Celia, ZYL and other muses
Aug. 24th, 2020 03:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnozomiDaily life: …so sometime this year my take on “No entry without masks” signs has transformed from “What is wrong with these people” to “That is a good policy and you should feel good about it.” O tempora.
Music: Brahms 4 was on the radio and I was remembering when we played it a few years back, and there was a line in the first movement that bothered me for WEEKS because I couldn’t think of what it reminded me of, and finally I got it: “Celia, you’re breaking my heart/you’re shaking my confidence, baby…”. I don’t think Simon and Garfunkel deliberately quoted from Brahms, but I’ve heard that the eponymous Cecilia is supposed to refer to the patron saint of music, so who knows. (See around 11:30 here if curious.)
Books: Due to plot struggles I was thinking about The Westing Game and how I read somewhere that Ellen Raskin said she didn’t plot out anything in advance, she just wrote it straight through, which seems amazing if true given that elegant, complex structure. (Sometime I will post just about that book and how much I love it.) She must have had a brain like a clockmaker.
Chinese: Going back a few episodes, am I the only one who looked at the doctor operating on the mute lady and thought, oh hi Sha Ya! I mean, it’s just the hair extensions really, but… (Also, I am tempted to ship them after their five minutes of interaction; she’d be much better for you than Hei Yanjing, Chuchu. Then again, so would almost anybody. Although he does get to say 二叔、我有不好的予感 in the grand Star Wars tradition at one point.).
Wu Xie seems to have interpreted his deadline to mean that he’s going to die in exactly three months, no more no less, and is thus exempt from getting himself killed in the interim by taking idiot risks. Honey, it doesn’t work like that! (At one point Xiao Bai says “don’t touch the artifact,” he says “okay, I won’t,” instantly puts his hands all over it (shades of Zhao Yunlan), and Xiao Bai has a wonderful momentary expression of aiyoooo, give me strength. Kiddo, he has a lot of years of experience on you in this troll-off of yours.) The look of sheer joy on his face when he comes home to Pangzi at the end of episode 23, though, oh dear.
(Also I can’t help wondering if Zhu Yilong’s manager and the other people who work with him watched the “come on, you should eat something, doesn’t it smell good?” “I won’t! More pushups!” *faints* scene and just facepalmed…)
Writing: A scene I wrote quite a while back for the reader to dismiss as just more bureaucracy should now have come into its own; we’ll see. I just got a vast amount of plot reveal (the conspirators underestimated their minions) out of the way and am feeling purged, but I think I might need to rearrange the next couple of scenes, unless I can keep them as they are to create more tension? Oh dear. There is also more religion going on around the edges of this thing than I had in mind, in various contexts, what do I even think I’m doing.
Photos: Three views of hibiscuses (hibisci?) that are somehow flourishing in the heat.
Be safe and well.
Music: Brahms 4 was on the radio and I was remembering when we played it a few years back, and there was a line in the first movement that bothered me for WEEKS because I couldn’t think of what it reminded me of, and finally I got it: “Celia, you’re breaking my heart/you’re shaking my confidence, baby…”. I don’t think Simon and Garfunkel deliberately quoted from Brahms, but I’ve heard that the eponymous Cecilia is supposed to refer to the patron saint of music, so who knows. (See around 11:30 here if curious.)
Books: Due to plot struggles I was thinking about The Westing Game and how I read somewhere that Ellen Raskin said she didn’t plot out anything in advance, she just wrote it straight through, which seems amazing if true given that elegant, complex structure. (Sometime I will post just about that book and how much I love it.) She must have had a brain like a clockmaker.
Chinese: Going back a few episodes, am I the only one who looked at the doctor operating on the mute lady and thought, oh hi Sha Ya! I mean, it’s just the hair extensions really, but… (Also, I am tempted to ship them after their five minutes of interaction; she’d be much better for you than Hei Yanjing, Chuchu. Then again, so would almost anybody. Although he does get to say 二叔、我有不好的予感 in the grand Star Wars tradition at one point.).
