halfcactus

I started journaling about food so I can delete my 384903489 badly taken food photos from my camera roll.

Journal photos (mostly food notes lol)

1) I didn't have enough free space so I just wrote my Shortbox notes in my monthly spread lol.
2) Angst without emotion: the most worthless feeling of them all. is a blurb about a song, but it perfectly encapsulates how I feel about most manhwa with tragic protagonists, like what's the point of all this drama when the characters don't get to feel things!!!


Mid mooncakes for Mid-Autumn \o/ (They weren't bad, just not worth the price, all the fillings were too sweet and the yolks not to salty enough to offset them)


WIP haha:

i ruined the page (´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)

November 1, 2025 at 8:35 PM

Re: Hidden Love—my one important note is that the English translation I read (I think there are multiple) went a bit too far with the Anglicized/localized names. I can deal with Zola Sang (Sang Zhi) and Jesse Duan (Duan Zhi), but I draw the line at Yeecouver (Yihe, the name of a place)!



I recently discovered the podcast Secretly Incredibly Fascinating and listened to their ep about pumpkins.

https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/144035.html

1. Do you ever wonder if the way you see things visually aren't how other people see them?
When I'm making graphics or subtitles, all the time, yeah! And in real life, I've always felt that I have no eye for decor and fashion and often wish I was better at knowing what looks good/bad.

2. What kind of sounds are the most annoying?
Fingernails on canvas/rough fabric. I guess it's not so much an annoyance as it is a sensory issue...

3. When walking through a store, do you shop with your hands by touching/feeling the texture of things?
Sometimes. Just for fun and having something to do with my hands and pretending I know what I'm looking at.

4. If you could only smell three scents for the rest of your life, what would they be?
I can't think of any off the top of my head. From a practical standpoint, I would like to be able to smell when garlic is cooking, because it would be very disconcerting to not be able to. And also when anything is burning because it would be scary not to. And then I suppose one of my perfumes because it's comforting to smell yourself to sleep lol.

5. What sorts of things do you savor when eating them?
Most little snacks I can eat on my own time and just about anything my mom cooks. Just this morning I really savored the store-bought salmon onigiri I ate during today's groupwatch. Groupwatch is around 3 hours long so it was nice to take my time eating! The salmon flakes hit so good. But yeah, I usually just savor warm homey food with some level of nutritional value, especially at the end of the day or when I'm taking a break from work. Also, clean-tasting cold water.

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Recently watched (and wished I had the energy to write about):

Dear Evan Hansen (UK touring group)

青蛇 Green Snake (1993 movie starring Maggie Cheung and Joey Wong)

Gitling (Hyphen)

Recently read:

The Housekeeper of the Dungeon (manhwa), which I wrote about here

Shortbox Comics Fair is back which means I'm saving up to make strategic purchases again even though my reading brain is still dead... So far I've only gotten Hwei (lalage)'s White Snake comic Hero in the Serpent's Skin which I wrote about here.

Shamelessly just copy/pasting the stuff I wrote on comment sections. I subbed to Manta for a month because you get a discounted price + gems on your first month (Manta's system is now a hybrid model of subscription access and purchase through in-app gems) and I wanted the gems for the orca BL which just started serializing in English and is gem-only.

Killer Whale Protocol (ongoing): Modern-day m/m romance by the creator of my favorite manhwa, Goldiluck the Black Kitten. Spoiler: I don't like it as much as Goldiluck, but I guess that's to be expected.

The vibes are a bit like Shape of the Water but with standard BL tropes (I think! I confess I have never actually seen Shape of the Water). The MC is a new hire in a research facility that deals with aquatic animals that don't seem quite right. He is a lover of killer whales and starts visiting and feeding the neglected killer whale that lives in a deserted tank as part of his destressing ritual. The killer whale likes to hang out with the MC and snack on the MC's bullies when the MC isn't looking. One of the bullies is his rapist from high school, so while this arc was painful to get through, at least we know there is cold-blooded comeuppance.

