Reading

The Testaments

The first three episodes of The Testaments were excellent. It's the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, but with a YA approach (not that it's any less dystopic).

I've read the book, but some things don't fit in the TV adaptation, so it's possible that they've changed an important plot point. We'll see.

It's pretty obvious that Becka is sapphic. <3

Entry tags:

TV | Books

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: disappointed
Current Music: nothing now

Data pointing.

I'd very much like to rant about an article I saw in The New York Times Magazine about people trying to get away from smartphones, except it'd boil down to my firm hypothesis they'd achieve the same result by taking the internet off the smart phone. If the apps don't work, you can't get a quick hit of anything. I still don't understand how that manages to be the default for pretty much everyone else and how other people's phones can't also be set to only get internet access when they're logged into a network. It's baffling.

I suppose to ask what goes into making this possible is to get the answer that it's built into the settings with few people bothering to change them, or even consider that as something which could be done - and that cellular data roaming functions aren't something people think to play around with, either.

Who benefits from this is very much the people pushing for the constant immediate gratification and ongoing distractions.

What's the desired outcome is the reliance on the smartphone as distraction device, giving attention and money, rather than a useful tool that can be modified as desired by the owners and end-users.

Entry tags:

第五年第八十九天

部首
水 part 21
淡, mild; 深, deep; 淹, to flood/to submerge ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=85

词汇
按, to push; 按时, on time; 按照, according to ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/

Guardian:
您目睹了凶案现场还这么云淡风轻的, you were an eyewitness to a murder site and you're so calm now
我建议你每一餐都按时吃, I suggest that you eat your meals on time

Me:
小心，水很深。
按照网络的信息，火车来得不按时。

Entry tags:

23 Nothing But You icons for ships20in20

Another Nothing But You set for round 6 at

ships20in20! Enjoy!

Teasers:

( 20+3 icons )

I'm happy to receive all kind of comments, including concrit! All icons shareable. Credit for brushes and textures I use can be found here in my resource post.

Previous icon posts:

Kusunoki's Garden of Gods

I've tried both the first episode of Kusunoki's Garden of Gods and the first episode of Kujima: Why Sing, When You Can Warble? and I've opted to watch Kusunoki's Garden of Gods.

Minato lives in a cozy fantasy with gods and spirits, while Harima lives in a dangerous exorcist story. Shall I ship them?

It's available on Crunchyroll.

Entry tags:

Grotta Gigante

One of the Trieste trip activities selected by Keiki was the Grotta Gigante. Accordingly we booked timed entry tickets, and headed out on the bus on Day 2.

Spoiler alert: It is a gigantic cave. You have to descend 500 damp, steep, slippery steps bounded by damp, slippery metal handrails. As a person with acrophobia, I should have realised beforehand that this was going to test me, but somehow I managed to completely miss that despite it the access parameters being pretty clearly stated on the web site. I am quite proud that through much deep breathing and tight management of the pointing direction of my vision, I was able to cope with the descent and appreciate the visit.

( Many cave photos )

THE END.

Entry tags:

movies,
other shows

Just two things

Life in Smokey Blue

It’s a new Japanese BL drama, and one of the leads is played by Takeda Kouhei (Nozue from Old Fashioned Cupcake). It started airing on Gaga, the 1st episode is free and I watched it yesterday. And I loved it.

Takeda Kouhei plays Azuma Sakutaro, who’s 38 years old. He was an ace pharmaceutical sales representative, but now he’s unemployed and living at his sister’s house. One night when he’s drinking at the bar he chances upon Kuji Shizuka, his former coworker and rival from his pharmaceutical company days. Eight years earlier on the day Kuji left the company, they spend one memorable night together, but in the morning Azuma found out that Kuji disappeared without a word. And they haven’t seen each other since.

Two lead actors are 37 and 40 years old, and it feels so nice to watch BL with mature leads. And they look good together (see below) and have great chemistry.

life in smokey blue takeda kouhei and shibuya kento

Gohan

This is a Thai movie about a life of a white stray dog and his three different owners, and I really want to watch it. Even though I know it will make me cry buckets, because just this short trailer already made me teary-eyed.

Watch on YouTube

Entry tags:

The Unseen icons

Preview:

( 5 icons under the cut )

Current Mood: determined
Current Music: Dreamers in Exile - Voxtrot

Kiss the rules of empires past.

I know you're supposed to meet works where they are, and there's some where I can't manage that. I had an appointment this morning and wanted something easy and light that wasn't all that many pages so it'd easily fit in the backpack. I'd picked up Red White and Royal Blue off a stoop some weeks ago, so I didn't even need to wait for a library hold - just grab it off a stack and stick it in there. It started out as little better than "just okay" but I still wanted to know firsthand what the fuss was about. The voices were flat, the drama felt cheap, and I kept going. Then it got to a moment where the main character thinks of his mother by her first name. Firmly in his point of view, suddenly shifting from "his mother" to her first name. We're given no indication his is the kind of family to do that. Any decent editor looking to maintain tone and voice should've picked it up and requested a change.

Threw me right out of the book twenty pages in. I didn't literally throw it because I was in a waiting room, but I certainly stuffed it into my backpack with enough force to count.

