As January Whooshes By

[donutsweeper]

Well, whoops, there went most of the month.

EAD Birthday Bash came and went and I crocheted a *lot* for it (enough that I now make up more than 12% of AO3's crochet tag between my two accounts). The theme was pizza and one of my favorites of what I did was a kitty stealing pizza toppings

but I crocheted a large number of things, including a shark, the gavlegoat, a rose, one of the mutant lizard babies from Star Trek: Voyager's Threshold episode (which I freehanded and now and trying to figure out what I did and how to write up the pattern since people asked for it) all of which can be found in this picture

but I also did my first foray into NSFW crochet (yes, seriously, do not click unless you really want to see nsfw crochet)

The fandom was "cock fandom" and the character requested "blue balled cock" yes, I am hilarious.

This month I decided to try to tackle my 'currently watching' list on mydramalist, where all the asian shows I'd started but have not finished (nor decided to move to the dropped or 'on hold' lists) end up since it was getting quite long. (I watched these three either on youtube or *cough cough here cough*.)

Unfortunately, Fangs of Fortune definitely isn't for me. It's by Guo Jingming (director of Wulang and The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity etc) and stars Huo Minghao (from Psych-Hunter, I am Nobody and TLT2) but while the sets and costumes were gorgeous it was ploddingly slow and far more flash than substance and really not for me so I dropped it down to the on-hold list. I know lots of people loved it and maybe someday I'll give it another chance, but I doubt it.

I did finish S.C.I. a Hong Kong set cop/special investigations show from 2018 wherein a fancypants amazing detective has to team up with his old childhood psychologist friend to solve cases. I went into knowing the budget mostly went into the flashy car the detective drove and that a chunk of the plot was ridiculous. Those were both true but despite that (and one of the most annoying female characters I've endured in a long time) it was pretty enjoyable a watch. Ji Xiaobing (who was delightful in DMBJ's Mystery of the Abyss) and his fine suits and undercut were great as the psychologist and he had amazing chemistry with the detective and he managed to sell the batshit plots quite well. It also had one of the creepiest, well acted no-effects needed unnerving scene I've seen in ages: Highlight for spoilers! *Zhan Yao (Ji Xiaobing) was walking in an outdoor marketplace, talking on the phone when suddenly two people stop directly in front of him and turn to face him but don't say anything and he's confused for a second but then *everybody* in the marketplace suddenly stops and faces him and then they all start walking in circles around him in this slow, steady pace. The scene lasts a few minutes and evil mastermind badguy dude shows up during it and whatnot but just the whole thing was so unsettling and wonderfully done.* Very creepy and unsettling while not being over the top, kudos for how well done it was. Here's the best gif I could find of it:

I also finished a Taiwanese BL See Your Love which was utterly delightful. I really liked it! I'm hoping to get my act together to write up a full promo for it but briefly it's the story of Yang Zixiang who was sent to Taiwan for important family business negotiation thing only to be attacked upon arriving. He's saved by deaf mute Jiang Shaoping who happens to also be a nurse/caregiver and gets roped into working for him. Quite a lot of the business/attack plot is contrived/background/barely explored, but Jiang Shaoping's character is so well done with surprisingly good disability representation in that it didn't shy away from either the issues disabled people face (like how difficult it can be trying to find a job when disabled) or the issues/feelings/worry his parents have over it either (they were also great characters, and felt like real people). It's only 13 episodes (25-30 min ea) so not a huge time commitment. And if you like height differences, this show is for you, Yang Zixiang so much shorter than Jiang Shaoping. Here's the best non-spoilery gif I could find:

(And if you're curious, yes, Jiang Shaoping picks up Yang Zixiang numerous times in the drama. Numerous times!)

