#it’s! so! excellent! it feels like early seasons of orphan black

[novelconcepts]

Man, to have this story be about a girls’ soccer team in particular. Girls, who are taught to play by clean rules of society that must be actively unlearned in the wilderness. Athletes, who famously operate on superstition, rituals so easily transformed in crisis to matters of life and death. A team, which fundamentally cannot succeed if all parties aren’t working in tandem for the good of the whole. It’s so smart, and so simple, and goddamn, I love Yellowjackets.

#yellowjackets #it’s! so! excellent! it feels like early seasons of orphan black #where I just trust the show runners to know what they’re about #because everything from casting to music choice to symbolism is deliberate #and while there are a few elements of season 2 I’m not as crazy about I overall really really dig what they’re putting out there #I want to talk about this show to EVERYONE while knowing full well it will so not be half of people’s cup of tea #I’m like ‘it’s weird and fucked up and tragic PLEASE OBSESS WITH ME I’M BEGGING’

[redheadgleek]

Books read (July-September)

July: Struck By Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal. My last of Chris Colfer’s audiobooks and his first book. Not sure that a journal really was the best format, but I’m going to miss his voice. The Secret of Life: Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick, and the Discovery of DNA’s Double Helix. In honor of the 70 year anniversary coming up, I’ve been reading a lot of books on the discovery of DNA. There was some uncomfortable fixation of Rosalind’s sexuality (much like Brenda Maddox books but she came to a completely different conclusion), and I truly loath James Watson now. Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher. Oooh. A short, dark fairy tale. Highly recommend. Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo. The last book published (so far) of the Gishaverse. Definitely not a stand alone novel, but overall, a satisfying end to the series and leaving room for more books. On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi. There really aren’t that many good fictional books about being a doctor, much less about going through medical school. This really captured the stress and drama of med school. The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrows. Reimagined history, some strong characters (although maybe a wee bit too much of leaning into the maiden, mother, crone archetypes), beautiful story telling. Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World by Nina Kraus. Audiobook. Fascinating insights into how our ears and brain receive and perceive sound, and how it influences our language and cognitive development, if a bit redundant at times. Orphan Black: The Next Chapter. Maybe a little bit of a cheat, since it’s a  episodic podcast, but it was on goodreads. I rewatched Orphan Black this spring and was eager to listen. Tatiana’s voices were amazing and I loved the new characters (her male voices were the weakest. 

August: Heat Wave (The Extraordinaries, #3) by TJ Klune. An excellent conclusion to the trilogy and so much familial love. What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher. I’m not a big horror person, but I adore T’s writing. A retelling of the Fall of the House of Usher, with some cool biological explanations. A Middle-Earth Traveller: Sketches from Bag End to Mordor  by John Howe. I loved his work for the Lord of the Rings movies, so I thought this would be a good introduction to my next audio project. Lovely sketches, some lovely behind the scenes insights. Orphan Black: The Next Chapter (Season 2). This time, Jordan, Kristian, and Evelyn returned to voice their roles. I hope there’s another. A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall. A fun little regency romp involving a trans heroine. Lots of feelings. Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall. The story opens with one of my least favorite tropes: lying outrageously and then getting caught and I almost didn’t finish it, but I’m glad I stuck with it, because it really had all of the charm of the Great British Bake Off in a novel. Husband Material by Alexis Hall. (All of my library books became available at the same time, so I read three of Alexis’s books in a week period). I had been charmed by Boyfriend Material; it wasn’t the best fake dating book that I’ve ever read, but I was invested enough that I looked for the sequel and I liked it even better than the first one. Laugh out loud hysterical, following the plot of Four Weddings and Funeral while still giving it at twist. Looking forward to Father Material. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, read by Andy Serkis. This will be my listening project for the next year probably. Andy Serkis’s voice is amazing – deep and rich in timbre. I haven’t reread this one since early in college, it was much darker than what I remembered. You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar. Terrible stories, presented in a light-hearted, easy to approach manner. I’m planning on introducing it to my family and friends because it’s a really great way to highlight the pervasiveness of racism.

September The Queen of Hearts by Kimmery Martin. I really wanted to like this book as it was written by an emergency medicine doctor about a group of medical school friends. And I didn’t. There were parts that truly resonated, such as when one of the main characters loses a patient, but the drama was so over the top. Ramón and Julieta by Alana Albertson. Just a sweet little Romeo and Juliet retelling. A fluffy, easy to read romance which was just want I was craving. The Antidote for Everything by Kimmery Martin. I checked out all three of her books at the same time, so I was really hopeful that this one would be better. And it was, but it still felt lacking. It also felt like the author was trying too hard to emphasize that “not all Christians” are homophobic, but there was still homophobic and transphobic views (one character was the definition of sassy gay friend) that belied that conclusion. East by Edith Pattou. A reread because I found out that a sequel had been written and it had been literal years. Almost as good as I remembered, an excellent retelling of the fairy tale “East of the Sun West of the Moon. West by Edith Pattou. I’m not sure that East really needed a sequel, but this one was well done and it completed the story. Felix Silver, Teaspoons & Witches by Harry Cook. My god, did this book need better editors. So many sloppy mistakes. So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo. I started reading this 2 years ago and got distracted. A practical book, with some great real-time examples, but I’m not sure that it really made it easier to talk about race with some of my white relatives for example. Doctors and Friends by Kimmery Martin. I almost didn’t read this because I had been so disappointed by her previous books, but I’m so glad that I did because it was the best of the 3. She started writing this book back in 2019, about a pandemic that affected the world, and it was a much deeper, emotional story than the other two (although many of the same characters were in it). George (Melissa’s Story) by Alex Gore. Picked it up as part of Banned Books Week and you guys, I’m just tired of fake outrage. It was cute. The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani. Sequel to Thorn, which I read earlier this year. Thorn was good, but this really developed the world. I’m excited for the 3rd book. I may make it to a 100 books this year. *crosses fingers*

#books #reading

[sdwolfpup]

I waited until the @jaime-brienne-fic-exchange Festive Festival was mostly done before talking about the fics that I was gifted this year, since I know everyone was deluged with wonderful stories, and the ones I was gifted were all excellent and I hope hope hope you make time for each of them. These are the fics I was @’d on in one form or another.

First up is the fic that my assigned writer, @naomignome wrote for me, A Winter Wish. Naomi is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met, but she also has an unbelievable knack for description even in comments, and such a good sense of tenderness and emotion and she brought all of that to her fic for me. In this, she takes one of my new favorite headcanons -- that Jaime and Brienne’s moms were friends! -- and transposes them to modern Westeros, where J & B meet as children during a tradition around the first snowfall. What’s especially brilliant about this is that she also keeps the years-long seasons, so the five (plus one) times they meet to do this spans a huge portion of their lives. There is humor and sorrow and flirting and sexiness and love underneath all of it. I was so happy when I saw she was my writer and this fic was fantastic. 

They trudged in good humor to the closest park to the university, the air chilly and cold with the promise of snow. Brienne’s laughs came out in puffs of white, and Jaime yearned to jar the sound and keep it in his pockets for when he felt cold.

When the powdered snow began to drift down around them, he watched her smile openly into the sky, in a way that she only ever did at him and at first snow. He watched some lucky snowflakes catch on the soft tendrils of her pale eyelashes, and kiss the flush of her cheeks.  The warmth wrapped around his heart, much like the mitten she had knit him wrapped around the stub of his hand.

For my stocking stuffers, I’ll go in order received. @potatothecat wrote me campfire stars in the distance. This is a lovely little modern AU vignette of Jaime and Brienne and all of their friends sharing a night around the campfire under the stars. It’s so quiet I can almost hear the crackle of the fire, and I can definitely hear Jaime’s very loud love for Brienne, even if their friends aren’t sure if it’s real between them or not. But they know it is, and that lovely bond between them comes through strongly.

They’ve done this a hundred times by now—on the couches in both their apartments, sitting on the floor across from Addam and Dany when the four of them meet up for game night, in restaurant booths, and now by the fireside—but it’s no less delightful for the familiarity of it. He’d spend his entire life pressed up against Brienne’s side if he could, staring into the dancing flames and laughing along with the rest of their friends as Sansa reenacts a prank she played on her siblings.

Then @eryiscrye wrote me Caught Gold Handed, which is a canon AU set after the Long Night, where Jaime and Brienne get in a snowball fight with the squires and orphans of Winterfell. That summary ALONE should sell you on this, if it being Eryi isn’t enough on its own. What’s marvelous about this is it’s a rare chance to see the canon characters having fun together, and the ways their love for each other comes through even in something as simple as Brienne helping Jaime make snowballs. No one can take this happily married version of JB from me, I will fight you.

She flushed, all blotchy and red. “We already slept in this morning.”

“We hardly slept. And that was this morning,” he replied as he happily pressed up by her side.

She glanced over at him, still shy, but also so bold, his darling lady wife. “We’ll go to bed early tonight.”

Jaime chuckled, “And yet sleep late.”

Brienne bit her bottom lip, “I suppose that is how all our days will go now.”

He beamed at her happily.

@kurikaesu-haru wrote Merry & Bright for a group of us and it is a delightful modern AU that tackles a bunch of tropes - fake dating! only one bed! Christmas activities! - in a fun, funny, and sweet package. The banter in this is wonderful and there are some tender little moments tucked in between the laughs (Arthur Dayne cutout!!) that are lovely to stumble on.

He rests his head against her shoulder, so his stubble scratches her skin, and he’s whispering in her ear. “And I’m glad you tricked me into standing under the mistletoe with you. Who else would I want to kiss as much as you?”

Brienne realizes, suddenly, that a lot of the things Jaime says to her mean,  I love you.

