#brightnshinythings

Hi! Thanks for the question, and sorry for taking ages to reply!

In the post you're referring to here, the top in figure 17 is an "ao/袄", which is a Chinese term for a lined upper garment. Garments referred to as ao were worn throughout Chinese history, although they varied in appearance and construction during different time periods. The figure depicts ao in the style of the 1920s, aka early Minguo/Republican era. Below - painting and photo of young women in 1920s China:

If you want to be more specific, this particular top is a waist-length "duan ao/短袄" (short ao), as opposed to a "chang ao/长袄" (long ao) that can go past the knees. It has a particular sleeve shape popular during 1920s Minguo China called "daodaxiu/倒大袖", lit. “reverse wide sleeves”, referring to half length or shorter sleeves that become wider at the bottom. Below - 1920s daodaxiu ao from Suzhou (1/2):

Daodaxiu ao were worn with qun/skirts (aoqun/袄裙) or ku/pants (aoku/袄裤). @audreydoeskaren discusses the history and development of daodaxiu in her post on 1920s Chinese fashion here. Below - 1920s-style daodaxiu aoqun outfits (x):

Qipao could also have daodaxiu sleeves. Below - 1920s-style daodaxiu qipao outfits (x):

For more in-depth analysis, please check out this post by @audreydoeskaren reviewing several of the outfits depicted in the fashion timeline, including this one. For more references on daodaxiu ao, please check out my daodaxiu and minguo aoqun tags.

Finally, below are a few daodaxiu aoqun from various shops that I particularly like (1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8):

Oh! Yes! I've been meaning to come back and talk to you about it!

I loveloveLOVED Mortal Kombat II. I totally see now what you meant when you said that you like it more than OG Mortal Kombat (1995) because I'm ALMOST there. I am super fond of the '95 one because it does have the ridiculousness of Christopher Lambert, and idk if you read the old article about his involvement in the film, how production came to be, which is a hell of a story, plus full ham Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Robin Shou being SO SINCERE, and Linden Ashby was fucking PERFECT, and Bridgette Wilson as Sonia worked for me even if she got sidelined for the final act, and the soundtrack. THE SOUNDTRACK.

BUT. Mortal Kombat II feels like such a love letter to the games and to their fans? 'Cause the 2021 film was just, like, wut? MK has a billion characters but let's create a totally brand new one to be our protag, and while I didn't sense the embarrassment that I usually get where it's clear that production (writer, director, what have you) disdains the source material and looks down on its fans, which is good, I also didn't sense any comprehension or appreciation. Whereas MK2 is LOADED with it. The first one felt like "we need to appeal to the general audience who knows nothing about MK" and meanwhile this one was like, fuck it, let's cram in all the references and all the lore and all the nods and make actual MK fans squeak with delight. Which is what I did in copious amounts lol. I'm NOT a hardcore gamer and certainly not a diehard MK game fan, but I definitely played through enough of it to get a LOT of it, and that felt really good.

On a story level, I also LOVE that it ended up being a stealth Kitana movie. It's still a Johnny Cage story but Kitana is definitely The Main Character, and that is a superb choice. And I can appreciate that some people may say her story is basic but I found it well-written insofar as some stories just need to be told straight, without subversion, and hitting all the emotional beats without being "clever" about it. I've railed before about "gotcha" storytelling, where there's been a trend to "outsmart" the audience and it's rooted in contempt and condescension, and I just will always appreciate it when I'm being respected as an audience and I'm being asked to SHARE in the joy. MK2 is VERY good because of that, I feel like every part of it was a call: LET'S HAVE FUN! IT'S MORTAL FUCKING KOMBAT! FUCK YEAH!

I can probably go on and on and ON about it but there's my three paragraph answer as to whether I liked it lol.

Hi!

9. Best month for you this year?

November - I took an unforgettable holiday with someone special, left a job on my own terms and started at a better one, did a pleasant amount of ice skating, touched Roman stone with my own fingers and discovered Bulgarian trash-folk-pop

14. Favourite book you read this year?

I reread some beloved faves, but of books that were new to me The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh will probably live longest in the memory

20. What's something you learned this year?

Learning new skills after 30 requires a lot of practice and repetition, but it can be done.

It doesn't exactly fit what you're describing but the closest Hanshin has is this:

Shortly followed by this discussion:

thank you!!

It is by far one of my favorite pieces and it makes me REALLY happy to know that someone enjoy it as much I as do

Thank you

Was the nuclear submarine still there when you went? I was lucky enough to end up there accidentally when there was a festival on.

It was! It was our second favourite ship (after the Surprise) despite me having claustrophobia :) I will get around to some photo posts soon. 

Absolutely! ... If I wasn't so afraid of the fandom. For some reason I feel like I'll never know enough to write fic without getting things 'wrong', which sucks because, in general, the MCU as a whole is a giant sandbox I'd really like to play in, especially with characters like Thor, Loki, Steve, and Wanda.