CW: Rape (past), attempted rape (present)

The Iron Inside: f/f dystopia set in post-apocalyptic Seoul where everyone lives in an underground base. The story beats reminded me of a mix of Wandering Earth, Little Mushroom, and Snowpiercer, but with more eugenics since all the survivors are handpicked "elites". Inexplicably men went extinct so the only way to repopulate was to wake up cryogenically frozen humans as needed. I found the characters and relationships interesting (the FL is rightfully resented by the community since she's sleeping with the director and getting special treatment) but the worldbuilding and timeline confused me and made me curious about the novel. It was really short (> 40 chapters) and the art was great so for all its strangeness I don't regret reading it!

Semantic Error: m/m modern-day campus enemies-to-lovers romance between a computer science major and his visual design major sunbae. Loved the first two (out of three) seasons a lot but I struggle to continue things when I've paused them, however brief. The graphic design parts (exhibit A, exhibit B) had me cackling.

When Fate Finds Us: m/f romantasy where the FL has been marked as the bride of the god and is destined to be sacrificed to him imminently. She has the ability to see fragments of the future when she touches people, so she's regarded as a prized prophet when she's in fact treated as a prisoner in the temple. The ML helps her break out of the temple in exchange for her help in locating a family heirloom. The vibes so far are part Tangled, part fantasy anime, mostly enjoyable, but again, I paused it momentarily so idk when to get back.

风之咒 The Wind Spell: f/f (fish/fucker) dark fantasy set in the 17th century. It appears that the MC is some sort of witch (whose medium is a rope) and the FL is a vicious mermaid? I have only read like 2 pages so I can't really talk about the story but omg I am obsesseeeeeeeeed with this artist's art (their other comic appears to be a baihe about a lady and her maid). Vibes-wise, reminds me of Your Eternal Lies.

Because it was that sort of week.

错撩 Love by Mistake (ongoing, DNF)

Modern-day miscommunication romance between a financial journalist and the CEO that she thinks is her ex-boyfriend's girlfriend's uncle (...). I stopped after the get-together but right before the CEO finds out about the FL's initial ulterior motives because why subject myself to stress lol.

The art style is attractive, all aesthetic, sometimes empty, sometimes hot. I can't tell if it's disproportionate to how dumb the plot is, or appropriately superficial. I read the official translation that's on Webcomics App, where all the names are anglicized to an extent that I actually find them hard to remember! I only know the FL is named Sylvie Jaine... Everyone else has illogical and unmemorable names.

The pop culture callbacks were basic but fun—Pride and Prejudice 2005 and not!Nakashima Mika.

The Villainess Makes Amends (ongoing)

Shoujo fantasy comedy about a magical engineer who, with the help of her unhinged Saintess cousin, goes back one year in time to prevent her family's death. She leaves behind the corrupt system of academia and goes back to make amends with her estranged family with the goal of averting disaster and death. (In spite of its title, she's not really a villainess.)

The family stuff and the poking fun at isekai/regression tropes are super fun! Everyone in the family is a Character and in possession of the tsundere gene. The MC and her diva of a second brother have a believable sibling relationship in which their love language is bickering and insulting each other.

It gets a little less fun when the focus is on MC and the ML (especially when they're surrounded by one-bit villains), but still funny since the MC has nothing but derision over the ML's (the crown prince in disguise) shadiness in spite of all his effort to be as charming as possible. (The dynamic is somewhat similar to Maomao and Jinshi in Apothecary Diaries.)

I wish the running gag of the MC being a math-obsessed engineer were less elementary (as cute as it is that the MC loves wearing checkered print, I want her to discover more geometric patterns!) but, well, this is a shoujo. XD

Some great reaction images, like this one:

Couple Breaker (complete, ~80 chapters)

Modern-day petty revenge + breakup + fake dating romance about a couple who get revenge on their cheating exes by joining a reality/game show called Couple Breaker. I thought it sounded dumb... and then I binged the whole thing overnight. The MC, Taerin, is a popular and charismatic fashion design student whose goal is to set up a store where all the clothes are unisex/non-gendered. Her dream wedding fit for herself is a wedding suit. The ML is the neighbor who irrationally hates her.

I found the first half more fun because it was petty revenge and delightful mind games and breakup tension. Towards the later half, I kind of lost sight of the plot? The drama was brief but extraneous, the MC's "ploys" didn't make sense, and I was getting bored of the trash men. I wish we knew more about the ML's inner life—as amusing it is to have a ML who's defined solely by his relationships with women (his past GF, and his present one), it's not very satisfying. And I wish we had an extra chapter about the MC's shop because it felt so perfunctory for them to set her up to be this cool character with cool ambitions but to not give us any closure on it, as if all these interesting character things were written solely in service of the romance.