(There is also a second BL couple who also have interesting dynamic and work well together)

Happy to report I managed to rec every week for the year again (over 3.5 years of weekly recs now!) but I am honestly not sure how long I'll be able to continue. I went from always being able to find 3-5 fics to rec to aiming for three, then two and now the last few weeks it's only been one. I could just switch to more well known things to rec (I usually only rec either newly completed or 'lesser' known fic, which I judge by the number of bookmarks already on the work) but I'd rather not do that. Sigh. Maybe I'll manage to find a new fandom to play in and be able to rec from something other than mdzs/untamed regularly. Or maybe not. I guess I'll see how things go. Anyway, here's 3 mdzs/untamed fic recs and a bunch of art recs from that, doctor who, dracula, nirvana in fire and sherlock holmes.

MDZS/Untamed fic:
The Only Living Boy by deliciousblizzardshark (17k)
Summary: When the lost souls of the Burial Mounds find a homeless child who can manipulate resentful energy, they take him in, raise him as their own, and teach him everything they know. Wei Ying is living contentedly with his ghost family in the Burial Mounds, selling talismans in Yiling, but when the Wen sect invades Yiling he realizes he is going to have to do something to protect everything he loves. (really interesting take of a sentient burial mounds canon divergent AU)

Ghosts of the Burial Mounds by westiec (1.3k)
Summary: Wei Wuxian returned to them soaked in blood and resentment once more, the steel still sharp in his spine as he took his place with them. Safety. Sanctuary. Survival. The Burial Mounds were not made for these things, but Wei Wuxian tugged on the ties between them and made his claim with a strength of will that could not be denied. (absolutely excellent Burial Mounds POV fic)

DMBJ/The Lost Tomb/The Grave Robbers' Chronicles art:
The Little Tomb Robber's Alphabet joint art work by cayra, fox_of_nine_tales, hisapyon, mekare, MountainRose, psghayleaux, SirAuraelius, and Thimblerig
Summary: Wu Xie is bored in Yucun and has got it into his head to write a children's book about tomb robbing. Naturally, Xiaoge and Pangzi help out. How much baiju has been involved in the production is anyone's guess. (An adorable alphabetic art take on DMBJ)

tumblr art:
Doctor Who
- just admiring the view (absolutely adorable Five)

Dracula
- Undead wanderer Quincey P Morris, Bram Stoker can come fight me (eerie yet incredible)

MDZS/The Untamed
- Me, every time WWX and LSZ are in a scene together: THAT’S YOUR BABY. THAT’S! YOUR! BABY! (gorgeous ghost!wwx and young lan sizhui)
- One of my favorite things about The Untamed is how it begins with Wei Wuxian saying ‘Lan Zhan’ and finishes with Lan Wangji saying ‘Wei Ying’ (amazing comic)
- here's to drawing more wangxian in 2025! happy new year!! (lovely art set up like pages of a children's book)

Nirvana in Fire
- Frosted flames (gorgeous art of the majority of the core cast), also on AO3 here

Sherlock Holmes
- Happy birthday sherlock holmes! (such a wonderful Brett!Holmes portrait!)

Hope everyone's doing well and those in the Northern Hemisphere are staying warm, Monday's high is supposed be -7F/-22C here. Brrrrr.

Comments

[trobadora]

I now make up more than 12% of AO3's crochet tag between my two accounts

Oh, that's awesome! Congrats! :D

And thanks for the recs, as usual! ♥

[donutsweeper]

Hope you found something interesting. And thank you :)

[corvidology]

I have such a soft spot for S.C.I. because it's so utterly ridiculous - it's one of the few things I've written a promo for where it was because it was so bad!

They planned a second season but you know how that goes.

[donutsweeper]

Yes, the post-credit scene after the last episode really showed they had some ideas for S2 but... sigh, yeah, we all know how that goes.

[corvidology]

Some of my favourite bits were the deleted scenes they showed in the end credits. It was like 'we cut these bits because they're too BL in tone but then we put them in the credits!'

[donutsweeper]

There was so much BL still left in, like I think they forgot they originally lived together just because of issues regarding the first case and that there was the Only One Bed problem. They're still together at the end and seem to have worked out all the issues!

[corvidology]

Without question. The scenes where they're showering and taking a sauna together crack me up, particularly as Bai Yutong keeps walking around the end of the shower wall to talk to Zhan Yao.

[donutsweeper]

That shower scene cracked me up. Yes, it is completely logical a place to discus a case!