Guess Who Finally Finished Reading 镇魂 Guardian!

The Husky and His White Cat ShiZun, volume FOUR 四

So, again, the translators Rynn and Jun have amazed me with their prowess. I have all of three notes for this entire volume, and two are just extra cultural background for kids who didn’t grow up in Chinese culture.

So, yah - Chu Wanning put this hand in the window frame, then he heard a crack sound, and then he realized that he had broken the window frame. Oops.

If you grow up around Chinese people, you might hear them talking about some foods being too cold or others being too hot, but they’re not talking about temperature, they’re talking about the effect of the food on the body.

And once you’ve lost your internal health-balance and are experiencing the negative effects of being too “hot,” you explain away your weird symptoms of not sleeping well, sore throat, acne, etc as being the result of eating too many chili peppers or chocolate muffins the day before.

It’s strange, but it all makes sense. Just eat your chocolate muffins in moderation.

If you watch enough period dramas, you see a lot of saluting, often but not always accompanied by a bend at the waist.

And in case you didn’t remember: -xiong means “brother.” Polite way to address a man of roughly even status.

Here is Part 4 of my annotations of First Edition MDZS, Volume 1, pages 210 - 263.

I just finished 魔道祖师 Mo Dao Zu Shi Read #2. I kinda keep expecting fanfare— trumpets or fireworks or at least a dramatic swell of music filling the house! But, alas, it’s just me. Everyone around me assumes it’s just a normal night in.

I read Reader Comments this time (in the kunnu.com version), and I must admit, I really enjoyed them. The last chapters (113, the Official Last Chapter, and 126, the Last Chapter Published) are full of comments commemorating First Read Complete! Second Read Complete! Fifth Read! Nth Read!

So many “Nth Read!” comments. I can’t think of any book I’ve read more than three times, much less so many times that one would lose count. It’s not like putting on your favorite movie while you do your chores - you have to Concentrate and Focus to read!

It’s nice to know that there are people out there who also can’t find their way out of the MDZS rabbit hole, who also love WangXian so much that they re-read and re-read and re-read, who know exactly what’s going to happen but still want to experience it again and again and again.

And there Will be fireworks this weekend, to commemorate “my Second Read-Through 😘”.

(What book have you read more than once? Do you know why you go back to it over and over?)

Here is Part 3 of my annotations of First Edition MDZS, Volume 1, pages 148 - 209

On HanGuang-Jun’s peerless beauty

Let us all take a moment to appreciate Lan Wangji’s beauty as described in the novel.

Since he was young, he has always been regarded as a model cultivator alongside his brother. He is famous for his talents, his manners, and his handsome face. He’s generally described to have a pristine face with graceful and elegant features and light eyes almost like colored glass. He has a slender yet muscular figure and he stands tall at 188 cm (from MXTX’s footnote in Chapter 115). However, he is described to have a straight face; at times, even described to look like he was always mourning. His aura is likened to smooth moonlight and other times, to snow and ice. He is second only to his brother Lan Xichen in the (unofficial) list of most handsome cultivators of their generation due to his stern and aloof personality around most people.

Here is a compilation of official art used for the novel and audio drama (since they are done by the same artists) along with descriptions from the novel as narrated not only by Wei Wuxian throughout the entire time he has known Lan Wangji, but also by random people from the cultivation society and even by the average noncultivator humans. Also used some screencaps from the donghua, manhua, and live action since there have yet to be any illustrations for some.

Lan Wangji at 15

Illustration for the Official Vietnamese translation set by Changyang 

Chapter 13: Refinement Wei WuXian made the sound of an oh and asked, “Is he a lad who looks quite pretty?”

Jiang Cheng sneered, “Is there anyone who looks ugly in the GusuLan Sect? His sect doesn’t even accept disciples with unclean features. If you can, find me one who has an average face.”

Wei WuXian emphasized, “Very pretty.” He pointed at his head, “White from top to bottom, wearing a forehead ribbon, and carrying a silver sword on his back. He looked rather handsome, but with his straight face, he looked like he was mourning.”

