#crash coursing chinese lang???
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a rant on making atla headcannons/fics/literally anything else believable, even though translation convention is a thing (aka, a crash course on the chinese language + some background about how atla was modeled after the existing cultures)
we all know atla is set in east asia(ish) right?
if not, you know now. but it's set in east asia, the different nations more or less correspond to different nations/ethnic groups that exist today. loosely, the fire nation is similar to imperial japan, the earth kingdom is based off of imperial china, the water tribes are modeled after the inuit/aleut/yupik/other indigenous cultures in the arctic, and the air nomads emulate tibetan buddhists.
in the real world, obviously all of these places have different languages and writing systems.
however, atla has chosen (based on the comics; remember this letter?)
to use what is functionally written (traditional!) chinese. (hanzi, 汉字, kanji, chu nom, whatever you would like to call it is cool).
why the hell should you care? after all, they speak english in the show! (as a note, that's called "translation convention," though i've heard it called "tolkien brainrot" lmfao, but basically it means that even though it's acknowledged that characters/that world is operating in a language different from those of the audience, everything is described in the language of the audience, with the assumption that everything's just be translated on principle. (see article here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TranslationConvention))
well, guess what? in the show, we still see that all the writing is done in chinese. with chinese writing conventions and tools, and a big part of making your writing/headcannons/etc believable will be incorporating these. hence, the crash course about the chinese langauge. (fyi, i'm assuming that avatar takes place in loosey the 1850s... not sure if this is correct, but honestly, any time before the 1920's doesn't reaaaaally matter.)
a crash course on the chinese language
chinese is a pictographic language. as such, many of the characters actually resemble what they're supposed to mean. (eg: 馬 is a horse, and it kind of looks like one. 山 is a mountain, and it also kind of looks like one.)
each character (there are over fifty thousand, though only like twenty thousand are really used...) has a distinct meaning, and a nondistinct sound. there are a set number of sounds (google bopomofo) , and a four (kind of five??) different intonations (it's kind of like singing; sometimes the sound goes up, sometimes it goes down, sometimes it stays at the same pitch, sometimes it goes down and up, you can research this on your own time.) however, unlike english, the meaning is attached to the character; if you were to just give someone a sound, there would be at least like eight different things you could mean.
if you were like "gee, that sounds like a lot of characters?" yeah. you'd be right. unlike in places that use the roman alphabet, schools in places that use any form of chinese characters basically send kids home with 5-100 characters that they have to learn to read and write. it's an ongoing process, from when you begin school to when you leave. there's no such thing as "finishing learning to read + write" at the age of seven and moving on.
chinese has "radicals", or different symbols that have different meanings. for example, water is 水，but in it turns into three dots on the left side of a character. eg: 河 is a river. those dots mean water, and the right part of it is more or less just phonetic (so, some radicals do indicate phonetic pronounciation, but not like... reliably.) or for example, 火 is fire, and it turns into four little dots under something, so 煎 is to fry, where the top part is also kind of phonetic. other things are just symbolic though, like 安, which means safe/peaceful. 女 is a woman, and the top part is a roof, so a woman under a roof = safe. (yeah, there's def sexism embedded, eg: 女 (woman) + 子 (child) = 好 (good) but that's kind of a different problem...). in short, radicals tell you something about the character's meaning, or what it related to.
there are actually two types of chinese script! (or at least, presently in use. there's like ooooold chinese, but no one uses it...) one is traditional and another is simplified. here's a few versions for comparison: 舊金山 (traditional) vs 旧金山 (simplified); 愛 (traditional) vs 爱 (simplified)；美國 (traditional) vs 美国(simplified); 謝謝 (traditional) vs 谢谢 (simplified. as you can see, not all words have simplifications. in atla, people use traditional characters. this is pretty historically accurate, given that simplified characters are a product of the chinese cultural revolution, circa 1949, so if we're in the 1850's, everyone definitely still using traditional. (though, in the real world, china uses simplified, taiwan uses traditional, and japan mostly uses traditional, but some simplified.... (idk that's a mess but it's valid)) obviously, simplification happens like 100 years after when we assume atla will take place, but if anyone is a nerd and willing to fudge around with timelines, you could absolutely include simplification, or controversy over it in your fic/hc/work.
no one write with pens. or quills. please. you lose all plausability the instant you put a quill dipped in ink in your story. (also like?? atla literally showed zuko writing??? and sokka with piandao doing calligraphy?? both with a 毛笔 (traditional brush) and the whole calligraphy setup? y'all??) but yeah the writing set-up is paper, something to stretch the paper out (it comes in like a roll/scroll form, so it tends to curl at the edges), plus a little rectangular ink well. (one end is kind of shallow, and the other one is deep, so you can get your brush in the ink, and then get some off, and get a pointy tip to be precise.) and also you sign your name with this neat little thing called a chop, which is basially a stamp.
this is more cultural, but generally having very neat writing is a sign that you're a very noble, organized, and virtuous (generally good) person.
punctuation was just. not a thing. for a hot second. until like the 1920s ish or like right after luxun published some of his stories…(if you really needed to denote a sentence end, you could use a "。" or "、" but usually you'd just move to a different line, or just... not. (so no question marks or exclamation points, unfortunately. (so that one fucking fantastic fic about question marks in sokka and zuko's relationship; unfortunately, not linguistically possible. (but also, the fic was really good, and the question marks were central to the plot point, so i'm willing to pretend it works (or that a question particle was used. what is that? next bullet point lol)
chinese uses particles to denote things! for example, 我 is "i." what is my? 我的。 the "的” is a particle that makes something posessive. in the same vein, 你 = you. 你的 = yours. 他 = he*, 他的 = his. another cool particle is 们, which pluralizes things. (我们 = we. 你们 = y'all. 他们 = they.) another cool thing is the question particle, 吗. it basically just... makes a thing a question. eg; "你喜欢蛋糕" = you like cake. “你喜欢蛋糕吗“ = you like cake? obvs there are other ways of making this a question "你喜不喜欢蛋糕” and "你是不是喜欢蛋糕的" so.... if u wanna write a fic like the question mark fic, maybe clarify that it's "吗“, which does work, linguistically?
*side note; in modern language, 他 = he/him, and 她 = she/her. there's work on developing something similar to they/them, there are a couple different versions, which i have *opinions* about, but that's for later. however 她 was actually created in the 1910s, as the result of westernization and a women's movement (in that order) in china. before the invention of 她, only 他 existed, and was therefore less gendered. although the 1910's is a bit late for atla's timeline, you could absolutely include it in your fics/hcs/work, and wreck havoc with the fact that referring to a third person in the singular is functionally gender neutral.
also, traditionally names are three characters. and the three characters are supposed to mean something cool. like people name kids stuff like 美琳 to mean "beautiful jade" or 俊德 to mean "handsome virtue." also names are written [last] [first first]. atla kinda said "fuck it" and although characters have two-character first names, (idk about katara???) they don't... mean anything... like iroh's is 艾洛—艾 is more or less meaningless, and just a sound (ai) and 洛 is also more or less meaningless except for the sound (luo).
also not really a chinese language thing but... i keep seeing fics try to reference actual asian lit, and then just... failing... so uh, here's a crash course; traditional chinese poetry from the tang dynasty uses something called 五言绝句, aka there are four lines, and each line contains five characters (syllables). there are four big important novels, called 红楼梦 (kinda about forbidden romance)，水浒传 (about a bunch of rebels sort of pursuing vigilante justice; each rebel has their own talent or skill), 三国演义 (...basically just a dramatic version of the warring states period?? lots of chinese idoms come from here, eg “说曹操他就到” which is basically "speak of the devil")，and 西游记(xuanzang the buddhist monk + his chaos gremlins (eg: monkey king) wreak havoc whilst xuanzang tries to find scriptures)。 another really famous romance is 梁山伯与祝英台, which is like forbidden love with a trans-ish twist. i'll make a post about these later, but please do your research, and don't just use characters from these in a shakespeare plot....
tl;dr
atla uses translation convention for speaking but not writing
atla script is basically traditional chinese, so no letters.
if we're assuming atla is in the 1850s, there are no punctuation or gendered third person pronouns. there are particles, which can kind of fill in gaps left by punctuation.
no one uses quills and everything is characters
learning to read/write takes up a substantial part of people's educations growing up, since its a pictorial language.
if you're gonna write about chinese classics, do it right.
