Kevin

hard for me to brand All Her Fault (TV show) as derivative plot-mongering when the kidnapping subplot kind of resembles the Xiangling/ Jia Yucun arc in Dream of the Red Chamber

they're already leadpilled, from all the protein powder...

artificial phallus is redundant, says psychoanalysis

the King just reluctantly gave us his Secret Phonetic Chart that everyone in Split-Tongue Country 歧舌國 keeps secret upon pain of death

we are using it to discuss the fanqie 反切 system, where one character indicates a syllable's consonant beginning and another character its vowel, tone, etc.

he invented fan-qie from first principles, maybe

ok, but... lol

the novel is about language and translation, right? 😅 at least partly?

oh wow, I had forgotten that the terminology really overlaps:

"Are you Cut or Turn?” I asked. It was obvious he didn’t like the question. “Turn,” he said. He was older than me but not by very much.“How did all this happen?” I said. “You and Ez? [...] How long have you been training?”

the King just reluctantly gave us his Secret Phonetic Chart that everyone in Split-Tongue Country 歧舌國 keeps secret upon pain of death

we are using it to discuss the fanqie 反切 system, where one character indicates a syllable's consonant beginning and another character its vowel, tone, etc.

one of these statue romances should have as its HEA that both are them become statues together

the colored clouds scattermaxxing, the stained glass fragility-pilled

Unless, of course, visible starvation reemerges as a widespread social phenomenon...

That might swing corpulence and indulgent eating back into cultural prominence

I feel as if it might... well, let's think through this.

Yeah, maybe it'll promote a kind of austere cultural aesthetics, where, even, perhaps, eating itself becomes gauche and passé

(obvious caveat: not dismissing the considerable real health benefits the drug seems to bring to a lot of people, etc. etc. etc.; would you believe it's possible to discuss a multifaceted issue from many perspectives?)

you know, fast metabolism enjoyers were hoping that Ozempic was something other than it is

we were hoping that it would allow everyone to eat without shame and consequence, so we could all have guilt-free cake parties together

that it seems to promote instead a no-eating culture? it's a let-down

tired: breathing life into inanimate object

wired: let's get stiff together

one of these statue romances should have as its HEA that both are them become statues together

maybe I should email China Mieville about Split-tongue Country 歧舌國

it's very embassytown-pilled

society is increasingly looking like bad sci-fi because that's what a dearth of imagination looks like

There should be a podcast called "If Memes Could Kill," with at least one episode dedicated to the chapter of the 24 Filial Exemplars 二十四孝 where they disastrously recommend cutting some of your own flesh to feed an ailing parent, what I'm calling the Ivermectin of filial gestures

Lord Old-Timer 多九公 has a secret family medicinal recipe that his grandfather received from the heavens when he prayed on the mountaintop for his ailing parents. Old-Timer is reluctant to divulge the secret, as his family has relied on it for generations to make money. Tang Ao is trying to convince him to "share the IP," as doing so will bring benefit to scores of people, arguing also that the good renown and good karma resulting from such an action will itself more than make up for any private losses. 多九公道：「我家人丁向來指此為生，若刊刻流傳，人得此方，誰還來買？老夫原知傳方是件好事，但一經通行，家中缺了養贍，豈非自討苦吃麼？」唐敖搖頭道：「那有此事！世間行善的自有天地神明鑒察。若把藥方刊刻，做了偌大善事，反要吃苦，斷無此理。若果如此，誰肯行善？當日于公治獄，大興駟馬之門；竇氏濟人，高折五枝之桂；救蟻中狀元之選；埋蛇享宰相之榮。諸如此類，莫非因作好事而獲善報，所謂：『欲廣福田，須憑心地。』九公素稱達者，何以此等善事倒不修為？即如今曾祖以孝心感格。而得仙方之報；今九公傳了此方，又安知不別有富貴之報？況令郎身入黌門，目前雖以舌耕為業，若九公刻了此方，焉知令郎不聯捷直上？那時食了皇家俸祿，又何須幾個藥資為家口之計呢？」 第二十七回觀奇形路過翼民郡　談異相道出豕喙鄉