Overall: fun MC, fake dating, decent romantic chemistry, good breakup arc for the ML, great jealousy arc, but lacking in closure. The character writing is mostly simplistic, but with touches of complexity.

CW: dysmorphia + surgery, eating disorder + disordered eating—all of which are treated as insecurity and lack of confidence, though the manhwa is sympathetic to it

Till Debt Do Us Part (complete, ~80 chapters)

Modern-day contract marriage romance. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND. This manhwa doesn't live up to the drama of its English title! It's disappointingly generic and even worse, the FL's role is to fix the ML and his family. Dropped it when the FL got pregnant, which was at least pretty much near the end, but was still too much for me to deal with lol.

Plot: The FL owes the ML money. For nonsensical inheritance reasons, the ML needs to be married for a year, so he offers to write off her debt in exchange for a one-year contract marriage. The ML has abuse and abandonment issues which cause him to be a jerk to the FL (he cares for her, but goes hot and cold and is sometimes just mean); his stepfamily is equally dysfunctional and emotionally constipated. Naturally the FL fixes everything and becomes the heart of the family... long before the year is over.

The FL's own situation with her parents (loving and healthy but struggling with bills and medical issues) and a long-term past relationship that turned violent are only written as plot devices and left unexplored, as the focus is all on the ML and his family, because the FL is, idk, built different and overcomes everything with her light or something. An ironic line of messaging because the manhwa started with some sort of social commentary about patriarchal expectations.

TV/Movies:

Ballerina

Link Click OVA (Bridon Arc)

I love that this is a prequel AND a sequel and I love alllll the Lu Guang feelings (especially in the first half of episode 1... and the OP...), but this series really has a gendered violence issue and I've never truly liked anything that came out after S1... They do have some truly emotionally charged bangers so I suspect that in spite of my grumbling I'll watch S3 as long as daisydiversions wants to watch it lol.

Plot-wise it feels like nothing really happened here, other than establishing some backstory with Cheng Xiaoshi's parents? I didn't care for any of the new characters.

Nuer Hong

Comics:

MANGA:

Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Swap in the Maiden Court (ongoing)

Bodyswap court politics manga about a talented, good-natured, and universally beloved but chronically ill heroine who trades places with a reviled and spiteful villainess. It is surprisingly gen! There's one male character who seems like he could be the love interest, but the manga doesn't really give any indication that romance is in the horizon. Rather, it's focused on the women in the palace, framed in the PoVs of the protagonist and antagonist who learn more about each other's plights, and consequently, the systems and structures around them. I put it on hold at around 15 chapters in, but both the manga and the novel it's based on are still ongoing.

When I Became a Commoner, They Broke Off Our Engagement! (ongoing)

Another "trading places" manga, this time playing with the concept of changelings: A commoner and a noble are swapped at birth by the hand of a mischievous fairy, their circumstances to be revealed when they come of age. This takes a more thoughtful approach about class differences and social change than expected. Although I'm not sold on any of the relationships involving men (be it siblingly or romantic), it's really interesting to see two women connect with each other without ever interacting directly, and motivated to improve the lives of ordinary people through their shared perspectives.

MANHWA: I started a lot (and also dropped a lot) so I'll just limit this post to the ones I either finished or read at least one season of, with a note that some of these comics are much better than the titles make them sound. Of this list, I'd put The Fantasie of a Stepmother / A Stepmother's Märchen and Your Eternal Lies on top in terms of overall writing.

Being Loved for the First Time (ongoing)

Reincarnation + childcare manhwa where:

the MC is on her 100th life and on her first good reincarnation (she always has awful family circumstances and dies at 20 to save the world)

the MC's mom is ALIVE and not evil

the MC has a brother AND a sister

the dad has pink hair, and the mom and the MC have black hair and red eyes (usually it is the other way around, so this is a cute subversion)

Father, I Don't Want This Marriage

Miscommunication: The Manhwa.

