Brace yourselves

[clevermanka]

Guardian/adjacent:
Apt comparison.
Never enough ponytail.
A proposal instead of a bomb.
Fanart: Lovely lighting. Kiss.
Hngg Zhao Yunlan's little eye flutter wondering what Shen Wei might be up for next.
Enjoy some Fairyland Lovers happiness before we move on. You're gonna need it.

Separate paragraph on the boner-killing Midsummernight Fever Nightmare of Zhu Yilong's latest GQ shoot. It's like the universe heard our (my) hatred of the short hair and went oh I'll show you bad hair. These aren't awful if you ignore that one stupid pose. Two-minute video, interview and bts, another video of...something (haven't watched any of those and don't plan to). Even the freckles and mesh shirt couldn't save this shoot. My two least-hated shots. WILL NO ONE GIVE THIS MAN THE STYLING HE DESERVES?

Untamed/adjacent:
Always here for my baby boy being an actual badass.

sisabet is watching HIStory 3: Trapped thanks to bonibaru's influence and I spent a few moments yesterday breathing into a (metaphorical) paper bag about the potential for a Trapped vid from sisabet. I also realized that I have watched VERY few sisabet vids via AO3 so I have a whole bunch of them marked for later to watch (and kudo) as writing rewards.

Gav (Hello Tailor) is rewatching Hannibal and hopefully tweeting more stuff like this in the process.

Bringing it back to Guardian (of course), this is basically the emotional arc of Deconstruction. I'll probably use at least part of that in the summary. Now to dive back into writing that this since I am bound and determined to start posting this before the year's out. If I can't publish a story about two men in enforced isolation during the year 2020, what is even the point.

Comments

[ride_4ever]

Every time I see the phrase "Brace yourself" I think of the infamous F/K bit on the dS blooper reel...so I'm wondering if you had that in mind when you used the phrase.

[clevermanka]

YES I DID AND I LOVE THAT YOU NOTICED

[ride_4ever]

And there was some fannish website a few years back selling "Brace Yourself" t-shirts for dS, and of course I bought one. Heh.

[naye]

Have you read the translated interview? It's so darling.

"ZhuYilong is like a thermos flask. If you leave it aside, it doesn't look warm, but once you open it, the water is very hot. He makes you feel like he'd always be there. He is serious abt friendships & everything; he'll always be there if you need him but keeps it lowkey."

And apparently he was really sick for the entire shoot? ;_;

[clevermanka]

Well if he wasn't sick before it, the crap the put him in would've tipped him into nausea, I'm sure.

Also that description of him! augh! I want so much for him to be happy.

[goss]

Oh lord. I feel like I finally feel your pain on the boner killer front. /o\

[clevermanka]

[goss]

...

*passing thought*

I wonder if playing with the FaceApp thing might redeem this unfortunate wig situation in any way...?

[clevermanka]

I mean I don't think it could make it worse?

sisabet vids

[ride_4ever]

It sounds like you've already made your sisabet vids list and probably don't need my vid-pimping, but anyways:

Icebound Stream: the most famous of Fraser/Victoria vids, so compelling that it has been known to lead fen from outside dS fandom into the fandom.

Chasing Cars: a wonderful Fraser and Diefenbaker friendship vid that I first saw when it premiered at VVC 2014.

Iris: an F/K vid originally gifted to faneunice but then additionally gifted to me too. (Interestingly, aurumcalendula made an F/K gift!vid for me using this same song.)

Left and Leaving: This F/K vid, made for me, is a powerful vid that totally breaks the angst-o-meter. WARNING: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH.

Re: sisabet vids

[clevermanka]

Oh, yes! Sorry I wasn't more clear. I've seen them all, just never left kudos for them on AO3. She's a vidding wizard.

[wrote_and_writ]

ZYL, please channel the Black Cloak Envoy a bit and stand up for yourself and love yourself and don’t let them dress you up in nonsense! 😭😭

That quote about love! Oh, the story is going to hurt, but in the best ways.