#atla#avatar the last airbender#writing#chinese#chinese literature#crash coursing chinese lang???#mandarin#languages#gaang#zuko#katara#aang#toph#suki#sokka#asian languages#fanfic#writing advice#literacy#literature
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yknow. i dont talk abt being disabled a lot on here past making jokes but like
i was gointhrough emails on my uni account and deleting a lot of things, and watching my condition raipdly get worse in spring of 2021 through those was surrel. like i remember most of it because of constant recounting to the doctor's (the amount of doctor's messages too is wild), but it's also so weird for me to read an email to my Chinese lang prof telling her I couldn't participate in class that day because brain fog was so bad even after sleeping all fucking day.
like, in my mind, i went from a normal able bodied person to pretty severely disabled over the course of two years. i told my other disabled friends i hurt all the time and theyre like "well how long has this been going on" and i was like "oh two years, but im thinking maybe more. but i dont have chronic pain, it just Happens To Me" and this was BEFORE i had a chronic fatigue crash that cemented CFS in my body as a real and present thing. now i have to contend with it every day, along with the complications its brings.
now, i've been dealing with chronic pain for. an inordinate amount of years now. i've been disabled MUCH longer than i've been aware. the further back i think, the more i realize i've hurt and i either didnt realize that wasnt normal or i told people and they brushed me off.
my knees hyperextend. they have my whole life. (i had to go back and find picture evidence of this because my mom didnt remember) this causes a lot of pain on my feet, and has at least since middle school. i didnt like playing outside bc it hurt and was exhausting, but everyone assumed it was bc i was a bookworm and fat. i remember sitting next to the older family friend i was at the zoo with because both of our feet hurt from walking. i was 10. she was 60.
and i just wonder... how much did my doctor not notice??? i went through precocious puberty and she was never concerned. i started puberty at 7, and got my first period at 9. i havent grown since age 11. my tits are massive for my height bc THEY didnt stop growing until i was 21. she never mentioned my knees bending back, but she did mention my back/posture being a little weird (not weird enough to FIX apparently. ps i have a small unnatural curve of my spine, not sure if its scoliosis or not). my mom constantly feels guilty bc no one noticed, but tbf i never brought it up. i never thought i was hyperflexible/double jointed but it turns out i AM which means i was just a dumbass adhd kid who assumed everyone was like that.
and like. my joints are causing more and more problems. i started having more problems after my surgery as a result of the stress on my body, who knows what's gonna happen now that ive had covid??
i hyperextended my middle finger in my sleep and now it hurts to use. my right hip hyperextends and possibly subluxes on the regular and i cant fix it. my shoulders are WAY more mobile than they used to be, and i can force my left shoulder out of its socket to some degree while laying on it. the tips of my fingers bend super far down and my thumb apparently "looks like rubber" bc of how far i can bend/wiggle it.
idk, i had a point but i lost it. being disabled is weird and surreal for me, and most days i dont mind bc it makes me the funniest person in any room, but some days it REALLY fucking sucks
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heartstopper characters as ap kids
because this series has me in a chokehold
charlie spring: calc ab & bc, music theory, and physics 1. doesn’t sleep the night before the exam. programs the nokia snake game onto his graphing calculator.
nick nelson: psych, world history, and french. is the only reason his classmates pass the french exam. watches a lot of crash course.
tao xu: english lit, art history, and chinese. compares all the readings to his favorite films. runs an art history meme account that only people from school follow.
isaac henderson: english lang, english lit, and latin. is deeply invested in the story of quintus caecilius iucundus (iykyk). is going to murder the next person who mentions ethos pathos logos.
elle argent: 3d art, 2d art, drawing, and art history. fives across the board. her portfolio themes focus on queerness, the Black body, and femininity.
tara jones: human geo, stats, and enviro. makes the quizlets for all her classes. arranges pre-exam breakfasts.
darcy olsson: world, euro, and english lang. can make a solid argument with absolutely no concrete evidence. blames every international crisis on england (she’s not wrong).
imogen heaney: english lit, french, and art history. becomes obsessed with artemisia gentileschi. starts listening to french pop.
ben hope: chem, bio, and comp sci. doesn’t study and gets all twos. blames it on his teacher.
#nick nelson#charlie spring#tao xu#isaac henderson#elle argent#tara jones#darcy olsson#imogen heaney#ben hope#b*n h*pe#ap classes#ap#ap exams#heartstopper
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Foreign Language Training Institute in Delhi
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hey so uh, it's 110% Not Your Job, but can i ask for like a crash course on these chinese bl series that are everywhere around me but i don't know them. like i'm familiar with the untamed or however many names it has but i'm seeing two or three more???? help please if you can thank you
hello!! oh no worries, i happened to be looking for a distraction too so this was timely hahaha although it’s a pretty broad question since there are so many new live adaptations coming out (and some which have already come out which are featured as bromances), but let me see if I can like round this up for you a little.
*i may be giving you a bit more than you need or like irrelevant stuff, but i guess i’m bound to hit something hahaha
Okay so the chinese BL series you’re talking about is The Untamed, and since you said you’re familiar I won’t get into it in detail, BUT just for like flow’s sake:
The Untamed (Chen Qing Ling) is based on the danmei (BL) novel written by MXTX, called Mo Dao Zu Shi (and yes however many like English translations to this title there is), or MDZS for short. You watched the live-action, and there’s like a lot of other versions of it e.g. the anime, the chibi anime, audio dramas etc. etc. the list goes on. In case you still haven’t seen any of those, just glance through this masterpost made by @the-social-recluse - In any case, right now everything is sort of already out EXCEPT:
MDZSQ - chibi donghua, cutest shit you’ll ever see
More MDZS merch
Some teasers from MDZS mobile game which has been one year and developing
Now moving on to other BL series floating around so frequently - MDZS is the second book that MXTX wrote. So there’s SVSSS (The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving-System), which is also called lovingly by others in the fandom by Scumbag System/Villain in short, this is MXTX’s first danmei novel. Right now if you’ve seen this on Tumblr, it’s the anime (donghua) version - 10 episodes only for Season 1, available on WeTV with subs, finished airing like a few weeks ago. Translations of the novel are definitely out in full somewhere.
An absolute mess, but an organized one
Tried to do a manhua but failed
Everyone thought the donghua wouldn’t air on time either (it has a history of dropping development halfway) but it did
Would probably be the most entertaining if ever dealt with a live-action
And then there’s arguably, the most beloved child out of all three novels (at least right this moment) - TGCF (Tian Guan Ci Fu, or Heaven Official’s Blessing). This is the third and so far last (???) danmei novel MXTX has written, main pairing invented love. Strawhat-wearing scrap collector smiley angel with devoted kid-turned-adult-turned-ghost-king who follows smiley angel for like many years because he loves him. Anyway, if you’re seeing this, once again on Tumblr a lot, it’s the donghua version you’re seeing. Still airing, I think we’re midway through the whole season, the yelling starts Saturday (Asia time zone) and then extends into Sunday, sometimes Monday.
There’s like a god-tier Eng translation in full for TGCF by Suika
There is a manhua for this as well, only like 45 chapters in, but the time Jan/Feb 2021 rolls around, the donghua would have overtaken the manhua progress on the storyline HAHAHA
Apparently the director/production team who did CQL/The Untamed managed to get the rights to filming its live-action, but heh nothing much about that just yet aside from casting rumours and fans worrying that the casting will be done wrongly and also that they won’t be able to do justice to the story.