True to its character-inclusive title, the FL's dad and the ML have an equal ratio of scenes, which is hilarious. This is part regression romcom (the ML, contractually dating the FL behind a different identity, is trying to convince the FL that the crown prince isn't that bad, actually!), part self-sacrificial tsundere father-daughter angst. Both parts are super tropey and the chapter endings are simply THE BEST and are in fact the reason why I keep reading.

The Fantasie of a Stepmother (also known as A Stepmother's Märchen) (ongoing)

I've only read S1 and I love it so much but where do I begin? The MC enters a non-sexual/non-romantic marriage as a prodigious teenager, groomed by her dying husband to become the acting matriarch until the eldest son comes of age. All of the kids act their age, initially resenting her but eventually forming different flavors of ride-or-die for her, and any woman who supports the MC does it through her own motivations and is liable to withdraw her support when their interests are no longer aligned.


In this manhwa: angst, family of convenience to family of choice, gorgeous art, competent MC, loyalty kink, fealty, complex women, politics

Flirting with the Villain's Dad

VERY CUTE (romcom / Bellecourt chapters) until it wasn't (plot). The main pairing was highly shippable and the FL kept accidentally calling the ML "dad" which I thought was fun! But to my disappointment, the comic completely neglected to develop the FL's other close relationships, and the plot was meh. And the politics made no! Sense! At! All! I would happily reread S1 though.

For Better or For Worse

Regency romance with isekai/regression elements and a tenuous stance about "fate". This was a nice little romance story focusing on the leads' romantic chemistry, but it falls off from the moment the ML realizes his feelings because characters start behaving in unrecognizably irrational ways. There's a weird Raeliana and the Duke-esque twist at the end that renders the plot completely nonsensical and undercuts all of its themes, which is a shame because it was otherwise very enjoyable! There's a cast of women with distinct, interesting personalities and protagonist energy, ie. cute tsundere remarried MiL, introvert BFF, and the "original" FL who in this version of the story is no longer in love with the ML now that she's in a healthier state of mind.

Ginger and the Cursed Prince

Non-isekai fantasy-romance where the FL receives a book that foretells her future as the antagonist, and the ML is a mindreader who's endeared by the FL's stupidity. IDK, it works! But the secondhand embarrassment is kind of strong in the first few chapters... Still, it's a self-contained story with no transmigration OR regression, which is a plus for me. XD

I Married the Male Lead's Dad (ongoing)

Interesting case of bait-and-switch: Gets you with the trashy transmigration romance premise and animated prologue, but S1 ends with a genre shift that reveals that it's all just an artifice. I dropped it after S1 because I didn't feel invested enough in the characters, but the "real" story has the potential to push my buttons with messy reincarnation drama.

I'm Unmarried with a Time-Limited Lover (ongoing)

Contract dating with reincarnation elements and a talking sword. The FL is a self-made businesswoman who can foresee misfortunes through touch, while the ML is the world's unluckiest human being, knowing no joy, doomed to die early, and just trying to tick off his bucket list. Following this for now because I like how the ML's character design makes him feel like a more unique flavor of black-hair-red-eyed protagonist (his eyes, for instance, are a different shade of red).

My In-Laws Are Obsessed with Me (ongoing)

I'm not sure I love this, but the art is great and I really like it when webtoons get to take their time telling the story (...as long as I'm in the position to binge instead of waiting for weekly chapters). S1 was a nice slow burn where the regression storyline folds into the plot in interesting ways and is bound to the magical worldbuilding and mystery. You have to get to the end of the season to see what it does with the tropes, and I think it spins an interesting story out of them, I just can’t talk about the good parts without spoiling. ^^; The supernatural elements (regression, magical poison, the MC's multiple actual DEATHS) are considered factors for the FL's worsening cramps too, which was nice to see in fiction! Planning to continue this for sure.

The Perks of Being a Villainess (ongoing)

Isekai rofan that's quite focused on the leads' business partnership. The FL wins the ML over with her competence and capitalistic villainy (eg. tax evasion and predatory subscription schemes) and everyone else with her innovations and math genius (as math is an integral part of magic). SO far, it's a relaxing take on "business genius" protagonists, with identity porn comedy as the ML has dual identities as noble and overworked information broker.

The Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine (ongoing)

Plot: Korea is suffering a transmigration epidemic, and the MC is the first to avail of the transmigration insurance package...