It didn't have be bad, either. While it suffers when put next to the other novel I'm reading, Clockers by Richard Price, pretty much everything suffers when put next to that one. But this could be better, and end up as good a possible version of this story as possible. Do more. Try harder. Deepen and broaden your goals. Be better.

I may keep reading out of spite. If this got onto a shelf, then clearly it's not because my own writing isn't good enough to do the same, it's a problem with me not pitching to more agents and the industry being less and less willing to gamble. I know I'm better than this. It's not a problem on my end, and if nothing else, this book is solid confirmation of that.

Entry tags:

第五年第八十八天

部首
水 part 20
液, liquid; 凉, cool; 淋, wet ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=85

语法
3.20 不但...而且 ~~~ (not just...but also ~~~)
https://www.digmandarin.com/hsk-3-grammar

词汇
安检, security check (short for 安全检查); 安排, to arrange; 晚安, good night ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/

Guardian:
外面天多凉啊，上车吧, it's getting cool outside, get in the car
赵处也没给安排什么任务, Chief Zhao didn't plan any tasks for me

Me:
那陪我淋的雨，一幕幕都是你🎶
他不但人很好，而且工作也有东西。

Entry tags:

Art and Update (Hiroshige 10)

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Entry tags:

Some photos from Day 1 in Trieste

Keiki and his espresso.

( +4 photos )

Current Mood: indescribable
Current Music: nothing now

An observation.

As I said I would, I'm now starting Rome. I figure it's two seasons, I can breeze through it easily enough before moving onto other TV shows or another few movies.

Two minutes in, and I'm starting to suspect I'm going to need a few breaks to come up for air on account of the sensation of getting present-day news through prescient art.

Entry tags:

第五年第八十七天

部首
水 part 19
润, moist/profit; 涨, to rise; 涩, astringent ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=85

词汇
爱情, love; 爱心, compassion ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/
...you guys, they changed the list while we were in the middle of it! (The site now has lists for HSK1 through HSK6 as well as one compiling HSK7-8-9.) I am going back to the start of HSK4 just so I don't get too confused, to catch up on words that weren't in the HSK4 list when we started on it (some of which may end up being review from the old HSK3 or before, but it's not like we can't use review practice). 啊啊.

Guardian:
我告诉你啊，甜的，酸的，辣的，涩的，人生还有很多滋味都等着你呢, I tell you, there are so many flavors of life still awaiting you, sweet, tart, spicy, astringent
白蔷薇的花语是纯洁的爱情, the meaning of white roses in the language of flowers is pure love

Me:
公司没有利润的话就怎么走下去啊。
有爱心就好。

Entry tags:

520 Day Reverse Exchange 2026 assignments are out!

If you signed up for this year's 520 Day Reverse Exchange, you should now have received your assignment email. (If not, check your spam folder!)

What to do next:

Reply to your assignment email now, so we know you've received it. Please don't change the subject line.

If you have any concerns about your assignment, let us know ASAP by replying to the email. (Again, please don't change the subject line!)

Create a fanwork for your assignment. Make sure it fits your recipient's requested canon(s), media, pairing(s) or character(s), and rating(s), and doesn't include anything they've said they don't want. Remember that specific scenarios and prompts are optional. Have fun!

Post your completed fanwork to the AO3 collection by 11:59PM UTC Wednesday 13th May! (What time is that for me?).
- On the AO3 collection page, click "Post to Collection" at the top of the page.
- Enter your recipient's AO3 name under "Gift this work to".
- Please keep any creator's notes or other commentary positive.
Keep your assignment secret! If you need to host fanart or podfic on a different site, make sure it's not visible/searchable on that site before reveals on 20th May.

To make edits to your work after posting, you can access it via your AO3 Statistics page.

If something comes up that means you can't complete your assignment by the deadline, please contact us ASAP so we can discuss an extension or, if necessary, find a pinch-hitter.

All entries will go live on Wednesday 20th May (520 Day). Please keep your assignment a secret until then!

General info, schedule and minimum requirements

We hope you enjoy creating for your assignment, and we can't wait to see what you come up with! *\o/*

Entry tags:

rl-thingslearned

Things learned in March

I didn't write down everything, but my initial feeling is that I managed to write down quite a lot this month. Lets see:

( 15 things I learned in March: lots of technical things this time, and some fun language stuff )

Entry tags:

!event,
exchange

Upcoming DMBJ Events

Liu Chang character week!

Daily prompts for fanworks running from 9th- 15th April!