Alright now that we’ve more or less cleared MXTX and what everyone is hyping over (for good reason), let’s move on to the other CHINESE BL stuff you could be seeing (although I feel like you might not actually be asking about this), and these will all be live-actions (I’m also only clearing SOME of this year’s stuff, so none from before 2020, don’t ask me why I didn’t leave Guardian or SCI up here):
✨✨✨ Already aired, done and dusted or maybe ongoing, just ones I see on my dash and notifs so I definitely am biased ✨✨✨
The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty (Cheng Hua’s Fourteenth Year) - Many episodes, much bromance, base novel is gay af, but live action is cute af. Read more here and full translation is not yet done I think
My Roommate is a Detective - THIS IS A SPECIAL MENTION. NOT BL. Doesn’t even have like a book to go along with it, it’s just I’ve seen people getting into this again and creating content, so idk, imma just leave this here. It ain’t BL but it got the most glaring BL-esque relationship I’ve ever seen in my life. You’ll get what I mean if you watch it
The Lost Tomb Reboot - AGAIN another special mention, because many handsome young-ish men who you know, head into tombs, much bromance. Based on a huge series of novels, totally not BL, but as always with like a lot of men put into one story, ships happen. This year as well, in case you’ve seen it floating around
✨✨✨ Upcoming Chinese BL live-action adaptations, confirmed + casting + filming. You may have seen some of these because like posters were recently released etc. - As far as I know these are all slated for 2021 ✨✨✨
Faraway Wanderers (Tian Ya Ke) - A danmei novel by Priest, filming wrapped up, should be airing soon. Leads are pretty cute, although I’m sure they’ll turn this bromance. One of the male leads is known for a lot of period web dramas, and Gong Jun, the other male lead, is known for more contemporary modern dramas, but damn Gong Jun’s jawline
Winner is King (Sha Po Lang) - Another danmei novel by Priest, filming wrapped up recently as well if I recall? Posters recently released, and this is arguably Priest’s most famous and popular danmei
Immortality (Hao Yi Xing) - A super popular danmei novel called 2ha or The White Husky and His White Cat Shizun by Meat Bun. Filming also... wrapped? I think, because posters came out the next day and everyone from Earth to Pluto went mad, definitely one you should look out for next year spring i think, but I’m pretty sure there’s gonna be a hell lot more teasers, posters etc. coming up and then half of danmei Tumblr will probably go into cardiac arrest
The Society of Four Leaves (Zhang Gong An) - Ehhhh I think this hasn’t yet been filmed but casting was recently confirmed (contentiously). Concept posters are up though. This technically isn’t classified officially as a BL. There are no CPs officially in the novel, but apparently it’s very like idk flirty etc., also slated for next year
*There are a few more by Priest, e.g. Liu Yao, but no concrete news that I’ve seen (by now like at least 60% of her danmeis either have a live-action contract or a donghua contract or both lmao)
✨✨✨ Upcoming Chinese BL donghua adaptations (2021-ish). All by Priest✨✨✨
*Throwing this in just as a by the way thing, because these are also recent news (these two weeks). There might be more but I haven’t seen anything yet personally :D
Imperfection (Can Ci PIn) - Space AU, the novel won like two national literary awards if I recall like last year? Anyway a brief trailer recently came out last week I think, and main lead is handsome af, and once again it’s space and space wars so it’s pretty cool
Silent Reading (Mo Du Zhe) - Novel is called Mo Du, and honestly I think the donghua has been like teasing fans for like idk years, but it looks like we’re finally getting to the donghua as the team previewed the first ep like... two weeks ago live to an audience? Modern crime thriller thing, there’s a masterpost going on Tumblr
Lie Huo Jiao Chou - Another Priest fan favourite, a historical + modern danmei combination. Much angst from what I’ve seen, but donghua teaser looked good also, released also last week
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anyway hopefully some part of this or at least one part answers your question? if not, just send me another ask or like, DM me hahahaha
#asks#bl drama#chinese bl drama#danmei live action#mdzs#tgcf#svsss#mriad#tsomd#tltr#priest novels#tyk#spl#hyx#2ha#modu#cancipin#lhjc#long post#i hope i didn't miss anything?#it's been a mess recently#the whole list#HAHAHAHA#my danmei novel queue list
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photo 1: ha long bay with mom :)
photo 2: kayaking along cat ba island with mom
photo 3: my son temple
photo 4-8: the views/outings from a motorbike loop near ha giang
hi friends + family! i apologize for my inconsistent updates, i’ve been a perfect combination of busy and without access to my computer. i’m currently in hanoi in the north of vietnam, having already spent about 4 weeks in the country. my mom was visiting a few weeks ago, and we took a little tour over to ha long bay (UNESCO world heritage site) and got to kayak around the nearby islands and caves. we had a wonderful visit and saw some really beautiful stuff, like Mỹ Sơn, an UNESCO world heritage site filled with various abandoned Hindu temples built between the 4th and 14th century. many of the temples were ruined by american bombs during the vietnam war, but what remains is absolutely amazing. it’s quite harrowing to see the damage our country inflicted here during the war to places like Mỹ Sơn, and elementary schools, and civilian villages, but it’s been such an impactful experience. i feel very lucky to have the chance to learn about the history firsthand and i hope to use my privilege in a way that affects positive change upon my return to the states.
on top of being a culturally and historically rich country, i think vietnam has proven to be the most beautiful country i’ve ever visited. i just returned from a 4 day motorbike loop of the northern chinese border area of vietnam. a group of people i met at a hostel in ha giang and i rented motorbikes and spent each day riding more than 120km/70 miles a day through some of the most stunning landscapes i’ve ever seen. i’ve attached some photos above but honestly none will ever do it justice. we stayed at local homestays along the way in small towns. we even managed to go to Lang Thuy and hike up to the town’s border with china and watch as the locals crossed back and forth, all speaking to eachother and carrying goods back and forth as if the border was invisible. it was pretty amazing! and i rode a semi-automatic motorbike, getting it up to 60 mph going down the mountain (sorry mom and dad). i had the time of my life! and of course, managed to avoid crashing or injuring myself which was a plus. now i’m back in hanoi for a few days, going to go to a few other places nearby before i fly to kunming in the south of china next week. i’ll be better about posting in the future, i promise :) hope you’re all having a great week. keep in touch!
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and we build now. built our first in the shed..no, but the idea came from it. and it is here yes he is in it. and we use it now ok his first cabin. and was fun where yes. near there where he and jen first set foot. and a copy is there. and he said this we make a life here shortly. and we cordon it off now and did yes. tons go now will try to contaminate it. Thor Freya we start here Hera yes snuck in and built several on thier line used out parts. and out. and like his son and Fireball Whiskey he was also with us. we were all there Hera says. and im included she adds. and we do this now and pull out the stops need this building in. to be authentic and fight over it. Thor Freya we use it he is enthused we love it cant care more about us. yes. we love him too hehe yes. this is fun and my husbands idea and mine....well...and wow and now it is founded in 1903 as an idea but started in 1905....and we put 1905 and he agrees sales and the name out there means year Established 1903. and i agree with him Hera Zues we see it and haha lol he made Indian Freya and ok i had him make Harley and that is why and she repped me the queen yes in boston. the one maul Hera
In January 1905, the company placed small advertisements in the Automobile and Cycle Trade Journal offering bare Harley-Davidson engines to the do-it-yourself trade. By April, they were producing complete motorcycles on a very limited basis. That year, Harley-Davidson dealer Carl H. Lang of Chicago sold three bikes from the five built in the Davidson backyard shed. Years later, the company moved the original shed to the Juneau Avenue factory where it stood for many decades as a tribute.
In 1906, Harley and the Davidson brothers built their first factory on Chestnut Street (later Juneau Avenue),[12] at the current location of Harley-Davidson's corporate headquarters. The first Juneau Avenue plant was a 40 ft × 60 ft (12 m × 18 m) single-story wooden structure. The company produced about 50 motorcycles that year.
we have these and lots of them the orgiinals too. in our museum yes there is a Harley Davidson building and an Indian building
Thor Freya
we have our own apparel line. and our logo and it is copyrighted and we sell Harley Davidsons now. and are the originators for real macs were in and out. as usual fought over it and argued. and we see the there we put in a shop accross the street and blame the chinese it will be our overall scooter, and take down the rest of Harley Davidson s with it.
and yes the started with a belt drive Thor Freya add lol
we introduce it tommorrow and yes shopping day. and trump is out.. fully. wont return and shortly too. he is in san quinton momentarily, no left. th chopper crash with four in it. dan too. and bja escaped. but back to LA shortly. sees it is mac
these are neat clothes...we are a fun pair and he recalls it. the love of my liife has come back and i heard youas carrie most of it. and ok ocome backand here i am get lost lol hahaha funny her ok. and i see. it too and hahaha lol excuses. im your lady ok and u of course agree. you are mine.. how much fun we shall have..i will work hard, and even may change diapers lol ok bud yu shall and i seey ou have trained lol have touched poop a buncht here ahahah i am going to share the load so to speak could youb e quiet hahah we love it hah lol
and it is our company we are the head honchos el jefe and the boss. we mean it and love our workers as we are them too. hard to do but a joy after saved us all his riding and i want that the cool eve but not too cool and the quiet and no bumps and smooth on the accelorator and yes as adults. and wow he said it was fun.