S1 was fun, up to a point. S2 was mostly skippable until the last few chapters where tutorial mode ends, the regular difficulty is restored, and the time loop plot starts moving forward. Will probably pick up S3 if I'm still into manhwa when it ends! IDK how long this canon is supposed to be.

Your Eternal Lies

Pseudo-historical post-war romance about two people who exist at opposite ends of state propaganda--the decorated war hero, and the infamous witch from his hometown. The parallels are beautiful, each finding solace in the other’s image as renowned savior and notorious survivor in the time before they met. It does start out a bit rocky with the veterans' inflated sense of self-importance and confusing flashbacks in the earlier parts, but once it gets going it proceeds beautifully and reaches an ending that feels satisfying because prices have been paid. The FL is a lying liar who lies and is very consistent about putting herself first for an endgame known only to herself, and the ML is a bundle of unaddressed trauma and self-deceptions.

In this manhwa: domestic abuse, social critique, PTSD, witches, propaganda, and found family

Recently enjoyed Wednesday's Child by Niv Sekar, a little f/f urban fantasy comic about a woman who wakes up curiously numb after a night in the club. She finds out over the next few weeks that someone had cast a spell to make her emotions disappear.

It was what she needed, but it wasn't kind.

(This is mostly to remind myself to check out Niv Sekar's work if ever they're on Shortbox again since I quite like her writing and art style.)

+ 1 more image

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snowflake_challenge #5
Talk about what has improved in your life thanks to fandom.
My perspective; My world is so small and boring and stationary but I've been realizing lately how broad my PoV has become in spite of it. The perks of not being limited to physical proximity. XD Also travel! If it weren't for fandom friends, I never would have gone on the quest to try the black sesame chiffon cake in New Taipei City... There's no way I would have known it would have existed and that I was capable of enjoying a dessert that much...!

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Misc.:

The Lovers release has been pushed to 2026. *sad dolphin noises*

Fanmix rec: The Magician (Arcane - Viktor) by fairykiss: great tracklist, great cover and track art

Manga I recently enjoyed (all ongoing): Though I Am an Inept Villainess (universally cherished but chronically ill heroine x reviled but healthy villainess bodyswap; inner palace intrigue; gen), When I Became a Commoner, They Broke Off Our Engagement! (a fairy's mischief: a commoner and a noble are swapped at birth, to be returned to the "right" parents when they're older; the men appear to only exist so they can help the girls achieve their goals of social change...)... Megane, Tokidoki, Yankee-kun (high school romance between a reformed delinquent and a girl who used to be bullied by delinquents)

A cnovel I recently bookmarked and briefly skimmed but am not sure I'll actually read: 全宇宙最后一只猫 The Last Cat in the Universe: The MC is a former pampered house cat that is determined to cultivate to the ultimate nine-tail form; fantranslation appears to be incomplete.

Spent weeks and weeks burying my face in trash like a raccoon, only to circle back to reading decent comics!?

The Tyrant's Only Perfumer by Fairydragon; art by Team Dead Shell
A fantasy romance webtoon where the FL’s skill is magical perfume-making, which is the kind of garbage I live for lmfao.

The first 40% was fun nonsense with over-the-top visualizations of what the scent profiles were like, and then the other 60% devolved into bland nonsense… But the art was pretty, and one has to respect the earnest Attempt to subvert genre tropes… It was just so loving! The writing was a mess but the heart was in the right place. And I feel like they could have made merch of this comic—dolls, real-life versions of the perfumes the FL makes, or maybe charms of the cute perfume bottles (since the FL apparently also has the magical ability to produce custom bottles at will)...

My favorite storyline was when the rival perfumer basically starts selling drugs (to monopolize the market by making everyone so addicted to her perfume!). The FL then concocts a perfume mixed with holy magic that instantly neutralizes the effects of drugs and cures addiction when you spritz it on people… the manhwa was never the same after that…

Saving My Sweetheart (also known as A Way to Protect the Lovable You) by Han Yujeong; webtoon adapted by Hound with art by Kim Jiei

In spite of the triteness of its title, this is actually a pretty solid and fast-paced ensemble-cast shoujo fantasy canon with regression plot + loyalty kink.

