hils | Reading

It was a dull day in London yesterday (15º/59ºF), as you can see from the skies as I walked across London Bridge to meet up with the other U3A members for a guided walk around the City of London. Tower Bridge is in the background behind HMS Belfast (a floating museum). The ship with U-27 moored next to it is the Brazilian Navy training ship, which tours the world and always ends up in London in October with its cadets.

The walk was primarily to highlight the ties to black history in London, but we looked at much more than that as we walked around the tiny alleyways in the City. We ended up at the Guildhall Art Gallery to see a couple of their paintings at the end of the two-hour walk. More under the cut with photos of things that I found interesting.
( Read more... )

It was a thought-provoking walking tour and one I've been thinking about a lot since I got back home.

nnozomi posting in

guardian_learning

部首
女 part 7
姻, marriage; 姿, looks; 威, power ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=38

词汇
志愿, to volunteer; 志愿者, volunteer ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/

Guardian:
它跃动的姿态是不是很美呀, isn't the way it leaps beautiful?
[no 志愿]

Me:
他们俩就是姿态和威权的婚姻。
做志愿者很有意义的事，又是很累的。

mekare

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nnozomi posting in

guardian_learning

部首
女 part 6
委, committee member; 姜, ginger; 姨, aunt ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=38

语法
Uses of 倍
https://www.chineseboost.com/grammar/bei-times-fold/

词汇
至今, so far; 至少, at least ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/

Guardian:
阿姨啊，我想问一下团圆夜那天晚上这儿有没有发生什么事啊, Auntie, I want to ask if anything happened here on Reunion Night
老子一定会千倍万倍地还给你, I'll give you as good as I got a thousand-fold, ten thousand-fold!
至少我们的选择很有意义, at least our choice was meaningful

Me:
别放姜放得太多。
至今他的效果比你的四倍多。

maggie33

Guardian Wishlist

I wrote three fics for three different ships – Cheng Xinyan/Zhu Hong, Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng and Shen Wei/Ye Zun/Zhao Yunlan. I read a lot of good fics and saw a lot of good fanart. And there are still a few things in the collection I haven’t found time to read. Hope to do it this week. And I had so much fun doing all that. Guardian is and always will be my forever fandom. ♥

My fics

Let us live together in a new world (4302 words)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei/Ye Zun/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei (Guardian), Ye Zun (Guardian), Da Qing (Guardian)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Time Travel, Ye Olde Haixing Era, Threesome, Happy Ending
Summary:

Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei in the past find Ye Zun earlier than in canon. It changes a lot of things. Luckily for the better. :)

I believe I can fly (1552 words)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng
Characters: Guo Changcheng, Chu Shuzhi, Lin Jing (Guardian)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Everybody Lives, Wingfic, But the wings are temporary, Love Confession, Getting Together, First Kiss
Summary:

The wings were black and shiny. Beautiful, Changcheng thought. He couldn’t tear his eyes away as they shook and shimmered behind Chu Shuzhi’s back. Changcheng hadn’t thought that anything could make Chu Shuzhi even more attractive to him, but then his thoughts on the subject had never included wings.

Let me call you my girl (595 words)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Cheng Xinyan/Zhu Hong
Characters: Cheng Xinyan, Zhu Hong (Guardian)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Feelings, Kissing, Mild Smut
Summary:

Zhu Hong is many things. A daughter and a niece, a part of her family and her tribe. A leader. A friend. A strong young woman with dreams, and doubts and anxieties. A seductress with full red lips perfect for kissing, and a penchant for black leather jackets. A lover. A girlfriend.

Cheng Xinyan loves all these Zhu Hongs. But the best of all she loves Zhu Hong like this – warm and sleepy-eyed, looking so alluring in the dimmed golden light of a bedside lamp, with a smile that is for Cheng Xinyan only.