Hera Zues
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gotd season 2 rambles
I finished GOTD two/three weeks back but then was immediately swamped with real life work after that. Finally had time over the weekend to pen down all the thoughts swirling around my head!! I was thinking about whether to make this post or not but no one I know irl has watched this and I kind of want to remember what I felt about the drama so well. Here goes nothing!!
[Though… 慎入！！Beware of entering, for I just finished writing this post and I’m boggled at how utterly long + incoherent + messy this post is]
- I was rather worried about how Jingyao would play into the whole picture marrying into 楚王府. But in the end I guess it wasn’t thaaaaat bad (minus uhm, her poisoning Li Chu to force Zhenzhu to leave.) I can deal with drama like external factors forcing my OTP apart but what I can’t deal with is if the OTP itself fractures apart. So (at least in my pov) even though the director did all that annoying slow-mo spinning around in circles thing with Jingyao, my intepretation of Li Chu’s 眼神 wasn’t one of 动心/暧昧 and instead was just concern/maintaining a distance so I guess I wasn’t that mad about it….???
- OTP~~ OTP!! Jing Tian is so beautiful with her hair down :3
- TBH i enjoyed watching Li Chu and Zhenzhu in the battlefield and all that pining and stuff but I found the way they ended up there kind of… contrived. Though what Jingyao says does have its element of truth, but really?!?! Poisoning?!?! Internal drama?! Couldn’t it have been a more… dramatic reason? Like maybe a political maneuvre making Zhenzhu realise that Li Chu will be ‘burdened’ with her around or smth, then maybe Jingyao coming in to stir the pot, then Zhenzhu making the choice to leave. I just felt that the whole poisoning thing was kind of loophole-y. If Moyan Chou can research and link it back to Jingyao, shouldn’t Li Chu be perfectly capable of doing so too? Yet in those two years he never suspected anything. Though maybe it could be explained by him being too blinded with anger and disappointment at Zhenzhu that he just focused on his princely work in those years rather than sparing any thought on his love life. And I’m not sure how this whole matter ended up being resolved? When Li Chu found out and confronted Zhenzhu about it, she was still all ‘I can’t return back to you because you might come to harm if I break the oath I swore’… But in the end they just kind of ignored it? (after confronting Jingyao). Hm or maybe I missed something hahaha.
- still the whole arc with them on the battlefield/her becoming the Empress of Yan was still quite entertaining hehe. Pining! Fraught looks! Tears! Angst! I must say that Mao Zi Jun was much better in S2 than S1. In S1 his acting just seemed to be glaring and sticking out his eyeballs hahaha. I guess his forte is in all the emotionally charged scenes… Though I still don’t really care for An Qingxu. Also Zhenzhu’s outfit in the Yan empire was quite pretty too :3
- On a really random note, lives if you are not a main character in this drama (though actually who am I kidding… you don’t escape from death being a main character here *coughing fit*) are so worthless. I swear there are people dropping dead like flies in every episode… TBH back in the Uyghur ‘you-killed-my-father-prepare-to-die’ arc of the first season, I kind of couldn’t deal with how so many of Li Chu’s men died along the way of Li Chu searching for Zhenzhu because Li Chu refused to rest/take a chill pill when weather conditions sucked.
- It’s really a pity that they had to resort to excessive greenscreen and body doubles in the last Uyghur arc because it was really quite obvious and kind of affected immersion in the story. I’m guessing Jing Tian couldn’t make it for that filming period? Or maybe they were rushing and had to be split up across filming groups. Like… it was quite jarring to have everyone else in the scene then bam! Switch over to Zhenzhu awkwardly greenscreened in. Or some scenes where it was obvious that Allen wasn’t even interacting with Jingtian but rather a body double.
- Moyan Chou x Li Chu. Ouchhhhhh (especially since cracks kind of appeared in their friendship with Li Chu marrying Dugu and Zhenzhu using Moyan Chou to get a divorce from Li Chu). I’m really impressed by Allen’s acting ;_; like of course he’s still kind of raw in places but like wow there’s a 灵气 to his acting and he is exceptional considering how it’s his second time playing male lead. Of a 92 episode drama, no less. In the scene where Moyan Chou and Li Chu drink together for the last time, his tears just kept on flowing non stop! Idk if anyone who reads this has the same experience of using the cliche phrase ‘他的眼泪像断了线的珍珠纷纷落下’ (his tears flowed down like a broken string of pearls) in chinese compositions in primary school but that’s the first thing that popped to my mind when I saw this scene hahaha.
- anyway, compared to this drama’s standard death bgm 荣耀, it was a nice touch to change it up to 为江山 which fit perfectly with the setting and nature of Moyan Chou’s death. It was pretty goosebump inducing when the music crashed over the speakers as he slumped down and the entire congregation of people at that intersection of stones (?!?!) began kneeling and wailing.
- again props to Jing Tian’s and Allen’s acting. Though Jing Tian wasn’t that consistent in all the crying scenes (though she has so many it’s kind of hard to be hahaha) but i really think they handled the growth and development of their characters quite well. The Zhenzhu and Li Chu you see at the end of s2 are tangibly different from them at the start. Even if they banter with each other, it’s very different in vibes from the early days - more measured and serious. And the change happened quite subtly? imo at least :3
- personally felt the whole way the showdown with Empress Zhang took place was kind of… anticlimatic… but I guess that’s kind of how it went down in history hahaha oh wells.
- hints of how even though Li Chu became emperor, there’s still trouble looming in the distance with Li Fuguo still maintaining power etc. was kind of disturbed reading real history because the image of Daizong having to pander to eunuchs and all that kind of isn’t really aligned with the capable Li Chu we see in the drama (oh the woes of dramatisation of historical characters - i felt the same reading commentary about 14th prince back in the day after watching/reading bbjx) but i was thinking about it and i realised that i can kind of accept that! because there were quite a few scenes throughout the drama where Li Chu was lamenting about how he feels so helpless because he can’t do anything about the political situation/corruption/etc, how even though he has the acumen to perceive and see what all the parties are doing to procure power for themselves he cannot do anything about it. so taking this aspect of Li Chu into context - how he definitely is smart and capable, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t susceptible or is invincible given how the entire tang court is deeply mired in politics and power play, i guess it’s not that far of a stretch to link this Li Chu to the Daizong in history books (who wasn’t a baaad emperor too anyway)
- the whole Zhenzhu being 油尽灯枯 at the end was also kind of… random and a little contrived imho but given her life circumstances i guess it can be justified and is a logical way to end things, since they do ultimately have to adhere to the historical ending of Zhenzhu going missing and Daizong never electing an empress during his rule. (I have to say, my favourite arc in this entire drama was probably the 10+ eps of separation when the Anshi rebellion kicked in, because the conflict felt very real and organic and the stakes felt really high, so the senses of urgency/loss/anxiety/despair were really heightened.)
contrived as it may be to me, that didn’t stop me from feeling deeeeeep despair and sorrow through the last few eps ;_; him making longevity noodles for her; them being in the same space that holds so much meaning to both of them, the little wooden hut where she professed her love for him, yet both of them lost in their own separate thoughts; them weeping their own separate tears; him holding her as she takes an afternoon nap, knowing that this is probably one of the last times he can do so…
and his coronation ceremony/the day she leaves for good from his life. their last hug - he was the very definition of 依依不舍 ): Him walking down the aisle (HAHA is that what it’s called) of the Tang courts, dressed in stately regal emperor garb, the world is his yet he is so utterly alone. 所谓“高处不胜寒”! (haha though this line was not yet in existence during Tang)
and the ending was so poetic in all its tragedy and hit all my buttons hahaha. Him dressing as a cart driver to send her off for the last time → !!!, her stopping at 醉仙楼 and coming out of the carriage to take a look at the place where her and her Donglang first met → !!!!!! (I think this really got to me because I have a huge fondness for their entire first meeting haha. And this + how she hallucinated Dong Lang in that red outfit when she was semi-conscious to me kind of shows how ultimately she loves Dong Lang for who he is as an adult, and not because he is her 太湖公子 from her childhood, which is very important to me?!) And lastly Li Chu riding on his horse, surveying the mountains and landscape that Zhenzhu disappeared into, the 江山 that he owns… aka really ‘一人一马一江湖’, as the drama oh so helpfully foreshadowed for us in the first few episodes.
