was lemonade. Ate too much with alcohol in his system. I think yall can guess that it didn’t end well for em😭

🔱 He wears casual clothes, sometimes blazers. He doesn’t like yoga pants cause they look ‘lanky’ not even during Yoga

🔱 He takes notes during classes. Like every class. Every moment. He either writes them or types it on his laptop. Only shared with ppl likes. It’s always organized too.

🔱 if you’re partnered up with him, it can go two ways. He’s either doing only his part and leaves you to fend for yourself. Or he helps (rare sight) with the difficult parts.

🔱 he prefers communicating in the chat document. That way he can be home and still communicate if he needs to, he doesn’t like calling cause his brothers are loud asf, and he wouldn’t talk until necessary.

🔱 supports the school library. Mostly because it’s quiet and he likes quiet, but also because he wants to read a lot and it’s an excuse to not go home. He usually studies there too.

🔱 goes to waterparks during school breaks and posts pics on insta. Insta only too. No snap, no facebook, no bereal, no nothing. Even if he does have it, he doesn’t want others to know.

🔱 surprisingly has discord. But it’s only to play games. He curses ppl out in voice chat.

🔱 would either never have kids or ends up being a teenage dad. Dw tho, his gf can support him if he ends up being a stay at home husband.

🔱 models for extra money. Mostly tight clothes cause they gotta use that body for good advertisement.

🔱 he also hits the gym regularly, so he posts pics about him at the gym too.

🔱 has an onlyfans?????

Loki:

🎭 probably sees the school therapist. Every month too. They give him candy.

🎭 Actually likes literature, art, music and surprisingly p.e🤨 he likes p.e cause he can get his mind off things and look hood.

🎭 probably has or is in an emo phase. He has his ear pierced and wears black cargo pants. Might even have some tattoo’s.

🎭 He either annoys ppl or is very quiet. Although ppl are mostly scared when he’s quiet cause he unpredictable.

🎭 He probably goes out for walks with his earphones in after school. Like y’know when it’s raining a lil and you can smell the grass n all while you listen to music? Yeah that’s his nostalgic experience.

🎭 He writes poems in his free times or spents a lot of time in the atelier.

🎭 Had a very messy break up with sigyn and it was the hot topic in the school. It was in the school’s newspaper and everything. Even the teachers knew

🎭 he listens to a lot of music. Mostly during making art or writing. He mostly listens to: Mitsuki, Chase Atlantic, Beach Weather, The Weekend, Tylor the Creator and The Neighborhood.

🎭He either hates or loves school trips. Even if he hates the school trip he still goes, mainly because Sigyn goes. But he won’t talk to her though. Cause he too scared.

🎭 He takes aesthetically pleasing pictures of different things. He has a nature page, a dark royal one and a school one. All of em are on insta though.

🎭 he does sometimes go to parties, but he either spends a lot of time with his friends and gets wasted or goes home early.

🎭He’s friends with Hercules and Ares. Who are mostly concerned for his well being.

🎭 he also might have gotten into heavy metal and vkei. His ass might may have since it cause Sigyn likes it.

🎭 if you pared with him you, he either does stuff ir leaves it and does it on the last moment before tge deadline. His ass likes working alone. Secretly prays to be put w Sigyn

🎭 Legit had a mental breakdown in class once. I think bro is used to having em.

🎭 Got voted to be one of those pissy teachers later on in life in the year book.

That’s all for now💀 might make a part two w more characters.

⭐️tag list⭐️ @miss-seanymph-pani @tinyy-tea-cup @heldril @nicasdreamer @monstertreden @riseofamoonycake @imperfectbloodmoon @salmonpoki @snowmantita @rukia-writes @swallowtail-lotus @brokensenseofhumor @bromeliae

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Podcasting "Microincentives and Enshittification"

Tomorrow (Oct 25) at 10hPT/18hUK, I'm livestreaming an event called "Seizing the Means of Computation" for the Edinburgh Futures Institute.

This week on my podcast, I read my recent Medium column, "Microincentives and Enshittification," about the way that monopoly drives mediocrity, with Google's declining quality as Exhibit A:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/microincentives-and-enshittification/

It's not your imagination: Google used to be better – in every way. Search used to be better, sure, but Google used to be better as a company. It treated its workers better (for example, not laying off 12,000 workers months after a stock buyback that would have paid their salaries for the next 27 years). It had its users' backs in policy fights – standing up for Net Neutrality and the right to use encryption to keep your private data private. Even when the company made ghastly mistakes, it repented of them and reversed them, like the time it pulled out of China after it learned that Chinese state hackers had broken into Gmail in order to discover which dissidents to round up and imprison.

None of this is to say that Google used to be perfect, or even, most of the time, good. Just that things got worse. To understand why, we have to think about how decisions get made in large organizations, or, more to the point, how arguments get resolved in these organizations.

We give Google a lot of shit for its "Don't Be Evil" motto, but it's worth thinking through what that meant for the organization's outcomes over the years. Through most of Google's history, the tech labor market was incredibly tight, and skilled engineers and other technical people had a lot of choice as to where they worked. "Don't Be Evil" motivated some – many – of those workers to take a job at Google, rather than one of its rivals.