Chopin’s music

I’m surrounded by it every day. The 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition takes place in Warsaw now, and the second round ended yesterday. I don’t sit down and watch all the performances, but my mom watches a lot of them, and that beautiful piano music flows through our apartment. Sometimes it feels like my RL has a score. 😊

Dramas

Rowoon’s new drama The Murky Stream is good, but dark and gritty and sometimes depressing, so I’m watching it at the pace of half an episode a day. Rowoon and Park Seo Ham have great chemistry and their characters have this intense, close friendship that lends itself very well to shipping. Yes, I ship them hard. 😊

The 2nd season of At 25 in Akasaka is good, too. And I like Asami and Yuki well enough, but I have to admit that this time I’m much more invested into Yamase Kazuma and Sakuma Hajime and their future, possible romance. It’s so nice to see Nagumo Shoma’s beautiful face on my screen again. Because I did try to watch Japanese version of Love in the Air a few weeks ago just for him, but I managed only the half of the 1st episode. Mame really isn’t for me. 😊

And my newest obsession is Thai BL drama Mandate. I linked to the trailer in the beginning of September, and finally a week ago I started to watch it. And I already watched all seven available episodes. The finale will air this Friday and I can’t wait.

The lead actors Boy Pakorn and Ben Bunyapol have great chemistry. Their secret age gap romance is like tailor-made for my id. And they’re both flawed people, and the drama doesn’t try to pretend that they’re not. And their relationship is complicated, kinda slow-burn and beautiful.

As you see I’m very invested. I want to write fics. I would love to read fanfic, too, but for now there is nothing on AO3. But luckily I can request this fandom for Yuletide. I watched it after the nominations closed, but someone else did nominate it, and it made me so happy.

I wanted to make a few gifs, because the 7th episode was wonderful, and I already watched it twice. But my right elbow is still not in the best form, so instead here is the link to a very hot and very NSFW spoilery gifset from that episode I found on tumblr.

Unfortunately there is no easy way to watch it legally with English subtitles. It is available only on Monomax, and only in Thailand. But one lovely person on tumblr took it upon themselves to fix Monomax’s horrible English subs and they made all episodes available for download. You’ll find all the information in this post.

nanila

I’m eschewing the Friday Five in favour of a meme that the FF for this week seems to have revived.

From left to right, top to bottom, here are the items in the photo.

Rucksack. The brand is Herschel. It has a lot of internal pockets and carries a crazy amount of stuff, while also being pretty slim profile.
Noise-cancelling over-ear headphones. I cannot live without these and have no idea how I survived many years of long commutes on public transport before I bought them.
Coffee cup. Collapsible! Purchased from my favourite barista, a one-woman outfit operating out of my local train station.
Toiletries bag. I didn’t empty this out. It contains lip gloss, medicine, hand sanitiser and hand lotion.
Red pen. For correcting mistakes, many of which are my own.
Tipex. See previous item.
Laser pointer. An essential component of my job is lecturing and giving talks. There is never any guarantee that a laser pointer will be available alongside AV equipment, so I carry my own.
Pen. A freebie from a workshop or a conference, usually.
Multi-tool. This was a freebie from the Maui conference. It has lots of little swappable magnetic bits inside. I have only used the screwdriver bits so far.
Paper clip. You never know.
Notebook and pen. I go through notebooks (again, most of them are freebies) every couple of months. This is the latest in the series.
HDMI-to-USB-C cable. There’s no HDMI port on my laptop.
Two memory sticks. I borrowed the blue one from a colleague about two years ago and am now too embarrassed to return it. The minion is mine. He used to have trousers, but they fell down a stairwell and were lost in a basement.
Lucky pinecone. Keiki gave me this when we were in California. I carry it in one of the outer side pockets.
Packet of biscuits and a mango lollipop. Emergency food, which will probably be eaten by one of the children.
Macbook Air. Laptop from Institution A, my primary employer. I also have an HP Windows laptop from Institution B, my other employer. I am mostly indifferent to the Mac / Windows debate, although I will say that the Macbook laptop’s trackpad is far better.
Railcard. The train apps for railcards and tickets are notoriously unreliable, especially when you don’t have a good internet connection, so I still carry paper copies.
Glasses case. At the moment these contain my sunglasses, which are prescription and which I sometimes wear in winter to cut the glare from headlights when I’m driving. My untinted varifocals are usually on my face.
Universal adapter, USB cables, and a handful of coins. I prefer to be equipped to take advantage of charging points whenever I can, especially since I travel so much.
Fan. From the Louvre, featuring the Mona Lisa. Very good for public transport.