"It's THAT time of the year again. Liu Chang Mufasa's birthday is coming up and we in the DMBJ community would like to celebrate his birthday by thanking him with original works dedicated to the 5 amazing characters he's been portraying so far:

1) Wang Can - Tomb of the Sea
2) Liu Sang - Reunion: The Sound of Providence
3) Yan Sanxing - pre-M9 movie
4) Liu Qianmo - Reunion Extra focused on Liu Sang's and Wang Meng's ancestors
5) Jiang Wu - Reunion Extra: Echoes of Moonfall

Prompts (provided by

justawanderingbabbit this year <3)

Day 1: Merchant, Accurate, Provoke
Day 2: Traffic, Anxiety, Complex
Day 3: Money, Danger, Star
Day 4: Killer, Disorder, Decrease
Day 5: Relax, Orbit, Scale
Day 6: Island, Rescue, Agony
Day 7: Free day

But the collection is open NOW and will stay open, so you can submit whenever you are done:

Collection:
https://archiveofourown.org/collections/LCweek_DMBJ2026

Media type:
Any. Fic, pic, music video, Podfic, any sort of craftmanship like photos of a plushy, figure etc you made is game. (No sales posts)"

on Tumblr

DMBJ Small-Medium Ships Exchange

Currently in the tag nominating stage, this is an exchange for all ships that are NOT Heihua nor Pingxie, and also not rare. Examples are Wang Pangzi/Zhang Qiling, Wu Xie/Xie Yuchen, or Huo Xiu Xiu/Hei Xiazi/Xie Yuchen. The full list can be found on AO3.

Schedule (preliminary)
May 3: Signups close
May 10: Assignments out
June 28: Assignments due
July 5: Works and Creator reveals & Treats deadline

Two weeks left till premieres deadline, schedule now live, and more

Registration open
Registration is open for VidUKon 2026, taking place 5-7 June both in Birmingham and online. You can sign up HERE or find out more about pricing, this year's extras and available sponsorships HERE. The deadline to register for in-person attendance is on 30 April. Registration for online attendance closes 4 June.

Submissions for Vidder's Choice open
Submissions for Vidder's Choice are now open (deadline is on 19 April). Find out more about how to submit your vids HERE. VJs and panelists, the deadline to submit programming is 30 April.

Upcoming submission deadlines
The submission deadline for Premieres and the Themed Vidshow (Unfinished Business) are about 2 weeks away on 19 April. For everyone planning to submit, good luck getting those vids over the line. And enjoy yourselves! We'll let everyone know as soon as submissions open – should be soon.

Register for the Group Vidding Workshop & Quiz
Signups for the pre-con Group Vidding Workshop are open and will close on 20 April. Assignments go out by 27 April and the submission deadline is 10 May. Find out more and sign up here. You can also register for Friday night's fiendishly difficult/fun Quiz by signing in at vidukon.org and going to your Dashboard. The questions and stream will be open to all attendees so if you want to follow along without officially signing up and joining a team, you can do that too!

Schedule now available
The schedule for this year's con is now available on the VidUKon platform HERE (you need to be logged in to view it). As always, we're really excited about this year's programming! Big breaks in the schedule (1pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm UK time) indicate lunch and dinner breaks.

Chaos Hour is back
The informal Chaos Hour chat is back to break up the long dinnertime slot on Saturday night BST. This year it follows the Then & Now vidshow and panel, so if people want to keep the discussion going, we'll have the time! Chaos Hour is a casual Zoom chat for online attendees to just hang out, so pop in to tell us about why all vidders should watch this one new (or old) show, talk about your favourite new effects trick, or anything else vid-related!

Thursday programming
There will again be some online-only programming on Thursday evening. An All-Virtual Vidder's Choice show will start at 20:00 UK time. The con will officially kick off on Friday afternoon around 15:00 UK time

Birmingham registration
If you're planning to join us in person, you need to register by Thursday 30 April if you haven't already. Find out more about the con hotel and find a roommate HERE.

Con Discord server
As in previous years, most of the weekend's online socialising will take place in the VidUKon Discord server, including chats during each vidshow and panel. You will receive an invitation to join the server on Thursday, 4 June. If you do not already have a Discord account, you will need to create one ahead of time to get the most out of the (virtual) con experience.

With more updates to come, make sure to keep an eye on our social media – you'll always find the latest info here on Dreamwidth, plus you can keep tabs on us via Tumblr and Bluesky.

Those important dates one more time:
19 April – deadline to submit to Vidder’s Choice, Premieres and the themed submissions show (Unfinished Business)
30 April – deadline to register for in-person attendance
15 May – deadline to register for online attendance + add-ons (conbook; coasters)
4 June – deadline to register for online attendance only
5-7 June – VidUKon \o/

Current Mood: curious
Current Music: nothing now

Monday night.

Starting tomorrow, I'll have a full week and change where every day has some obligation or appointment, one Tuesday to another. Movie tickets, dentist visits, concerts, a whole bunch of stuff. Making a cake, too, though that's more within the bounds of my apartment and doesn't require me to show up anywhere besides the grocery store, and even then it's just to buy some fresh ingredients.

Is it strange I'm looking forward to it? There's parts that are going to be slightly inconvenient, and I'm looking forward to some things more than others, and overall I'm liking the idea of having places to go, things to do. Things to get done, really.

I started the at-home cataloging gig today. I didn't do much, just a few entries, because I wanted to touch base with the client as soon as was possible within the timeline of the project. I'm waiting on a response to let me know if it's what he wants, or what he wants changed. Certainly having other things to occupy my time is going to make waiting for an email or a phone call that much easier. There's only going to be so much Lunar live footage before they have to come back to Earth.