青 Is A Great Color! It Can Mean Anything You Want It To Mean! 😝

It’s accurate.

Watching Guardian like:

I know. I already made one like that.

But it's funny.

Xiao Zhan & Yibo // Wei Ying & Lan Zhan

So during my second time watching Jiang Cheng walk across what I now know is a random mountain to meet Wen Qing, all I could think about was Wei Wuxian, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning’s plan and the fact that they must have been following him, like:

Wen Qing: should he really be walking across that field?

Wei Wuxian: I don’t know, I thought he would follow the path

Wen Ning: should we stop it now so he doesn’t trip and fall?

Wei Wuxian: naw let’s wait a bit, he needs to think it’s difficult

Wen Ning: is this a good place? can I ring the gong now?

Wei Wuxian: I think it’s good. wen qing?

Wen Qing: yeah yeah it’s fine. ring the stupid gong - I’ll lead him to a better spot

Wen Qing: I’m not going to wear the hat

Wei Wuxian: c’mon, you need to wear the hat

Wen Ning: yeah, wear the hat, a-jie

Wen Qing: he’s wearing a blindfold! he won’t be able to see my face anyway

Wei Wuxian: but what if he takes off the blindfold? what then, hmm? the hat is key

Wen Ning: yeah a-jie, the hat is key

Wen Qing: uuuuugh fine I’ll wear the hat

A co-worker the other day commented on how he had heard that the Chinese government was trying to crack down on femininity in men in the media, and I went crazy trying to find that awesome video of Wang Yibo wearing Chanel runway looks. Women’s Chanel runway looks. And I was blathering on and on (while still trying to stay professional and not-weird-obsessed) about how Wang Yibo can just DO that, and I can’t imagine anyone being able to stop him, or even slow him down, just because he likes wearing dangly earrings and orange eyeshadow. And women’s jackets.

I couldn’t find the video again on tumblr, but I had some success on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/hIAOXIf9Alw

Enjoy!

It’s Zhou Shen 周深 Fashion Appreciation Time!

I desperately want to talk about Zhou Shen’s recent stage outfits. (I pulled all these photos from his official Weibo, link below.)

To begin: Zhou Shen is an angel. Witness!

He frequently wears white or pale pastels.

We often see him in fancy jackets with slacks for formal events …

(And those shoes!)

Though he’ll wear t-shirts and other casual outfits that make us smile and feel all the more that he’s an absolute sweetheart.

Sometimes he'll wear dark colors, too.

Anyway, I don’t usually see more than his head, his arms below the elbow, and maybe some lower leg. Very conservative dress. He is a Proper Chinese Idol for All Ages. A veritable Prince 😍

Which, of course, means I get all the more excited when I see, say, a V-Neck?!?!?

And let’s not forget how good Zhou Shen looks in black:

Hot 🔥 😍

Next, let’s talk about the outfits he’s been wearing for Melody Journey 《音乐缘计划》.

It’s nothing overly dramatic, but he’s been singing some rock- and party- songs, darker songs, and so he’s been dressing appropriately in darker colors,…

Here, he still has a black tie Over His Bare Skin to cover the deep V-neck to preserve his modesty. This is OK. (This was his outfit for 《颠倒之间》.)

And then they put him in a black tank top overlayed with a silky wine-red blouse that Does Not Fully Cover his arms and shoulders...

This shouldn't be such a big deal, but paired with all the buckles and the long red ribbon tied around his forearm, I feel a little bit scandalized. In a good way. (This was his outfit for 《MINE》.)

For 《蜂》, I thought that they had put him back in super-modest full-body coverings, ... and then I saw the inside of this knee. And his upper thigh. Wait -- those jeans aren't fully stitched! Every time he takes a step, some part of his thighs are exposed! Wha?!!?

And then No Sleeves at all! We can see his arms! All of his arms! And parts of his sides! And is he wearing ... a collar?!?! I’m clutching at my pearls now!

Zhou Shen singing 《荒芜之地》.

Needless to say, I am fully enjoying Melody Journey 《音乐缘计划》, and constantly laughing at myself that, in an age where so many pop singers wear, effectively, just lingerie; I am getting excited from seeing my favorite singer expose his arms.