Please link your “What’s in my bag?” posts in the comments, especially if I haven’t commented on them.

hannah

In looking at the amount of peanut butter I have, and in looking at the internet's suggestions of what to do with it, the best idea comes with a minor concern - namely, that peanut butter bread doesn't work with natural and organic peanut butters on account of the emulsifiers being necessary for the bread's crumb to effectively hold together. It doesn't seem possible to add in anything at home, whether it's another kind of vegetable oil or some extra egg whites, that'd address and fix the specific problem.

There's a few recipes I've found which are designed around natural peanut butters, and none of those look quite as much fun as the others - some of them even seem a bit finicky. They don't come across as something simple to make and stick in the freezer for quick snacks in the future. I've got more than enough of the peanut butter and not quite enough of the everything else to experiment, at least not more than two or three times, and I'm loathe to waste flour like that. I guess there's always noodles.

Current Mood: lazy
Current Music: nothing now

nnozomi posting in

guardian_learning

部首
大 part 5
奔, to hurry; 奖, prize; 套, to cover ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=37
女 parts 1-5
女, woman; 奶, milk; 她, she; 好, good; 如, as if; 妆, makeup; 妇, woman/wife; 妈, mother; 妒, to envy; 妳, you (female) [used in Taiwan]; 妹, little sister; 妻, wife; 始, to begin; 姑, aunt; 姓, family name
( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=38

语法
Directions with 来 and 去
https://www.chineseboost.com/grammar/basic-direction-complements-lai2-qu4/
Using 嘛
https://www.chineseboost.com/grammar/ma-obvious-self-evident/
借 for borrowing and lending
https://www.chineseboost.com/grammar/jie4-jie4gei3-gen1-jie4/

词汇
支, measure word for candles, pens, etc.; 支持, to support; 支付, to pay money
只, single/alone/only; 只好, have to; 只是，只有, only
直, straight; 直播, livestream; 直到, until; 简直, simply
值，值得, worth; 价值, value
职工, staff; 职业, occupation
指，手指, finger; 指出, to point out; 指导, guidance
( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/

玩玩
Stefanie Sun, 半句再见; Sonam Wangmo and 十个勤天, 月亮照山川.

昨天是演奏会，结果还不错，但我非常累了，今天我要在家里安安静静地工作哈。大家怎么样？

shadaras

The first time my sensei taught a choke-hold, I think back in like 2013?, I left the mat after the demonstration because I was too panicked to even consider trying it.

It took like... a year of occasionally practicing them with the like one person I trusted enough to try them at all before I could do them with other people knowing that they were coming and only be filled with anxiety instead of putting a lot of my attention on Not Panicking.

Like four years ago, I realised that my sensei would occasionally do a choke on me without warning and I was just like "ugh, okay, thanks sensei".

By now it's just... "these aren't my favorite but they're fine? not something I'd like to teach/do with someone new to them, but not bad?"

This is on my mind because my friend L took me down to CT today for a ninjutsu seminar (they got into this a couple months ago and haven't gotten to do it much, and I hadn't done it at all before) and at least half of that was just choke-holds and how to get out of them.

And all of that was just me thinking about how this practice works and the different mentality, with no worries about the holds etc at all.

so, y'know

nice to periodically think about how it's possible to retrain one's brain and nervous system in positive ways

trobadora posting in

sid_guardian

Zhao Yunlan sprawled on a couch, grinning at his phone. The background shows a purple sky with stars. Text reads, "Slo-Mo Rewatch. Guardian - half an episode per week @ sid_guardian.dreamwidth.org"

Hi, welcome to this week's instalment of the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch! Watch half an episode a week, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!

Here is last week's half-episode. On to the second half!

Episode 3, from 23:25

Summary: Zhao Yunlan goes to Shen Wei to confirm the identity of the third student involved in what happened to Zhang Ruonan. (Which involves gesturing with a letter opener, because Zhao Yunlan. :D) He arrives back just in time to find Wang Yike killing Liu Yidong. Oops. Zhang Ruonan physically tackles Zhao Yunlan and confesses to the murders herself to stop him from catching Wang Yike. Meanwhile Wang Yike has decided Shen Wei is suspicious (well ...), and the SID arrives just in time to intervene in her attack in him. Zhang Ruonan accidentally touches Wang Yike's bare hand and has most of her life energy drained. They have a tearful goodbye, and everyone is very affected. Afterwards, we discover that someone secretly neutralised Wang Yike's power, and that despite being taken away by the Envoy, Shen Wei nonetheless brought her to reunite with Zhang Ruonan.