@wildlingoftarth wrote a group gift fic as well, I want a house with a crowded table, which is a canon-based future established relationship fic that feels like coming home to family and sitting by the fire. It’s years and years later and Jaime and Brienne live happily in a cottage on Tarth and they’re welcoming their children and grandchildren for a feast. The weight of all their history and love is palpable. This is everything I want for them, and whatever canon may or may not says happens, this is where I believe they end up.

It is a life she never dared to hope for, never dreamed of in her days of fighting for this king or that, being sent on a series of seemingly impossible errands she accomplished through sheer force of will, and falling desperately and irrevocably in love along the way. That the man she’d fallen for had somehow developed the same feelings for her still fills her with astonishment at times, even after all these years.

THEN, @elizadunc wrote me Fêted Snow! This is a perfectly delicious little morsel of Brienne and Jaime married with kids (and more on the way!!), snowed in and making the most of it. Their banter and way with each other is so easy and familiar, their feelings and history are there, plain as the snow falling down out their window. It’s a delightful slice of their very happy life.

But then it had started snowing on Friday afternoon and apparently hadn’t slowed at all through the night. On Saturday morning when Brienne woke to a very insistently ringing phone she knew that the party, sorry, fête, was off.

She brought the phone back into the bedroom and smiled at the sight of Jaime stretched out across the bed in a starfish pose. He liked to claim he was an excellent bedmate but moments like this proved very much otherwise.

And finally, when my cup was already overflowing, @forbiddenfantasies1 came swooping in with Let’s Make This Next One Last and made me cry. This is a modern AU where Jaime and Brienne are happy and married (I would read eight thousand more stories where they are happy in an established relationship it is literally all I want from them) and their holiday plans get diverted when snow rolls in, cancelling a flight to see Dacey and Benjen (!!!). This fic is such a beautiful treatise on a long-term, mature couple who are struggling through the roteness of daily life. They still love each other deeply, it’s just life that is difficult right now, and their love and commitment to each other is what gets them through it. The tenderness and humor and history and beautifully hot sex are woven together perfectly into this utterly wonderful story.

Jaime was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her, and she felt her heart tighten in her chest for a moment just as it always did when she laid eyes on him. He was still so gorgeous, even after all these years they had passed together. His hair was more gray than golden, and his face was softer, more lined, but she still only saw Jaime. Every mark of time that he bore was simply a reminder of all they had been through together, all the days that he had been hers, and only made him more beautiful in her eyes.

 Right now he looked like the golden retriever she so often compared him to, nearly quivering in his skin with excitement. He had changed into his sleep clothes, a pair of thin gray pants that hugged his hips and thighs in a way that always made her fingers twitch, and a long-sleeved black tee that went perfectly with his complexion. She nearly rolled her eyes before she caught herself. Only Jaime Lannister could make lounging around the house during a vicious snowstorm a testimony of how attractive he was.

Thank you, again, to all of my gifters, I am so grateful to have received these and it helped make my end of the year an absolute joy. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

#jaime x brienne #jaime x brienne fic recs #jaime x brienne festive festival exchange #overwhelmed with gratitude tbh #please go read these they're all excellent!!! #long post

[strangeandforlornbooks]

best books with morally ambiguous narrators!

all y’all’s problematic faves and villains! :) also included are third person narrators but in books with morally ambiguous leads/themes 

Sci-fi

Scythe by Neal Shusterman: in a future free from pain, disease, and war, people can live forever. ‘scythes’ are given the power to decide who lives and who dies to preserve the balance. sad and kinda gives of hunger games vibes, if you like that.

Neuromancer by William Gibson: basically invented the cyberpunk genre. strange and removed protagonists. (a team of computer hackers have to face off against an evil AI). you kind of dislike everyone and suddenly you’re crying over them. one of those trippy sci-fi classics.

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut: very beautiful and very very sad (same author as slaughterhouse five). the richest man in america has to face a martian invasion. more about free will and bad people doing good things than a plot that makes any kind of sense.

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick: set in an alternate universe where the germans and japanese won world war two. not really like the tv show at all- it’s not an action story, and there’s not really the hope to somehow fix the world that drives a lot of dystopia stories. instead its about how people survive and connect to one another in a hopeless society.

The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow: a supercomputer convinces the leaders of the world to keep the peace for hundreds of years by taking their children hostage and obliterating any city that disobeys. what happens to the hostage protagonists when war seems inevitable? lots of morally fraught decisions and characters slowly losing their identity. (plus a fun lesbian romance)

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson: a brilliant mathematician and a dedicated marine fight to keep the ultra secret in world war two. fifty years later,  a tech company discovers what remains of their story. one of the most memorable sequences in the book is a japanese soldier slowly becoming disillusioned with his nation and horrified by the war even as he continues to fight.

Blade Runner by Philip K. Dick: another one of those sci-fi classics that’s not at all like the movie. there is a bounty hunter for robots, though, as well as a weird religion that probably is referencing catholicism and a decaying society with a shortage of pets. kind of a trip.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power: girls trapped in a boarding school on an isolated island must face a creeping rot that affects the animals and plants on the island as well as their own bodies. the protagonists will do anything to survive and keep each other safe. very tense (and bonus lesbian romance whoo)

The Fifth Season by N K Jemisin: three women are gifted with the ability to control the earth’s energy in a world where those who can do so are forced into hiding or slavery. some veryyyy dark choices here but lots of strong female characters.

Historical Fiction

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters: two victorian lesbians fall in love as they plot to betray each other in horrific ways. lots of plot twists, plucky thieves, gothic settings, and a great romance.

Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiwicz: a powerful roman soldier in the time of Nero plots to kidnap a young woman after he falls in love with her, only to learn more about the mysterious christian religion she follows. very melodramatic but some terrific prose. 

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: a blind girl in France and a brilliant German boy recruited by the military struggle through the chaos of the second world war. ends with a bang (iykyk.) very sad, reads like poetry.

Boxers by Gene Luen Yang: graphic novel reveals the story of a young boy fighting in the boxer rebellion in early twentieth century china. the sequel, saints, is also excellent. beautifully and sympathetically shows the protagonist’s descent into evil- the reader really understands each step along the way.

Fantasy

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake: three triplets separated at birth, each with their own magical powers, have to fight to the death to gain the throne. lots of fun honestly

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo: everyone in these books is highly problematic but you love them all anyway. a ragtag game of criminals plan a heist on a magical fortress. some terrific tragic back stories, repressed feelings, and revenge schemes.

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King: idk how to describe these frankly but if you can put up with King’s appalling writing of female characters they’re pretty interesting. fantasy epic about saving the world/universe, sort of. cowboys and prophecies and overlapping dimensions and drug addicts galore.

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud: lots of fun! a twelve year old decides to summon a demon for his cute lil revenge scheme. sarcastic demon narrator. lighthearted until s*** gets real suddenly.

Elegy and Swansong by Vale Aida: fantasy epic with machiavellian lesbians and enemies to lovers to enemies to ??? to lovers. charming and exciting and lovely characters.

The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen: an orphan boy must compete with a few others for the chance to impersonate a dead prince. really dark but very tense and exciting and good twists.

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu: fantasy epic. heroes overthrow an evil empire and then struggle as the revolution dissolves into warring factions. interesting world building and three dimensional characters, even if they only have a small part.

Circe by Madeline Miller: the story behind the witch who turns men into pigs in the odyssey. madeline miller really said, i just used my classics degree to write a beautiful gay love story and now im going to write a powerful feminist retelling because i can. queen. an amazing and satisfying book that kills me a lil bit because of the two lines referencing the song of achilles.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer: the tragic backstory for the queen of hearts in alice in wonderland. a little predictable but very fun with a compelling protagonist

A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) by George RR Martin: ok I know we all hate GRRM and rightfully so but admittedly these books do have some great characters and great scenes. they deserve better than GRRM though. also he will probably never finish the books anyway....

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket: not really fantasy but not really anything else either. plucky, intelligent, and kind children fight off evil plots for thirteen books until suddenly you realize the world is not nearly as black and white as you thought. 

Classics

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier: gothic romance!! a new wife is curious about the mysterious death of her predecessor in a creepy old house in the British countryside...good twists and lovely prose.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles: not really morally ambiguous but one awful decision suddenly has awful consequences and certain people are haunted by guilt forever.... really really really beautiful and really really really sad. boys in a boarding school grow up together under the shadow of world war two.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: while imperial russia slowly decays a beautiful young woman begins a destructive affair. a long book. very russian. the ending is incredibly tense and well written.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding: I think you know the plot to this one. the prose is better than you remember and the last scene is always exciting.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie: one by one, the guests on an island are slowly picked off. one of Christie’s darkest mysteries- no happy ending here! very tense and great twists.

Contemporary

The Secret History by Donna Tartt: inspired the whole dark academia aesthetic. college students get a little too into ancient greece and it does not end very well. lovely prose but I found the characters unlikable.

Honorable Mentions

The Dublin Saga by Edward Rutherford: has literally a billion protagonists, but some of them are morally ambiguous ig? follows a few families stories’ from the 400s ad to irish independence in the 20s. beautifully captures the weight and movement of irish history.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer: how morally ambiguous can you be if you’re, like, eleven? a lot if you’re a criminal genius who wants to kidnap a fairy for your evil-ish plan apparently!

Redemption by Leon Uris: literally my favorite novel ever. the sequel to Trinity but can stand alone. various irish families struggle through the horrors of world war one. the hero isn’t really morally ambiguous, but the main theme of the novel is extremely bad people suddenly questioning their choices and eventually redeeming themselves. sweeping themes of love, screwed up families, redemption, and patriotism.