Flowers in the Mirror 鏡花緣 (19th. C), a veritable value-theoretic masterwork, a self-aware and self-critical anthropological odyssey (see ALT)

they're giving takes now on intellectual property! 🙃

Lord Old-Timer 多九公 has a secret family medicinal recipe that his grandfather received from the heavens when he prayed on the mountaintop for his ailing parents. Old-Timer is reluctant to divulge the secret, as his family has relied on it for generations to make money. Tang Ao is trying to convince him to "share the IP," as doing so will bring benefit to scores of people, arguing also that the good renown and good karma resulting from such an action will itself more than make up for any private losses. 多九公道：「我家人丁向來指此為生，若刊刻流傳，人得此方，誰還來買？老夫原知傳方是件好事，但一經通行，家中缺了養贍，豈非自討苦吃麼？」唐敖搖頭道：「那有此事！世間行善的自有天地神明鑒察。若把藥方刊刻，做了偌大善事，反要吃苦，斷無此理。若果如此，誰肯行善？當日于公治獄，大興駟馬之門；竇氏濟人，高折五枝之桂；救蟻中狀元之選；埋蛇享宰相之榮。諸如此類，莫非因作好事而獲善報，所謂：『欲廣福田，須憑心地。』九公素稱達者，何以此等善事倒不修為？即如今曾祖以孝心感格。而得仙方之報；今九公傳了此方，又安知不別有富貴之報？況令郎身入黌門，目前雖以舌耕為業，若九公刻了此方，焉知令郎不聯捷直上？那時食了皇家俸祿，又何須幾個藥資為家口之計呢？」 第二十七回觀奇形路過翼民郡　談異相道出豕喙鄉

Flowers in the Mirror 鏡花緣 (19th. C), a veritable value-theoretic masterwork, a self-aware and self-critical anthropological odyssey (see ALT)

they're giving takes now on intellectual property! 🙃

There should be a podcast called "If Memes Could Kill," with at least one episode dedicated to the chapter of the 24 Filial Exemplars 二十四孝 where they disastrously recommend cutting some of your own flesh to feed an ailing parent, what I'm calling the Ivermectin of filial gestures

I just want some of these fucking people to face real consequences

society is increasingly looking like bad sci-fi because that's what a dearth of imagination looks like

at least, you can't complain about readership if you're neglecting the most convenient modern form

it must be too expensive?

I would settle for podcast quality audio, it's really the accessibility that makes it worthwhile

look, I'm busy, and I want indy authors to get their shit together and do audio-whatever for their stuff

Lin Zhiyang 林之洋 is one of our bumbling-but-well-meaning protagonists from the classic proto-feminist text Flowers in the Mirror 鏡花緣 (19th C.) He is pictured here alongside his spirit object, viz., his trading vessel. The joke is that his name means literally "to go to sea," 之 in the classical sense of "to go." Zhi hu zhe ye 之乎者也 is a synecdoche, these four characters being the most common particles in Classical Chinese that contribute to its distinctive sound and rhythm. Lin Zhiyang 林之洋 thinks that everyone in Gentleman's Country is saying his name because it shares the zhi 之 in zhi hu zhe ye 之乎者也 and everyone in Gentleman's Country speaks in Classical Chinese at all time. Lin is a merchant who's forgotten most of his formal Confucian education.

Lin Zhiyang 林之洋 will take you to sea, but he won't tolerate any fancy "zhi hu zhe ye" 之乎者也 when you speak to him!

(subtweeting the end of Chapter 26 of Flowers in the Mirror 鏡花緣, though, come to think of it, there are similarly magical dirt pills in A Marriage Fate to Awaken the Ages 醒世姻緣傳, and a few other places as well)

really funny to have as a cliffhanger "find out what's in our magic medicine 妙藥," only then for the big reveal to be "dirt from the middle of the road"