And then we start a new case! There's a series of murders where the victims' faces are turned completely blank. Zhao Yunlan et al. are investigating. (Lin Jing and Zhu Hong both seem to be mostly complaining. :p) Meanwhile Shen Wei is searching for the Hallows, and encounters Zhu Jiu for the first time. Following screams, the SID finds a cowering woman, and ... Shen Wei.

Quote:

Let me just offer you two contrasting quotes, because damn, the range:

"Professor Shen said a stolen life is hard to maintain, but a promise can remain constant for thousands of years. Chief says such a relationship is called 'Guarding'. It's even more passionate than love and greater than familial love. I hope I can stay at the SID and become someone who can guard everyone."

"Ever seen a snake who likes to walk?"

Detail:

Lin Jing's map when he's tracking Wang Yike's phone shows the location of the university within Dragon City, on the northern side of the river. This aligns with Zhu Hong saying in episode 4 that the university is in the north!

Questions:

What's your favourite moment in this part of the episode? Did anything stand out to you as coming from the novel?

What was Zhao Yunlan thinking, leaving Zhang Ruonan with Liu Yadong unguarded, when he already suspected Liu Yadong? Is this the first time Zhao Yunlan has sympathised with a Dixingren? How often does the Envoy secretly let people go? How did Zhang Ruonan know about Dixing? Do you ship Zhang Ruonan and Wang Yike? When did Shen Wei decide to move closer to Zhao Yunlan?

For the start of the next case, why are Shen Wei, Zhu Jiu and the SID all in the same area? And finally, have you ever seen a snake who likes to walk? *g*

(These are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in!)

And here is our schedule - please do sign up to host a post if you can!

alightbuthappypen

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Current Music: my fucking neighbour's overloud music AS USUAL

facethestrange posting in

sid_guardian

I'm not sure if sharing what I made for

guardian_wishlist is a thing (since the collection itself was already shared to the comm), but I can't add all these links to a regular post because there were 10 of them revealed on the same day. :D (Normally I include 4-5 in one post.) So here they are, under a cut this time. :)

5 ficlets (all dramaverse):
2x Weilan
1x Zhu Hong & Shen Wei
1x Ye Zun/Lin Jing
1x Ye Zun & Sang Zan

( click )

5 drawings:
3x drama Weilan (one with Da Qing)
2x Zhubai (one in novelverse AU)

( click )

tinny

The current round at

retro_icontest was a seasonal challenge and focused on autumn. I made ten icons for it.

Enjoy!

( 10+1 icons from Amidst a Snowstorm of Love and HPI )

Concrit and comments very welcome! Take and use as many icons as you like, credit is appreciated. If you want to know whose textures and brushes I use, take a look at my resource post.

Previous icon posts:

nanila

It's a grim, cold, foggy day. Comet is not at all interested in participating in it.

Current Mood: amused

mekare

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fangirlishness

Since I just finished my first fanvid, and I collected a lot of links for things I learned about DaVinci Resolve on the way and posted them to

communal_creators, I thought I could post them here too:

The tools I used:

DaVinci Resolve for video editing (it's free)

LossLessCut for clipping (it's free if you download it from github directly)

Auto-Subs for turning the lyrics into subs (another github link) <- this is both a standalone app and a davinci resolve plugin

DaVinci Resolve tutorials:

how to add a video/audio clip to the timeline

how to save/export/deliver a vid

Those can already get you pretty far. I found moving the clips around on the timeline and shifting beginning and end frames intuitive (yay).