Credit: all these pictures are all from https://m.weibo.cn/u/7478855230?jumpfrom=weibocom

Dracula and Jonathan’s Tango - from The Polish National Opera production of ‘Dracula’.

With Choreography by Krzysztof Pastor and Music by Wojciech Kilar.

Who does this picture belong to, please? I found it in my early MDZS searches, and it’s brought me joy every day so far 🥰

Stars of Chaos 杀破狼

Volume 3, Notes 4/5, Pages 267 - 350

I had to look up this poem and its meaning. In essence, the poem is about revolution. Kicking out the old aristocracy and installing a new regime. Via nice, sweet poetry about birds flying away from Wang and Xie's homes (the "noble halls") into the homes of ordinary folk.

The nice Chinese 5-word version of "heads up their asses" is a much more elegant "顾头不顾腚" = attend to the head an forget the buttocks, as in "can only handle things coming from one direction".

Croaker is a type of small fish. 小黄鱼。

“若非烂到根里，恐怕也不会养出这种滚刀肉一样胆大包天的地方官。”

The "stubborn as cheap jerky" phrase is the translation of 滚刀肉, which is, broken apart, "rolling""knife""meat", like meat that is so sinewy and hard that it turns your knife instead of just letting itself be cut.

The "in their crooked ways" phrase is, I think, just an extra little modifier to help you understand that these difficult officials are not just stubborn, (and definitely not righteous,) but also crooked.

Pg 304: When I read this in English, it felt to me like the emperor was questioning if he himself still held power; in Chinese, it sounds to me more like he is stating that someone is trying to hide a really big secret, and he is questioning who that wrong-doer is.

"朕倒不知道这朝中是谁一手遮天了。"

Bad translation: "We (royal) do not know who in this court is using his hand to cover the sky." (一手遮天 One hand cover sky = "to hide the truth from the masses" mdbg.net)

Here is another place where the English confused me a little bit. Because, of course, it's really hard to translate.

方钦心里暗叹一声“扶不起来的东西”

Bad translation: Fang Qin sighed in his heart (he did the sigh entirely in his head, so no one actually saw him sigh), "hold him up and he still can't stand, that less-than-human thing."

Fang Qin is majorly disparaging Assistant Minister Lv here.

It's customary for older, retired men to put their bird in a carry-able size cage and then take it out on a walk to a local park or into the local wilderness, swinging the cage all the while so that the little bird can exercise its perching muscles and enjoy some fresh air. It's called 遛鸟, just like walking your dog is 遛狗。

The verb used here is 讹 é = error / false / to extort （mdbg.net), and where I have found elsewhere as "blackmail" or "cheat".

Sassy bird, yes?

"White Cut Chicken" is 白斩鸡 which is an amazing dish that we used to have every time we had banquet-style dinners at any Cantonese restaurant. It's super good. The only way I like to eat chicken. Very tender boiled chicken, served with a side of green-onion oil. Oh I'm getting hungry.

Top: Chang Geng is limping. His leg was hurt in the crash-landing.

Bottom: A 肚兜 is a cute hanky-sized bit of cloth with ties that go around the neck and the waist. It's meant to keep the belly warm. I usually only see little kids (like, babies and toddlers) in period movies wear them (and that's all they wear if it's warm enough).

If you watch the animated masterpiece Nezha 1979, a dudou is the only thing that Nezha wears from the time he emerges / is born until he kills his first dragon prince. You have to prove yourself as a dragon-killer before you get to wear pants.

They come in adult (woman) sizes, too, but that's for another day.

My DanMei Literary Adventure Masterpost

Stars of Chaos - All Notes Links

MDZS Volume 4 Annotations

Part 5, pages 174 - 208

And so begins my “Please No American Slang!” tirade, plus a few more grammatical / vocabulary changes to make the story flow more clearly.

The Chinese for this is super funny. I could totally see Jin Ling staring at his JiuJiu, staring so hard that JC felt the stare and looked over to see his teenage nephew absolutely googly-eyed as he tried to Jedi-mind-trick / wish his JiuJiu into saying something nice to him.

Jedi mind tricks don’t work on JC, of course. (Wishes don’t work on him, either.)

More below the cut: