Know no shame

first of all there's a big hot dumb cop, zheng bei. yes that's huang jingyu and you might not like him because of his apparently quite sketchy personal life but all i care about in this case is that he's tall, and thoughtful, and a police captain who's protective of his people and a little bit of an idiot. my catnip tbh. (i guess he was in addicted too? somehow breaking the you-can-only-be-in-one-BL rule?)

(ETA that by "dumb" of course he's not dumb at all, only by comparison; cf. my own stupid meta on this fascinating topic)

then there's an effete genius consultant, gu yiran (wang ziqi), who knows everything there is to know about drugs. he comes from the south to help these ignorant northerners form an anti-narcotics unit. he's such a massive nerd, the team doesn't like him until they realize that he runs 10k every morning and can outrun motorcycles and is actually quite useful. then suddenly it's no longer "gu-laoshi" but is all "ran-ge" this and "ran-ge" that. he can't dance for shit. i adore him.

there's a superb seven-samurai style Assembling The Team sequence in which this cop is brought in as the muscle. Her nickname is mad dog yao and she kicks the ass of an entire club at one point. we love her. her only problem is that, not unlike zhang haixing in tibetan sea flower, she will in fact fight a wall. here's gu yiran's face after a drug dealer mistakenly underestimates her and she stomps on him.

one of my favorite things about this drama so far is how poor the police are. it's 1997 in a dinky northern precinct and these cops ain't got shit. no computers. rudimentary cellphones. barely any forenic analysis, and most of that is on pieces of paper. no bullpen. no interrogation rooms. they have to interview suspects at their desks.

captain zheng is so underpaid he can't even afford a real pointer for his situation board, he has to go outside and get a literal stick.

drives his dad's chicken delivery van. has to slam himself against the front door to open it. everything about this is absolutely perfect.

i'm only on episode 7 but this shit is already brotastic. please behold:

yes that is an actual line from the show. yes gu yiran has to live with captain zheng, they can't afford fancy accommodations for him. turns out there's a trundle bed made out of paper clips but that's okay, they still get plenty of cosy domestic time together.

and that's also what i already love about this drama—in spite of being about anti-narcotics, it's also very slice of life, very daily city life, with meals and neighbors and friends and family and did i mention food, there is so much eating in this drama. it's gorgeous. also i'm improving my colloquial chinese by leaps and bounds.

of course you are you stupid service top, now take care of the baby.

then there's xiaoguang - a proper golden retriever he's been pining day and night for zheng bei's sister and never once crossed a boundary like??? china I was not aware of ur game alr I'm in

there's also ghouzu (I hope I spelled his name right) - he's admired yiran since day one and didn't underestimate him at all, tho he was pretty distant which I assume is bc he: 1. is generally awkward and 2. he matches the energy he's given and 3. yiran is literally scary and strange and so stiff if they were in a hs drama yiran would be that senior who's won 50 awards and broken even more bones by criticism alone, he probably would walk around with a pointer stick and hit ppl on the head w it just bc he can

yaoyao is an all time favourite she's so pookie and such a mess. she's all over the place w pent up energy and purpose and i was kinda sad it was misplaced in the beginning but as the series went on, she just perfectly fell into her role as the muscle of the group. i esp liked her character growth where she almost beat up yiran for (rightly) assuming that the popcorn her dad made has lead in it and so refusing to have some to literally becoming an all time gu yiran defender

Hi. Hello. Local Jiang Xiaohai enthusiast here!

She is a brazilian sculptor and artist who is probably one of the best creators of gore in formal art I've ever seen. Here's some more of her work.

She loves exploring portuguese tiling, and her work includes eras that are solely focused on tiles.

She has also went through phases where she explored cracks in ink and in tiling

And of course that evolved into bloody cracks and slashes on tiles, like the walls are living beings

Which then became her iconic meat walls, but I also love her pool paintings, it's a completely different kind of unsettling more akin to liminal spaces

Little moments in Lotus Tower

10cm Height difference via @/precioushitsuji [ x x ]

+ full body shot by @/photobyyamed:

A Richardson's ground squirrel feasting on grasses.

OKAY OKAY GUYS I KNOW THE STANDOUTS THIS YEAR FROM CHINESE ANIMATION ARE NEZHA 2 AND THE LEGEND OF HEI 2 BUT I NEED TO PUT IN A GOOD WORD FOR THE FILM NOBODY!!!! 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺

Finally got to see it tonight (I am SO glad I live near a city with a big Chinese population so the film was still showing; I heard it only got to show in LA for like 2 weeks and it was during a road trip I was on so I was scared I’d miss it). 🥹

It’s an expansion of episode 1 from the short collection Yao—Chinese Folktales, which can be watched here:

Yao—Chinese Folktales Episode 1:

The film is focused on the life of the small-time yao that get no names and are basically henchmen in Journey to the West where they’re basically cannon fodder for Sun Wukong ADKFJSKFJSKSH.

In the movie, the plot is that the main characters (a boar and a toad) decide to impersonate Sun Wukong and his gang to try and be respected but also gain immortality, gathering two other yao to help them on their journey. 🔥

It’s a very funny movie but also pretty low-key—less flashy in terms of action than The Legend of Hei 2 and Nezha 2 and also sillier than the former but less immature than the latter!

It also has a very hopeful message and themes since it’s focused on the underdog and kind of more clearly reflects our reality (since the yao suffer from the hierarchy system and struggle to keep/find jobs).

I even forced my younger brother to watch it and it’s actually his favourite donghua film this year out of the other 2 I similarly forced him to watch in theatres. 😆

Here’s the trailer!:

Official MV:

Behind the scenes:

And kind of depressingly, we only have one video on YouTube reviewing it… 😭

But they really liked it too!:

Plus it has legacy too since it’s animated by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, which was practically responsible for all animation in China after the 1920s-1930s in the 20th century before China opened up in the 1980s, and they evidently have tons of important historical animation under their belt like Uproar in Heaven (1961-1964) and Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (1979).

Nobody even references SAFS’ work with the Journey to the West characters, along with the iconic 1986 adaptation. ^^

Evidently Nobody itself is not doing too hot in western theatres and has already left some theatres, but I’d encourage you guys to watch it in theatres if you can! It is quite a pretty film and it’s cute and funny and honest and subdued and heartfelt and adds a really fun new dimension to Journey to the West.

It actually makes it so that this story doesn’t mess up the JttW canon at all despite using a villain directly from the story, so it can totally be taken as canon. 🔥

My favourite character is surprisingly enough the weasel ALFJSKDJSKS. HE’S ANIMATED PRETTY CUTELY AND HE HAS A FUN LITTLE PERSONALITY AND ARC TOO!

(Actually all the characters have pretty strong character arcs!)

OH AND I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION THIS BUT NOBODY IS NOW CHINA’S HIGHEST-GROSSING 2D ANIMATED FILM EVER!!