Wu Xie seems to have interpreted his deadline to mean that he’s going to die in exactly three months, no more no less, and is thus exempt from getting himself killed in the interim by taking idiot risks. Honey, it doesn’t work like that! (At one point Xiao Bai says “don’t touch the artifact,” he says “okay, I won’t,” instantly puts his hands all over it (shades of Zhao Yunlan), and Xiao Bai has a wonderful momentary expression of aiyoooo, give me strength. Kiddo, he has a lot of years of experience on you in this troll-off of yours.) The look of sheer joy on his face when he comes home to Pangzi at the end of episode 23, though, oh dear.
(Also I can’t help wondering if Zhu Yilong’s manager and the other people who work with him watched the “come on, you should eat something, doesn’t it smell good?” “I won’t! More pushups!” *faints* scene and just facepalmed…)
Writing: A scene I wrote quite a while back for the reader to dismiss as just more bureaucracy should now have come into its own; we’ll see. I just got a vast amount of plot reveal (the conspirators underestimated their minions) out of the way and am feeling purged, but I think I might need to rearrange the next couple of scenes, unless I can keep them as they are to create more tension? Oh dear. There is also more religion going on around the edges of this thing than I had in mind, in various contexts, what do I even think I’m doing.
Photos: Three views of hibiscuses (hibisci?) that are somehow flourishing in the heat.
Be safe and well.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-24 07:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-24 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-24 07:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-24 11:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-24 10:36 am (UTC)♥___♥
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Date: 2020-08-24 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-24 03:01 pm (UTC)Ah! What a good feeling!
no subject
Date: 2020-08-24 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-24 06:39 pm (UTC)Wu Xie seems to have interpreted his deadline to mean that he’s going to die in exactly three months, no more no less
Hee! Though given the general tomb-
robbingexploring, and also the warehouse's WTFness, you can't blame anyone for having a bizarro attitude to risk.Kiddo, he has a lot of years of experience on you in this troll-off of yours.
Seriously, I enjoyed all of that so much. Also him just knocking the thing over and breaking it! :D
(Also I can’t help wondering if Zhu Yilong’s manager and the other people who work with him watched the “come on, you should eat something, doesn’t it smell good?” “I won’t! More pushups!” *faints* scene and just facepalmed…)
Too, too true. EAT SOMETHING, ZHU YILONG.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-24 11:49 pm (UTC)Fair, this is kind of Bizarro World to begin with...
I'm only up to episode 24, but I'm so entertained that, so far anyway, Wu Xie and Xiao Bai are not in any way a romantic thing but rather two professional trolls taking each other on within the framework of a totally committed alliance. Way more fun to watch.
Too, too true. EAT SOMETHING, ZHU YILONG.
I wonder if it's a thing now: "Long-ge, eat more! You want to end up like Wu Xie or what?"
no subject
Date: 2020-08-30 08:45 am (UTC)Yes, the doctor reminded me of Sha Ya, too. Although I was too annoyed by the fact that she just steamrolled over Chuchu when it came to consent for the operation and she also seemed to be lying to her on top of that? Grrrr.
(At one point Xiao Bai says “don’t touch the artifact,” he says “okay, I won’t,” instantly puts his hands all over it (shades of Zhao Yunlan)
That was *SO* Zhao Yunlan! :D I laughed so much at that. I live for those moments on the show. I still don't know why, but its humor just works for me.
Kiddo, he has a lot of years of experience on you in this troll-off of yours.
Muahaha, oh yeah. Pangzi is the best teacher. <3
The look of sheer joy on his face when he comes home to Pangzi at the end of episode 23, though, oh dear.
Still haven't seen that! Looking forward to it! <3
Also I can’t help wondering if Zhu Yilong’s manager and the other people who work with him watched the “come on, you should eat something, doesn’t it smell good?” “I won’t! More pushups!” *faints* scene and just facepalmed…
Too true omg.
p.s.: yay hibiscus!
no subject
Date: 2020-08-30 11:23 am (UTC)I feel like Wu Xie's humor tends to be very deadpan--he really is a troll--and it catches me by surprise, every time.
and glad you liked the hibiscus!