taste of honey
Sep. 16th, 2021 10:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnozomi・I did a thing I should not have done and snuck a dumb pun into a technical translation, but “Press-molded bearings, never seen before in the industry!” were so clearly “un-press-edented” that I couldn’t resist.
・I seem to have written (but not posted yet, sorry) five and a half short or short-ish fics for the Guardian wishlist thing so far, plus at least one more I want to get to. I hope I’m not getting carried away.
・In reference to the zhiji discussion I mentioned last week, A-Pei taught me guimi 闺蜜, for close female friendships, a new one on me. (I finally remembered the 閨 character from 閨秀作家, a very old-fashioned (Meiji-era) term for women writers. Funny correlations.)
・Ep. 38: Zhu Yilong is naturally a baritone and Wang Yang, apparently, a tenor, but their last scene together was the first time I noticed consciously “Lin Nansheng’s speaking voice is deeper than Chen Moqun’s,” and I wonder if they brought that out on purpose to emphasize the shift in power.
Ep. 40: I have to say, if this show had two subtitles, they would be “Lin Nansheng hurt no comfort” and “The Significance of Radio and Telephone Communication in Mid-20th-Century Chinese History.”
Ep. 41: holy shit that was forty minutes of a master class in acting, what happens when you have a whole cast that’s that good and you just let them do their thing, no big action scenes, no melodrama, just gorgeously detailed, consistent, emotionally rooted characterization. Zhu Yilong and Zhang Zixian are both absolutely as good as it gets, and the other main actors/actresses live up to them here.
・I’ve gotten fascinated by watching ballet company classes on YouTube. My mother is an honest-to-goodness balletomane who has taken me to performances several times, and while I can tell that it’s highly skilled and very beautiful, I never quite get it—if I know the music they’re dancing to, my brain has trouble adding the extra dimension of dance somehow, and I keep protesting to myself “but why isn’t the dance phrasing the same as the music?” or “but that’s the recapitulation, how come they’re not doing the same steps as the exposition?”. I like reading about ballet, and someday I will figure out what I’m not getting and learn to enjoy watching performances more. In the meantime, I enjoy the company classes a lot! I like seeing the dancers with no makeup and in various outlandish practice garb, especially the cute chiffon skirts (although I’m slightly disconcerted by how little some of the men seem willing to wear), I like seeing the individual steps broken down and the way they differ subtly from dancer to dancer, especially as it’s not a performance and so they’re not compelled to match as closely as possible, I love the little spurts of exuberance in centre work when the women spin or the men leap. In musical terms as well I’ve always far preferred rehearsals to performances, it’s much more fun to watch something taken apart and put back together again than to hear it once through in its final form.
Be safe and well.
・I seem to have written (but not posted yet, sorry) five and a half short or short-ish fics for the Guardian wishlist thing so far, plus at least one more I want to get to. I hope I’m not getting carried away.
・In reference to the zhiji discussion I mentioned last week, A-Pei taught me guimi 闺蜜, for close female friendships, a new one on me. (I finally remembered the 閨 character from 閨秀作家, a very old-fashioned (Meiji-era) term for women writers. Funny correlations.)
・Ep. 38: Zhu Yilong is naturally a baritone and Wang Yang, apparently, a tenor, but their last scene together was the first time I noticed consciously “Lin Nansheng’s speaking voice is deeper than Chen Moqun’s,” and I wonder if they brought that out on purpose to emphasize the shift in power.
Ep. 40: I have to say, if this show had two subtitles, they would be “Lin Nansheng hurt no comfort” and “The Significance of Radio and Telephone Communication in Mid-20th-Century Chinese History.”
Ep. 41: holy shit that was forty minutes of a master class in acting, what happens when you have a whole cast that’s that good and you just let them do their thing, no big action scenes, no melodrama, just gorgeously detailed, consistent, emotionally rooted characterization. Zhu Yilong and Zhang Zixian are both absolutely as good as it gets, and the other main actors/actresses live up to them here.
・I’ve gotten fascinated by watching ballet company classes on YouTube. My mother is an honest-to-goodness balletomane who has taken me to performances several times, and while I can tell that it’s highly skilled and very beautiful, I never quite get it—if I know the music they’re dancing to, my brain has trouble adding the extra dimension of dance somehow, and I keep protesting to myself “but why isn’t the dance phrasing the same as the music?” or “but that’s the recapitulation, how come they’re not doing the same steps as the exposition?”. I like reading about ballet, and someday I will figure out what I’m not getting and learn to enjoy watching performances more. In the meantime, I enjoy the company classes a lot! I like seeing the dancers with no makeup and in various outlandish practice garb, especially the cute chiffon skirts (although I’m slightly disconcerted by how little some of the men seem willing to wear), I like seeing the individual steps broken down and the way they differ subtly from dancer to dancer, especially as it’s not a performance and so they’re not compelled to match as closely as possible, I love the little spurts of exuberance in centre work when the women spin or the men leap. In musical terms as well I’ve always far preferred rehearsals to performances, it’s much more fun to watch something taken apart and put back together again than to hear it once through in its final form.
Be safe and well.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-17 12:45 am (UTC)Oh, wow, that's fascinating!
“Lin Nansheng hurt no comfort”
LOL! Though it's very true. ;__; I loved achray's tags on AO3: "Lin Nansheng needs a hug and will not get one" "(so canon compliant)".
Ep. 41: holy shit that was forty minutes of a master class in acting
Yes! This! Everyone is so, so good.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-17 02:59 am (UTC)Yes! Too true to be funny, oh dear.
This! Everyone is so, so good.
Absolutely. I mean, episode 41 is basically just dialogue, it's all setup for the big dramatic set piece in the next episode, and the effect is to emphasize how incredibly skilled the acting work is. (As wonderful as Zhu Yilong is, my notes to myself while watching are increasingly devolving into iterations of "how is Zhang Zixian such a good actor omigod.")
no subject
Date: 2021-09-17 03:21 am (UTC)He is amazing. I'd be very curious to see him in another role.