Within Google, that meant that decisions that could colorably be accused of being "evil" would face some internal pushback. Imagine a product design meeting where one faction proposes something that is bad for users, but good for the company's bottom line. Think of another faction that says, "But if we do that, we'll be 'evil.'"

I think it's safe to assume that in any high-stakes version of this argument, the profit side will prevail over the don't be evil side. Money talks and bullshit walks. But what if there were also monetary costs to being evil? Like, what if Google has to worry about users or business customers defecting to a rival? Or what if there's a credible reason to worry that a regulator will fine Google, or Congress will slap around some executives at a televised hearing?

That lets the no-evil side field a more robust counterargument: "Doing that would be evil, and we'll lose money, or face a whopping fine, or suffer reputational harms." Even if these downsides are potentially smaller than the upsides, they still help the no-evil side win the argument. That's doubly true if the downsides could depress the company's share-price, because Googlers themselves are disproportionately likely to hold Google stock, since tech companies are able to get a discount on their wage-bills by paying employees in abundant stock they print for free, rather than the scarce dollars that only come through hard graft.

When the share-price is on the line, the counterargument goes, "That would be evil, we will lose money, and you will personally be much poorer as a result." Again, this isn't dispositive – it won't win every argument – but it is influential. A counterargument that braids together ideology, institutional imperatives, and personal material consequences is pretty robust.

Which is where monopoly comes in. When companies grow to dominate their industries, they are less subject to all forms of discipline. Monopolists don't have to worry about losing disgusted employees, because they exert so much gravity on the labor market that they find it easy to replace them.

They don't have to worry about losing customers, because they have eliminated credible alternatives. They don't have to worry about losing users, because rivals steer clear of their core business out of fear of being bigfooted through exclusive distribution deals, predatory pricing, etc. Investors have a name for the parts of the industry dominated by Big Tech: they call it "the kill zone" and they won't back companies seeking to enter it.

When companies dominate their industries, they find it easier to capture their regulators and outspend public prosecutors who hope to hold them to account. When they lose regulatory fights, they can fund endless appeals. If they lose those appeals, they can still afford the fines, especially if they can use an army of lawyers to make sure that the fine is less than the profit realized through the bad conduct. A fine is a price.

In other words, the more dominant a company is, the harder it is for the good people within the company to win arguments about unethical and harmful proposals, and the worse the company gets. The internal culture of the company changes, and its products and services decline, but meaningful alternatives remain scarce or nonexistent.

Back to Google. Google owns more than 90% of the search market. Google can't grow by adding more Search users. The 10% of non-Google searchers are extremely familiar with Google's actions. To switch to a rival search engine, they have had to take many affirmative, technically complex steps to override the defaults in their devices and tools. It's not like an ad extolling the virtues of Google Search will bring in new customers.

Having saturated the search market, Google can only increase its Search revenues by shifting value from searchers or web publishers to itself – that is, the only path to Search growth is enshittification. They have to make things worse for end users or business customers in order to make things better for themselves:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

This means that each executive in the Search division is forever seeking out ways to shift value to Google and away from searchers and/or publishers. When they propose a enshittificatory tactic, Google's market dominance makes it easy for them to win arguments with their teammates: "this may make you feel ashamed for making our product worse, but it will not make me poorer, it will not make the company poorer, and it won't chase off business customers or end users, therefore, we're gonna do it. Fuck your feelings."

After all, each microenshittification represents only a single Jenga block removed from the gigantic tower that is Google Search. No big deal. Some Google exec made the call to make it easier for merchants to buy space overtop searches for their rivals. That's not necessarily a bad thing: "Thinking of taking a vacation in Florida? Why not try Puerto Rico – it's a US-based Caribbean vacation without the transphobia and racism!"

But this kind of advertising also opens up lots of avenues for fraud. Scammers clone local restaurants' websites, jack up their prices by 15%, take your order, and transmit it to the real restaurant, pocketing the 15%. They get clicks by using some of that rake to buy an ad based on searches for the restaurant's name, so they show up overtop of it and rip off inattentive users:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

This is something Google could head off; they already verify local merchants by mailing them postcards with unique passwords that they key into a web-form. They could ban ads for websites that clone existing known merchants, but that would incur costs (engineer time) and reduce profits, both from scammers and from legit websites that trip a false positive.

The decision to sell this kind of ad, configured this way, is a direct shift of value from business customers (restaurants) and end-users (searchers) to Google. Not only that, but it's negative sum. The money Google gets from this tradeoff is less than the cost to both the restaurant (loss of goodwill from regulars who are affronted because of a sudden price rise) and searchers (who lose 15% on their dinner orders). This trade-off makes everyone except Google worse off, and it's only possible when Google is the only game in town.

