Made A Picker Wheel For Basically Zhou Shen's Entire Discography!

!!!!!!! Now, can anybody tell me about the quality of the translation before I buy copies for all my friends?

a word on translation

(just to get this off my chest so I can 问心无愧 going forward)

I’ve been doing a lot of translating for the CQL/The Untamed fandom lately, and while it continues to baffle me that people seem to enjoy the rambling that comes with it, I do want to talk a bit about what goes through my head whenever I translate, just so people know what parameters I’m constantly juggling when I make these choices

this post is partially a disclaimer and partially a PSA, but if you’ve ever had any questions about the reliability of a translation/translator (it’s me. I’m the unreliable translator.), I encourage you read on!

(it does get long, but you already knew that, coming from me)

Keep reading

Terry Pratchett's 2001 Carnegie Medal Winner Speech

I’m pretty sure that the publicists for this award would be quite happy if I said something controversial, but it seems to me that giving me the Carnegie medal is controversial enough. This was my third attempt. Well, I say my third attempt, but in fact I just sat there in ignorance and someone else attempted it on my behalf, somewhat to my initial dismay.

The Amazing Maurice is a fantasy book. Of course, everyone knows that fantasy is 'all about' wizards, but by now, I hope, everyone with any intelligence knows that, er, what everyone knows...is wrong.

Fantasy is more than wizards. For instance, this book is about rats that are intelligent. But it also about the even more fantastic idea that humans are capable of intelligence as well. Far more beguiling than the idea that evil can be destroyed by throwing a piece of expensive jewellery into a volcano is the possibility that evil can be defused by talking. The fantasy of justice is more interesting that the fantasy of fairies, and more truly fantastic. In the book the rats go to war, which is, I hope, gripping. But then they make peace, which is astonishing.

In any case, genre is just a flavouring. It's not the whole meal. Don't get confused by the scenery.

A novel set in Tombstone, Arizona, on October 26, 1881 is what– a Western? The scenery says so, the clothes say so, but the story does not automatically become a Western. Why let a few cactuses tell you what to think? It might be a counterfactual, or a historical novel, or a searing literary indictment of something or other, or a horror novel, or even, perhaps, a romance – although the young lovers would have to speak up a bit and possibly even hide under the table, because the gunfight at the OK corral was going on at the time.

We categorize too much on the basis of unreliable assumption. A literary novel written by Brian Aldiss must be science fiction, because he is a known science fiction writer; a science fiction novel by Margaret Attwood is literature because she is a literary novelist. Recent Discworld books have spun on such concerns as the nature of belief, politics and even of journalistic freedom, but put in one lousy dragon and they call you a fantasy writer.

This is not, on the whole, a complaint. But as I have said, it seems to me that dragons are not really the pure quill of fantasy, when properly done. Real fantasy is that a man with a printing press might defy an entire government because of some half-formed belief that there may be such a thing as the truth. Anyway, fantasy needs no defence now. As a genre it has become quite respectable in recent years. At least, it can demonstrably make lots and lots and lots of money, which passes for respectable these days. When you can by a plastic Gandalf with kung-fu grip and rocket launcher, you know fantasy has broken through.

But I’m a humourous writer too, and humour is a real problem.

It was interesting to see how Maurice was reviewed here and in the US. Over there, where I've only recently made much of an impression, the reviews tended to be quite serious and detailed with, as Maurice himself would have put it, 'long words, like "corrugated iron."' Over here, while being very nice, they tended towards the 'another wacky, zany book by comic author Terry Pratchett'. In fact Maurice has no wack and very little zane. It's quite a serious book. Only the scenery is funny.

The problem is that we think the opposite of funny is serious. It is not. In fact, as G K Chesterton pointed out, the opposite of funny is not funny, and the opposite of serious is not serious. Benny Hill was funny and not serious; Rory Bremner is funny and serious; most politicians are serious but, unfortunately, not funny. Humour has its uses. Laughter can get through the keyhole while seriousness is still hammering on the door. New ideas can ride in on the back of a joke, old ideas can be given an added edge.

Which reminds me... Chesterton is not read much these days, and his style and approach belong to another time and, now, can irritate. You have to read in a slightly different language. And then, just when the 'ho, good landlord, a pint of your finest English ale!' style gets you down, you run across a gem, cogently expressed. He famously defended fairy stories against those who said they told children that there were monsters; children already know that there are monsters, he said, and fairy stories teach them that monsters can be killed. We now know that the monsters may not simply have scales and sleep under a mountain. They may be in our own heads.

In Maurice, the rats have to confront them all: real monsters, some of whom have many legs, some merely have two, but some, perhaps the worse, are the ones they invent. The rats are intelligent. They're the first rats in the world to be afraid of the dark, and they people the shadows with imaginary monsters. An act of extreme significance to them is the lighting of a flame.