- Since I’ve mentioned 为江山, as I’ve said before, I really love the OSTs in the drama! But while previously the bigger ‘hits’ (in a sense) like ���念 and 荣耀 were stuck in my head, these past two weeks, I can’t help but keep on replaying 素颜 and 唐韵 on loop. (though I still enjoy all the songs - except maybe the Jike Junyi one which is still not bad but just doesn’t get to me like all the other songs do… maybe because it was never played in any scene throughout the drama? (except the ending credits of s2. which I skipped everytime.) (speaking of which, s2′s opening theme song became 荣耀 but they didn’t correspondingly change the opening sequence which was so nicely timed to 为江山, which is also more regal and had more oomph more befitting of an opening track!! that was quite sad ):))
And especially for 素颜 (Unadorned Beauty), omgggg the lyrics nearly killed me when I sat down to properly read it at the end of the drama. It’s played twice in the drama - once in the beginning when Zhenzhu and Lin Zhi were sitting for the consort selection tests and once in the end when Zhenzhu leaves the palace (and Donglang) permanently for good. And omg the lyrics really fit perfectly?!?!
→ The verse/first part of the song: “你是春的使节 让残雪融解 / 染成青黛的天 等著细雨停歇 / 你素颜 裹着云烟 诗意了远方 湿润了心 / 闭上眼 姹紫嫣红都不觉甜 只为你的容颜” - basically just really beautiful lyrics about how you are the envoy of spring melting the remnants of snow and how your bare-faced/unadorned beauty bundled in mist lends poetic flavour to the distance and how all the beautiful flowers pale in comparison to your beauty blablabla. The first half of the chorus too: “豁然间 春光如练 / 渲染了 你的出现 / 最留恋 不是云巅 / 是千万里朝颜和暮雪” The whole song just describes Zhenzhu to me, and in these particular lyrics I think about Zhenzhu in the early episodes, fresh and dewy-faced, dressed in pale pinks and whites. I’m just imagining the verse + first chorus being Li Chu’s inner monologue about Zhenzhu and my heart feels all squishy kyaaaaaaaaa
→ The second half of the chorus: “梦回间 春光流泻 / 归去在 落花时节 / 待离别 青空绵绵 / 你会成山水间那一点 如烟” basically talking about how as time passes, she will leave when the flowers fall, and become a dot in the landscape like a wisp of smoke… how apt ;_; and okay here I’m just babbling nonsense but like all the terms like “青空” “山水” “如烟” really fits her costuming in the last few eps which had 水墨/ink wash painting vibes
(↑ i’m probably overthinking this way too much ahaha)
[on another note, some other particular lines in some of the other songs that I just really liked (i have random feels for sentences that I think are really poetic. though it may only be me who thinks so hahaha)
为江山：“挥手时飞扬飘零的黄沙 蜿蜒于驰骋豪情的天下” and “铿锵的温柔 忠义的绵绸 此情动我幽幽” like all the juxtaposition between toughness and softness… (uhhh it made more sense in my head). this entire song is Li Chu’s life ;_;
唐韵：okay no I went to search up the lyrics again and I want to copy the entire thing over HAHA. I love how the lyrics, true to the setting of the drama and the name of the song (how do you translate 韵 properly? it’s such a nice word haha), incorporate elements of Tang inside it. “釉烧出 多色绚丽的斑斓” or “浸润出 三彩交融的璀璨” - mentions of pottery/sancai glaze that flourished during Early Tang. Or “昔繁华 已苍芜” - befitting the backdrop of the drama - Tang the flourishing golden dynasty at the precipice of its dwindling. And for some reason I just love phrases like “静谧千年的思念” and the whole of the second half of the chorus: “愿你记得 穿梭人浪中一瞥 / 临摹也不能复刻你容颜 / 墨浓映画眉 / 朱红落点唇 / 只盼伴来生共偎”
为你成全：my favourite line is “锦绣长安夜 / 似昙花惊艳”!!
i think i just really like imagery in lyrics hahaha. i like 荣耀’s lyrics a lot too. in comparison i actually think the lyrics of 夙念 and some parts of 为你成全 are pretty standard drama ost fare… though they still serve their purpose well in inducing appropriate feels in various scenes.
–
This series of bloopers/original voice clips released by one of the production companies attached to this show is like a soothing balm to an injured heart after watching the ending. And the last video in this series - aww the entire team really put in so much effort to film this show, and it shows in the acting, the props, the sets, the costuming, the music (excluding awkward greenscreen and s2 editing). ANDDD watch from 13:52 onwards!!! A small Easter egg - Allen’s original soft soft voice going “珍珠，你总算回来了……” welp I’m gone
s2 was ultimately a lot weaker in many aspects than s1, and tbh the entire plot of GOTD is riddled with well trodden tropes. But I still have so much fondness and love and feels for this 92 episode drama I mainlined in three weeks (and then promptly regretted because real life came cascading down on me soon after that) :3 It’s definitely an engaging drama that had quite a lot of effort put into its making, and with it’s length there’s something for everyone - (1) an otp that will make you squee (2) endless angst, tears and misery (3) palace politics that are relatively quite complex for it’s 古言 status (4) some harem-esque drama for 后宫戏 fans (5) battle scenes, war tearing apart otp bringing about more angst… et cetera. Considering how I quit dramas at a drop of a hat, I’m pretty impressed that I managed to complete this haha xD
shall end off with a short 花痴楼！
《帅帅的殿下SHOWTIME!》
虽然在跟别的女人转圈圈但仍非常帅气的殿下！
微醺醺的新郎装殿下！
睹物思人的殿下！
穿上盔甲，眼带杀气的殿下！
闭着眼，姹紫嫣红都不觉甜的殿下！
超级无敌苏的殿下！
化身为大厨的殿下！
I wanted to take more screenshots but I shall just end here, because I scrolled up and got a huge shock seeing exactly just how much babble I spouted. I’m kind of horrified?! Omg anyone who reads this to the end, I’m sorry for all my incoherent rambling :3
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Swiss Watch Industry CEOs Speak Out About How To Do Business Post-Pandemic
Young Deok Seo sculpture from the MB&F MAD Gallery
In six months, the pandemic crisis seems to have transformed the way the watch world works more profoundly than the industry has changed in the last decade. The acceleration of digital technology, the polarization of brands, and the experimentation with new formats and concepts are just some of the consequences. We interviewed brand executives to assess the effects of this historic moment.
The CES tech show has already announced what next year will look like: This major event will be held in an exclusively digital format. “Amid the pandemic and growing global health concerns about the spread of COVID-19, it’s just not possible to safely convene tens of thousands of people in Las Vegas in early January 2021 to meet and do business in person,” said Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of CTA.
For the watchmaking industry, too, there is no guarantee that next year will be any less troubled than the one that is currently unfolding. Beyond its direct commercial impact, the pandemic crisis seems to have transformed the way the watch world works more profoundly in six months than the industry has changed in the last decade.
We’re seeing several notable consequences, beginning obviously with an acceleration of the digital transition, in the form of presentations by teleconferencing to replace physical exhibitions, increased investment in social networks, and the launch of e-commerce platforms as a substitute for exclusive boutiques.
Polarization also seems more pronounced, between the “blue chips” of the watchmaking industry (most notably the large independents and artisans with limited production) and the rest of the pack. In this respect, the accelerating fusion between the primary and secondary markets should also be highlighted, with the value of pre-owned watches increasingly influencing that of new watches.
An unstoppable avalanche has swept away all pre-crisis concepts and stripped everything bare. We’ve entered a period of transition that is both frightening and exciting, promising a time of experimentation with new concepts amid the uncertainty, and new horizons for the watchmaking world.
In these unprecedented circumstances, we interviewed several CEOs representing a variety of economic realities to find out their assessment of the effects of the crisis and learn how they intend to bounce back, particularly with regard to the presentation of their new models following the cancellation of almost all physical shows.