It's also small potatoes. Last summer, scammers figured out how to switch out the toll-free numbers that Google displayed for every airline, redirecting people to boiler-rooms where con-artists collected their credit-card numbers and sensitive personal information (passports, etc):

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/phone-numbers-airlines-listed-google-directed-scammers-rcna94766

Here again, we see a series of small compromises that lead to a massive harm. Google decided to show users 800 numbers rather than links to the airlines' websites, but failed to fortify the process for assigning phone numbers to prevent this absolutely foreseeable type of fraud. It's not that Google wanted to enable fraud – it's that they created the conditions for the fraud to occur and failed to devote the resources necessary to defend against it.

Each of these compromises indicates a belief among Google decision-makers that the consequences for making their product worse will be outweighed by the value the company will generate by exposing us to harm. One reason for this belief is on display in the DOJ's antitrust case against Google:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1328941/download

The case accuses Google of spending tens of billions of dollars to buy out the default search position on every platform where an internet user might conceivably perform a search. The company is lighting multiple Twitters worth of dollars on fire to keep you from ever trying another search engine.

Spraying all those dollars around doesn't just keep you from discovering a better search engine – it also prevents investors from funding that search engine in the first place. Why fund a startup in the kill-zone if no one will ever discover that it exists?

https://www.theverge.com/23802382/search-engine-google-neeva-android

Of course, Google doesn't have to grow Search to grow its revenue. Hypothetically, Google could pursue new lines of business and grow that way. This is a tried-and-true strategy for tech giants: Apple figured out how to outsource its manufacturing to the Pacific Rim; Amazon created a cloud service, Microsoft figured out how to transform itself into a cloud business.

Look hard at these success stories and you discover another reason that Google – and other large companies – struggle to grow by moving into adjacent lines of business. In each case – Apple, Microsoft, Amazon – the exec who led the charge into the new line of business became the company's next CEO.

In other words: if you are an exec at a large firm and one of your rivals successfully expands the business into a new line, they become the CEO – and you don't. That ripples out within the whole org-chart: every VP who becomes an SVP, every SVP who becomes an EVP, and every EVP who becomes a president occupies a scarce spot that it worth millions of dollars to the people who lost it.

The one thing that execs reliably collaborate on is knifing their ambitious rivals in the back. They may not agree on much, but they all agree that that guy shouldn't be in charge of this lucrative new line of business.

This "curse of bigness" is why major shifts in big companies are often attended by the return of the founder – think of Gates going back to Microsoft or Brin returning to Google to oversee their AI projects. They are the only execs that other execs can't knife in the back.

This is the real "innovator's dilemma." The internal politics of large companies make Machiavelli look like an optimist.

When your company attains a certain scale, any exec's most important rival isn't the company's competitor – it's other execs at the same company. Their success is your failure, and vice-versa.

This makes the business of removing Jenga blocks from products like Search even more fraught. These quality-degrading, profit-goosing tactics aren't coordinated among the business's princelings. When you're eating your seed-corn, you do so in private. This secrecy means that it's hard for different product-degradation strategists to realize that they are removing safeguards that someone else is relying on, or that they're adding stress to a safety measure that someone else just doubled the load on.

It's not just Google, either. All of tech is undergoing a Great Enshittening, and that's due to how intertwined all these tech companies. Think of how Google shifts value from app makers to itself, with a 30% rake on every dollar spent in an app. Google is half of the mobile duopoly, with the other half owned by Apple. But they're not competitors – they're co-managers of a cartel. The single largest deal that Google or Apple does every year is the bribe Google pays Apple to be the default search for iOS and Safari – $15-20b, every year.

If Apple and Google were mobile competitors, you'd expect them to differentiate their products, but instead, they've converged – both Apple and Google charge sky-high 30% payment processing fees to app makers.

Same goes for Google/Facebook, the adtech duopoly: not only do both companies charge advertisers and publishers sky-high commissions, clawing 51 cents out of every ad dollar, but they also illegally colluded to rig the market and pay themselves more, at advertisers' and publishers' expense:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Blue

It's not just tech, either – every sector from athletic shoes to international sea-freight is concentrated into anti-competitive, value-annihilating cartels and monopolies:

https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/monopoly-by-the-numbers

As our friends on the right are forever reminding us: "incentives matter." When a company runs out of lands to conquer, the incentives all run one direction: downhill, into a pit of enshittification. Google got worse, not because the people in it are worse (or better) than they were before – but because the constraints that discipline the company and contain its worst impulses got weaker as the company got bigger.

Here's the podcast episode:

https://craphound.com/news/2023/10/23/microincentives-and-enshittification/

And here's a direct link to the MP3 (hosting courtesy of the Internet Archive; they'll host your stuff for free, forever):

https://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_452/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_452_-_Microincentives_and_Enshittification.mp3

And here's my podcast's RSS feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/microincentives-and-enshittification/

[octuscle]

Help! I'm really struggling to pass my Chinese languages class.

Oh well… We all know the problem… I had to struggle with Russian. But when I chose the Russian Cosmonaut preset, a lot of things went a lot easier.

So: It would be cool if your mother tongue was Chinese. And if you were an ambitious, hard-working and clever student overall. But not the nerdy type. The best in every subject. Even in sports. Let's go!