The Lymond Chronicles and House of Niccolo by Dorothy Dunnett: heroes redeem themselves/try to get rich/try to save their country in early renaissance Europe. if I actually knew what happened in these books I'm sure it would be morally ambiguous but its too confusing for me. in each book you spend at least a third convinced the protagonist is evil, though. lots of exciting sword fights, tragic romances, plot twists, and kicking english butt.

Bonus: Protagonist is less morally ambiguous and more very screwed up and sad all the time

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: you know this one bc its quoted in all those quote compilations. basically the story of how one horrible event traumatizes a young man and how he develops a connection to a painting. really really really good.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: hard to describe but strange... not an action novel or a dystopia really but sort of along those lines. very hopeless.

#book recs #morally ambiguous protagonists #dark academia #book recommendations #mine

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: The Directors Leaving A Mark On The Anime Industry

  Hello everyone, and welcome back to Why It Works. A few weeks ago, I put together a quick list of some of the major directors of what’s turning out to be something of an anime film golden age. Of course, the very fact that we’re so awash in talented film directors meant I was only able to put together a brief and incomplete list, mostly featuring talents that have already been thoroughly recognized as master directors. I’m always happy to introduce more people to Makoto Shinkai or Masaaki Yuasa, but it’s not like those two are particularly hard to discover, either.

    Today I aim to correct that oversight, as we explore even more of the directors who’re currently making waves in the industry, with an emphasis on those who’ve only recently ascended to the director’s chair. From writers-turned-directors to industry veterans to fresh faces with only a few credits to their name, we’ve got a diverse and exciting crop of top talent in the industry, and I’m eager to see where each of these accomplished artists heads next. Let’s highlight more of the key figures of anime’s new film renaissance!

  Mari Okada

  Mari Okada has built an incredibly sturdy, accomplished reputation as one of the most unique, talented, and reliable writers in the anime industry. She’s handled series composition and scripting duties on a wide variety of acclaimed adaptations, including major works like Toradora!, Black Butler, and Wandering Son. Her adaptive works serve as a clear testament to her mastery of narrative structure; however, she’s also responsible for writing many of the most beloved anime-original works of the past decade, with credits ranging from Anohana and Hanasaku Iroha to Dragon Pilot and Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. Heck, last year she handled series composition duties on a series where she also wrote the manga, for the excellent O Maidens in Your Savage Season.

    Mari Okada is basically the definition of prolific, but she wouldn’t get all that work if she weren’t extremely talented. Her stories embrace the intimate messiness of complex, wounded characters, possessing a specificity and vitality that makes even the most fantastical conflicts seem poignant and relatable. An unabashed melodrama enthusiast, she first jumped to film by scripting the tear-jerking Anthem of the Heart — and since then, she’s ascended from scripting to the director’s chair, helming the acclaimed, fantastical Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms. Okada’s been a star for years now, but it feels like that star is somehow still rising.

.

Keiichi Hara

  Hara has taken a long and rambling road toward film renown, having spent the bulk of his animation career handling unassuming duties on children’s shows like Doraemon and Crayon Shin-chan. However, as a career track like Yuasa’s implies, children’s anime is a terrific incubation chamber for talented artists looking to build professional connections — and since 2010, Hara has been steadily building a film catalog as well, with the fantastic 2015 feature Miss Hokusai clearly demonstrating his unique approach to film.

    Adapted from an acclaimed manga detailing the life of the famous Hokusai’s talented daughter, Miss Hokusai demonstrates a freewheeling approach to narrative structure, more focused on capturing specific moments in its heroine’s life than following a single narrative path. This style puts him in line with the atmospheric, character-focused approach frequently employed by Naoko Yamada and Mamoru Hosoda, and makes me eager to see his recent Birthday Wonderland. Hara took a long path to get here, but I’m excited to see where he goes from here.

  Hiroyasu Ishida

  Though both Okada and Hara were at least widely known within the industry before gaining film acclaim, Ishida is a relatively fresh face in the overall industry. His notable early works are actually student films — including the gorgeous Rain Town — productions that helped build anticipation for his work even before he was conscripted onto a major project. Launching directly from student to director, he began putting out a variety of beloved short works at Studio Colorido, culminating in 2018’s acclaimed Penguin Highway, an adaptation of a story by the ever-reliable Tomihiko Morimi (who also wrote The Tatami Galaxy and The Eccentric Family). Ishida is so talented and so young it almost makes me mad; but professional envy aside, he’s an absurdly gifted artist at the very beginning of his career, and I can only imagine how far he’ll go.

  Sunao Katabuchi

  Last but not least, we have one more artist who’s actually been working in the industry for decades, but who has only recently earned some deserved acclaim. Katabuchi actually worked directly with Hayao Miyazaki following his entrance into the industry and even served as assistant director on Kiki’s Delivery Service. However, it was not until 2001 that he’d release a film of his own, the acclaimed Princess Arete.

    Maintaining a steady pace of roughly one film every eight years, Katabuchi has since released two period dramas: 2009’s Mai Mai Miracle, and one of my own all-time favorite films, 2016’s In This Corner of the World. Serving as both writer and director on all three of his film productions, Katabuchi’s work demonstrates a sensitivity and profound thoughtfulness that tempers the magical realism of Miyazaki’s pastoral fantasies with a world-weary edge, capturing the beauty and the tragedy of life in the same measure. I was basically sobbing all through In This Corner of the World’s second half, and can only hope he’ll get the chance to direct more such treasures soon.

  Well then! I hope this list offers a somewhat broader sampling of films for you all to check out, and would emphatically urge you to try some of the highlighted films by any of these directors, even if they don’t necessarily seem like your kind of thing. A film is two hours, give or take. And with the best artists and animators in the industry behind them, any one of these directors can take you on an incredible journey in that time, stirring ideas of your own, clutching your heart in their grip, or simply expanding your understanding of the greater artistic landscape.

  I hope you’ve enjoyed this celebration of talented directors, and please let me know all your own favorite anime film directors in the comments!  

    Nick Creamer has been writing about cartoons for too many years now and is always ready to cry about Madoka. You can find more of his work at his blog Wrong Every Time, or follow him on Twitter.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

[chcrrypcps]

(f) korean names; mix n match !

80+ KOREAN SYLLABLES to mix n match together to form names! 

-- common hanja meanings attached !  

**not all name meanings are listed & not all names have to mean something-- some people just like the sound of them! 

(male version here!)

애 (ae)

愛  love, like, to be fond of 

哀 sad, mournful, pitiful, pity 

涯  shore, bank, water's edge 

埃  fine dust, dirt

碍  obstruct, block, deter, hinder 

艾 artemisia, mugwort

아 (ah)

兒 son, child, oneself; final part

亞 second

我 our, us, my, we

牙 tooth, teeth; serrated

芽  bud, sprout

雅 elegant, graceful, refined

안 (ahn)

安 peaceful, tranquil, quiet

案 table, bench

眼 eye; hole

岸 bank, shore, beach coast 

顔 face, facial appearance

배   (bae) 

北 north, northern 

配 match, pair; equal

杯 cup, glass 

輩 generation, lifetime 

korean for pear

백 (baek)

白 pure, white, unblemished 

百 one hundred

 비  (bi/bee)

秘 secret, mysterious 

悲 sorrow, grief; sorry, sad

飛  fly, go quickly 

卑  humble, low, inferior 

肥 fat, plump; fertile 

丕 grand, glorious, distinguished

빈  (bin)

彬 cultivated; well-bred

분 (boon/bun)

芬 perfume. fragrance. aroma 

憤 resentment, hatred

보  (bo)

保 protect, defend, care for 

寶 treasure, jewel, precious, rare 

普 universal, widespread

補 mend, fix, repair, restore 

甫 begin, man, father, great

 輔 protect, assist

복 (bok)

福 happiness, good fortune, blessings 

卜 fortune, prophecy 

馥 fragrance, scent, aroma

별  (byul/byeol)

korean for star

차 (cha)

茶 tea 

差 different, wrong

채 (chae)

采 gather, collect; pick, pluck 

採 gather collect, pick select 

彩 hue, colors

초 (cho)

草 grass straw herbs  

哨 whistle, chirp

 焦 burned scorched; anxious vexes

천 (cheon/chun)

千 thousand 

天 sky, heaven; celestial, god 

川 stream, river 

泉 spring, fountain; wealth money 

淺 shallow, superficial 

賤 cheap, worthless

다 (dah/da)

多 much, many 

茶 tea

도 (do)

道 path, road 

島 island 

都 elegant refined 

徒 disciple, follower 

桃 peach; marriage 

悼 grieve, lament, mourn

어 (eo)

語 language. words, expressions 

漁 to seize; to pursue 

御 chariot

억 (eok)

億 many; hundred million 

憶 memory; to remember, reflect upon 

抑 to repress, curb, or hinder

언 (eon)

言 words, speech, speak 

彦 elegant

은 (eun) 

銀 silver, cash, money, wealth 

恩 kindness, mercy, charity 

隱 hidden, secret

殷 abundant, flourishing; many, great 

誾 respectful

가 (gah/ga)

歌 song, lyrics; sing chant; praise

價 price, value

佳 good, auspicious; beautiful; delightful

고 (goh/go)

古 old, classic, ancient 

苦 bitter; hardship, suffering 

固 strength; solid, strong 

孤 orphan; solitary 

故 ancient, old 

枯 withered, decayed

국 (guk/gook/kuk/kook)

國 nation, country 

菊 chrysanthemum

규 (gyu/kyu)

叫 cry, shout; hail, greet, call

하 (ha)

夏 summer 

河 river, stream 

荷 lotus, water lily

해 (hae )

海 sea, ocean

 害 harm, destroy, kill

희 (hee/hui)

喜 joy, love 

希 rare; hope, expectations 

稀 rare, unusual 

姬 beauty 

熹 warm bright; glimmer 

禧 happiness

화 (hwa)