Manuel Emch (Louis Erard, Raketa): “The logic of our launch strategy is being reversed.”
For the former head of Jaquet Droz and Romain Jerome, who now works as a consultant and board member for various brands including Louis Erard and Raketa, the “forced march” toward a more digital approach will eventually lead to a much more hybrid system for the watch industry: “Success comes from the multiplication of distribution channels,” he says.
Manuel Emch has witnessed the transition for himself: while Louis Erard hasn’t focused on e-commerce until this year, the independent Swiss brand should achieve 15% of its turnover online in 2020. While that’s not enough to make up for lost in-person sales, it’s a decent result, particularly as the onset of the pandemic crisis served to hasten a transition that had already been planned, albeit over the longer term. “Within five years, it is quite conceivable that half of the brand’s turnover will be generated online,” says the expert.
The system set up by Louis Erard now also allows its representatives to order online. “This was not part of the initial plan, but it’s one of those unintended consequences that occurred with the interruption of physical transactions,” explains Emch. “Our relationship with our retailers is being digitized, with positive effects on financing, stocks, and transparency.”
In fact, Louis Erard’s entire launch strategy has been modified or even reversed. Rather than waiting for one or two major events to present its new products, the brand founded in 1929 will from now on “flatten” its production calendar throughout the year and seize opportunities as they arise. For instance, drops are planned for next year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan, and Art Basel.
The brand is also planning to multiply creative collaborations with “outsiders” such as industrial designers, in order to extend its reach outside the traditional watch world and its traditional clientele. “The idea is to offer a continuous animation of our collections throughout the year,�� says Emch. “This is key in a highly saturated digital communication environment.”
For the manager, the industry has entered a new era of permanent crisis whose only stable component is… instability: “Only a creative, light, and agile structure can adapt to shorter and more violent business cycles. Louis Erard and Raketa, as smaller independent brands, have always had to navigate a hostile environment, which means they have developed a corporate culture that has become a competitive advantage today. In previous times of crisis, everyone tried to imitate Rolex, but that’s an impossible model to replicate. Brands have to find their own path.”
Maximilian Büsser (MB&F): “We quickly saw who we could rely on.”
It may seem paradoxical, in view of the immense uncertainty that reigns in the watch industry today, but if the pandemic has one silver lining for brands, it is in the way it has “clarified” their relations with partners, both in production (suppliers) and sales (retailers). It’s a crash test that demonstrates with stark clarity which partners can work effectively with a brand during a crisis.
Maximilian Büsser, the founder of MB&F, is well aware of the phenomenon. “In such difficult times for the industry (and the planet), we quickly saw who we could rely on, and it is with them that we will build the future.” Just 10 of the watchmaker’s 26 representatives worldwide account for 75% of its turnover.
“We had to develop a binary approach because we have neither subsidiaries nor volumes of new products to send around the world,” says Büsser. “These 10 retailers will each receive prototypes of our new releases for a few days, to allow them to explore the timepieces. The others will have digital presentations.”
Word of mouth and social networks, as well as a strong partnership with retailers, will continue to form the basis of MB&F’s business strategy: “For almost ten years now, the company’s goal has been not growth, but rather the realization of our creative projects,” Büsser emphasizes. “The first half of 2020 actually saw historic sell-out levels for the brand (volumes were up 45% over 2019, our reference year), despite the fact that the majority of our retailers were closed for several months, and travel was impossible.”
The brand is taking part in the Geneva Watch Days, which focus on European customers and media. “Before COVID-19, I hadn’t heard of Zoom or Microsoft Teams,” says the entrepreneur. “Today it is the new standard. But when you put so much love and work into finishes like ours, it’s virtually impossible to convey that digitally — even our photos don’t do them justice.” As for 2021, it’s still terra incognita as far as presentations are concerned: “If Watches & Wonders takes place in April, we will continue to participate, but nothing is confirmed at this point.”
Stéphane Waser (Maurice Lacroix): “We have already gone to Plan B.”
For Stéphane Waser, the reality of the post-COVID-19 world has made possible scenarios that had hitherto remained mostly experimental. The Managing Director of Maurice Lacroix is uncompromising: “We have already gone into ‘Plan B‘ mode because we will never go back to the previous situation.”
He shares his observations about the last few months: “Digital is a possible tool for introducing new products, but the presentations must be designed and developed specifically in this direction. More effort is required in terms of preparation to reach the same level as physical interaction. An in-person event with 200 to 300 guests transformed into a Zoom session is not efficient, and the impact is very minimal. Some car brands experienced this last spring, following the cancellation of the Geneva International Motor Show.”
The technology itself has taken a leap forward as a result of the crisis, notes Stéphane Waser — in fact, we have seen an increasing number of launches of new teleconferencing solutions, which allow for better online interaction. The brand will be present at the Geneva Watch Days and will simultaneously host video conference sessions for retailers and journalists who cannot attend.
The manager shares another observation: given the interruption in tourism and travel, it’s vital now to “think local” first and foremost, as well as to take into account the probable drop in customer purchasing power as a result of the pandemic: “In times of predicted recession, consumer confidence calls for caution.” Maurice Lacroix, which returned to more accessible models under Stéphane Waser’s mandate, notably via the Aikon line, intends to engage with this new reality.
Wilhelm Schmid (A. Lange & Söhne): “Online shopping still plays a minor role in our business model.”
Like several brands in the Richemont Group, A. Lange & Söhne (A German, not Swiss company) will participate in September in one of the few physical trade fairs of 2020: Watches & Wonders in Shanghai, strictly reserved for the Chinese market. “I am looking forward to this event, where we will be able to showcase our new timepieces once again face-to-face — with all the necessary safeguards, of course,” says the German brand’s CEO, Wilhelm Schmid.
Before the coronavirus, Schmid was very often on the road, presenting high-end timepieces whose value is best appreciated through touch and feel. Over the past few months, he has relied on videoconferencing. “Among our customers who have spent the last few months in the confinement of their homes, there is an increased interest in new watches. After we presented our novelties digitally, I talked to customers from all over the world via Zoom. Such conversations take place in an equally pleasant atmosphere as in a one-on-one meeting. (…) In doing so, we have gained valuable new experience and insights from which we will benefit in the future.”
However, the CEO stresses the temporary and limited nature of this type of presentation: “The pandemic has taught us how flexibly we can adapt even to the most radical changes, at least for a limited period. (…) But however good they may be, my personal assessment is that entirely digital presentations will never be able to replace the feel and touch of our watches.”
In the price segment occupied by A. Lange & Söhne, e-commerce remains very limited, despite the acceleration of the digital transition in recent months. “For the time being, online shopping still plays a minor role in our business model. In most cases, the purchase decision process has been prepared online. But the majority of our customers come to the store to confirm the expectations they have established on the internet before reaching their final purchase decision. (…) I would not rule out the idea that purchasing habits may eventually change and that recent events will accelerate this development. Either way, we will be prepared.”
Like many executives, Wilhelm Schmid advocates the need for “an intelligent interaction of different channels and techniques” and for more touchpoints between the brand and its customers. The omnichannel model seems tailor-made for the watch industry, and the pandemic crisis is certainly accelerating the digital component of this strategy.
Photo credit: Johann Sauty
Sascha Moeri (Carl F. Bucherer): “An ever more personal approach to luxury.”
As the world’s leading watch retailer, with dozens of physical points of sale in Europe and the United States, the Bucherer Group has naturally been very heavily impacted by the pandemic crisis. The Lucerne-based giant also sells its own watch brand, Carl F. Bucherer, headed by the energetic Sascha Moeri, who remains confident in the resilience of his brand: “Our company has gone through many crises in the past and will also manage this one. We focused on what we have done best in the past 132 years: watchmaking.”
In the last two years, the brand invested in e-commerce, notably through JD.com in China, as well as on the Bucherer and Tourneau (acquired by the group in 2018) online sales platforms. “In the future, the most successful brands will be those that are able to orchestrate the right balance of on- and offline touchpoints,” says Sacha Moeri.
He quotes Jörg G. Bucherer, the third-generation family member at the head of the group, who once said: “You cannot replace a handshake.” But in these times when even handshakes are off-limits, the CEO continues, “obviously (…) digital communication is more relevant than ever.” For Moeri, luxury is going to be defined above all by an increasingly personal shopping experience.