When Wei WuXian turned his head, he could see the side of Lan WangJi’s face. His lashes were long, appearing to be extremely delicate and elegant. His posture was also very upright, looking straight ahead.

Cover art of Season 1 Episode 5 of audio drama by A-Xin

Chapter 125: Lotus Seedpod Extra (Yunmeng Side) He then turned to Jiang YanLi. “Shijie, do you know Lan WangJi?”

Jiang YanLi said, “I do. He’s the Second Young Master Lan who is said to be very handsome and talented, isn’t he? Is he really that handsome?”

Wei WuXian, “He’s very handsome!”

Jiang YanLi, “Compared to you?”

Wei WuXian thought it over and replied, “Maybe more handsome than me, just the slightest bit.”

Wei WuXian raised two of his fingers, a tiny distance in between them. Jiang YanLi smiled as she cleaned up the plate. “Then he must be really handsome. Making new friends is a good thing, you can now go out to play with each other when you’re free.”

Chapter 125: Lotus Seedpod Extra (Gusu Side)

In this disorderly and bustling town, the entirety of his being truly couldn’t fit in, with the way he seemed untouched by a speck of dust and the fact that he was carrying a sword. The stall vendors, farmers, and bystanders rarely saw someone from such high class.

Lan Wangji at 17

Cover art for season 2 episode 11 of audio drama by Qianerbai

Chapter 55: Courage The glow of the firelight reflected against Lan WangJi’s face as though he was made of warm jade. It illuminated, with utmost clarity, the tearstreaks that ran down his cheek, as well.

Lan Wangji at 20

Cover art for Season 3 Episode 2 of the audio drama by Changyang 

Chapter 69: Departure Lan XiChen and Lan WangJi sat in an upright posture on two snowy steeds as they led the GusuLan Sect’s riding formation slowly forward. The two both wore swords at their waists and arrows on their backs. White robes and forehead ribbons flying in the air, they seemed to be deities themselves. Their snow white boots were so immaculate that it could even be cleaner than the other peoples’ clothes. The Two Jades of Lan truly were a flawless pair of jade, almost as though they were carved out of ice. As soon as they entered, even the air seemed to have become refreshing.

Cover art of Season 3 Episode 3 of audio drama by Changyang

Chapter 71: Departure From there, a white-robed man wearing a forehead ribbon slowly approached, carrying with him a sword and a zither.

The man’s features were of unparalleled grace, but frost and snow seemed to surround his figure. Before he had even drawn nearer, the cultivators quieted on their own, meeting his eyes in respect. The more well-known ones bravened up and went forth to salute him, “HanGuang-Jun.”

Lan Wangji in his 30s (present timeline)

Illustration from the MV of audio drama ending song 人间纵我, illustrated by Changyang

Chapter 7: Arrogance He had an aura of smooth moonlight. The seven-stringed zither that he carried on his back was narrower than most. Its body was black, made using wood of soft color.

The man wore a forehead ribbon with cloud patterns. His skin was fair, features both refined and elegant, as if he was a piece of polished jade. The color of his eyes was especially light, like they were made of colored glass, causing his gaze to be overly distant. His expression held the traces of frost and snow, stern to the degree of being stiff, unwavering even as he saw Wei WuXian’s ridiculous face.

There wasn’t a single spec of dust or wrinkled spot on him, from his head to his feet. It was impossible to find any fault with his appearance. Even so, two capitalized words jumped into Wei WuXian’s mind.

Mourning clothes!

Mourning clothes, indeed. Although all of the clans in the cultivation world used extravagant words to describe the GusuLan Sect’s uniform as the best-looking uniform and Lan WangJi as an incomparable beauty who only appeared once in a blue moon, nothing could help the bitter facial expression that made him look as though his wife had passed away.

[..]

Lan WangJi was silent, staring straight ahead, standing motionlessly in front of Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng was already exceptionally handsome, but as they stood face to face with each other, he still seemed a few degrees inferior.