火 fire flame; burn; anger, rage 

花 flower, blossoms

 和 harmony, peace; peaceful, calm

 嬅 beautiful 

禍 misfortune, calamity, disaster

혜 (hye)

慧 bright, intelligent

현 (hyun/hyeon)

賢 virtuous, worthy, good 

炫 shine glitter; show off, flaunt 

玄 deep, profound

효 (hyo)

曉 dawn, daybreak; clear

孝 mourning; obedience

일 (il/eel)

一 one; alone, singular 

日 sun, day, daytime

인 (in)

麟 female chinese unicorn 

人 people, mankind, man, population 

仁 humane; benevolence, kindness 

認 to recognize, know, understand 

寅 respect, reverence 

忍 endure, bear, suffer

재 (jae)

才 talent, ability 

災 calamity, disaster, catastrophe 

財 wealth, riches 

宰 to slaughter; to rule 

栽 to cultivate; to care for plants

자 (jah/ja)

子 child, offspring; fruit, seed 

資 property; wealth 

慈 kind, charitable, benevolent 

紫 purple, violet; amethyst 

磁 porcelain

지 (ji/jee)

地 earth, ground, soil 

紙 paper 

志 determination, will 

智 wisdom, knowledge, intelligence 

池 pool, pond

진 (jin)

珍 precious, valuable; rare 

眞 genuine, real, true

주 (ju/joo)

晝 daytime, daylight 

朱 cinnabar, vermilion

酒 wine, spirits, liquor 

宙 time as a concept 

洲 island 

珠 precious stone, gem, jewel, pearl

정 (jung/jeong)

正 right, proper, correct

情 emotion, feeling, sentiment 

程 journey, trip 

精 essence, spirit 

征 invade, attack, conquer 

靜 gentle, quiet, still 

淨 pure, clean, unspoiled 

貞 loyal; virtuous pure 

晶 crystal; clear, bright, radiant 

汀 beach, bank, shore 

禎 good omen, lucky

경 (kyung/kyeong/gyung/gyeong)

敬 respect, honor

輕 light, gentle 

警 guard, watch 

鏡 mirror, glass 

卿 noble 

炅 brilliance 

瓊 jade; rare, precious; elegant

미 (mi)

美 beautiful, pretty; pleasing 

微 small, tiny 

迷 bewitch, charm

민 (min)

閔 mourn, grieve 

憫 pity, sympathy 

敏 clever, smart 

旻 heaven

玟 gem

문 (moon/mun)

門/ gate, entrance 

文 literature, writing; culture

명 (myung/myeong)

命 life; destiny, fate, luck 

明 light, bright, brilliant 

冥 dark, gloomy; night

나 (nah/na)

奈 bear, endure

내 (nae)

耐 patient; endure, bear

남 (nam)

南 south

오 (oh)

五 five 

午 noon 

惡 evil, wicked, bad, foul 

傲 proud, haughty; overbearing 

嗚 sound of crying, sobbing; sound of sadness 

娛 pleasure, enjoyment, amusement 

汚 filthy, dirty, impure 

烏 crow, raven; black, dark

옥 (ok)

鈺 rare; treasure 

玉 jade; precious stone, gem

沃 rich, fertile

라 (rah/ra la/lah)

裸 bare, nude

란 (ran)

蘭 orchid; elegant, graceful 

亂 create chaos; revolt

리 (ri/li/lee/ree)

李 plum 

梨 pear

림 (rim)

林 forest, grove

린 (rin)

麟 female chinese unicorn

사 (sa)

四 four 

使 messenger 

死 die; death; dead 

士 scholar 

思 think, consider, ponder 

師 teacher, master 

私 secret, private, personal 

絲 silk, fine thread 

:沙 sand, pebbles 

蛇 snake 

詐 trick, cheat, swindle, feign 

邪 wrong, evil, vicious 

唆 mischievous

상 (sang)

上 top, superior, highest 

賞 reward, prize 

傷 wound, injury 

常 common, normal, frequent 

象 ivory; elephant 

��� mourn 

祥 happiness; good luck, good omen 

裳 beautiful 

霜 frost; crystallized

서 (seo)

西 west

庶 numerous various 

徐 composed, dignified; quiet, calm 

恕 forgiveness; mercy 

誓 swear, pledge, promise, oath

설 (seol)

雪 snow; avenge

선 (seon/sun)

瑄 ornamental jade 

仙 transcendent, immortal 

善 good, virtuous, charitable, kind 

鮮 fresh, new; rare 

璿 fine jade 

璇 star; beautiful jade

 성 (seong)

晟 clear bright; splendor 

城 castle; city, town 

誠 sincere, honest; true, real 

聲 sound, voice, music

聖 holy, sacred 

盛 abundant, flourishing 

星 a star, planet

승 (seung)

勝 victory 

承 succeed 

乘 rise, ascend 

昇 peace; rise, ascent

신 (shin)

辰 early morning 

信 trust, believe 

新 new, fresh, modern 

神 spirit; god, supernatural being 

晨 early morning, daybreak 

辛 bitter

시 (si/shi)

矢 vow, swear, promise 

時 time season; age, period, era 

施 grant, bestow, give 

詩 poetry 

屍 corpse

소 (so)

消 vanish, die out, melt away 

笑 smile, laugh 

素 white silk 

昭 bright, luminous 

蘇 revive, resurrect

슥 (sook/suk)

宿 constellation 

淑 good, pure, virtuous, charming

순 (soon/sun)

純 pure clean simple 

循 obey, comply, follow 

殉 to be a martyr, to die for a cause

脣 lips

淳 honest, simple

수 (su/soo)

樹 plant, tree 

守 defend, protect, guard 

收 gather collect; harvest 

秀 refined, elegant, graceful 

壽 old age, long life 

殊 different, special, unusual

와 (wah/wa)

瓦 pottery

왕 (wang)

王 king, ruler, royalty

旺 prosperous; prosperity

위 (wee/wi)

位 throne, rank, status 

偉 great, robust, extraordinary 

危 dangerous 

威 power; powerful; dominate 

慰 calm, comfort, console 

衛 guard, protect, defend 

違 disobey, defy, rebel; be different than 

尉 officer, military rank

원 (won)

源 spring 

園 garden, park, orchard 

原 beginning, source, origin 

願 to wish, ambition, desire, want 

怨 hatred, enemy, resentment

 苑 park, garden 

瑗 a ring of fine jade 

媛 beauty; a beautiful woman

우 (woo/wu)

友 friend, companion

牛 cow, ox, bull 

雨 rain; rainy 

優 superior; excellent 

宇 house, building, structure 

愚 stupid, foolish 

憂 sad, grievance; grief, melancholy 

羽 feather, plume; wings 

佑 to help, bless, protect 

祐 protection; divine intervention

욱 (wook/ook)

頊 grief, anxiety 

旭 brilliance, radiant 

昱 dazzling, bright light, sunlight 

煜 bright, shining, brilliant 

郁 sweet smelling; rich in aroma

운 (woon/wun)

運 luck, fortune 

雲 clouds 

云 clouds 

芸 art, talent ability; rue (herb)

야 (yah/ya)

夜 night, dark 

野 open country, wilderness, field 

惹 irritate, offend

예 (yeh)

禮 manners, courtesy, customs, rights 

藝 art, talent, ability 

豫 comfortable, relaxed, at ease 

譽 fame, praise 

銳 sharp, keen, pointed, acute 

隷 servant 

睿 shrewd; clever, keen

芮 tiny, small 

醴 sweet wine; sweet spring

여 (yeo)

女 woman, girl; feminine 

旅 journey, travel; traveler 

與 to give or to grant 

餘 surplus, extra, excess, remainder 

麗 beautiful, magnificent, elegant 

勵 to strive, encourage 

廬 hut, cottage 

驪 a pure black horse, stallion

열 (yeol)

烈 fiery, violent, ardent 

劣 bad, inferior

연 (yeon)

然 promise, pledge

燃 burn; ignite 

緣 karma, fate

戀 love, long for, yearn for 

燕 swallow (bird) ; comfort, enjoy 

蓮 lotus, water lily; paradise 

漣 flowing water; ripples

영 (yeong/young)

永 perpetual, eternal, forever 

英 petal, flower, leaf; brave, hero; england, english 

令 commandant, magistrate

領 neck, collar; leader, guide 

映 to reflect light 

榮 glory, honor; to flourish or prosper 

寧 serenity, peace; peaceful 

嶺 mountain ridge, mountain peak 

影 shadow, reflection; photograph 

泳 to dive, swim 

詠 sing, hum, chant 

零 zero; fragment, fraction, sliver 

靈 spirit, soul 

瑛 crystal, gem 

盈 full, overflowing

이 (yi/ie)

二 two; twice 

利 gains, profit 

李 plum 

易 change 

異 different, unusual, strange 

梨 pear; opera 

泥 earth, mud, clay 

怡 harmony, joy, pleasure; to be glad

유 (yoo/yu)

柳 willow tree; pleasure 

遊 wander, roam, travel 

柔 soft, gentle 

維 maintain, preserve 

裕 rich, abundant, plentiful 

劉 to kill, destroy

육 (yook/yuk)

六 six

율 (yool/yul)

栗 chestnuts, chestnut tree

윤 (yoon/yun)

潤 soft, moist; sleek, fresh 

尹 govern, oversee, direct 

胤 heir, successor

#rph #name help #korean names #writing reference #reference #korean #krp #character help #muse help #mine #queued #if you guys want i can try to make a male version !

