What's a trope that will almost always get you to read a book?
For me, it's fake dating. I absolutely love the it's-just-a-favor that turns into Real Feelings™. I eat that shit up!
I knew I was going to love Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee because it's in the title. And it didn't disappoint. In this Crazy Rich Asians meets Heartstopper YA rom-com, Dylan and Theo are absolutely precious and I would protect them both with my life! There's baking, swoony moments, rediscovering lost family mooncake recipes, learning about your heritage, and so many food references that will have you craving xiao long bao the entire book. Did I mention there's also a corgi named Clover?
If you're a fan of fake dating like I am, I highly recommend this wonderful debut by Sher Lee!
by Warren King, an American artist with Chinese heritage.
#1, 2 - “Xuanzang”, based on the 7th Century monk by the same name who trekked 10,000 miles into India to recover Buddhist texts and inspired the classic novel, Journey to the West.
#3 - “The Wi Dan answers the call” - inspired by his grandmother, who wanted to enlist to fight the Japanese invasion
The Overland Hotel and Casino, a renowned name in Reno’s chip-collecting community, holds a unique place in the history of legalized gaming in Nevada. Established in 1933, it stands as one of the state’s earliest legal gaming establishments, following the legalization of gaming in Nevada in 1931.
Under the ownership and vision of Richard “Pick” Hobson, a pioneering figure in Reno’s gaming scene,…
I can't properly put into words the amount of disgust that I feel seeing someone who looks like she could be my cousin fight for a genocidal occupational force like Israel but I will say this.
If you are Chinese, Korean, Japanese or any one of these Asian ethnicities that the West deem "acceptable" and you align yourselves with western-backed racial supremacy, you are making fools of yourselves. You have fallen prey to the myth of the "model minority" and you are suckers for it.
The premise of racial supremacy is based on exclusivity. And here's a dose of reality - the myth of the "model minority" is nothing but a tactic to placate you. To sow divide in the ranks of people of colour. To artificially manufacture another realm of racial supremacy in minorities so that you're distracted from how we all suffer under colonialism.
Did we all forget about the skyrocketing of sinophobia in the wake of the first COVID outbreak? The transformation of Chinese people into fiends with barbaric eating customs, poor hygiene, and mass conspiracy to infect the world with biological weapons?
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What about the hate-crimes? The attacks in the street against anyone visibly asian? The rampant discrimination and ostracisation from society?
In 2020, Donald Trump referred to COVID-19 as "The Chinese Virus", "Kung-flu" at a campaign rally to raucous applause, a chilling echo of the times where fears of the "Yellow Peril" had the western world in a stranglehold.
For all that Chinese people have been lauded as "prodigies" and "well-mannered workers", the moment our existence was incovenient, were were nothing more than another target. And although Chinese suffering then wasn't close to the scale of suffering that Palestinians now endure, we all received a reminder on what it was like to be in the world's crosshairs.
Now, in 2023, Biden dismisses death tolls as unreliable and remains proudly Zionist even after Netanyahu described the genocide Israel is inflicting upon Palestine as the "struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle." At the same time, Palestinians are being compared to fleeing rats in a gesture of dehumanisation that mirrors how the Nazis portrayed Jews during the Holocaust.
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And let's not think Abigail's Jewishness will save her, not when it's been proven that Israel has administered contraceptives to Ethiopian Jewish immigrants without their consent. Racial supremacy is an exclusive club that never stops getting smaller, and there is nothing that you, as a minority, will ever be able to do to fit in. One day, you too will be a target and there'll be nothing you can do but blame yourself. After all - it's already happened.
So shame on Abigail. Truly. With the memory of knowing what it's like to be targeted for factors out of your control fresh in her mind, she happily fights to do the same to others. And that says more about her than I ever will be able to.
Well we can all guess who won the Poll! Here’s the new version of Celine Titania! I cleaned her up a bit and now she’s all ready to go! Now Celine Titania looks immobile and vulnerable but she isn’t, in fact she has more knives and sharp objects to stab you with than Titania does.
Also she has sharp long nails so be very careful when trying to attack, she can fight back. Just like Titania’s and Bleu Celines dress her bottom part can be torn off for combat. She can strangle you with her see through shawl and her shoes hurt when kicked with. She always has her fan covering her mouth as she speaks to her senticreatures or her champions, it also hides the mouth that knows all secrets of the future.
Also her roses are definitely a symbolism.
