forestofglory

I’m in a bit of a reading slump which is not fun. I have mostly been reading academic papers, a couple of which were very good, but it's not the joyful reading that I want to be doing. I feel like I’ve lost the knack for finding SFF, and to a certain extent fic, that I want to read. Or maybe I never had that knack for my current brain. Either way it's a bit frustrating.

(I wasn’t going to say anything about the academic papers I’ve been reading but you know what I’m going to at least link you to my favorites : Tang ‘cosmopolitanism': Towards a critical and holistic approach by Shao-yun Yang and; The Song Rediscovery of Chang'an by Xin Wen)

But let's talk about what I’ve watched recently instead:

Legend of Yunze Season 2 —After starting watching a bunch of things and not getting very far with any of them, I really wanted to finish something, and I was reminded that I hadn’t watched the second season of this mini drama. I found this season harder to follow than the first season – not sure if that’s because I was tired or because there's a lot of dream sequences that make this confusing. Could be both.

Love Behind the Melody ep 1-6— This is a Chinese drama about a modern day pipa player who gets transmigrated back in time to vaguely tang dynasty olden times as a woman who plays the same pipa. She then gets involved with contests between various different music academies.

I totally decided to check this out for the shallow reason that it looked like it had a similar textile aesthetic to A Love Story of Oiled Paper Umbrella. And it does but I don’t like these textiles quite as much. I think LSoOPU did more interesting mixing and matching, and those textiles were more Tang-style. Still LBtM has some fun big dramatic textiles and lots of color.

I also appreciated that they have Tang style tea. The early Tang kind with tea leaves and spices and fruit in it was kinda like soup. Don’t think I’ve seen that in a drama before!

However I disliked the dynamic between the main couple. What I wanted from this show was a scrapy found family competing in music competitions while wearing pretty clothing, but instead what I got was people trying to manipulate each other.

Jade's Fateful Love ep 1-24— ( Read more... )

17)Today I’m reccing one of my favorite cdramas ever: The Long Ballad

It has so many of my favorite things: A super smart chaos muppet who is also an extraordinary young woman succeeding at typically masculine pursuits, an girl who is not like other girls and her best friend who is, badass older women, and also really excellent character arcs

I could go on about this forever but instead I’ll just link you to the primer and rec list I wrote last year https://ladybusiness.dreamwidth.org/361221.html

18)For #DecRecs today I bring you an academic paper: “‘What Do Barbarians Know of Gratitude?’ - The Stereotype of Barbarian Perfidy and Its Uses in Tang Foreign Policy Rhetoric” by Shao-yun Yang

Now many of you know that I dislike Tang Taizong rather a lot so I appreciate this paper for calling him out on his BS. But It's just really interesting paper especially if you are interested in ethic identity in Chinese history
https://www.academia.edu/5290394/_What_Do_Barbarians_Know_of_Gratitude_The_Stereotype_of_Barbarian_Perfidy_and_Its_Uses_in_Tang_Foreign_Policy_Rhetoric?sm=b

19)Today for #DecRecs I'm reccing Laid Back Camp!

I have recently started rereading the first several volumes of this charming maga (with the intention of then reading the volumes that I haven't read yet) There is also an anime which is great too!

It's a slice of life story about high school girls going camping, with lots of food, friendship, and pretty scenery. Very lovely and warm and also likely to make you hungry!

20) Reccing fic for #DecRecs today!

"Spring Splendor" by ayeshah

This is a fic based on Song of the Long March, the manhua which is the inspiration of The Long Ballad, but basically reads as historical RPF about Princess Yicheng of Sui, who is the loose inspiration for a character in both the manhua and the drama.

She seems really interesting and badass and I'm sad that men didn't write down more about her life
So I really love that this fic digs into what we know about Princess Yicheng and tried to image what her life would be like!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/15235845

(This set accidentally ended up Long Ballad themed)

9)Today rec for #DecRecs is Tiny Witch With a Tiny Familiar (by still unrelieved creator). The colors! The use of leaves!(CN: bugs) https://archiveofourown.org/works/60962314 (H/t donutsweeper)

10) For #DecRecs today I want to rec sticky rice pu'erh! One of of my favorite and frequently drunk teas!
It's pu'erh made with an herb called Nuo Mi Xiang (糯米香) -- which translates to sticky rice stent. It gives the deep earthiness of the pu'erh a bit of brightness and sweetness.
The one I'm drinking right now is this https://yunnansourcing.com/products/rice-scent-and-ripe-pu-erh-tea-mini-bricks? but I've tried several different versions and they've all been great!