Your Chinese teacher is already forgiving your stupidity again. When you suddenly put the dictated sentence on the blackboard in the finest Mandarin and read it out without an accent. Then you translate it into Cantonese just to be on the safe side. Your teacher's jaw drops. The class cheers. You make a deep bow for fun. And your pants crack. You almost hit yourself in the crotch with a red head. Everything seems to be fine. Pants are fine. No one in the class seems to have noticed either. But something is strange. Have you always had that perfect, muscular, tight ass?

Next lesson: math! Not your favorite subject. Nevertheless, you surprisingly have an answer to all your teacher's questions. You answer with great stamina until your teacher says "Don't take offense, Wang, but I know you know the answer. Why don't you give the others a chance too?" Wang? Why Wang? You put your arm down. You tense your biceps. A bit angry that you're not allowed to show the success of your learning. You burst the sleeve of your shirt. Damn it! You try to hide the tear. But there is no more tear. You're wearing a very form-fitting short-sleeved T-shirt. You admire your own muscular forearms and well-tanned, flawless skin. "Wang, if no one else knows, would you like to show us the solution?" You look at the task for a moment. And go to the blackboard to solve it. Child's play!

On the way to swimming lessons, you meet your tutor. You haven't seen her for two weeks. She looks at you and asks "Are you okay? Are you getting on? Is everyone nice to you? Do you understand me?" Lord in heaven, you've been in the USA for almost four months now. You speak better English than most of the long-noses here. You reply that you are doing great, that the material in your grade level could be a little more challenging, but that you are very proud to have made it to the swim team. And you offer her your support if she ever needs help. She looks at you like a cow in a thunderstorm.

Yes, you actually work out too much on the weights for a good swimmer. But you love the water and you love the gym. It's a good time here. It's downright relaxing. Maybe you'll stay here and not go back to Beijing.

I have found your way out of bad grades @taurus-men1

[zzzzzestforlife]

💪 that girl diaries // what doesn't kill you makes you tired 🙃

난 피곤해 와 답답해 하지만 이유는 진짜 몰라요. 내 에너지 그냥 갑자기 없어 그리고 한 것 안 싶어요. 난 계속 생각해, "그냥 시작해야" 근데 오늘 난 이미 다시 많이 여러 번 시작해. (i'm tired and frustrated, but i don't really know why. my energy has just run out and i don't want to do anything. i kept thinking "i just need to start," but i've restarted so many times already today.)

🥰🥰🥰 physiotherapy exercises + warmup + running — i was supposed to do arms and abs today but i've eaten more than usual as one does on days off, so i feel like i need to do cardio 😅

🦋 social hour

📚 read a chapter of Sophie's World

❤️ meditation but it's just laundry and stay by hoshi

✏️ sketching!! (human proportions are so hard and for what 🥴)

❤️ started Year Compass: The Year Ahead section (i already have my new year's resolutions, so i don't know why it's so hard for me to articulate the goals i want to commit to)

📝📝📝 Japanese, Korean, Chinese, lessons

❤️ some spring cleaning + healing poetry reading

🎧🎧 how to keep learning Chinese at an intermediate level + Chinese vlog

💌: 明天会更好。我做了很多的东西因为我想我会觉得更好，但是如果我很高兴，我也想做很多的东西。还是也许我可以只是做够了，对不对？ (tomorrow will be better. i did a lot of things because i think i will feel better, but if i'm happy, i also want to do many things. or maybe i can just do enough, right?)

bonus: ty @winryrockbellwannabe for the tag 😘

i find it so funny that my quiz results say i die and everyone saw it coming BUT WELL SHIT I SURE DIDN'T 😂

also this is possibly the realest picrew i've ever done, like this is legit how i look sitting at my desk "working" 😅

tagging some new moots for a fun break! ❤️ @panda-studiesmed @ilonar0 @perabera @roxysbbg @mortuarymorticia

[grassbreads]

What Tai Sui is and Why Everyone Should Read It

So if you follow me, over the past couple weeks, you've probably noticed me obsessively screenshotting and posting about a book called Tai Sui. And now that I've finished it, I'd like to try and convince y'all to give it a chance.

What Is Tai Sui?

Tai Sui is a chinese web novel—a relatively unpopular work by the very popular author Priest (author of Guardian and Sha Po Lang, among others). Unlike a lot of the most popular web novels on tumblr, it's not a danmei. It's in fact rather important to the plot and themes that there is almost entirely no romance, but I promise you, it is absolutely worth it regardless.

What is Tai Sui About?

Tai Sui is a steampunk xianxia cultivation story. For those unfamiliar with xianxia and cultivation, this is a particular genre of Chinese historical fantasy.

The official summary of Tai Sui reads as follows:

“If I had a choice, I would only want to be a little insect in the mundane dust, born in confusion, dying in mediocrity, never seeing the light of day beneath the fog of Jinping City.

Better than taking this wrong road to heaven.”