I’m gonna be honest, this was a small doodle that turned into something really pretty, I was a bit upset that Celine Titania’s original design had no Chinese aspect to it because I could never figure out how to design something that added both parts of both Miraculouses. But I took OG Celine Titania’s colors and mixed it with this doodle. I really like it and am FINALLY satisfied with it.
Not all Miraculous designs are going to be Chinese themed unless they are unified with the peacock and butterfly and we will definitely be seeing more main seven unifications since I’ve decided that those should just be the main Miraculouses Marinette uses instead of using the Chinese zodiac ones(Because we still have the power ups and that just is too much designing man). Don’t worry the rabbit, mouse, dragon, and snake will be seen and used but only those ones.
Anyway I’m home for Christmas break so chapter 4 will be updated soon!
it’s interesting to me when people on tumblr who are learning chinese say you don’t need to learn radicals, because………i just don’t think that’s true? as someone who grew up speaking and learning it natively i may be biased, but there’s just…….so many situations when knowing at least basic radicals and meanings is very useful.
if you’re in an area that uses traditional or simplified and you’re used to the opposite set, then knowing radicals can be key to understanding the written language on signs in the area, menus, letters, etc. if you’re reading something and you know the meaning of the characters around a new character, but you don’t know what that character is because it’s unfamiliar to you, knowing radicals allows you to make a guess at the meaning of the character and possibly connect it to the spoken version of the character that you already know based on that context, as for example a radical often lends pronunciation clues to a character.
also, knowing radicals makes it much easier to remember how to write characters—it’s much easier to remember, say, 想 as wood-and-eye-over-heart (木目心) or 绿 as silk-record (silk radical 纟plus the word 录 as in 录音, audio recording) because those are patterns you already have than to remember the individual strokes necessary to write a character. and on the topic of writing—knowing radicals also tells you the order in which to write a character, which is absolutely key to writing legible, orderly characters in a minimal amount of time!
obviously the measure of how many radicals you “really” “have to” know is going to vary by the person you talk to, but i think it’s important to have at least a passable basis in radicals if you’re going to learn chinese, a language written with radicals as important components of words.
and, lest i be remiss—here’s some resources i managed to find with a quick search.
hackingchinese page on radicals with a number of links to .anki, .txt, and .pdf files of the 100 most common radicals
hskacademy list of 214 radicals
a fluentu page that includes 214 radicals and expounds upon the meaning of phonetic and semantic components and their difference from radicals
ltl-beijing page that includes links to a list of radicals, some history behind them, a quiz, printable pdf, and more
and finally, not a link, but a recommendation for an app: download TOFU learn and use the hsk level decks! this is a very easy way to get into the habit of writing and repeating characters daily, which is absolutely vital if you want to get anywhere with reading and writing. dot languages also has a written component to practices, but the app is multi-functional and not confined to writing, nor does it give information about component and radical meanings like TOFU learn does. additionally, i would recommend downloading pleco, which is a very thorough dictionary that has the option to view the radical/component breakdown of a given character (under the “chars” tab—for example it breaks down 音 as 立 and 日) i’ve also seen skritter recommended a lot, but i cannot vouch for that.
Days 9 and 10 - Xanthe Zhou and Cassandra Cain from DC Comics
Spirit World #1, which features these two, just came out this week. I don't pick up comics often these days, but it's a cool premise and the art is awesome.
I am wrapping up my final exams, case studies, and course revisions, however I’d like to share this video. It’s a song about and regarding traditional Chinese art forms that are “dying” but are continuously regarded as national treasures worth preserving. This was cross posted on my TikTok page.
I drew a lot of Marinette Dupain-Cheng from Miraculous Ladybug. I have the same love hate relationship with this show that most of the active fandom has. I may repurpose the time lapse from this drawing to use as visual while I rant about it and turn that into a YouTube video.
This is technically a redesign of Marinette, except I mostly like her canon design, so it’s actually just putting her in a bunch of different outfits to fit the occasion.
I started by tracing a picture of her and starting to adapt it to my style, thence freeform drawing her canon design in my style, then went from there.
Imagined context for each one:
Canonette Trace: Marinette at a regular school day.
Canonette Freeform: Marinette attempting to greet Adrien like a normal human being and mostly succeeding.
Girlboss Marinette: She had a big presentation that she wanted to look professional for.
Bakinette: It’s 2 a.m. and she’s making brownies for some reason.
Dancinette: She’s ballet dancing alone in her room, cuz she’s not confident enough to dance in any public capacity.
Grouchinette: She hasn’t slept in 3 days and someone just asked her a really dumb question.
Fashionette: Showcasing her newest design
Pridenette: It’s a pride parade and she’s having a little too much fun.