Joel Martinsen
@jdmartinsen.bsky.social
Joel is a Beijing-based translator. zhwj on Douban and Tumblr · @jdmartinsen@mastodon.social · he/him · joelmartinsen.com
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
If anyone is interested in the sequel to COHERENCE, we finally landed on a story worthy of the mission. Unless the actors revolt, we will probably do it just like the first one, where they know their own character details, but don't know what the other actors are going to say or do. Like real life.
November 3, 2025 at 6:19 AM
If anyone is interested in the sequel to COHERENCE, we finally landed on a story worthy of the mission. Unless the actors revolt, we will probably do it just like the first one, where they know their own character details, but don't know what the other actors are going to say or do. Like real life.
Go read this lovely translation of a fantastic story now! Pseudo-Science Fiction Stories is such an imaginative collection. It’s a real shame Cui’s work is out of print on the mainland (and that the early 2000s editions used lousy glue are crumbling to pieces).
What happens when queer desire, religion, and science fiction collide in space? In Jesus on Mars, Cui Zi’en offers a haunting, dreamlike story that moves between faith and fantasy. One of China’s most daring queer voices brought to new readers in Yahia Ma's translation.
Jesus on Mars | Made in China Journal
(Translated and introduced by Yahia MA) I first experienced Cui Zi’en’s work in mainland China in the early 2000s, when I was an undergraduate at a university in the country’s northwest and was becomi...
madeinchinajournal.com
September 24, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Go read this lovely translation of a fantastic story now! Pseudo-Science Fiction Stories is such an imaginative collection. It’s a real shame Cui’s work is out of print on the mainland (and that the early 2000s editions used lousy glue are crumbling to pieces).
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
big news!
could not be more excited to be translating《小花旦》by Wang Zhanhei 王占黑.
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
could not be more excited to be translating《小花旦》by Wang Zhanhei 王占黑.
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
August 27, 2025 at 10:40 AM
big news!
could not be more excited to be translating《小花旦》by Wang Zhanhei 王占黑.
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
could not be more excited to be translating《小花旦》by Wang Zhanhei 王占黑.
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
Old Arthur’s really having a moment. Just this week he shows up as quotesperation alongside Epictetus and Aristotle in a new Gin Lee video, 隨時隨地 www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2NC...
August 6, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Old Arthur’s really having a moment. Just this week he shows up as quotesperation alongside Epictetus and Aristotle in a new Gin Lee video, 隨時隨地 www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2NC...
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
Hello. For @reactorsff.bsky.social I wrote about the domestic side of the Fantastic Four and their comic and television roots.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Revels in Its Vintage Comic and Sitcom Influences - Reactor
The Fantastic Four: First Steps begins a few floors above a warmly lit dining room. An impatient Johnny Storm waits for his sister and brother-in-law, noisily eating dry breakfast cereal out of the bo...
reactormag.com
August 4, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Hello. For @reactorsff.bsky.social I wrote about the domestic side of the Fantastic Four and their comic and television roots.
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
He was walking up and down the line encouraging people to ask him about the rules
A woman yelled, "Can you sing us the rules?"
He immediately sang, "Don't bring your firearms on the plane/There are signs everywhere that you ignooore"
A woman yelled, "Can you sing us the rules?"
He immediately sang, "Don't bring your firearms on the plane/There are signs everywhere that you ignooore"
August 2, 2025 at 9:00 PM
He was walking up and down the line encouraging people to ask him about the rules
A woman yelled, "Can you sing us the rules?"
He immediately sang, "Don't bring your firearms on the plane/There are signs everywhere that you ignooore"
A woman yelled, "Can you sing us the rules?"
He immediately sang, "Don't bring your firearms on the plane/There are signs everywhere that you ignooore"
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
Studies have found the most logical and fastest keyboard layout is not between key orders like qwerty and dvorak, but one that prioritises the size of keys depending on the frequency of those letters in the language being typed, regardless of the ordering.
August 2, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Studies have found the most logical and fastest keyboard layout is not between key orders like qwerty and dvorak, but one that prioritises the size of keys depending on the frequency of those letters in the language being typed, regardless of the ordering.
Today’s background music: 野孩子 Wild Children’s new album 燃烧的石头 Flaming Rock, adapted from their soundtrack to the animated film 燃比娃 A Story about Fire. Wordless folk rock, a little bit bluesy, a little bit cinematic, with cool instrumentation and quirky rhythms. www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
燃烧的石头 - YouTube
www.youtube.com
July 21, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Today’s background music: 野孩子 Wild Children’s new album 燃烧的石头 Flaming Rock, adapted from their soundtrack to the animated film 燃比娃 A Story about Fire. Wordless folk rock, a little bit bluesy, a little bit cinematic, with cool instrumentation and quirky rhythms. www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
I remember being impressed by the visuals but have absolutely no memory of the plot—what stands out in my mind is the Falungong advertisement inserted mid-way through the .rm file I downloaded via P2P. I ought to give it a proper rewatch.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW - a film done dirty. Made for $17M in B&W, the studio paid another $17M to colorize it. An overzealous producer inflated the budget numbers in an interview to $70M to look like a big shot. The result was the movie looked like a bomb rather than a modest success.