People have already asked me if I had the current international situation in mind when I wrote the book. The answer is no. I wouldn't insult even rats by turning them into handy metaphors. It's just unfortunate that the current international situation is pretty much the same old dull, stupid international situation, in a world obsessed by the monsters it has made up, dragons that are hard to kill. We look around and see

foreign policies that are little more than the taking of revenge for the revenge that was taken in revenge for the revenge last time. It's a path that leads only downwards, and still the world flocks along it. It makes you want to spit. The dinosaurs were thick as concrete, but they survived for one hundred and fifty million years and it took a damn great asteroid to knock them out. I find myself wonder wondering now if intelligence comes with its own built-in asteroid.

Of course, as the aforesaid writer of humourous fantasy I'm obsessed by wacky, zany ideas. One is that rats might talk. But sometimes I'm even capable of weirder, more ridiculous ideas, such the possibility of a happy ending. Sometimes, when I'm really, really wacky and on a fresh dose of zany, I'm just capable of entertaining the fantastic idea that, in certain circumstances, Homo Sapiens might actually be capable of thinking. It must be worth a go, since we've tried everything else.

Writing for children is harder than writing for adults, if you're doing it right. What I thought was going to be a funny story about a cat organizing a swindle based on the Pied Piper legend turned out to be a major project, in which I was aided and encouraged and given hope by Philippa Dickinson and Sue Coates at Doubleday or whatever they're calling themselves this week, and Anne Hoppe of HarperCollins in New York, who waylaid me in an alley in Manhattan and insisted on publishing the book and even promised to protect me from that most feared of creatures, the American copy editor.

And I must thank you, the judges, in the hope that your sanity and critical faculties may speedily be returned to you. And finally, my thanks to the rest of you, the loose agglomeration of editors and teachers and librarians that I usually refer to, mostly with a smile, as the dirndl mafia. You keep the flame alive.

I’m annotating the Official Translation of MDZS before I lend it out to non-Chinese friends, and as I was reading I realized that the Chapters are different! Paper Book ch 1 = online book ch 1-4!

Which is ok, fine, sure…but that also means that there are no incredibly cute chapter titles to make the relationship between author and reader feel more intimate. I love MXTX as much as I do partially because every few chapter titles felt like it was a charming little inside joke that she wrote just for me (and her other millions of readers).

Here is a screenshot and link to Awesome Charming Cute Chapter Titles:

Here are the English Translations, courtesy of the MDZS wiki ❤️:

So my questions now:

do I just Pencil In the Cute Chapter Titles in the paper novel where they would/should appear?

Do they matter as much when it’s so difficult to translate the completely different style that they are written in — cutesy slang — vs. the writing style of the novel — proper “period” XianXia? I mean, of all the LWJ references in the chapter titles, she only writes his actual name Lan Wangji “properly” twice. Twice, in over 100 chapters. I learned how to read slang in Chinese because of these chapter titles! (And the end-chapter notes, and some of the comments :)

What’s the best way to introduce this story to a non-Chinese, non-XianXia, non-BL-reader?!?!?

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:

I am new to DMBJ fandom and I want to ask a favour. Would you introduce me to some dmbj tumblr blogs, active or on hiatus. No pressure though.

Hello anon!! I have no idea when you sent this to me, and honestly huge apologies since I've been on hiatus for , like , literal months. Yikes. At this point you've probably found all the blogs you'd like to find, but I'll include a few that come to mind under the cut anyway! 

Please keep in mind that I've been on hiatus for several months, so there could be super ✨hot✨ and ✨fresh✨ new blogs I am not aware of, and/or some of these folks may have drifted out of the fandom, and/or my memory may have failed me!

Best of luck anon, and welcome! :D

DMemeBJers (A-Z)

@cross-d-a​ - crossy baby has been on hiatus for awhile but I think about her tits post literally every day. If anyone has a link please sent it to me. Please. I’m begging. 

@ghostyshades - a Meme Queen (gender neutral), tho I’m not sure if Sasha is still posting DMBJ?

@nope4ever - the absolute funniest DMemeBJ person alive

@psychic-waffles - Jack owns my entire ass and I would die for him, you’ve seen his sketches and you don’t even know, I love him

DMBJ Fan Artists / Gif Makers (A-Z)

@ashenwren / art blog @ashenlights - wonderful artist and all around good person! Multi-fandom but has some great DMBJ stuff :)

@creeds-eagle - Wonderful gifs across a variety of DMBJ shows!

@dmbjartreblogs, run by @unforth - thanks for the addition, Foxy!!! :)

@keichin - an incredible artist!! last I checked, mostly draws HeiHua + misc. from TLT3

@rose-nebulijia - does beautiful edits as well as incredible fic, is also my heart, love, and life. You may also see her referred to as Vishie!