This is key to Carl F. Bucherer’s future strategy: to increase the number of individual appointments to present its models around the world. The brand is inaugurating a new concept of physical launches, the first stage of which will take place in Geneva at the end of August.
Jean-Marc Pontroué (Panerai): “Think national rather than international.”
With its design center in Milan, Panerai was confronted early on with the effects of the pandemic, which first hit Europe in northern Italy. “Our priority was to protect our employees and to ensure a certain level of activity,” says CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué. “With regard to our 740 employees and 19 subsidiaries, we had to show common sense and agility. In particular, we adopted a new approach to working via videoconferencing with our employees, as well as with our 150 stores and 400 business partners.”
The supply chain was also reviewed, with the aim of allocating additional quantities to markets such as China, which experienced “massive growth” after the end of the crisis in the country. “However, we have limited all shipments to countries that were suffering from total or partial closure,” explains the CEO, who also stresses the importance of organizing presentations “nationally rather than internationally”, a strategy the brand has found to be “effective”.
Panerai has also invested in new digital concepts: In July, the brand launched a new digital platform called PamCast offering virtual trips, from a tour of Florence to the ocean depths.
“I firmly believe that we are much stronger today than in the past,” says Jean-Marc Pontroué. “Panerai has demonstrated its strong resilience and its ability to adapt very quickly to a new scenario. One of the great assets of digital is that it allows us to address everyone. This period should serve to strengthen links with the members of our community, through the multiplication of points of contact. We are ready to take on the challenge of improving the shopping experience.”
Final thoughts
The impact of this pandemic crisis can be divided into two major effects: In the short term, the past six months have been a period of intense experimentation, resulting in the implementation of strategies (particularly digital) in just a few weeks that would have taken months in the normal (and long) course of things in the watch industry.
This experimental phase has happened across the entire watchmaking spectrum, regardless of the size of the brands in question. The fact that Patek Philippe now authorizes e-commerce in certain cases is a clear indication of this.
In the long term, the risk is that the effects of the pandemic crisis will lead to a deep economic recession. Watchmaking has already been hit hard by the halt in transcontinental travel. Chinese visitors will be staying at home for an indefinite period – one that will certainly be counted in years. For watch brands, this means re-exploring national clienteles and local markets, and knowing how to appeal to new generations, particularly in the more mature economies.
This return to a domestic strategy will certainly be the most lasting effect for an industry that has been buoyed by the wave of globalization over the last two decades. In concrete terms, it means empowering local teams, who are best able to understand the expectations of their compatriots. The way in which watchmaking operates is bound to undergo a profound transformation.
In this new landscape, it remains to be hoped that national economies will resist the effects of the pandemic better than expected, as the future of watchmaking will increasingly depend on local purchasing power.
Serge Maillard is CEO of Europa Star, a family-owned publishing house founded in Geneva in 1927, which specializes in the world of watches. For almost a century, the company has been circulating print publications globally, and has recently started to make its horological archives accessible online.
The post Swiss Watch Industry CEOs Speak Out About How To Do Business Post-Pandemic appeared first on Wristwatch Journal.
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Property Slowdown Beckons as Next Risk for Emerging Markets
(Bloomberg) — As growth worries and trade war jitters threaten to spoil any rebound for emerging markets in 2019, property markets are shaping up as a critical element to monitor for further signs of gloom.
Some developing economies from Thailand to Dubai and Brazil are facing double-digit real estate sales declines on the back of weakening domestic growth. Developed countries already have shown some of the pain — including Australia, the U.K., Switzerland and Singapore — and made all the more worrisome as borrowing costs remain relatively low.
“There are different factors driving the various markets; real estate tends to be to a large extent a localized market,” said Todd Schubert, head of fixed-income research at Bank of Singapore Ltd. “However, the one over-riding theme is decelerating economic growth momentum, which is continuing to be a headwind for all markets and preventing a recovery in markets, such as Dubai, which have faced multi-year downturns.”
The weakness isn’t universal with China’s real estate market showing signs of green shoots again, while low rates have supported Poland’s real-estate market.
Here’s how some emerging-economy property markets are shaping up.
EMEA:
DUBAI
An oil-price slump, fiscal austerity in Saudi Arabia and a strong dollar have driven away potential buyers in Dubai. The government’s Land Department has been focusing on promoting Dubai’s real estate to investors abroad, mostly in the U.S., U.K., China, India and Russia, and last year announced a long-term visa program meant to help boost property demand. Residential property prices in Dubai are set to decline by less than 10 percent this year, after sliding about 25 percent from the 2014 peak, said Craig Plumb, the head of Middle East research at broker Jones Lang LaSalle.
POLAND
Record-low unemployment and fast wage gains, together with record-low interest rates, also spur demand for houses, with sales at a record high in Poland last year. That’s bringing residential property investment funds to a roaring market that used to be mostly retail-oriented. Poland’s relatively low debt and modest fiscal deficit are giving the government room to support the economy, allowing for real estate there to be especially attractive against its neighbors, said Sebastian Zilles, a London-based fund manager at Pacific Investment Management Co.
RUSSIA
Russia’s residential construction is on a three-year losing streak, and regulations from July 1 that will require builders to keep money earned from pre-sales of apartments in escrow add one more hurdle. The sector has stalled despite a boom in the mortgage market, which grew by nearly half in 2018 as rates fell to historic lows. While the state mortgage development institution DOM.RF forecasts continued lending growth and sees no signs of a bubble, a low base means that housing loans won’t save developers from their prolonged slump.
TURKEY
Turkey’s property market, hit by rising borrowing costs following the August currency crash, is one of the biggest losers of EMEA region in 2018. Home prices rose 7.6 percent in the year through January, the slowest annual increase in central bank data back to 2011. When adjusted for inflation, home prices fell by over 10 percent. Even amid the real decline in home prices, sales during the first two months of the year dropped by one-fifth from a year earlier, according to official data released by Turkstat.
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa’s mortgage market looks to have started 2019 on very weak footing, with the value of new mortgage loans having plunged in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to central bank data. Growth is likely to remain weak until at least after the 2019 elections amid souring business and consumer sentiment and concerns over policy direction, including on land expropriation without compensation.
Asia:
CHINA
New-home price growth in China snapped a four-month weakening streak, one of the first official signs there may be a widespread recovery in the nation’s housing market. The recovery has been more evident in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, where local governments have increasingly sought to use so-called stealth easing to offset reduced support from shanty-town renovation projects. Investors also are assessing the impact of recent high-profile financial troubles among some Chinese real-estate entities including Citic Guoan Group Co. and Goocoo Investment Co.
THAILAND
The Bank of Thailand issued plans in October to impose stricter mortgage-lending rules in 2019 as the officials saw a frothy housing market ahead. That’s already kept residential development plans in check, with an increasingly gloomy global growth picture weighing now also. Colliers International said in a fourth-quarter report that it sees new condominiums falling by 24 percent this year as unsold properties pile up, while Bloomberg Economics sees Chinese investor interest keeping a floor under demand.
INDONESIA
The property market in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is in a funk, with residential property sales contracting 5.78 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the previous three months, according to central bank data. Fitch Ratings has cited rising interest rates, currency volatility, weak commodity prices and looming elections as weights on first-half demand. In an April 24 report, Fitch Ratings said that post-election uncertainty would likely have “minimal impact in the medium term on infrastructure execution and contractors’ profitability,” with the 2019 budget prioritizing such development.
INDIA
India’s top seven cities recorded 12 percent increase in home sales and 27 percent jump in residential launches during the first quarter, according to Anarock Property Consultants. While the sector was hit by a liquidity crisis late last year, government measures including a reduction in GST and central bank interest-rate cuts boosted sales and launches in the March quarter. Investor confidence was rocked last year by a series of defaults at IL&FS Group, which pushed up costs for borrowers, including builders looking to refinance debt that fueled a construction boom. Read more: A Manager Who Saw India Credit Crisis Now Warns of Realty Stress
Latin America:
BRAZIL
For Brazil, the fresh government of President Jair Bolsonaro hasn’t yet been able to deliver on high hopes for a real-estate turnaround. Housing prices in Sao Paulo, the most-populous state, grew at an annual pace of 2 percent in February, compared with less than 1 percent a year ago, according to an index by FipeZap. That’s still far below the double-digit growth levels seen in 2014 before the economy went into recession.