Plot: Leticia has lived her whole life abused and villainized by her mother, the revered divine ruler St. Josephine. She is put under a curse and married off to a king who hates her, but they end up falling in love before the curse leads to their tragic deaths. The goddess Danyta makes a wager and returns Leticia to the point before her marriage and after she is cursed—she has a six-month deadline to kill her husband or the curse will take her life.

The story takes place in the "fix-it" timeline where Leticia has her Goddess's promise that she will be happy this time round. But first, she has to awaken as the true Saint, gather nine loyal sorcerers who will bind themselves to her, and defeat her mother. She and her husband also have to practice honesty and have a proper relationship instead of being martyrs for each other. MOST IMPORTANTLY, the good guys (including Leticia herself) have no qualms about killing and torturing people, which is really nice... And even though the happy ending is assured, there's still a lot of tension in the plot... And some great knives... And interesting developments where the Wings are completely devoted to Leticia, in good terms with each other, but politically at odds with each other. I enjoyed the side characters and their interactions so much I can't pick a favorite.

The last act doesn't wrap up very neatly (I still don't understand how Julius' death was this big Canon Event when it seemed he just went out of the way to antagonize Josephine; and the awakening of the eighth Wing felt phoned-in), but it's still emotionally satisfying. And while the webtoons have finished adapting the main story, there are still upcoming extras.


CW: Multiple domestic abuse storylines; the comics have warnings at the beginnings of the relevant chapters.

Like Wind on a Dry Branch by Dalsaeowl; art by Hwaeum
This is ongoing and free to read on Webtoons.Com and I'm so invested in this I'm taking my time reading it so I don't run out of chapters. It's a pretty hard one to sell, though, since it opens with a very bleak scene: Our FL, Rieta, has lost her husband to plague, her daughter to slave traders, and is presently drugged out of her mind, about to buried alive with the corpse of an evil count. Killian, the exiled prince and archduke of Axias, finds the practice distasteful and pays off the family so that Rieta can retire at his castle. But against expectations, Rieta proves to be a clever, competent, and recklessly loyal mage with layers and layers of grief, trauma, and survivor's guilt that Killian has to learn to navigate on top of the power imbalance in between them. Also there's this whole thing where Rieta's daughter issues remind Killian of his mom issues... they're both so traumatized and I love that for them.

Came here for the hurt/comfort, stayed for the ladies of the bedchamber. This comic has so! Many! Women! And it's definitely one where I find all of the characters interesting and the dialogue riveting, especially from the point where Killian first interacts with the Empress. I'd actually be interested in physicals of this because there are so many parts I want to reread and the art is great.

(Am liveblogging this here.)

CW: Themes of grief and loss (of husband, child, and mother); implied past sexual abuse during Rieta's time with the count, and implied abuse in her time in the convent—but the story and the characters are more focused on the mental and emotional repercussions and healing from them.

WEBTOONS/MANGA:
Wrote about I'll Be Matriarch in This Life + See You in My 19th Life + A Sign of Affection here.

DNF A Sign of Affection because I 1) found out it was still ongoing, 2) lost my urge to bingeread shoujo/otome comics.

MOVIES:
Wrote about 我的少女時代 Our Times (2015) here, and 海角七號 Cape No. 7 (2008) + How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024) here.

GAMES:
Finished Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective and enjoyed it!!! Even though I ended up still having questions about the plot, the twists in the last act really stuck the landing and got me in the feelings. I also really liked the way it shows how animals, humans, and ghosts have very different perspectives on life, deaths, and attachments... And the overall design and experience were pretty great, even though I was too dumb and impatient for this game. XD

CREATIVE WORK:

Subbed: 舍不得星星 You Are My Lover Friend trailer 1

So Close gifs: Shu Qi gifset / Karen Mok/Zhao Wei gifset

Mid-Autumn Dice Game rules (graphic/diagram): personal work, technically a repost from 2021, but I wanted to archive it

Sep 19 & 20 ~travel vlog~

Also made the graphics for NiF Exchange 2024 (technically just recycled last year's PSD to get it done fast)

Currently

PLAYING:
Fallen London, a free text-based + browser-based RPG... Idk how long I'll stick with it but I really like the mobile version! So far it's curbed my wild urges to keep starting new books/comics/games, which is good, because between the endless compulsions to start new books/comics and the frustration of never finishing anything, I was about to go crazy. And it's much healthier than gacha. Even though I almost left our laundry to get rained on because I'd just gotten a (rare!!!) temporary Danger buff lol. My character is named Santan, after a tropical flower.

WATCHING:
舍不得星星 You Are My Lover Friend, starring Wang Yuwen, Zhang Xincheng, and Guo Yunqi.

Would not recommend this to friends, but it's serviceable and relaxing as a background watch. While Wang Yuwen and Zhang Xincheng have very nice, warm "childhood friends" chemistry (likely due to them being IRL childhood friends with moms who are spreading leaks of their kissing scenes behind their backs), the characters are, though competent, kinda bland...

Enjoying the OP enough that I've never skipped it, though. :') And the show does manage well with its quieter moments of sweetness so I'm hoping it catches it rhythm sooner or later.

READING:
( Well I guess I should make a list lol )

Anyway Shortbox Comics is going live super soon and I'm trying to commit to only getting works by Filipino authors considering *gestures at reading list*. Not to mention I have yet to finish going through last year's Shortbox haul. XD

Recently read

Joe Sparrow, "Fishing"
A comic that compares the concept of creativity, inspiration, and struggles to execute artistic ideas to fishing. Concise, well-communicated, and good choice of colors that differentiates what's above and below the water.


Snowlattes, "Grief Log" & Fatima Wajid, "Prism"
Both of these artists are ESL and could use a friend to help them copyedit (though I firmly believe that most amateur artists who get into comics need to run their stories with writing/editing and reading friends anyway); it still feels like a privilege to be entrusted with such personal and beautifully illustrated journals—one about grief and loss, the other about getting high with old friends. Fatima Wajid’s art and worldview are so marvelously depicted I got all emotional lol.




Megan Abbott, "The End of Everything"
The mystery cdramas I've been watching have me raring to read mystery, but unfortunately this... was not the type of crime/mystery I wanted to read. /o\ It's grooming and sexual harassment/assault framed in a missing persons case and told in the PoV of teenage girls who have daddy issues and are navigating school and sexual experiences. It's more interested in the psychology and the emotions than the crime and mystery, but the psychology and feelings aren't very interesting and the final twist is very standard.

The prose is attractive and the scenes of girlhood would fit really well in a coming-of-age novel. It has a writing style that I associate with fanfiction and amateur writers, ie. a lot of made-up verbs and "smelled like x and y and z"s but the word choices, at least, are quite logical and not just running on vibes. They still get a bit much sometimes though. XD

(I have a Kanae Minato novel lined up as my next mystery/thriller read, we'll see how that one goes since I've never read any of her work before.)

Recently sampled (then dropped)

Elizabeth Hand, "Wyldling Hall"
I... simply don’t have the brain to read a story written as a documentary/series of interviews. Also not sure how much horror is in this?

priest, "Stars of Chaos" (Sha Po Lang)
Sampled the first chapter of the first volume because I saw people in cnovels talking about how smooth the translation is and... well, the first chapter does read very smoothly. It's a lot less distracting than MDZS and Little Mushroom. But I still bounced off it because of a couple of oddities, and because I'm likely familiar enough with priest's writing style to feel the disconnect. And then I got distracted about my personal thoughts about what I like to see in a translation VS what other people like to see in a translation and the kinds of conversations I wish we could have about translation. I don't know how to talk about this without sounding ungrateful and nitpicky!!!

Anyway for this novel I might have to either cross-reference with the raws or supplement with the audio drama which is too much work and defeats the purpose of reading a translation. Stepping back for now and coming back in my own time, unprompted by any concurrent discussions.

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Drama-wise I'm now at the final episode of Tender Light and trying hard not to laugh at the recent plot developments. Setting aside the issue of the plot not plotting, it's just really funny that there's this entire Devotion of Suspect X plot development when the author of the original novel has been accused of plagiarizing Suspect X in a completely different canon a couple years ago. I never watched Better Days but I would argue that Tender Light's setup is closer to Suspect X. I did hear that Tender Light deviates a lot from the original novel, which is allegedly plagiarized from a couple of other things, but I'm not interested in reading the original novel and checking. ^^;