Here's a short list of short stories in Spanish that would be good for intermediate readers to get into reading some more! The stories are short but will provide enough of a challenge to be worthwhile. I tried to pick stories that were pretty engaging, so I hope you enjoy them. In bold are my personal favorites!

The definition for Nachtschwärmer has me utterly weak

1. Butterfly that flies during twilight or darkness

2. Someone who likes to stay up (lit.amuse themselves) into the late hours of the night

An attempt to explain my delight and my utter longing when it comes to that word:

Nacht - night

schwärmen - to swarm, to leave one’s nest

(von etwas) schwärmen - to talk passionately about something, to go into raptures about something

(von jemandem) schwärmen - to adore someone, to be crazy about someone, to have passion for someone

So Nachtschwärmer could also be someone who adores the night, who adores during the night, a creature of love and darkness, someone who wanders the night-glittering streets on dancer’s feet and whose touch leaves a butterfly-velvet dust on your skin.

Outline of Neapolitan

Romance umlaut

Romance umlaut

Romance umlaut

YES!

(but for Romance it's somehow preferred the term metaphony)

Hanfu inspired by that particular doll from the Astana Cemetery

First row (from left):  文成国风, 丹青荟传统服饰

Second row (form left): 重回汉唐, 乔织丨原创汉服设计

pygmy seahorses

A chinese wlw drama featuring two female leads has been officially announced for the first time ever!!

Titled 双镜 "Double Mirror", it is set in the Republic period (1912-1949), before the Communist Revolution.

Xu Youyi (played by Zhang Nan) is a female author who is kept in the dark about her rich husband's philandering ways. Yan Wei (played by Sun Yihan) is a murderess disguised as the owner of a photography studio.

As the relationship between the women deepens, they work together to destroy the cheating husband and his side piece.

Even as they second-guessed each other's motives, they trusted the other completely. Fate had only one answer for them: continue forging ahead without fear.

Loosely translated from original post on Weibo here.

(p.s. to pass censorship it would most likely hint/allude to the relationship - similar to the untamed - rather than establish it explicitly)

Ahhh, a manhua has been released prior to the screening of the drama - here are the main characters, my translation of the synopsis below! ｡◕‿◕｡

(in order: left to right, top to bottom)

Xu Youyi: the most renowned female writer in Shanghai, the very likeness of a refined lady

Yan Wei: the owner of an unremarkable photo studio, who is a former sniper in reality

Zhou Heng: husband of Xu Youyi

Zhang Wan: Xu Youyi's close friend and manager

Jiang Bin: Police inspector

Xie Yifan: Lead journalist

I'm in love with the art and the storyline 🥺 if you can read chinese, do support this manhua and the upcoming drama!!

good morning/evening everyone, let’s read news for toda-

PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE

From another article i read today 😭

alt link

he wasn’t even there to be a contestant he joined the crew as a CHINESE TEACHER but the directors noticed his good looks and begged him to compete. poor guy made it to the finals and if he had been one of the winners he would have been contractually forced to be in a boy band whether he wanted to or not

this is the closest any human being has ever come to actually being sold to One Direction

Youn Yuh-jung wins the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Minari

knuckle tats that say JSTOR PDF

“towarzysz” to tak homoerotyczne słowo. towarzysz w czym, hm? w czym ci towarzyszy? w gejowskim seksie?

idk call me radical or crazy or whatever but people shouldn’t need a reason to care about human lives 

all these posts like “if you listen to kpop / if you like anime / if you watch cdramas you should care about what’s happening right now” are SO tone deaf and weird. people, especially elders, are being attacked and murdered because of their race. that is why you should care. because human lives are being taken and it is wrong. an entire continent and its people should not be reduced to the commodities and entertainment they give to you for you to care about our lives. you should care about us because we’re human beings 

ON TOP OF THAT that rhetoric is turning everyone’s attention to only east asians. yes, east asians are facing increased hatecrimes and racism. but so are south asians. so are north asians. so are west asians. so are pacific islanders. it’s so weird to focus your “activism” on the one group that you deem entertaining or whatever 

go here to donate to atlanta’s chapter of asian americans advancing justice / here’s a twitter thread of donation links

설날 / lunar new year 🧧

설날은 한 해의 첫 날을 기리는 명절이다. 음력 1월 1일 설날은 추석과 함께 대한민국 최대의 명절 중 하나이자 전날과 다음 날을 포함한 3일이 법정 공휴일이다. 태음력에서 역법 전체의 기준이 되는 달은 동지가 든 달이다.

공식적으로 음력 1월이 정월이 되고, 음력 1월 1일이 설날이 된 것은 2000년이 넘는 역사를 자랑한다. 부여 시절부터 설날의 풍습이 있었을 것으로 보인다. 구체적인 설날의 풍습에 대한 기록은 신라시대에 전해지는데 수서에 의하면 신라인들은 원일, 즉 새해 첫날에 서로 문안을 드리고 왕이 성대한 잔치를 베풀어 군신들을 격려하며 일월신에게 제사를 지냈다고 기록되어 있다.

설날에는 다양한 풍습들이 있었는데 차례, 세배, 떡국, 설빔(새옷), 덕담, 문안비, 설그림, 복조리 걸기, 야광귀 쫓기, 청참, 윷놀이, 널뛰기 등이 그것이다. 성년이 되지 않은 아이들이 어른들께 세배를 올리고 세뱃돈을 받는 풍속이 있기 때문에 어른들보단 아이들이 더 손꼽아 이 날을 기다리기도 한다. 원래는 떡과 과일 같은 간식들을 내오는 게 보통이었지만 시대가 흐르면서 돈을 주는 걸로 바뀌게 된 결과라고 할 수 있다.

출처: https://namu.wiki/w/설날

Pipa Song (琵琶行) by Bai Juyi (白居易). Tang dynasty.

(via sinethetamagazine)

There’s an amazing gufeng-style song with “Pipa Song” set to music - including, of course, the pipa. The lyrics consist entirely of the verses of the poem! Turn on English subtitles for a complete translation of this beautiful and evocative narrative poem:

(via ziseviolet)

There’s a lot of hard work to do in this new year but I believe in us!