Cover for audio drama extra “Lan Wangji - Accompanying you to sleep”

Chapter 65: Tenderness Lan WangJi was reading a book, his head down. A paper lantern was on the corner of the desk. Against the soft light of the fire, his face was even more like a piece of fine jade. Even his indifferent expression and his light eyes seemed to have been glazed a shade warmer. He was so beautiful that it seemed unreal. Caught by the moment, Wei WuXian was somehow entranced. Involuntarily, he inched closer.

Chapter 122: Gatecrashing (Extra) While he was sitting on Lan WangJi’s legs, he said, “HanGuang-Jun, your face truly is a total scam. Everyone thinks of you as someone with a clear mind who harbors no lust, a noble and chaste figure. I feel so wronged.”

Illustration for the audio drama season 3 poster by Changyang 

Chapter 87: Loyalty Lan WangJi’s figure was slender. He seemed to be quite the scholarly young master, but his power wasn’t to be disregarded. Not only was his arm strength shocking, his lower body was steady too. But, after all, it was a grown man who jumped from the tree, so although he caught Wei WuXian, he staggered slightly, walking a step backward. Immediately, however, he steadied himself.

Chapter 92: Longing The owner, “Really! No wonder. I was thinking you two good-looking figures must’ve come from a watery and spiritual place like the Jiangnan* region, Young Masters.”

Lan WangJi seemed as if he heard nothing. Wei WuXian laughed, “I can’t compare to him. He’s much more handsome than I am.”

The owner had quite a good mouth. She grinned, “He’s handsome, you’re cute. It’s different, but both are pretty! Oh, right.”

Would like to note that the physical appearance of a person with high cultivation is preserved at its prime. (Wen RuoHan’s level of cultivation was extremely high, so of course his corporal body was also perfectly maintained in its prime. –from Chapter 49: Guile)

Lan Wangji’s 33 scars and the Wen Sect brand mark

Screencap from MDZS donghua season 2

Screencap from MDZS manhua

Chapter 11: Refinement The person in the spring was quite tall. His skin was fair and his hair was black, wet and gathered to one side. The lines which outlined his waist and back were smooth, graceful yet holding strength. In simpler terms, he was a beauty.

However, Wei WuXian was definitely not stunned and unable to avert his gaze because he was looking at a bathing beauty. No matter how beautiful he was, he wouldn’t actually be attracted to men.

Really, it was the things on the person’s back that made him unable to avert his gaze.

There were dozens of intersecting scars.

[]

At the moment, the person in the spring turned around. Beneath his collarbone and near his heart, there was a clear sear.

Chapter 94: Longing The distinct Adam’s Apple, fair-colored skin, and smooth, aesthetic muscles flashed before his eyes so clearly that he didn’t even dare look at them straight, eyes averting slightly. He swallowed unconsciously, somehow feeling a bit parched. Wei WuXian clenched his teeth.

Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen, the top 2 most handsome cultivators of their generation

GIF from audio drama season 1 trailer illustrated by Higga

Chapter 11: Refinement Each place brought up the same kind of people. The GusuLan Sect had always been known for nurturing a lot of handsome men, especially the two jades of the clan’s current generation. Even though the two were not twins, they looked extremely similar to each other, which made it difficult to tell who was the superior one. Yet, although their appearances were similar, their personalities were not. Lan XiChen was gentle and benevolent, while Lan WangJi was overly aloof and stern, keeping everyone at an arm’s length and being the opposite of amiable. This was why, in the list of the bestlooking young masters in the cultivation world, the former ranked first, and the latter ranked second.

LASTLY

Lan Wangji’s rare smile

GIFs from 陈情令 / The Untamed, Wang Yibo as Lan Wangji

Chapter 100: Hatred But Wei WuXian immediately looked up. He very clearly saw beside Lan WangJi’s lips the transient glimpse of a soft smile that resembled sunlight reflected over snow. This time, not only Su She, even Lan XiChen and Jin Ling paused in astonishment.

Chapter 126: Yunmeng Hearing his words, Lan Wangji smiled faintly. The clear and bright light of the cold moon shining upon the lake was dimmed by this smile.