You may have noticed that this summary is not in fact really a summary. It gives you a glimpse into the story's themes, mood, and destination, but it doesn't exactly tell you what happens in it.

That's because Tai Sui is one of those works that's incredibly hard to summarize. The story is incredibly wide in scope and changes massively over its course, to the point that any summary that encapsulates the whole thing is going to feel like a spoiler. However, I can try my best to add a little detail without giving too much away.

Tai Sui is the story of Xi Ping—an obnoxious, trouble-making rich boy with no interest in cultivation—who gets unwittingly involved in a plot to resurrect the "evil god" Tai Sui. This plot pulls him into the cultivation world against his will and, over time, threatens to rewrite everything he is.

Tai Sui is the end of immortality.

Why Should You Read Tai Sui?

Tai Sui is one of the most compelling stories I have ever read. It is a love letter to the power and promise of the whole world and its many mundane people. It also has some of the best worldbuilding I have ever seen.

Tai Sui is written in omniscient perspective, and though Xi Ping is very much the main character, as the story progresses, we spend more and more time alongside characters that aren't him. By the time the novel ends, his entire continent is at stake, and we the audience know that continent and its troubles inside and out from countless angles. Everyone from the immortal demigods of the cultivation world to the most wretched, miserable paupers is given a grand sense of emphasis.

Tai Sui is a deconstruction of the cultivation genre. It establishes a magic/cultivation system and its history, lets the main character live in that system for a while, and then dives deep into that system's depths. It looks at the cultivation genre, at the idea of people who leave behind their status as mortals for greater things, and asks "How does this really work?" and "Is this how the world should be?"

Tai Sui is the story of countless people who were never supposed to be powerful coming together to make the world a better place. It's well written (and very well translated), exciting, heartbreaking, and incredibly beautiful. It's also funny as hell.

I cannot recommend this story enough.

Warnings/Caveats

As I said before, Tai Sui is a deconstruction of the cultivation genre. If you're unfamiliar with this genre, while the book is certainly readable, you are going to be thrown head first into the deep end with the tropes and terminology at play. It's absolutely worth the learning curve, but it will be kind of a lot. Maybe do some light googling about what a cultivator is before you pick it up. (Or just ask a fan. I think most of us would happily explain anything that would win a new reader).

There are portrayals of people/cultures in Tai Sui that are heavily inspired by minority cultures in real-world China, and some of these portrayals play into pretty harmful stereotypes. It's not SPL "Barbarian" or TGCF Banyue levels of racist, but it's something to be aware of and careful about. I'd really recommend reading from the perspectives of those from the cultures in question (including but not limited to the post I linked) for more about the issues I'm talking about.

Tai Sui's English translation is 930,000 words long. I believe this is a strength, since its length is what allows it such an incredible scope. It is also a fucking daunting commitment, and I acknowledge that.

Finally, while Tai Sui doesn't need too many trigger warnings, it does contain some pretty viscerally upsetting depictions of inequality and mistreatment, as well as a few instances of violence toward children. You can't uplift without first seeing what the people need uplifting from, and hooboy. They need it.

There's also some scenes that are technically rather violent, but the goriness is not presented as gore, if that makes sense. It never feels intensely or overly violent in the way some fantasy novels do.

Links

If all my gushing and propagandizing has convinced you to give it a try, you can find the original Chinese version (where you can buy chapters to support the author) on JJWXC.

The complete English translation is free on the website of E. Danglars, who does a truly incredible job with the translating.

Happy reading :).

[starrclown]

I saw a post by @nightmarebunnyking talking about the Wukong can't read headcannon and I wanna add my two cents.

I dont like it. Big shocker.

But I don't like it because of he's my favorite or something like that. I just don't think it makes sense for him.

I think Lmk is trying to make it seem like Wukong can't spell or read. The one scene I remember that makes It seem like this is where Wukong and Macaque are arguing and Wukong spells dead like "ded."

For Wukong I don't think that makes sense. He's called The Intelligent Stone Monkey for a reason.

Wouldn't it make sense that Macaque doesn't know how to write and read in modern Chinese? This isn't even to call Macaque stupid or something, think about it. He's been dead for hundreds of years until he was brought back.

He out of all characters shouldn't know how to read or write because he wasn't around for the shift. Wukong was.

Also I can name so many reasons or explanations of why he can read.

Didn't he make his own game? That implies that he not only understands how to read and write, he also knows code.

He has emails from his lawyer. He has to be able to work a Gmail account.

If you didn't know in the book, the baby monkies can talk like a normal person. I fully believe that Wukong would learn modern language to teach them because he would have to be able to communicate with them in a modern way if something happens.

What I think would be more realistic is that Wukong struggles with modern language. Like he can still read and write but maybe some words confuse him or he has a hard time pronouncing them.

Hell you could twist that into a moment with any character.

Of the top of my head, maybe it bothers Wukong that he can't speak fluently. Maybe he thinks he's stupid. He may have trouble communicating to people like Redson or Mei or Pigsy because he gets words wrong and it's hard to interpret what he means.