The most important thing for me to grasp was that the small buttons at the very bottom are very important! they are the main views. I mostly work with the Cut view, but the Edit view is also good. I have barely touched the others so far. (You need the Deliver view for saving.)

find the beats in the music with "transient detection"

fade the music in/out at the start/end

how to add a title page

editing basics (keyboard shortcuts)

use adjustment clips instead of adding effects to clips directly

temporarily disable effects for smoother playback

use proxy media to speed up editing/avoid lag

how to adjust audio levels

Deeper vids (still for noobs):

I like this guy, but maybe start with the really small clips above and let him show you more details later:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsVDy3wGxbDAe4F9M9-64VKMHKo4QwepN

lunarriviera

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Current Mood: determined
Current Location: yellow sofa in shorts
Current Music: demi lovato, "29"

nnozomi posting in

guardian_learning

部首
女 part 5
始, to begin; 姑, aunt; 姓, family name ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=38

词汇
指，手指, finger; 指出, to point out; 指导, guidance ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/

Guardian:
先生贵姓啊？免贵姓沈, what is your honorable name? Not honorable, just Shen
现在我就指导你, let me guide you now

Me:
你和你姑姑为什么姓不同？
让我指出一下一些问题。

dracothelizard posting in

ourflagmeansgay

Some art recs from the Hybrid Signal Zine, which was monster-themed.

You can still buy the complete zine through a $10 donation to one of the three listed charities.

Some Stede/Ned by Cecillusive, an AU of The Lindworm, which is SFW.

Image links
https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:ehrff35ymlwurebsait7gmsh/bafkreiac3jqvuxvnw6jzl2i5sfodq5w6xmscmn2i3brqyn726hh22bptrm@jpeg

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:ehrff35ymlwurebsait7gmsh/bafkreiaa4d7sles755uagchx63yhftnszkis5575nr73ejutuefrdermje@jpeg

Ed, Ed and Eddie by Ginnedfish, featuring Ed in three different stages of his life, who is the real monster under the bed? Also SFW

Image link:
https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:qwnrbsxcbbdgedh56s6uawwg/bafkreifjjpktna7ibiycx4un4oarmz7jt6ac5hzmsqfq4wmyi4gl3aimgq@jpeg

This sexy slime Oluwande with mimic Izzy is technically SFW but definitely sexy, by draw-just-draw.

Image link: https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:syamfj5yxwv5fimxj7jkfaxd/bafkreiet6pe2zwml6q467hga5sr5b5yfu2b5qzrnntqah7txjabdighyoi@jpeg

umadoshi

scruloose and I have our covid/flu shots booked for next weekend! There were earlier slots available, but not in walking distance. It'll take us right to the little corner market, and next weekend is its final day for the season. Convenient!

We finished season 1 of Silo a couple nights ago. (I've been intermittently earwormed with its OP theme music, which is fortunately a good piece, but I still would rather not have it [or anything else] stuck in my head.) That was a very solid season finale. Now to decide if we want to immediately go to season 2 or watch something else first/alongside. (Can anyone tell me, without spoilers, a] how much of the book[s] season 1 covers, and/or b] if the show is finished or if a third season is expected/hoped for?)

I went along for the drive when

scruloose ran a few errands this morning: a purchase return, two stops for local produce (blueberries, cranberries, broccoli, and a giant sweet potato; no luck getting baking apples), and picking up an order of Thanksgiving baked goods from Sully & Porter (née the Old Apothecary). We are now in possession of six adorably tiny tarts (half pumpkin, half lemon meringue) and six hefty cookies that I hope will freeze reasonably well so that they can be eked out.

Tomorrow evening will probably be when we throw together a Thanksgiving dinner of ham*, cranberry sauce, and some mix of roasted veggies. I consulted How to Cook Everything on the matter of the ham, and it gives an oven temperature and an estimated cook time and basically says "heat until hot, then eat", and it doesn't get much simpler than that.

*The most token little ham! I'm not actually sure how much I'll like it, as ham was never my thing growing up, so we didn't want a huge one to swamp us with leftovers. We'll see! I know it's possible for me to enjoy ham, as we've been to a couple of group meals where I did. (I can think of one here and one in Toronto, so the hams in question were cooked by two very different friends.)

Current Mood: okay

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hils

Hils's journal

Reading

A walk around the City of London for Black History Month

第四年第二百七十九天

Drawtober: Favourite

第四年第二百七十八天

Good things

What’s in my rucksack?

Luxurious complaint.

第四年第二百七十七天

(no subject)

Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 3, part 2

Mish-mash

My latest Guardian fanworks (Wishlist edition)

10 + 1 icons for retro_icontest

Comet says no

Drawtober: Under the Bed

Vidding links for DaVinci Resolve

my usual maundering

第四年第二百七十六天

RECS: ART

Saturday mishmash, with the second half largely food-related

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