In the space of a moment, Wei Wuxian was left dazzled and felt light-headed. Involuntarily, that smiling expression also spread to his own face.

(All translations taken from Exiled Rebels Scanlations)

MDZS Vol 3 Annotations, part 1

Here is Part 1 of my annotations of MDZS Volume 3, pages 1-90. I hope it helps improve your reading experience!

(It's mostly cultural annotations and reminders of appropriately-untranslated words, with a few re-translations of really thorny sentences that I admit have no good translation.) (And a few places I re-translated to take out the fanciness. WWX, especially, usually speaks in a very simple, colloquial manner.)

Chinese Fashion doesn’t always make sense to me, but I gotta admit that I think it’s Really Interesting.

niche absurd fashion post

OKAY in response to this rb of my post here from @cansada-contenta​, i’ve decided to compile a bunch of stupid fashion i’ve seen on chinese singer(s) and loved in recent years. :DDDDD

as for that horrific blue sweater on xiao zhan, YO THAT’S EXACTLY THE KIND OF SHIT I’M TALKING ABOUT. most of these photos are of my good boy 吴青峰 during his time on singer 2019 bc his stylist did GREAT (also i only watch one (1) chinese reality singing show lol)

if you’d like to see most of these outfits in person (plus others I didn’t manage to find good pics of! gosh that violet trenchcoat outfit he’s wearing when he’s singing with jolin tsai at 49:11??? so good. jolin looks classy and he just looks like a DISASTER)  you can check out this compilation of all his songs on the season here! :D highly recommend, i love his voice ;~;

anyways, first, the spiritual cousin to that horrendous blue sweater number on xz:

hideous!! what the fuck is that!! looks like you cut up two sweaters and stapled them to the front of a white t-shirt and then paired it with some white slacks!! what!! horrible!! i love it so fucking much!

rest is under a readmore bc i got really quite carried away:

Keep reading

Asking for directions

I just replaced my computer because it was at 100% disk usage 90% of the time 😫

windows 10 is garbage so every time i boot up the computer i have to run command prompt and enter

net.exe stop “Windows Search”

so that the shitty goddamned search/cortana feature that i never fucking use stops running in the background taking up all my fucking disk space

      Bookshelf inserts

hey say that you can’t judge a book by its cover. But what if the cover alone can tell you the whole story? Welcome to the world of book nooks where creativity runs wild!

These hand-made creations will draw you into tiny places of wonder: from the hobbit hole to the Blade Runner-inspired apocalyptic alley or Lord of the Rings-themed door replica equipped with motion sensors.

This book nook my mother got on Ebay

A Magical bookshop in your own bookshelf

I made a booknook for a christmas gift, my inspiration was Blade Runner. It’s 11" X 6"

Not only are book nook inserts a fun way to train your creativity muscle, they can also be a solution to making reading great again. A recent study done by Pew Research Center showed that a staggering quarter of American adults don’t read books in any shape or form. The same study suggested that the likelihood of reading was directly linked to wealth and educational level. Add high levels of modern insomnia and full-time employment that leaves many of us drained at the end of the day, and the idea of opening a book seems unappealing, to say the least.

Now imagine yourself walking past a bookshelf full of these mini worlds—the dioramas of an alley. They catch your attention and you cannot help but see what’s inside. The pioneer of the book nook concept is the Japanese artist Monde. Monde introduced his creations to the Design Festa in 2018 and received overwhelming feedback. 178K likes on twitter later, Monde has become an inspiration to the aspiring arts and crafts lovers who join on r/booknooks to share their spectacular ideas.

Hobbit Hole

Design, print and paint a small shelf to decorate shelves

worlds hidden in a bookcase

A double wide endor inspired wilderness piece

Old Italy book nook

Diagon Alley booknook

Witch is watching you

Warhammer-style booknook

Creature from the Black Lagoon bookshelf monster

A booknook inspired by Les Miserables

source https://www.boredpanda.com/book-nook-shelf-inserts

I love this so much,  thank you!😊❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️