yuzukimist

[yuzukimist]

Justify your reasoning in the tags! If your answer changes depending on the canon, go with the canon you vibe with most.

the other polls

[yuzukimist]

Okay, another little lesson for fic writers since I see it come up sometimes in fics: wine in restaurants.

When you buy a bottle of wine in a (nicer) restaurant, generally (please note my emphasis there, this is a generalization for most restaurants, but not all restaurants, especially non-US ones) you may see a waiter do a few things when they bring you the bottle.

The waiter presents the bottle to the person who ordered it

The waiter uncorks the bottle in order to serve it

The waiter hands the cork to the person who ordered the bottle

The waiter pours a small portion of the wine (barely a splash) and waits for the person who ordered it to taste it

The waiter then pours glasses for everyone else at the table, and then returns to fill up the initial taster's glass

Now, you might be thinking -- that's all pretty obvious, right? They're bringing you what you ordered, making sure you liked it, and then pouring it for the group. Wrong. It's actually a little bit more complicated than that.

The waiter presents the bottle to the person who ordered it so that they can inspect the label and vintage and make sure it's the bottle they actually ordered off the menu

The waiter uncorks the bottle so that the table can see it was unopened before this moment (i.e., not another wine they poured into an empty bottle) and well-sealed

The waiter hands the cork to the person who ordered the bottle so that they can inspect the label on the cork and determine if it matches up; they can also smell/feel the cork to see if there is any dergradation or mold that might impact the wine itself

The waiter pours a small portion for the person who ordered to taste NOT to see if they liked it -- that's a common misconception. Yes, sometimes when house wine is served by the glass, waiters will pour a portion for people to taste and agree to. But when you order a bottle, the taste isn't for approval -- you've already bought the bottle at this point! You don't get to refuse it if you don't like it. Rather, the tasting is to determine if the wine is "corked", a term that refers to when a wine is contaminated by TCA, a chemical compound that causes a specific taste/flavor. TCA can be caused by mold in corks, and is one of the only reasons you can (generally) refuse a bottle of wine you have already purchased. Most people can taste or smell TCA if they are trained for it; other people might drink the wine for a few minutes before noticing a damp, basement-like smell on the aftertaste. Once you've tasted it, you'll remember it. That first sip is your opportunity to take one for the table and save them from a possibly corked bottle of wine, which is absolutely no fun.

If you've sipped the wine (I generally smell it, I've found it's easier to smell than taste) and determined that it is safe, you then nod to your waiter. The waiter will then pour glasses for everyone else at the table. If the wine is corked, you would refuse the bottle and ask the waiter for a new bottle. If there is no new bottle, you'll either get a refund or they'll ask you to choose another option on their wine list. A good restaurant will understand that corked bottles happen randomly, and will leap at the opportunity to replace it; a bad restaurant or a restaurant with poor training will sometimes try to argue with you about whether or not it's corked. Again, it can be a subtle, subjective taste, so proceed carefully.

In restaurants, this process can happen very quickly! It's elegant and practiced. The waiter will generally uncork the bottle without setting the bottle down or bracing it against themselves. They will remove the cork without breaking it, and they will pour the wine without dripping it down the label or on the table.

[yuzukimist]

can someone please be proud of me like fuck I’m trying

[yuzukimist]

After watching Fatal Journey and having Nie brothers feels, I am CONVINCED that the Qinghe Nie Sect disciples absolutely knew that Nie Huaisang was not a good-for-nothing idiot.

He spent…what? 10+ years as sect leader? And he still had disciples following him to Jinlintai and the Burial Mounds. He still had disciples defending him despite his reputation as a poor swordsman.

No, they knew. Those disciples knew their sect leader was not the dumb moron he let everyone believe. They didn’t follow him because he was physically strong and a beast on the battlefield like his brother. They sure as hell didn’t stay out of sheer loyalty to his brother while watching the other sects get stronger and wealthier. They knew Huaisang was just and fair and caring like Nie Mingjue was even if he lacked the physical strength and cultivation power. Huaisang cared about his people, which is very evident when he - in the middle of trying to find a sword spirit bent on killing them - argues with Mingjue about leading disciples into danger like sacrificial lambs. He cares for his disciple brothers and sisters, and they know it.

Oh sure, they didn’t have a clue about his revenge plot because I’m pretty sure Huaisang kept that close to the vest so not a single whisper would leak out to Jin Guangyao. But they sure as hell knew their sect leader was more than competent. They played along and pretended he was weak and a pushover even if they didn’t really know why he wanted to project that image. They knew and they stayed and fought by his side.