[redditnosleep]

The Suicide Orphan

by Cymoril_Melnibone

I’ve long been fascinated by internet horror stories and creepypastas. I was young and impressionable when I stumbled across my first; Jvk1166z.esp, a story about a video game mod that went eerily wrong. That tumbled me down a dark and narrow rabbit hole into The Russian Sleep Experiment, then further lost me in the cryptid wonderland where all those other internet classics live. No matter how unsettling the story, I really wanted to believe it. At first, I wanted every single detail to be true. Later, I came to most relish the tales that seemed to contain one or two real ingredients, liberally seasoned to please the palates of the audience. And there was a growing envy that rode along with my fascination; I wanted to wield the spices, to be just like those infamous writers. I wanted to create a viral sensation that would sweep across the internet and make people’s spines tingle and burn with genuine, inescapable fear. The kind that really makes you feel alive. But first, I needed to find the raw, true heart for my recipe. I began to pore over old newspaper articles, looking for weird things in my area. I sifted through mountains of garbage online, looking for a tasty kernel of truth hidden within the bland layers of unappetising urban myths. But inspiration eluded me, and I started to lose interest. As adulthood took hold, it slowly began to strangle my childish ability to believe there was some wild truth running around out there, despite never finding any footprints. I was almost ready to admit that perhaps the world was far more mundane and uninteresting than I’d ever imagined – and that every one of my treasured stories were in fact just marvellous fictions, all pretty frosting and no cake. Then, like a horrible gift dropped right into my lap, I chanced to overhear two nurses at the local hospital talking in hushed whispers about the mystery of The Suicide Orphan. How could I not do everything in my power to find out more?

I’ll spare you all the dusty details about how I came by the information I have. Most of it was uncovered by boring hard work; ordinary journalism and archive delving. And I’m not proud; when that fails, I’ve found that there’s very little information you can’t dig up if you use some natural and enhanced advantages. In my case, honey-blonde hair, a splash of bright lipstick and a short skirt. The real story begins in the 1970s, when a young couple, Danny and Susan Johnson, prematurely birthed their second child. They named her Catherine. The baby grew quickly and was soon healthy enough to come home, where she was doted on by her elder sister and her parents. She was bright and happy, apparently escaping any disadvantages of her prematurity; she began to speak at 18 months, and started to read by the age of four. The first tragedy struck the family when Catherine was in kindergarten. The elder sister, Sarah, was found hanging in her wardrobe, a pink plastic skipping-rope looped about her neck. Emergency services were called, but the nine-year-old girl was not able to be resuscitated. As you would expect, the family was devastated. They cooperated with the police and the coroner, and endured a protracted and gruelling investigation into every aspect of their lives. No evidence of foul play was ever uncovered, and the ruling on Sarah’s death was left inconclusive. Either it was accidental, or it was a rare child suicide. Everything slid rapidly and predictably downhill for the Johnsons from there, with the mother falling into black depression frighteningly fast, and the father drowning his own pain in a bottle. The date on the second ambulance report is barely six months after the one on the invoice for Sarah’s headstone. Susan Johnson was found in the family garage, her asphyxiated corpse as pink as a child’s skipping rope, a side-effect of carbon monoxide inhalation. The car was still idling, with a hose from the exhaust pipe pushed through a crack in the window. The grim trifecta of paperwork is complete two months later, when Danny Johnson successfully hanged himself in the very same garage, a sawhorse kicked out from underneath him, and his wife’s perfume heavy in the air. With no other living relatives able to be traced, Catherine Johnson became a suicide orphan.

The Walders were her first foster family. They were experienced in caring for children from difficult circumstances, loved her to pieces, and did everything they could to heal the poor girl. Only five, she barely understood what had happened and why, so she adapted quickly. I found one of her first school reports, buried amongst random papers in a forgotten box beneath the Walder’s house. It paints a bright picture of an exceptionally gregarious child, a little girl who made friends easily and was radiant in her happiness. All seemed to be going very well for Catherine and her new parents. She’s all dimpled smiles in the photograph of her cuddling the kitten she received on her seventh birthday, and certificates and trophies suggest that she was something of an athletic prodigy, outrunning every other girl in her district. There was not a single warning sign that anything was wrong for Jenny Walder, the foster mother. According to the archived reports, she had appeared completely normal, right up to the day she was found in her bathtub, the life seeped out of her into the deep crimson water. There were no hesitation marks surrounding the long, definite cuts in her wrists from where she had opened her veins. The foster father, Michael Walders, survived his wife for another nine months before he succumbed to catatonic depression and was taken to a mental health facility. He didn’t move nor speak for the next six weeks, so none of the staff appear to be sure how he got onto the roof. The leap from the fifth floor shattered his skull into nine separate fragments, and his life ended in a concrete parking lot. Catherine was left utterly alone for the second time in her short life. She was put into state care while another family was sought to take care of her.

Now, this is the point where the rumours really start. The pool of prospective foster families was much smaller thirty-odd years ago, and it was becoming difficult to keep her history from the community. People back then were superstitious enough to be very leery of a child with so much death in her past. Families long noted as being eager for a child, any child, abruptly change their tune when it is revealed that the child being considered is Catherine, the suicide orphan. People were beginning to speculate, very quietly, that Catherine herself was to blame for the five deaths. I like to think that there were others who shushed them and told them not to be so crude and cruel. A pair of childless atheists, Melissa and Tony Lipsey, finally accepted the girl into their care and instantly fell in love with her. Melissa was an aspiring writer, who kept long, detailed journals of her life and experiences. After some convincing, her family let me read a few of the ones concerning Catherine. Their existence seemed idyllic, with no great calamities afflicting them, only the very ordinary hardships of family life. Psychological support was provided for the couple and the child from the day Catherine entered their home, and appears to have been quite careful and thorough for the time. Right up until the point of her suicide, Melissa’s diary spoke of love and hope and great plans for their new daughter when she grew up. Indeed, Catherine was excelling in every aspect of school life, and had even been moved up a year. The final entry in the notebook is uncharacteristically short, and contains one curious sentence about feeling ‘empty’. For no reason that anyone could fathom, on that date Melissa and Tony Lipsey drove their car to the river, then walked into the water, fully clothed and hand-in-hand, and drowned together. It was ruled an accident, but anyone who knew about Catherine knew that was a lie.

Nobody wanted to adopt her after that. Ten years old, she languished in a state orphanage, other children coming and going. She seems to have made the best of it; her tattered, photocopied file repeats the same phrases as reports from her early life; she was a child who smiled easily and often, was loved by the other children, and she never caused any trouble. She educated herself, borrowing great piles of books from the local library, clearly reading well beyond her age, and engaged the facility’s staff in thoughtful and philosophical conversations about her plight. Anyone close to her appeared to like her, yet heartbreakingly, she seemed to understand exactly why nobody wanted her. The first staff suicide – that of Catherine’s primary caregiver – sparked a panic, and half of the orphanage workers refused to come to work the following day. Children were quickly shifted to other facilities in nearby cities, and the place was temporarily shut down. Catherine knew precisely what was going on and asked several times to ‘just be let go’. She said she didn’t want to trouble anyone anymore, that she would find a place in the woods and live on her own. She was interviewed and re-interviewed by law enforcement and by psychiatrists from her temporary, solitary room in a juvenile holding facility, until no-one had any questions left to ask. The conclusion was rational, and completely sensible. It was not this child, but the mythos following this child, that was the cause of the suicides. Catherine should be provided with a new identity and placed anonymously in another home on the other side of the country, and then the suicides would stop. Unfortunately, this conclusion was also completely wrong.

Tracking Catherine became difficult at this point. I eventually managed to find her again when a fellow student, her school teacher, and her new foster parents all killed themselves within a few months of each other. She was fourteen, and must have been very much aware what that meant. When she was taken into custody, she fought like a demon and required two male police officers to restrain her. There is a curious note in that police report, stating that those officers ‘received injuries’ but Catherine’s later medical examination showed no injury at all to herself, not even a bruise. She was placed into inpatient psychiatric care. The breezy, bright child with the easy smile does not appear in any more of the reports I was able to obtain; she was gone. The teenage Catherine is clearly deeply disturbed, and any trace of her personality was probably medicated away. The range of psychotropic drugs they managed to dose her with is extensive, despite some odd notes in her charts from this time. Initial attempts to administer heavy-duty sedatives by injection are simply recorded as ‘unsuccessful’, and followed by a recommendation for ‘oral medication only’. But pills must have been enough; with ‘the suicide orphan’ locked away in a psych ward and a chemical straightjacket, anyone would assume that was an end to the bleak trail of death that Catherine Johnson left wherever she went. And with a high turnover of overworked staff, there wasn’t much risk of anyone getting attached to the young woman. Some of the inmates in her facility were found hanged or dead from self-mutilation, but, well, it was a place for crazy people – that sort of stuff happened all the time. No more connections appear to have been made. But on August 3rd, 1991, two staff members deliberately overdosed on patient medications and several inmates escaped using the keys of the deceased. Amongst those that escaped was Catherine Johnson.

She was smart, once the drugs left her system. Much smarter than the others, who were all caught in a matter of days. I think Catherine probably cut and dyed her hair and hitch-hiked as far as she could get, as there are no sightings of her despite bulletins and flyers. The trail of documents was cold for a long time, and I expanded my search wider and wider, hoping to find the lost thread of her existence. And I had one grisly card up my sleeve; even someone as smart and resourceful as she was couldn’t do anything about the one thing that made her trackable: everywhere she went, people killed themselves. Unfortunately, suicide is more common than you might first think, so the background noise is extensive. People kill themselves every other day, for all kinds of reasons. A seemingly happy father of three will take a shotgun into the shower and blow his brains out, even though he was recently promoted at work, and his life seems perfect. After reading far too many of those stories, I did eventually find her carrion footsteps. Leading out west, a neat line of unexplained suicides which pointed to the forested mountain wilderness – the common factor that drew my attention was that each of the deceased owned some sort of supply or convenience shop. I contacted the library near Catherine’s teenage orphanage, posing as a family member to access her library records. My suspicions were confirmed; since she was ten years old, she had been researching outdoor survival and how to live self-sufficiently in the wilderness.