I could make that into a sweet bonding moment between Mk and Wukong. Mk sees It bothers Wukong because he can't speak properly to the others. He could sit down and help Wukong and they could have their bonding.

This could apply to and Wukong duo.

You like Tang and Wukong as a duo? Tang helps Wukong read a book that has words he struggles with. Boom. Bonding moment.

Mei and Wukong your thing? Mei teaches Wukong modern kid slang so he can teach them to the baby monkies. Boom.

Hell this can go to shipping.

If your a big ShadowPeach shipper then Wukong teaching Macaque how the language works now. The two of them could sit down, read, and learn new words together.

I hope I articulated this well. I just saw their post and wanted to get my point across.

- ⭐️StarClown⭐️

[koikishu]

Hi! First of all I wanted to say that I only just found your account recently and it's very interesting, I love learning about other cultures and clothing has always been a big reason for that so I really appreciate the amount of research you put into your work!

Anyways, I'm also a big fan of Journey To The West and I found this photo depicting Princess Iron Fan that came from a 2010 Chinese opera performance "Monkey King: Flaming Mountain". Her outfit is very very pretty but I couldn't find any info on it no matter how hard I tried, the one thing I managed to find that was similar was called a feitian dress (I think, sorry if that's wrong), but they don't look quite the same as the one in this performance. I was wondering if you knew what it was called and if it has any historical accuracies behind the design of her outfit as well, thanks in advance! :)

Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying my blog.

So, I think you're on the right track with "feitian" dress. Another culture/ historical fashion blog, @ziseviolet, wrote an excellent post about feitian dress, its origins, and its modern versions that you should read here: https://www.tumblr.com/ziseviolet/672232299973296128/what-exactly-does-dunhuang-style-mean?source=share

Another thing to note is that it's a Chinese Opera performance, meaning that the costumes will blend the well-known character traits & signifiers from the original tale mixed with traditional Chinese Opera costumes/ accessories. As far as I could tell, Princess Iron Fan is some kind of demoness in the original story, and many gods/bodhisattvas/apsaras (i.e. feitian)/ demons were depicted wearing "feitian" style clothing to indicate their non-humanness to audiences.

We know that feitian style clothing isn't historically accurate and that many aspects of Chinese Opera costumes are also not historical, so there's not much else to find regarding this version of Princess Iron Fan's costume. I do agree that it's very pretty, but I don't think it has any special name or style other than "feitian." I hope you find this answer helpful! If not, see if @ziseviolet may have a better answer for you!

Regards,

Koikishu

[rozaceous]

ive read mdzs years ago and stalled on tgcf (mainly bc i got really busy and then forgot everything lmao), but never really tried scum villain. if you don't mind, can you share why you like it? personally, the summary didn't really draw me in and the animation looked unfortunately really .... low budget.

hi anon! you've activated my trap card, which is Talking About Things I Enjoy At Length! congratulations! congratulations! congratulations! important things must be said three times!

(i also stalled w tgcf btw, bc it's so long that i could never summon up sufficient interest. and i will say that the svsss donghua is less than inspiring. i thought it was fun but that's speaking as someone who watched it after already being in love w the source content, so ymmv. i wasn't a particular fan of the animation style either, but considering that scum villain is the black sheep of mxtx's works in terms of the official content that gets produced, i was glad for what i could get.)

reasons to love scum villain!

hilarious use of unreliable narrator. shen qingqiu is one of my top favorite characters ever. he's not stupid or even, despite common fan depiction, all that oblivious--he's just incredibly genre-savvy and hasn't realized that the genre has changed. also he's hysterical.

but then sometimes, too, you look more objectively at things he glosses over and have a 'wait a sec' moment bc it's actually deeply disturbing.

it has a really fun way of of playing with transmigration stories and tropes. this was, in a sense, my intro to chinese web novel conventions as a western reader, and you can learn a lot bc mxtx is busy poking fun at all of them.

phenomenally meta.

luo binghe is a fantastic character. ppl who don't like him--i'll meet you out back. ostensibly the protagonist of the novel sqq has found himself in, supposedly blessed with every talent and the world prepared to fall at his feet, but MAN is it hard being luo binghe.

ppl will make a big deal abt lbh being obsessed w sqq but fail to acknowledge that sqq is just as weird and obsessed abt lbh. epitome of that AITA response of:

liu qingge

mxtx does so much with her villains, always.

as much as some of the miscommunication between sqq and lbh is contrived, it's also literally the only way that things could play out and makes absolute sense.

this classic scene, given utterly without context:

After a pause, Shen Qingqiu changed his angle. "What's your name?" The first one replied. "Six Balls." "What does that mean?" "When I was born, my pa held me and said I was six balls heavy." Shen Qingqiu was speechless. Shot put balls or ping-pong balls?! This kind of name is absolutely meaningless.

i think, honestly, my favorite thing abt scum villain is that you can read it quickly and have a good time, but if you're taking your time and paying attention, there is so much more happening underneath the surface! it's such a clever book, i'm honestly stunned (and humbled) that mxtx produced this as her first novel and at such a young age.