And that, dear friends, is why Nie Huaisang is a badass.

[yuzukimist]

favorite costume detail from the untamed belongs (big surprise) to nie huaisang, whose wardrobe gets darker and plainer and more nie-like the further into the story he gets, so that he starts out in gentle ivories and then moves to stiffer silvery-greys as sunshot takes place, and when we meet him again in the present he is dressing like the longtime clan leader he now is, with sweeping sedate overrobes and subtle detail in dark serious colors, except for scenes in which, as we learn, he’s deliberately projecting incompetence or naivete: then he’s back to the soft cream shades. until by the time the final showdown in guanyin temple takes place, he’s in full gunmetal grey, no pattern, and he is dressed almost exactly like mingjue did on an everyday basis. it reinforces how in his own, less-direct but no less effective way, he emulates his family. he’s not a soldier, but he’s still a nie, he has a fight to win here, and by god he’s dressed for it. and then at last, in his final appearance, he gets some color and pattern back again. it’s still on the darker side, but we see some muted greens in there,  a bit of dove grey. now that he has done the thing he set out to do, he can start to reclaim the older parts of himself. that cool tessellated fabric is the most distinct pattern we ever see him in, it has a lot of contrast; it’s a visual shorthand for a person who is something of a mosaic now, with pieces of the person he became and the person he originally was. his costumes track his evolution from quiet, naive artist to heir of a military clan to tactician at the moment of victory to sensible survivor retreating to a quiet life.

[yuzukimist]

fuckin fascinating that the first thing we learn abt nie huaisang is his having smuggled a wild songbird into class

because what it gives us on the surface is goofy, playful nie huaisang who can’t pay attention and keeps trying to muffle the cheeping coming from his sleeves in a charming and funny way that seems totally in line with the frivolous airhead he seems to be

but once you know - you can see it, in that first scene.  he plays the long game.  he tells wei wuxian that he followed that bird through the woods for 3 days, quietly letting it get used to his presence, giving it time to let its guard down, and once it was lulled into not finding him threatening, he was able to catch it - to catch a wild bird with his bare hands, tuck it into a cage, and smuggle it into a classroom.

we watch wei wuxian do something similar, to play up his silliness and make jokes and play games and we know that none of that makes him any less dangerous.  we should have known huaisang was no more a fool than wei wuxian, but he was so good at the game that we didn’t notice it either.

we should have realized what he was capable of the moment he explained how he caught the bird - he was telling us.  he was telling us exactly what was up his sleeve.

[yuzukimist]

This scene made me feel so sad for the both of them. These two got betrayed so terribly by someone they trusted and loved. They were let down in the worst possible way. They deserved better. It's truly so tragic.

[yuzukimist]

I stole this from Twitter but I’m Curious

[yuzukimist]

I finished reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time in my life. With all of *vague gesture at everything* this going on.

I Am Not Okay

[yuzukimist]

k but if u haven’t seen the guy ritchie sherlock films u don’t get it but they fully wrote holmes as in love w watson. like undeniably in love. In the first ten mins holmes refuses to take a Single case for three months bc watson won’t go with him. he locks himself in his room for two straight weeks, drugs the dog, and shoots the wall for attention bc watson is moving out. he says the world outside his room has nothing to offer until watson asks him to go to dinner & immediately agrees. he humiliates mary bc he’s jealous she can marry watson and he can’t. he goes to a fight club to Feel Something bc he knows john is slipping away from him. there’s never any “oh well just bros being bros” the whole tone towards it is just “ofc he’s in love w watson that’s one of his defining character traits”

[yuzukimist]

They should invent a way to sit hunched over doing crafts that is Good for your body

[yuzukimist]

— requested by manbunjon

[yuzukimist]

jeff: gender and sexuality are made up us: so true your maJEFFsty

(source - thank you to @jeffbiblesupremacy for cutting)

[yuzukimist]

wishes from jeff

[yuzukimist]

[yuzukimist]

[yuzukimist]

current fan creation landscape is kinda like if you went to a party with a homemade cake and everyone takes a slice and silently thumbs up at you with no attempt to start a conversation except for occasionally some guy sits in the corner with a tape recorder critiquing the cake as though he was a restaurant critic and another guy is handing the cake to an uber driver like "yeah i need you to find a restaurant that makes cake like this so i can have more of it" and the only person that's talked to you in 30 minutes is a very sweet little guy who was like "hey i liked your cake" and then ran away apologizing for bothering you the moment you said thank you.