I’m really not much of an outdoors person, but the heady prospect of finding the mythical Suicide Orphan was too much for me. I probably overstocked on supplies and safety gear, but I didn’t want to be caught short in poor weather. With an expensive GPS machine and enough food for a month, I started searching the mountains for Catherine Johnson. I suspected I was on the right track when I started finding increasing numbers of dead animals. Although that’s not unusual in the wilderness, the corpses became very regular, mostly intact, and quite fresh. Birds had seemingly fallen from the sky mid-flight, as though their tiny hearts had simply given up. Further on, dead rats and larger mammals marked a sort of grisly perimeter around Catherine’s isolated bolthole. The first sign was terrible and stark, a white board nailed to a tree and splashed with faded red paint. “STAY AWAY OR ELSE” it read, like the warning on a child’s treehouse. There were more signs as I pushed through the scrub, bearing similar imprecations. Each of them threatened some kind of violence, without being specific. Eventually I saw a crude hut through the trees, and painted on the door in that same naïve hand were the words “COME INSIDE AND YOU WILL DIE”. I knew what was going on here. Catherine blamed herself for the deaths of everyone around her; she had done so since she was very young, and she didn’t want it to happen again. By isolating herself in the wilderness, she believed that she could avoid bringing any more death to other people. And if she didn’t have anyone who cared about her, she couldn’t lose anyone she cared about. I had walked in Catherine’s appallingly sad footsteps for so long, that at this point I really did care about her. And I was no longer thinking about what that meant. Perhaps, having spent my whole life looking for that kernel of truth, when I found it, I didn’t want to believe it. “I’m coming in,” I declared loudly as I pushed open the door.

She sat by the stone fireplace, a small figure lost in a chair made of carefully woven branches. Dark hair was piled up on top of her head, tied in place with a frayed scarf. Inside, the hut was tidy and clean, meticulous care evident in the orderliness of the piles of split logs and the fur-covered furniture. She seemed to know immediately that I wasn’t there by accident; that I was not some lost hiker or hunter who had stumbled into her hideaway despite the warning trail of animal corpses and signs. “I should have moved,” she said without preamble, turning her gaze towards me. Her face was too youthful, she looked like a twenty-year-old. “I should have stuck to my plan and moved to another place in the wilds, to stop people like you finding me.” “Well, I’m glad I did find you,” I replied weakly, unable to stop staring at her. I felt strangely uneasy at how young she looked. She was almost twice my age, yet somehow it felt quite the reverse. “You won’t be,” she said simply, with a small and solemn shake of her head. There was a tense, pregnant pause, then she glanced at the iron kettle hung over the fireplace. “Would you like some tea? It’s mostly mountain herbs, but it’s hot.” Not knowing what else to say, I simply nodded. The tiny hut should have been cosy, yet I was cold. “Tell me how you found me.” And so I told her the same tale I’m telling you now. I laid out all my clever discoveries from end to end as she poured tea into fired clay cups, the sharp scents of mint and pine suffusing the air. She was silent while the account unfolded, but would sometimes nod, confirming a snippet of information when I sounded uncertain. At other revelations, she bowed her head and averted her eyes as though ashamed – but she never interrupted. When I was empty of words, she finally spoke. “So. You wanted fame. That’s why you sought me out? You wanted to tell my story to the world and become a sort of television celebrity.” Her voice was layered heavy with undisguised contempt, and I felt the colour rise in my cheeks. “I guess so,” I mumbled. My stomach twisted, hollow, despite the tea. “Well, now you have your story. You found your Suicide Orphan, and everything about her is true. Wherever I go, death follows.” It was my turn to be silent for a long moment; what could I say to that? But I needed to ask. I needed to be sure about one more thing. “I have a question,” I said finally, my voice dull in my ears. She shifted in her chair, placing one hand on the rough-hewn table. “You want to know why I never killed myself,” she stated flatly. “Yes.” A knife hung from her belt in a leather sheath, and with a well-practised movement, she pulled it free – stabbing it cleanly through the hand resting on the rough wood between us. I shrieked in alarm, and reflexively jerked away, the wicker chair nearly tipping me onto the floor. As quickly as she had drawn the blade, she yanked it free; leaving a deep cut that glimmered white tendon, then welled dark with blood. She raised her wounded hand in the air, and I watched, disbelieving, as the vicious rent in her flesh knitted immediately, like some kind of claymation. It left not even a whisper of a scar betraying where it had been. “Poison doesn’t work, either,” she said, calmly wiping the knife clean on her sleeve, “even deadly nightshade only gives me a tummy ache. I tried a pistol once, but the bullet bounced right off my skull and made a mess of my crockery.” The knife was rehomed in the scabbard and she gave me a wan smile, “I’d bury myself alive, but I’m too frightened of spending an eternity screaming into the lightless dirt.” Another long silence followed as we sipped our cooling tea. I drained my cup and stared at the dregs of grey leaves, their green all boiled away. “I’m going to die, aren’t I?” I asked. It wasn’t really a question. “Of course you are. What other possible outcome did you think there could be? Did you really think just because you were the one to find me, you’d somehow be immune? That caring about the truth would save you? That’s not how real life works, I’m afraid.” I swallowed, fear swelling like an ugly bubble inside me. “How does it happen?” “It will start as an ineffable feeling of loss, like you’ve misplaced something important. The emptiness grows inside your breast, then invades your head until it gnaws at all your thoughts, tainting everything good with poisonous doubt. Eventually the yawning nothingness within will be so complete that you’ll have naught left to live for, and you’ll end your life.” “So there’s nothing I can do.” She leaned forward and grasped my head in her strong, dirt-rimed hands. “You can do exactly what you were going to do all along, but not for yourself. Tell your story. Write out your little electronic letter and send your ‘creepypasta’ all around the world. Tell people that this horror is true – I am real, and that if anyone comes near me, they will die.” She let me go, the intensity fading from her eyes. “Now leave me. I can’t stand seeing yet another human being die because of me.”

And so I guess I got my wish. I hope you enjoyed my little story, because it’s the last one I’ll ever tell. I can already feel that void inside me, widening, growing, feeding. It’s grey and it’s cold and it’s deeper than space. I’ve tried as much as I can to stop it – therapy, medication, immersing myself in dizzyingly happy music and distracting myself with books and films – but everything seems so hollow, so trite, and so utterly pointless now. Nothing feels real any more. I’m not exactly sure how I’ll do it, but I think that somewhere in my old things from my childhood, there might be a pink plastic skipping rope.

Yes, that seems real. That feels right and true.

#author: Cymoril_Melnibone #creepy #horror story #trigger warning

[brendanmoviedate]

"Nobody will ever notice that. Filmmaking is not about the tiny details. It's about the big picture."

All through 2015, I’d been hearing about people doing a new-movie-a-day challenge starting January 1st and ending December 31. It seemed like a great idea for clearing through my watch list and an excuse to get out to the theatre more. 

So for 2016, I decided part way into January that I was going to go for it. By that point, I was only a few movies behind, so how hard would it be to catch up and get to 366 (I just had to pick a leap year for this) by December 31? Well, by April, I was about 15 movies behind, and this was with watching three or more films every Saturday while my girlfriend was in class. Still, I was confident - my girlfriend would be going to school in London starting in September, so I’d have lots of free time to cram in some extra movies. 

Flashforward to October, and an outdoorsy summer and month-long trip to the UK found me around 80 movies behind pace. Not good. I thought about giving up, but I’m too stubborn and foolish to let go of stupid things like this. October was rough. I watched movies all weekend, every weekend. I found the movies on my list that were less than 90 minutes, so as to pile on an extra film or two. By the end of the month, I had watched 100 films in 30 days. Halfway through December I reached 366, capping out at 374.

What did I learn?

This type of challenge really fucks up your decision-making abilities

When trying to decide between going out and watching a movie, or reading and watching a movie, or doing chores and watching a movie, or grabbing a meal at a restaurant and watching a movie, watching a movie always seemed like the right choice, just to get me closer to that goal of 366. Every time I chose to do something other than watch a movie, I felt anxious that this could have been the one movie keeping me from reaching my goal. It was rough. I’m only now getting over this feeling and it’s already March (spoilers: I’m never going to do this again).

The “only new movies” clause really stung

There were so many times when I wanted to watch a recent favourite, but couldn’t justify it. Mad Max: Fury Road, 22 Jump Street, Nightcrawler, Sicario, et al. kept beckoning me, but I would invariably choose something new.

Peak TV takes a backseat

With only a few minor excpetions (Veep, Silicon Valley, Game of Thrones), my TV watching for the year plummeted. I was already behind on shows like The Americans, Orphan Black, and Fargo that I really wanted to watch, but multi-episode seasons would eat up too much prime movie-watching time.

You don’t always watch what’s good, only what’s available

Netflix is so diluted at this point with direct-to-video releases and Netflix originals starring Adam Sandler that finding something of quality to watch was always difficult. Often I’d find myself watching a mid-2000s action movie instead something from my iMDB list just because it was on Netflix. Other times, even if I film I’d wanted to watch was on Netflix, like Son of Saul or Leviathan, I’d watch The Book of Eli because I was already too worn out by a day’s worth of watching movies. 

A movie-a-day only really makes sense for those who can watch a movie a day

Work+girlfriend+dodgeball+hockey+friends meant I had only two or three days a week to squeeze in movies, necessitating regular marathons. It really defeats the purpose of the challenge and wears out the viewer on a physical and psychological level.