11)Today's #DecRecs is The Women Who Ruled China: Buddhism, Multiculturalism, and Governance in the Sixth Century by Stephanie Balkwill, a really fascinating book about Empress Dowager Ling of the Northern Wei, women and power during her lifetime and the ways traditional historiography has failed women.

It's open access and you can get an ebook for free here: https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-women-who-ruled-china/paper

12)Today is the 12th day of #DecRecs and I'm reccing Twig + Tale sewing patterns!

I just think that their patterns are so cute and comfy! I love their commitment to gender neutral language for their patterns, especially because some crafting spaces are very conservative. And I think all the different animal designs are just so much fun!

I haven't made all of their patterns but the ones I have made have been great, and I've made those repeatedly

https://www.twigandtale.com/

For the last several years it's been my tradition to rec a thing every day of December and to encourage other people join me in reccing things using the the hashtag #DecRecs

Here are the first 5 things I've recced this year:

1) I want to start of this years #DecRecs with a recipe. Here in the US it was just Thanksgiving. For the last couple of year's I've been making these Sweet and Sour Brussels Sprouts with Plum Sauce as part of my Thanksgiving and they've been a hit every year

https://omnivorescookbook.com/roasted-brussels-sprouts-with-plum-sauce

2)For #DecRecs day two I bring you Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. A lovely middle grade Chinese inspired fantasy book. Featuring dragons, stories within stories, and colorful illustrations drawn by the author. There's two squeals that are also great!

3) I've been jokingly saying that the Taiping Guangji (太平廣記), a collection of minor stories and unofficial histories, is my main fandom for a bit now.

So today for #DecRecs I'm reccing Tales from Tang Dynasty China: Selections from the Taiping Guangji ed Alexei Ditter, Jessey Choo, and Sarah Allen as good introduction to the Taiping Guangji! It's short, its got a good variety of translated stories, and lots of helpful context

4)I'm having a frustrating day today so for #DecRecs today I want to rec something cute and charming:

"Fandom for Robots" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad

https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/fandom-for-robots/

I adore this story about a robot making friends through fandom!

5) Today for #DecRecs I want to talk about one of my favorite programs Zotero!( Read more... )

Happy New Year everyone! I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by year in review/goals stuff. I'll try to at least post my December goals wrap up latter today or tomorrow. In the meantime here are the last of the recs form my #DecRecs rec a thing everyday in December project.

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This was a fun project that helped me get through a time of year that I find stressful! It's nice to think about things I love and share them with other people. And it was great that many people also decided to take part and rec things in December. I think I'll do it again next December (I've put a reminder in my calendar)

Here's what I've been reccing for my rec a day project in the last ten days!

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I've been reading a some online short fiction recently, here's a few that I liked:

"Texts from the Ghost War" By Alex Yuschik

"Michigan Seems Like a Dream to Me Now" by Marissa Lingen (This one made me cry)

"The Dragon Project" by Naomi Kritzer

So this last weekend was wordldcon 78 also know as CoNZealand. It was supposed to me the 1st time worldcon was held in New Zealand but it ended up being an online con instead. Some friends of mine put together a complimentary online program for people in European timezones. I helped brainstorm and edit some of the panel descriptions.

All the panels are still available to watch here The panels I was able to catch live where so good! I'm planning to catch up more over this week, because I've heard good things about the whole program. So if you enjoy smart people talking about SFF you should check it out!

I have just signed this open letter

Since I was confused for a bit, you sign it by clicking "Click here to sign" under the word sincerely. This will take you to a google form where you can add your name a check boxes listing your connections to fandom and the OTW.

Here's a couple of links that I wanted to share:

” Black Birding Is About Hope” By Kathleen Hou

”The Racial Injustice of American Highways” by Linda Poon

“What Is an Anti-Racist Reading List For?” by Lauren Michele Jackson

Of Mufflers and Men: A Comic by Shing Yin Khor I enjoyed this short online comic about statues and memory by one of my favorite comic artists.