[clevermanka]

please channel the Black Cloak Envoy a bit and stand up for yourself
Or at least stand up for Shen Wei's fashion sensibilities! Prof. Shen would never!

the story is going to hurt, but in the best ways

[solo]

Separate paragraph on the boner-killing Midsummernight Fever Nightmare of Zhu Yilong's latest GQ shoot.

Really... I woke up to that and was like, 2020, you ain't given up yet. Is he meant to be a Beatle or something?

My favourite Japanese singer produces shit like that of himself. (Okay, not the hair, but similar atrocities). I always saw it as a test of our loyalty. But if that's how they play, well, screw loyalty.

That Deconstruction-related quote is lovely.

[clevermanka]

2020, you ain't given up yet

[calystarose]

He looks, in the gq video, like those scenes in velvet goldmine when Brian met Mandy. That fashion era. Not my fave, but I can see what they were going for.

[clevermanka]

I've only seen the movie once so I don't remember what they were wearing. BUT HERE'S THE THING, in Velvet Goldmine (which, yes, the costuming in that was 100% incredible) it was contextualized and--ugh, I don't have the vocabulary for this rn--cohesive? legible? Like, you could see what they were doing with it. This is just a mess. Like they took a bunch of weird things and threw them together with no theme. Or, rather, the only theme was "a mess." It's like these stylists think he's so beautiful they can put him in anything and make it look good but they can't (he can't!). They're being lazy about it. There needs to be some sort of message they're sending other than Hot Fucking Mess.

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe I can see what they were going for here? If I squint? But I shouldn't have to try so hard! If I (a person who loves what most people would consider weird fashion shoots) hates 9 out of 10 of these looks (and the one exception is marginal) that is a failure of styling. And if this was one of only a few failings, cool, y'all tried something and it didn't work. But this is a pattern over a lot of his style shoots--I'd say the majority of his latest ones. This is just people being bad at their jobs.

okay lololollll sorry I have ... way too many feelings about fashion photography 😂 I should write an essay about this. After the John Wick in Fairyland one...

[calystarose]

No, I agree 100%. The lack of context, the disjointedness of the video, undercuts anything they were going for. Further, it's not flattering to his features which is the real fucking crime. He's so beautiful and they did not play into any of it. It's shameful.

[khellekson]

I love sisabet's vids!! Yay for HIStory 3: Trapped!

[clevermanka]

SUCH good vids! Crossing fingers for my little fandom!

[tinny]

weeeeell. I dont hate the short hair, but the freckles and the rouge are O_O - and not in a good way. I feel it just underscores that he probably looked like shit that day. That is the worst of it actually: the comment from the GQ post that he was "extremely unwell" the whole day they were shooting.

He sounds a little stuffy, too, in some places, as if he has a cold.

So, basically, yeah, I don't want to see him starve himself and make himself suffer and wear silly clothes doing it. I could bear the clothes if he was doing better. *sigh*

WILL NO ONE GIVE THIS MAN THE STYLING HE DESERVES?
Let's hope someone will hear our pleas.

But the interview article that goes with the shoot (the one naye linked) is amazing. Wenella is such a star! I love this interview for several reasons.

I like what he tells about himself, some of which I hadn't heard before. But I am especially happy with Liu Shishi. The only thing I've ever heard her say about him is that he's good at losing weight. And she very much makes up for that in this interview, saying that he's too thin now. That changes my opinion on her previous statement, because I'd always thought she was dissing him, but maybe it was her weird way of saying she cares. I'm glad she does have positive things to say about him.

(I am so looking forward to this show. Stupid contemporary romances are my thing.)


I am also looking forward to Deconstruction! <3

[clevermanka]

it just underscores that he probably looked like shit that day
The video was actively uncomfortable for me to watch. I didn't make it through more than a few seconds. He looks absolutely miserable in a way that doesn't look like acting. Which, he's a good actor, but... yeah. Poor guy!

(thank you I am looking forward to Deconstruction as well 😆)