Korean thrillers are awesome

I watched a number of excellent films from some of Korea’s best directors, mostly in the horror and/or thriller genres. Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of a Murder and The Host, Kim Jee-woon’s The Age of Shadows, Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing, and Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan all explored well-trodden movie tropes from fresh perspectives and made choices that North American filmmakers would normally shy away from. All of these films are classics that I can see myself revisiting over and over again. Of these films, Memories of a Murder is probably my favourite, serving as a Zodiac-like look into the futility of murder investigations. I should also mention Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden here, but I’ve talked about that masterpiece twice already.

Brian De Palma is an underrated master

Unabashedly fixated on voyeurism in his films, De Palma constructs tightly scripted, twisty plots that focus on peeping, spying, surveilling, and stalking as a means of telling a vast breadth of stories. His films are sleazy in all the right ways, but he brings to his low, almost uncomfortable, subject matter a brilliant technical understanding of film. Raising Cain, Body Double, and Dressed to Kill are all great examples of his craft, but it’s 1981′s Blow Out, starring a never-better John Travolta that is the perfect synthesis of his methods and methodology. The use of sound, split-screen, and split-diopters to focus on foreground and background at the same time is as captivating as the plot.

The worst movies were unfunny comedies

This probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me, but the worst kind of movie is an unfunny comedy. Not necessarily comedies with unfunny jokes (which, don’t get me wrong, are also nigh unwatchable), but comedies without jokes whatsoever. The films I’m talking about are those that are considered comedies because they weren’t serious enough to be dramas or tense enough to be thrillers, but instead just some stuff happens to the characters that provides a minor conflict or misunderstanding before an uninspired resolution. Fortunately, I only saw a couple of these, but they were painful enough to leave scars - The Overnight and the deliberately ironically titled The Comedy. The less said about The Overnight, the better, but I’ll at least faintly praise The Comedy for being a deliberate joke on its audience by being so gleefully unfunny.

I’m finally on board for the Fast & Furious franchise

After a meh first instalment and a horrible sequel, this franchise was as good as dead to me. With Furious 7 dominating the box office and positive word of mouth for the series finally drowning out my doubts, I decided to hop back into the franchise with the third instalment, Tokyo Drift. This film wasn’t by any means great, but it was engaging and personal in the way that the first two weren’t. When the next film cut back to Vin Diesel and company, I was slightly disappointed, as the band of thieves dynamic didn’t really meet my needs. However, it was Fast 5, when the franchise got a Dwayne Johnson injection, that it became an over-the-top superhero team-up movie. This film was absolutely insane, culminating in a getaway chase with a giant vault tied behind the vehicles demolishing half of Rio. The next two films failed to live up to Fast 5, but still featured cartoonish lunacy in the form of a wedge car vaulting other vehicles into the air and Dwayne Johnson flexing out of a cast.

The films of the 70′s and early 80′s continue to impress me

We’ve all heard that the 1970′s were the true golden age of cinema. Godfather this, Annie Hall that. But there’s so much more of value than the masterpieces everyone lauds. Sorcerer, Possession, The Warriors, Marathon Man, and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three are all vastly different films, but all have incredible performances, perfect pacing, and are utterly captivating. Sorcerer, about a group of drivers carrying unstable dynamite through treacherous jungles, and Possession, featuring Sam Neill as a spy watching his wife’s character slowing change into something else, both stayed me long after they were over, due to their incredible suspense and shocking outcomes.

Lilo & Stitch might be my favourite Disney movie

The Disney Renaissance died after the release of Mulan, with Tarzan, The Emperor’s New Groove, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire failing to capture imaginations the same way Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast did. Combining this decline with my bumbling journey through adolescence, it’s only natural that I’d didn’t give them a chance. So it’s with great regret that I did not see Lilo & Stitch until 2016. This film has all the heart and morals of a typical Disney film, but it’s incredibly funny as well. This was one of the movies I laughed at the hardest last year, mostly due to the antics of Stitch, who seems part koala and part centipede. This will easily get a rewatch over any of the Renaissance films. I wonder if a live action remake is in the works. 

Return to Sleepaway Camp is as boring and tone deaf as Sleepaway Camp is fun and outrageous

Sleepaway Camp is a notorious cult classic, featuring campy performances and low tech slasher violence as well as one of the most genuinely shocking and disgusting reveals I’ve ever seen in a film. The image of it's final frame is forever burned into my brain. Naturally, the film garnered a few poorly conceived sequels with no one from the first film involved, which were easy enough to ignore. However, what I couldn’t help but be intrigued by was a “true” sequel from the original writer-director, featuring at least a handful of the original cast. If ever I regret watching a movie, it’s this one. Return to Sleepaway Camp reeked of desperation and ineptitude, from a director who had been far removed from filmmaking for the 25 years since his debut was released. It’s shrill, loud, derivative, boring, and featuring a twist so outrageously apparent for the whole film, it felt like a big “fuck you” to whomever watched and liked the first film. 

The Purge movies are getting increasingly closer to being worthy of their own premise.

The first film in the Purge series was a missed opportunity. Setting up a brilliant premise, where all crime is legal for one night a year, the filmmakers foolishly decided to confine the film to within a single house for an uninspired home invasion thriller. The Purge: Anarchy brought the action to the streets for some expanded world building and introduced Frank Grillo as the new face of the franchise. But it wasn’t until the third film that real characters and an interesting plot developed. The Purge: Election Year is topical, disturbing, and more visually interesting than the previous films; if the series continues in this upward direction, I’ll be completely on board for the annual purge.

As I said earlier, this experiment was taxing, making me feel the crunch of a deadline for an entire year. But despite those struggles, I’d qualify it as a success. For each bad and mediocre film I watched, I watched two that I liked. I found a bunch of classics that I’ll be sure to return to over and over, and a bunch of directors whose filmographies I can make my way through. 

[chcrrypcps]

(m) korean names; mix n match

90+ KOREAN SYLLABLES to mix n match together to form names!

– common hanja meanings attached !  

**not all name meanings are listed & not all names have to mean something– some people just like the sound of them!\

(female version here!)

아 (ah)

兒 son, child, oneself; final part

亞 second

我 our, us, my, we

牙 tooth, teeth; serrated

芽  bud, sprout

雅 elegant, graceful, refined

안 (ahn)

安 peaceful, tranquil, quiet

案 table, bench

眼 eye; hole

岸 bank, shore, beach coast

顔 face, facial appearance

배   (bae)

北 north, northern

配 match, pair; equal

杯 cup, glass

輩 generation, lifetime

korean for pear

백 (baek)

白 pure, white, unblemished

百 one hundred

범   (beom/bum)

犯 criminal; to commit a crime

凡 ordinary, common

비  (bi/bee)

秘 secret, mysterious

悲 sorrow, grief; sorry, sad

飛  fly, go quickly

卑  humble, low, inferior

肥 fat, plump; fertile

丕 grand, glorious, distinguished

빈  (bin)

彬 cultivated; well-bred

분 (boon/bun)

芬 perfume. fragrance. aroma

憤 resentment, hatred

보  (bo)

保 protect, defend, care for

寶 treasure, jewel, precious, rare

普 universal, widespread

補 mend, fix, repair, restore

甫 begin, man, father, great

輔 protect, assist

복 (bok)

福 happiness, good fortune, blessings

卜 fortune, prophecy

馥 fragrance, scent, aroma

변 (byun/byeon)

變 rebel; change, transform, alter

卞 excitable; impatient

차 (cha)

茶 tea

差 different, wrong

초 (cho)

草 grass straw herbs  

哨 whistle, chirp

焦 burned scorched; anxious vexes

천 (cheon/chun)

千 thousand

天 sky, heaven; celestial, god

川 stream, river

泉 spring, fountain; wealth money

淺 shallow, superficial

賤 cheap, worthless

철 (cheol/chul)

鐵 iron; strong, solid, firm

哲 wise, sagacious; wise-man, sage

대 (dae)

代 replacement

臺 tower, lookout

貸 to lend, borrow, pardon

다 (dah/da)

多 much, many

茶 tea

도 (do)

道 path, road

島 island

都 elegant refined

徒 disciple, follower

桃 peach; marriage

悼 grieve, lament, mourn

동 (dong)

棟 support beams of a house

東 east

冬 winter; 11th lunar month

洞 cave; grotto

童 virgin; child, boy

銅 brass, copper, bronze

凍 to freeze, congeal

언 (eon)

言 words, speech, speak

彦 elegant

은 (eun)

銀 silver, cash, money, wealth

恩 kindness, mercy, charity

隱 hidden, secret

殷 abundant, flourishing; many, great

誾 respectful

고 (goh/go)

古 old, classic, ancient

苦 bitter; hardship, suffering

固 strength; solid, strong

孤 orphan; solitary

故 ancient, old

枯 withered, decayed

국 (guk/gook/kuk/kook)

國 nation, country

菊 chrysanthemum

규 (gyu/kyu)

叫 cry, shout; hail, greet, call

하 (ha)

夏 summer

河 river, stream

荷 lotus, water lily

해 (hae)

海 sea, ocean

害 harm, destroy, kill

희 (hee/hui)

喜 joy, love

希 rare; hope, expectations

稀 rare, unusual

姬 beauty

熹 warm bright; glimmer

禧 happiness

화 (hwa)

火 fire flame; burn; anger, rage

花 flower, blossoms

和 harmony, peace; peaceful, calm

嬅 beautiful

禍 misfortune, calamity, disaster

혜 (hye)

慧 bright, intelligent

현 (hyun/hyeon)

賢 virtuous, worthy, good

炫 shine glitter; show off, flaunt

玄 deep, profound

호 (ho)

呼 sigh, breath, exhale

好 fine, excellent

戶 family, household

護 to protect, guard, defend, shelter

胡 reckless, foolish; wild

虎 tiger; brave, fierce

豪 brave, heroic, chivalrous

昊 sky, heaven; summertime

皓 bright, luminous; clear

祜 blessing, happiness, prosperity

환 (hwan)