[lovewanxian]

Greatest treasure

I wanted to write some fluffy dragonji for the Chinese new year, especially considering it's the year of the dragon, so I cooked this up.

The morning after their wedding, Wei Wuxian wakes alone in a bed covered in a random collection of items, including several bunnies. He quickly learns that even the esteemed Hanguang-jun, his beloved Lan Zhan, isn't immune to the dragon instinct to hoard the things he loves.

Read it on Ao3 or below the cut

The morning after their wedding, Wei wuxian woke up sore but happy, nestled up in his many tails and the blankets of the bed. Therefore, it took him several long minutes before he realized that his newly minted husband, the love of his life, Hanguang-jun, Lan Wangji, Lan Zhan, was not in bed with him. 

“Ugh, what is it with Lans and not being able to sleep in, not even the morning after their wedding” , he grumbled. He squinted his eyes open against the sunlight filtering into the room and threw his arms out as he stretched. There was a solid thunk as his hand hit something hard and he paused in confusion. 

Wei Wuxian opened his eyes completely and turned his head only to see Wangji the guqin lying on the bed where Lan Zhan had slept the night before. Bichen laid just further past it on the bed, right next to Suibian. There were also several books of poetry on the bed, a lot of really lovely robes and blankets, some of the art Wei Wuxian himself had drawn of Lan Zhan, clusters of gentian flowers, a basket of loquats, a steaming teapot, the statue of a turtle Wei Wuxian had given him while they courted and … five bunnies. Several other lumps hidden by the blankets hinted at even more items being hidden in the bed. Wei Wuxian was surrounded by so many items on all sides that he couldn't twitch without knocking into something. 

Why the hell were all these things on the bed? And how had Lan Zhan managed to put them there without waking him up? Where was his husband? Nothing made any sense.

It took a lot of effort to sit up, not only because of the many things surrounding him, but also because his body still ached - in a very lovely way, but still, it was criminal that Lan Zhan wasn’t here to cater to his every whim when it was his fault. Absentmindedly, he pulled out one of the bunnies that had buried itself in his tails and petted it. He noticed then that Lan Zhan’s forehead ribbon was still tied to one of his wrists and a smile spread over his face. He let go of the bunny to trace the cloud pattern on it.

It still felt unreal that after everything that had happened - all the death and tragedy and misunderstandings - that not only had Wei Wuxian married Lan Zhan, he had married him in front of the entire Lan sect in an extravagant but tasteful wedding. It was too good to be true, and yet he had the proof of it around his wrist and in the room around him. His home with Lan Zhan. A giddy giggle escaped him. 

Right then, his sensitive fox ears caught the sound of multiple people walking up the path to the Jingshi. He assumed it was Lan Zhan with some servants in tow, hopefully for a bath as he still felt sticky, and smiled in excitement. 

The door opened and Lan Zhan stepped inside. His face was serene with a tiny smile spreading over his face when he saw that Wei Wuxian was awake. He was dressed in only three layers of robes and his forehead was scandalously bare and he was so beautiful Wei Wuxian could die happy. Wei Wuxian loved him so much. 

“Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian called out, beaming at his husband even as he tried to sound scolding. “You were so cruel, leaving me to wake all alone in our marriage bed. And putting so many strange things in …”

He trailed off as Lan Zhan stepped into the Jingshi, pulling two people after him that very much were not servants with a bath. The first one was Lan Sizhui, who cast one look at Wei Wuxian, sitting in bed and only barely covered by a red blanket with his love-bite covered chest out in the open, and blushed so red Wei Wuxian was concerned he would faint. The other person was Lan Xichen, whose smile looked distinctly strained and he wouldn't meet Wei Wuxian’s eyes. 

“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian shrieked and pulled the blanket up to cover himself, not caring for the crash it created as several items fell over. His face matched the red blankets. “What are you doing?”

There was no response. Instead, Lan Zhan continued into the room, pulling his brother and son with him. They struggled a little against his grip, but it was clear they had given up on resisting him some time ago. Lan Zhan walked straight up to the bed and Wei Wuxian shrieked again when he pushed Lan Sizhui and Lan Xichen into the bed. They sat themself down as far from Wei Wuxian as they could and just barely avoided crushing the many other things currently in the bed. 

Lan Zhan looked the bed over with a critical eye before nodding in satisfaction. Then he too crawled into the bed and pulled Wei Wuxian into his arms. Wei Wuxian scrambled to pull the blanket with him, lest he give his son and brother-in-law an(other) eyeful. He was pressed close to Lan Zhan’s front and could hear deep rumbles emitting from his chest. Lan Zhan’s dragon tail made a swishing sound as it dragged back and forth across the blankets in satisfaction. 

After several seconds of shocked, embarrassed silence, Wei Wuxian pulled back enough to look at Lan Xichen. The man was still not meeting his eyes. “Okay, someone explain what the fuck is happening right now. Not that I’m not happy to see you two, but why did Lan Zhan drag you into our bed? And all these other things! Why are the bunnies in our bed?”

Lan Xichen cleared his throat delicately. There was a red tint to his ears. “As you know, animal hybrids often take on … characteristics of their animal side.”

Boy did Wei Wuxian know that. He knew no one else that looked at worms like it was a delicious meal, and had never met someone who quite liked to dig in the earth as much as he did. Lan Qiren and Madam Yu - while she was still alive - had both yelled at him about mischievous fox spirits more than once. He also had a spot behind his ears that made him melt if scratched. 

Wei Wuxian knew that animal traits affected people, but what did that have to do with this? The Lans were dragons and as such were far too refined to display any such traits, unlike all lesser hybrid species. As the kings of the animal kingdom, Lans had long ago conquered such instincts. 

Or at least, so he had always presumed. 

“Are you telling me that Lan Zhan put a bunch of things in our bed because he’s a dragon?” he asked, skepticism dripping off his words. To his surprise, both Lan Xichen and Lan Sizhiu nodded. They didn’t elaborate. 

He turned back to his husband and poked him in the cheek until he opened his eyes and looked at him. His expression was blissed out - not dissimilar to how he had looked the night before and Wei Wuxian determinedly pushed those thoughts down considering the company. “Lan Zhan, why did you put all this in our bed?”

“Hoard”, he answered, humming happily. 

“Hoard?” Wei Wuxian asked. “Hoard of what ?”

“All my favorite things.”

It took him a second, looking around in confusion at all the items and the other two people in the bed. Then it hit him and he hid his face against Lan Zhan’s chest as blood rushed into his cheeks. His heart felt ready to burst from love. “Lan Zhaaaaan! You have to warn me first!”

“Mn”, he said, sounding smug and not at all like a person who would warn Wei Wuxian in the future. Wei Wuxian loved him so much. 

“But really, Lan Zhan, couldn't you have given me some warning that you would do this? A little shout out that you would be bringing your brother and our son into our room so I could at least have put on one layer before? Like, I love you and I love them, but this is awkward.”

“Oh”, Lan Zhan said, very quietly, and seemed to really see him for the first time since entering the room. In all his naked, love-bitten glory. His ears slowly turned red. 

Wei Wuxian gasped, half in delight, half in disbelief. “You forgot I’d be naked? I can’t believe you!”

“Baba … can you please stop talking about it?” Lan Sizhui said, his voice choked with mortification. His face was so red and in any other situation Wei Wuxian would tease him so much about it. 

“Sorry, A-Yuan”, he chuckled. “It’s just so ridiculous. Are all Lan dragons like this?”

Lan Xichen smiled kindly, but was still very much not looking at them. “I’m afraid so, though we are usually able to keep it under control once we get older. When we were young, Wangji and I would constantly hoard each other and every time we visited mother, we would bring things with us so we could hoard her too.”

“That is … so cute ”, Wei Wuxian squealed, imagining a chubby cheeked baby Lan Zhan piling toys on his mom and cuddling up to her with an equally chubby cheeked Lan Xichen. 

“When A-die’s adoption of me was finally made official, he put me in a hoard and wouldn't let me leave for three days”, Lan Sizhui laughed. Another squeal escaped Wei Wuxian as he thought of the small toddler A-Yuan had once been, bundled up in bed and surrounded by all the other things Lan Zhan loved.

“I had to do my sect work from a pile of bunnies”, Lan Xichen lamented, but his smile was widening. Lan Zhan let out a little put upon sound and there was a barely noticeable pout on his lips. 

“Oh?” Wei Wuxian grinned so hard his cheeks hurt. He poked Lan Zhan in the chest. “Lan Zhan, are you going to hoard me for three days too?”

“A week”, Lan Zhan said and though his voice lacked emotion, his arms tightened possessively around Wei Wuxian, making him laugh in delight. 

“And what about Xichen-gege and our sweet little radish? Are you going to hoard them too?”

“Hoard”, he agreed, very determinedly. 

Wei Wuxian stifled a snicker at the looks on said people’s faces. They looked like they had expected that answer yet dreaded it at the same time. It was very cute how willing they were to indulge Lan Zhan in his dragon tendencies. There was just one little problem. 

Shifting until his mouth was right next to Lan Zhan’s ear and whispering as quietly as he could, so the other two people in the room couldn't hear him, he said, “Then what about our everyday?”

Lan Zhan stiffened against him and a little gasp escaped his mouth. His grip turned bruising around Wei Wuxian and he purred in response, happy by the reaction he had enacted. “Sizhui, Xiongzhang, you can leave now.”

The two men startled, clearly surprised that Lan Zhan would let them go so quickly. Wei Wuxian winked at them from Lan Zhan’s arms and the color returned to their faces. They left the bed and hurried out of the Jingshi with none of their usual Lan grace. Wei Wuxian laughed after them and then some more when Lan Zhan pulled him in for a kiss. 

True to his word, Lan Zhan didn’t let him leave their bed for a week after that. Luckily, he had gathered quite the hoard of things around them. And the crown of them all was Wei Wuxian himself. He had never been happier being someone's greatest treasure.