ExtraPenguin

Today's Fopinions February is for krait, on the topic of how I got into Nirvana in Fire. If I am incoherent, it is because I am sick and probably running a fever.

In short, I saw schneefink chat about it on my reading list during 2016*, then in 2017, decided to check it out. I was perhaps in a bit of a creative rut that Yuletide after completing my assignment, and was well-placed to check out a new canon. Subtitles have never been a problem for me – I grew up with them, watching Animal Planet Finland, where all the audio was in English and it was thus subtitled into Finnish – and neither are non-mine cultures (I get inundated with American stuff all the time, for one), so I gave it a try. And I was hooked! And now I'm studying Chinese... It has been a nice journey, even if I didn't write that much fic because audiovisual canons rarely hold my attention, compared to text-based fandoms.

I also found a NIF Discord, somehow (Tumblr might've been involved?), and through there got into more Chinese-origin fandoms (oh hi, Modao Zushi!), but the way I got into Guardian was the same as the way I got into NIF: I saw people chat about it on my reading list, then watched it all waiting for Yuletide sign-ups to go out.

* FFA might've been abuzz about it in Nov 2017 as well, but IIRC they only got to it later.

Should you wish to search for fanworks of a character on Chinese sites, I've used the NIF baidu page to compile a list of everyone's name here. I've also used MDBG to translate some characters' names, as well as linked to posts on characters' names' meanings by llonkrebboj when applicable. The choice of who to choose was essentially "do I remember this person or is this person in lesbloggerables's character guide?" There might be nothing special, or the warrior character might be called "War Hero". Note that a lot of the surnames are just "surname X", but I included the potential literal meanings for your entertainment and to make the list longer.

( at least some spoilers )

If you find something obviously wrong, comment. Otherwise, well, does anyone's name fill you with a sense of irony or "oh yes, that's appropriate" or "LOL Hai Yan"? Any intriguing interpretations of nomen est omen you can come up with?

My stocking is up at fandom_stocking, should you wish to give me stuffs. I even made a bullet-pointed list of prompts!

In the traditional year-end chat, my boss told me to chillax over the holidays and relax more. (I probably should.)

As per the poll results, I've stuck my bookmark in The Ghost Map. I might read it over the weekend, next week at latest. Depends on how much time I need to do stuff like vacuuming and laundry and the other million small bits of reversing entropy resulting from human habitation.

Also, I've discovered a fan translation of Nirvana in Fire the novel, which I may read while bzeurghing at the screen, unwilling to do any synthesis of properly new information.

Also also, I have discovered The Legend of Xia Xia, a Nirvana in Fire fanwork thing, which is HILARIOUS and I read some bits via Google Translate but hey IT WAS STILL FUNNY. Best NiF fic ever, made me fall off my chair, A+.

Oh, and yellow tea tastes good. I should get some more.

I finished it. Nonspoilery rec: WATCH IT. Spoilers below.

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6 eps left. I am not ready, please prepare all the fic.

Becaus apparently I cannot help myself. Oops. Also, did they run out of budget for lighting, or are they trying to signify something with the sudden gloominess?

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Well that escalated quickly.

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Well these were a couple of wham episodes. Then again, which ep isn't.

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Ahahahaha. I've got it bad, so bad.

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Getting a bit better at distinguishing people, but there's a guy I guess is the Marquis Ning and a guy who looks EXACTLY LIKE HIM, and I am annoyed. At least they had the courtesy of appearing onscreen at the same time.