煥 shining, brilliant, lustrous

患 suffer, worry

歡 joy, happiness, pleasure

換 substitute; change, exchange

幻 fantasy, illusion, mirage

일 (il/eel)

一 one; alone, singular

日 sun, day, daytime

인 (in)

麟 female chinese unicorn

人 people, mankind, man, population

仁 humane; benevolence, kindness

認 to recognize, know, understand

寅 respect, reverence

忍 endure, bear, suffer

재 (jae)

才 talent, ability

災 calamity, disaster, catastrophe

財 wealth, riches

宰 to slaughter; to rule

栽 to cultivate; to care for plants

장 (jang)

長 leader; to excel in

奬 prize, reward

腸 emotions; sausage, intestines

障 shield, barricade; separate

丈 gentleman, husband

墻 wall

樟 camphor tree

자 (jah/ja)

子 child, offspring; fruit, seed

資 property; wealth

慈 kind, charitable, benevolent

紫 purple, violet; amethyst

磁 porcelain

지 (ji/jee)

地 earth, ground, soil

紙 paper

志 determination, will

智 wisdom, knowledge, intelligence

池 pool, pond

진 (jin)

珍 precious, valuable; rare

眞 genuine, real, true

주 (ju/joo)

晝 daytime, daylight

朱 cinnabar, vermilion

酒 wine, spirits, liquor

宙 time as a concept

洲 island

珠 precious stone, gem, jewel, pearl

준 (joon)

駿 noble steed;

俊 handsome; talented, capable

遵 honor; obedience

峻 stern; high, steep, towering

濬 deep, profound

정 (jung/jeong)

正 right, proper, correct

情 emotion, feeling, sentiment

程 journey, trip

精 essence, spirit

征 invade, attack, conquer

靜 gentle, quiet, still

淨 pure, clean, unspoiled

貞 loyal; virtuous pure

晶 crystal; clear, bright, radiant

汀 beach, bank, shore

禎 good omen, lucky

종 (jong)

終 ending, finale

宗 lineage, ancestry; ancestor

鍾 glass, goblet, cup

鐘 clock; bell

縱 to indulge in

강 (kang)

疆 boundary, border, frontier

强 strong, powerful, energetic

康 peaceful, quiet; happy, healthy

剛 hard, tough, rigid, strong

鋼 steel; hard, strong, tough

姜 ginger

기 (ki/gi)

麒 legendary auspicious animal

汽 steam, vapor, gas

器 receptacle, vessel; instrument

奇 strange, unusual, uncanny

機 machine; moment, chance

起 to rise, stand up; to begin

棄 to reject, abandon, or discard

忌 jealousy, envy; fear

欺 to cheat, deceive, or double-cross

祈 to pray; entreat, beseech

飢 hunger, starvation, famine

冀 to hope for; wish

岐 majestic

璣 a pearl that's not quite perfect

琪 a type of jade

琦 gem, precious stone, jade

氣 spirit; air, steam, vapor

記to remember, record

基 strong foundation, or base

技 skill, ability, talent

경 (kyung/kyeong/gyung/gyeong)

敬 respect, honor

輕 light, gentle

警 guard, watch

鏡 mirror, glass

卿 noble

炅 brilliance

瓊 jade; rare, precious; elegant

민 (min)

閔 mourn, grieve

憫 pity, sympathy

敏 clever, smart

旻 heaven

玟 gem

문 (moon/mun)

門/ gate, entrance

文 literature, writing; culture

명 (myung/myeong)

命 life; destiny, fate, luck

明 light, bright, brilliant

冥 dark, gloomy; night

나 (nah/na)

奈 bear, endure

남 (nam)

南 south

오 (oh)

五 five

午 noon

惡 evil, wicked, bad, foul

傲 proud, haughty; overbearing

嗚 sound of crying, sobbing; sound of sadness

娛 pleasure, enjoyment, amusement

汚 filthy, dirty, impure

烏 crow, raven; black, dark

리 (ri/li/lee/ree)

李 plum

梨 pear

림 (rim)

林 forest, grove

사 (sa)

四 four

使 messenger

死 die; death; dead

士 scholar

思 think, consider, ponder

師 teacher, master

私 secret, private, personal

絲 silk, fine thread

:沙 sand, pebbles

蛇 snake

詐 trick, cheat, swindle, feign

邪 wrong, evil, vicious

唆 mischievous

상 (sang)

上 top, superior, highest

賞 reward, prize

傷 wound, injury

常 common, normal, frequent

象 ivory; elephant

喪 mourn

祥 happiness; good luck, good omen

裳 beautiful

霜 frost; crystallized

서 (seo)

西 west

庶 numerous various

徐 composed, dignified; quiet, calm

恕 forgiveness; mercy

誓 swear, pledge, promise, oath

석 (seok)

夕 evening, night, dusk

石 stone, rock, mineral

惜 pity, regret, rue

昔 ancient

奭 red; anger

碩 great, eminent; large

선 (seon/sun)

瑄 ornamental jade

仙 transcendent, immortal

善 good, virtuous, charitable, kind

鮮 fresh, new; rare

璿 fine jade

璇 star; beautiful jade

성 (seong)

晟 clear bright; splendor

城 castle; city, town

誠 sincere, honest; true, real

聲 sound, voice, music

聖 holy, sacred

盛 abundant, flourishing

星 a star, planet

승 (seung)

勝 victory

承 succeed

乘 rise, ascend

昇 peace; rise, ascent

신 (shin)

辰 early morning

信 trust, believe

新 new, fresh, modern

神 spirit; god, supernatural being

晨 early morning, daybreak

辛 bitter

시 (si/shi)

矢 vow, swear, promise

時 time season; age, period, era

施 grant, bestow, give

詩 poetry

屍 corpse

소 (so)

消 vanish, die out, melt away

笑 smile, laugh

素 white silk

昭 bright, luminous

蘇 revive, resurrect

슥 (sook/suk)

宿 constellation

淑 good, pure, virtuous, charming

수 (su/soo)

樹 plant, tree

守 defend, protect, guard

收 gather collect; harvest

秀 refined, elegant, graceful

壽 old age, long life

殊 different, special, unusual

태 (tae)

颱 typhoon

太 very, too much; big; extreme

態 manner, attitude

殆 dangerous, perilous

怠 idle, negligent

泰 great, exalted, superior

兌 cash, money; to exchange, barter

胎 fetus, embryo, unborn child

특 (teuk)

特 special, unique, distinguished

와 (wah/wa)

瓦 pottery

왕 (wang)

王 king, ruler, royalty

旺 prosperous; prosperity

위 (wee/wi)

位 throne, rank, status

偉 great, robust, extraordinary

危 dangerous

威 power; powerful; dominate

慰 calm, comfort, console

衛 guard, protect, defend

違 disobey, defy, rebel; be different than

尉 officer, military rank

원 (won)

源 spring

園 garden, park, orchard

原 beginning, source, origin

願 to wish, ambition, desire, want

怨 hatred, enemy, resentment

苑 park, garden

瑗 a ring of fine jade

媛 beauty; a beautiful woman

우 (woo/wu)

友 friend, companion

牛 cow, ox, bull

雨 rain; rainy

優 superior; excellent

宇 house, building, structure

愚 stupid, foolish

憂 sad, grievance; grief, melancholy

羽 feather, plume; wings

佑 to help, bless, protect

祐 protection; divine intervention

욱 (wook/ook)

頊 grief, anxiety

旭 brilliance, radiant

昱 dazzling, bright light, sunlight

煜 bright, shining, brilliant

郁 sweet smelling; rich in aroma

운 (woon/wun)

運 luck, fortune

雲 clouds

云 clouds

芸 art, talent ability; rue (herb)

야 (yah/ya)

夜 night, dark

野 open country, wilderness, field

惹 irritate, offend

열 (yeol/yul)

烈 fiery, violent, ardent

劣 bad, inferior

연 (yeon)

然 promise, pledge

燃 burn; ignite

緣 karma, fate

戀 love, long for, yearn for

燕 swallow (bird) ; comfort, enjoy

蓮 lotus, water lily; paradise

漣 flowing water; ripples

영 (yeong/young)

永 perpetual, eternal, forever

英 petal, flower, leaf; brave, hero; england, english

令 commandant, magistrate

領 neck, collar; leader, guide

映 to reflect light

榮 glory, honor; to flourish or prosper

寧 serenity, peace; peaceful

嶺 mountain ridge, mountain peak

影 shadow, reflection; photograph

泳 to dive, swim

詠 sing, hum, chant

零 zero; fragment, fraction, sliver

靈 spirit, soul

瑛 crystal, gem

盈 full, overflowing

이 (yi/ie)

二 two; twice

利 gains, profit

李 plum

易 change

異 different, unusual, strange

梨 pear; opera

泥 earth, mud, clay

怡 harmony, joy, pleasure; to be glad

용 (yong)

龍 dragon; symbolic of emperors

勇 brave courageous fierce

容 looks appearance; figure, form

庸 common, ordinary, mediocre

傭 servant; to hire, employ, charter

溶 overflowing with; to melt, dissolve

熔 to melt, fuse, mold

瑢 gem ornaments, usually used for belts

유 (yoo/yu)

柳 willow tree; pleasure

遊 wander, roam, travel

柔 soft, gentle

維 maintain, preserve

裕 rich, abundant, plentiful

劉 to kill, destroy

육 (yook/yuk)

六 six

율 (yool/yul)

栗 chestnuts, chestnut tree

윤 (yoon/yun)

潤 soft, moist; sleek, fresh

尹 govern, oversee, direct

胤 heir, successor

#rph #muse help #name help #korean names #writing reference #character help #korean #mine #here's the male version !