MEXICO
Mexico’s property sector has remained relatively resilient amid the uncertainty generated by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s new administration. Construction is signaling an earlier-than-expected recovery, according to BBVA research. Interest in cheap Mexican real estate remains strong, and home prices across the country rose over the course of last year, according to the most recent available data from Mexico’s Federal Mortgage Company.
The post Property Slowdown Beckons as Next Risk for Emerging Markets appeared first on Businessliveme.com.
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One of my favourite movies is Training Day, the only film where Denzel Washington, who usually plays good guys, crosses over to the dark side. The film opens with a young, impressionable, kid named Jake Hoyt, a cop who’s trying to get onto Washington’s team, which is a hard-core door-kicking, special operations unit in the force.
He has one day to impress the man who he wants to be his boss.
From the very first, it’s clear how difficult that’s going to be. Alonso Harris is a tough man to get on the right side of. They meet in a diner, and immediately Harris lays down the terms during a mini-sermon on the value of a newspaper, which Hoyt, in his keenness, won’t let Harris finish.
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“Tell me a story,” he demands. “This is a newspaper,” he says, waving it. “It’s 90% bullshit, but it’s entertaining. That’s why I read it. You won’t let me read it so you entertain me, with your bullshit.”
And I love that scene, both for the way it frames both characters and because it might be the best summation of the written press I’ve ever heard … not entirely accurate, but sharp.
Back in the dawn of time, when news magazines still sold well, because there was no internet and no other way for certain people to get their fix, there was a title called The Weekly World News. It was an American mass-market tabloid. They used to sell it in the UK too and I remember some of the more lurid headlines from when I was growing up.
Surgeons Cut My Head Off And Sewed It Back On
Horse Born With Human Face
Clinton Hires Three Breasted Intern
And so on and so forth. The WWN was, of course, a fake newspaper, telling tall tales.
But as incredible as this will sound, some people actually believed what they read in there. There was one famous case involving a US police department ordering jet packs which actually ended up featured on television (on Fox News, naturally) despite being manifestly absurd.
See, the publishers of the WWN (who also published the National Enquirer) knew the truth of Harris’ remarks long before the release of Training Day. They figured that if the papers could get away with “90% bullshit” that they might as well ditch the 10% of actual news and publish something that contained not one scintilla of fact but was nevertheless highly entertaining.
Which brings me to the Daily Record this morning.
I take it you’ve all seen it, right? The latest attempt to drum up interest – of which there is exactly zero – in a Sevco player.
Man, that club is desperate for cash and its PR people must be getting paid overtime for coming up with, and pushing, this rank nonsense.
But imagine the media swallowing this whole?
Can you believe them?
I knew what headlines I would see this morning, when I read last night in The Daily Express’ online issue about how there was interest in Morelos from China. So Sevco’s PR arm is leaking to that fabled repository of Tory family values now, the paper owned by Dirty Richard Desmond, the porn king, yeah?
I guess it was a matter of time.
Anyway, that’s just good PR work if you ask me.
Leak to a more unusual outlet instead of going through The Record itself.
Because you just know when Jackson and Cooney get up in the morning and see that they’ll have to grab it and claim it. They’ll have to elaborate. They’ll have to find a way to generate “new facts” and push it that bit harder.
The Record elevated the nonsense beyond the limits set in the first piece. Which is why a £6 million bid became a £7 million one by the time it left their copy desk (an apt name for it as you’ve probably gathered, since copying is all that goes on there) and formed a story.
Am I being unfair to Gary Ralston, whose name appears on this?
No, I’m not.
This isn’t journalism by any stretch of the imagination. This is fiction writing with a newspaper as cover. Not all news out there is fake. These people bring disrepute to an entire industry and make it easy for cynics and charlatans to propagate the “90% bullshit” theory. There are publications which take fabricating, or stealing, a story seriously. Jayson Blair, Stephen Glass, Michael Finkel … I could go on. Those guys were sacked, and disgraced, for this kind of stuff.
There is so much wrong with Ralston’s article it’s hard to know where to start.
There are grammatical and spelling mistakes in it for openers.
That’s not a deal breaker; there often are in these, and I don’t always spot them even after they are online (I usually do though and I edit on the hoof which is a little cheeky). But I work alone without an editor looming over me. Quality control on a national title should be better than that.
But there are also errors of fact and logic in there which would stand a good chance of wrecking a story even if had a factual basis and wasn’t simply scraped off a vomit covered floor. Take this beauty of a line for a start;
“Ibrox chairman Dave King rejected the offer because it would have left boss Graeme Murty with only Jason Cummings to lead the line for the remainder of the season.”
Flat out bollocks which every single person who follows football in Scotland is well aware of.
Because there are no less than five first team strikers on Sevco’s books of whom Miller, Dodoo, Herrera and Cummings would remain.
“Morelos, 21, is the Premiership’s top goalscorer this season so far with 11 goals and caught they eye of the Chinese at the recent Florida Cup.”
(I’ve written that exactly as it was published, with “they” instead of “the”.)
Really?
I knew scouting was extensive but are we to believe that instead of sending their people to one of the many top leagues which didn’t have a winter break – the EPL for example – that Chinese clubs had sent them, instead, to a friendly competition which quite literally awarded a Mickey Mouse Cup at the end of the “tournament”?
The Florida Cup.
My God.
I guess if you just call it that and don’t remind your brain-dead readers that this was two games, one against a Brazilian reserve team and the other against one which brought on its reserve team at half time, that no-one will know that. And of course, Chinese scouts watched the whole thing and where goals in Finland did not make Morelos look like a top player and goals in Scotland’s top flight weren’t enough … this was what did it.
Aye, okay.
Is this story intended to soothe fears that their club is in financial peril?
It doesn’t. I remember Peter Lawwell laughing his backside off at a similarly barking tale about Nikica Jelavic in September 2011, when the club had reputedly turned down a £9 million offer for him after crashing out of Europe twice in quick succession.
“Last night, we got a £29m offer for Hooper, from an unknown agent, from an unknown club, from another universe,” Lawwell said, to much laughter.
Just five months later, Rangers sold Jelavic for £5 million, to Everton, and even that wasn’t enough because days later they entered administration and shortly thereafter swirled down the tubes.
Is it a reaction to Celtic’s bringing in Musonda, in an effort to dominate the back-page headlines?
Why bother?
Nobody believes a word of this nonsense; it makes the papers involved and the writers whose names are on it look like unprofessional halfwits and doesn’t alter the objective fact that our club has acquired the player for the next 18 months.
Is it yet another effort to bolster Morelos value?
If so, he’s gone from being a £10 million player to a £7 million one in less than a week; way to go Ibrox PR, although I guess it could be construed as putting a more realistic price tag on his head.
(I said more realistic. I did not say realistic. If you put gold plate on a lead bar it would be more like a gold bar, but you still wouldn’t get much for it.)
They are desperate to sell one first team player before this window shuts … and equally desperate to drum up interest for the summer.
Morelos is a sub-par footballer.
If Sevco are looking to China for big bucks, they have more chance of finding a fortune in a cookie.
In the end, it doesn’t matter what the reasons are for the emergence of this; Dave King is back in town and he’s clearly the source of this garbage. Look out for a major series of “exclusives” with his tame hacks later in the week probably.
As he sets out his “vision” for the club all over again.
In the meantime, consider our media for a moment and the level of their reporting.
Consider this story as a piece of museum quality cobblers … it will be a perfect specimen preserved for a time when the national titles have gone out of business because no-one trusted them anymore and merely being entertained wasn’t enough reason to buy them.
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An Open Character To The 1st Male I Ever before Liked, My Dad.
A woman which was actually embraced as an infant has actually told from the astonishing moment she determined she was actually a child of incest, after learning her grandfather had actually raped her mom for a long times on end. He is actually Steve Jobs, as well as here's my take on Steve Jobs Best 10 Policy For Excellence Vol. In 1786 Frederick the Great perished and was significantly wept due to the Prussian populace. On the right, I worked as the Deacon, on the left is Father brown Thomas Buren additionally coming from the parish and to the left from him is actually Father Edward Reavy, a past priest.
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