Truly life being stranger than fiction, in that he was recently in the news after being acquitted in the US.

He had this to say on the American legal system at the time: “the reason I’m sitting here, let’s be honest, is not only because I was innocent… but because I had enough money not to be swept away by a process that’s set up to sweep you away”.

Most of my Chinese time has been taken up recently playing a game called Murders on the Yangtze Rivers (山河旅探). It is basically an ace attorney detective style game but with the setting being in historic China. I’ve really enjoyed it and it has voice acting which is always a plus.

I’d say to play fully in Chinese it’s something HSK5+ would enjoy, but someone could also play in English with the audio in Mandarin and get some benefit from it.

English trailer

These were the best graded readers I ever came across. I liked that they were a continuous series that gradually expanded the vocabulary as you went along.

Have finally put attempt no. 3 out there.

I can make another post this coming weekend, see if it fares a little better!

Sad it had to happen, but thanks very much to all involved for working on a replacement. Looking forward to signing up as this UK instance has been the best part of the ‘fediverse’ for me.

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They’re not uncommon in the UK either!

An extremely uplifting song about regicide.

This is pure nostalgia.

I do think the geopolitical angle they are going with is a bit overplayed. It looks like Mandarin is only a bit below the trend for foreign languages in general. Personally, I think part of that is just people realising over time that studying Mandarin won’t necessarily lead to business or career success.

It does explain why all the niche communities I visit have gone from quiet to abandoned.

Due to being a Chinese learner, I have been playing a lot of Chinese developed games over the last few years. Gujian 3, in particular, makes me less sceptical about Black Myth than others are as Gujian 3 was so close to being a genuinely solid game. I just really hope they don’t skimp on the translation.

Maybe an odd choice - but the original xbox. It had Halo, Morrowind and KOTOR. Some of my favourite games of all time. Yes they were available on PC, but I was a kid so didn’t have a PC capable of playing these games.

Nothing better than using the language - is tandem mostly text or audio?

As for me I have been watching:

Blades of the Guardians (镖人）- this is a new animated series, which I have been very impressed by. Probably the best animated series I have seen so far coming out of China, accessible to intermediate plus learners and available for free on YT:

https://youtu.be/1daaRdE3BBM

Wave Makers (人选之人—造浪者) - a Taiwanese series on Netflix that has been getting a lot of attention, about campaign staff. It hasn’t really captured me yet, but I’ll probably finish it as its only 8 episodes.

https://youtu.be/Q8ryUSYemhk

One of my favourite new power metal bands of the last few years. Gives me the same feeling as listening to Power Quest / Rhapsody (etc.) growing up, whilst somehow also sounding fresh.

I’m not sure why I am so invested in this story, but I’d love to see some consequences for this cultural vandalism.

Someone the other day referred to posting in niche communities as shouting into the void currently, which I thought was apt.

I am similarly child-free this weekend, for maybe only the second time since my son was born. I’ve dusted off the PS5 and am playing the new Final Fantasy, which I’m really impressed by.