@tianzhens - this is someone I just recently started following!

@wu-xie - makes gorgeous gifsets, though they may also be on hiatus??

DMBJ Fic Writers (A-Z)

@achray1 - multi-fandom blog and one of the absolute best fanfic writers I have had the pleasure to read

@amidalogicdive - very kind, great writer, and super involved in fandom projects!!

@chirpybirdy - I haven’t talked to them much, but I know they have a bunch of DMBJ fic? I’m not sure how frequently they post DMBJ

@dmbjexchange - a great place to start if you wanna get in on fic!

@eirenical - very horny for Zhu Yilong, which is relatable and sexy of them

@epicwalrus - a gem of a writer, person, and being. 10/10 good vibes

@foxofninetales​ - FOXY BABY is an absolute gem, a star, a great author and all around joy to be around, I really have no idea if she is still posting DMBJ but I think so and for that I include her

@hils79 - quite literally the nicest person on this hellsite, also a DMBJ legend @humanlighthouse​ - an absolute legend, PingXie fic queen, also has a very soft aesthetic that will make your dash ~glow~

@kholran - is any DMBJ rec list complete without the RiSang pool noodle? Signs point to no

@laireshi - incredible author with equally incredible feelings about Xiaoge and I think that’s very fun, flirty, and sexy of them

@mejomonster - multi-fandom, but can always be counted on for EXTENSIVE and HEART-RENDING DMBJ tags

@merinnan - multifandom and multi-interest blog; prolific writer in DMBJ + very involved in DMBJ fan events and such!

@pissmeoffanddie - not DMBJ exclusive but YES genuinely the most wonderful

@s1utspeare​ - an absolute fucking legend, mostly posting M9, Fo/FuBa, and other fandoms now, but still a great DMBJ source!!

@thosch3i - not on tumblr a whole lot but when they are I am almost guaranteed to peel at my yellow wallpaper about it

@traineecryptid - great writer and very fun dash energy!

@undyingsunshine - if you like crying about Li Cu, have I got the blog for you!!!!

Good Vibes and DMBJ Content (A-Z)

@dmbjaddict and @theyareinlovecanttellmeotherwise are great blogs if you want lots of DMBJ / PingXie content on your feed!!

@canary3d-obsessed - actually not sure how much she posts DMBJ consistently, but her DMBJ fashion posts literally ascended me to the heavenly realm  

@jaecomments - the literal love of my life, professional hype beast

@justpostsyeet - always down for a good head canon discussion, especially about our fave bitchy ex ;)

@greymouser13 - I have no idea if they are still posting DMBJ but I do know that they bring me joy, and thus here they are

@kolachess - super interesting posts, head canons, and translation discussion! (multi-fandom)

@mythochondrion - bonk, go to horny jail

@ninbayphua - Ninby posts loads of fandoms, incl. DMBJ! Also has a writing blog that you can find here: @ninbayphua-moyan

@uschickens - great head canons and DMBJ discussion, same good vibes as @momosandlemonsoda

@xcziel - follow for the tags, stay for the incredible loving energy 

@xiaobaibai - a great place to find fanart and general good vibes :)

@xia-xueyi - not DMBJ exclusive but has a really cute turtle and really nice energy so.... 🐢

Mystic Nine Specific, & We Love That For Them (A-Z)

@elletromil - every day I think about how talented Elle is, and every day I weep. These are related events.

@gaiahenshin - immediately after weeping about Elle, I think about how kind and lovely Gaia is, and then the weeping recommences. These are related events. 

I’m sure there are loads I missed, and others I mis-labelled! Please feel free to add corrections and additions in the reblogs or notes. :)

There are Reasons for the Lan Rules! Imagine how crazy GuSu would be if they all roamed around wantonly like WWX…

lan xichen was really like *traumadumps the weirdest fucking story you’ve ever heard* *flute solo* “do you know my brother is in love with you?” at like 2am in the span of five minutes and no one stopped him

Do you all know 杨可爱Yang Ke’ai yet?

She does lots of popular covers and mash-ups and “how to memorize 5-50 Chinese poems via music” songs in a Classical Chinese style (chinoiserie?) with a UKULELE. If you’re not watching her beautiful videos of her singing and playing music in full hanfu, you’d think she was playing a Pipa or a Guzheng or even a Guqin, but, no — that’s a Ukulele.

Anyway, have you all heard her Mo Dao Zu Shi mashup yet? 14 songs from Audio Drama, Donghua, and Fan Music (a lot of the creators of which were also part of the Audio Drama and Donghua).

It’s awesome and deserves many many views. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/plf5KFqvUhg

Asking for directions