July 17, 2025 at 1:30 PM
I remember being impressed by the visuals but have absolutely no memory of the plot—what stands out in my mind is the Falungong advertisement inserted mid-way through the .rm file I downloaded via P2P. I ought to give it a proper rewatch.
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
ok i’ve dealt w all my obligations for the week/day i take a break: i want talk about this web novel—it won an award with the official Chinese Writers Association. that’s a big deal for a web novel published on Jinjiang, a platform meant for women readers only. sci-fi/horror/dystopian/lovecraftian
June 21, 2025 at 3:48 AM
ok i’ve dealt w all my obligations for the week/day i take a break: i want talk about this web novel—it won an award with the official Chinese Writers Association. that’s a big deal for a web novel published on Jinjiang, a platform meant for women readers only. sci-fi/horror/dystopian/lovecraftian
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
Fantastic four but it’s parks and recreation references sorry
June 18, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Fantastic four but it’s parks and recreation references sorry
In an early 1950s Mandarin shortwave broadcast of Kowloon produce prices, would 圆头菜 refer to turnips or cabbage? (The broadcast is essentially a numbers station so the actual meaning has no bearing on the plot—I’m just interested in historical accuracy.)
June 17, 2025 at 9:05 AM
In an early 1950s Mandarin shortwave broadcast of Kowloon produce prices, would 圆头菜 refer to turnips or cabbage? (The broadcast is essentially a numbers station so the actual meaning has no bearing on the plot—I’m just interested in historical accuracy.)
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
Lol no, this is a wild mistranslation...
Now imagining some shocked Victorian students picking up 肉蒲團 after reading about it in this 1876 guide to Chinese books in the Bodleian and suddenly having a lot of new thoughts about China and Chinese literature... (but not about meat or spinach)
Now imagining some shocked Victorian students picking up 肉蒲團 after reading about it in this 1876 guide to Chinese books in the Bodleian and suddenly having a lot of new thoughts about China and Chinese literature... (but not about meat or spinach)
June 5, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Lol no, this is a wild mistranslation...
Now imagining some shocked Victorian students picking up 肉蒲團 after reading about it in this 1876 guide to Chinese books in the Bodleian and suddenly having a lot of new thoughts about China and Chinese literature... (but not about meat or spinach)
Now imagining some shocked Victorian students picking up 肉蒲團 after reading about it in this 1876 guide to Chinese books in the Bodleian and suddenly having a lot of new thoughts about China and Chinese literature... (but not about meat or spinach)
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
I wrote a radical (full) guide to Wagner’s ring cycle for @vanmusicmag.bsky.social van-magazine.com/mag/wagner-r...
The Götterdämmerung of It All!
Kate Wagner's radical reinterpretation of Richard Wagner's "Ring" cycle from the political left.
van-magazine.com
May 28, 2025 at 5:06 PM
I wrote a radical (full) guide to Wagner’s ring cycle for @vanmusicmag.bsky.social van-magazine.com/mag/wagner-r...
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
A stimulating Chinese review of my film
stephenjones.blog/2025/05/29/g...
stephenjones.blog/2025/05/29/g...
May 29, 2025 at 9:16 AM
A stimulating Chinese review of my film
stephenjones.blog/2025/05/29/g...
stephenjones.blog/2025/05/29/g...
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
maybe I am digging too deeply into this but "recommending the name of a company even though it makes no grammatical sense" feels like a bad sign
May 12, 2025 at 12:15 AM
maybe I am digging too deeply into this but "recommending the name of a company even though it makes no grammatical sense" feels like a bad sign
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
The lone long-lost MingKwai typewriter, invented by Lin Yutang in 1947, has resurfaced in a NY basement. How did it get there? Where might it go next? The journey of the groundbreaking invention embodies the search for modernity and Chinese identity. My latest:
madeinchinajournal.com/2025/05/02/l...
madeinchinajournal.com/2025/05/02/l...
Lost and Found: The Unexpected Journey of the MingKwai Typewriter | Made in China Journal
It began as an innocuous inquiry on Facebook. Nelson Felix, a resident of New York State, posted in the group ‘What’s My Typewriter Worth?’ about a curious find he made while clearing out the basement...
madeinchinajournal.com
May 2, 2025 at 1:35 PM
The lone long-lost MingKwai typewriter, invented by Lin Yutang in 1947, has resurfaced in a NY basement. How did it get there? Where might it go next? The journey of the groundbreaking invention embodies the search for modernity and Chinese identity. My latest:
madeinchinajournal.com/2025/05/02/l...
madeinchinajournal.com/2025/05/02/l...
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
The Chinese characters that Chao devised for his translation of Jabberwocky are currently in the process of being added to Unicode (here's the submission entry for ⿱卧尨)
UK-30045 | WS2024v2.0
hc.jsecs.org
April 29, 2025 at 11:09 AM
The Chinese characters that Chao devised for his translation of Jabberwocky are currently in the process of being added to Unicode (here's the submission entry for ⿱卧尨)
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
I did a long twitter thread on Chao's Jabberwocky translation and his invented Chinese characters, including an image of his annotated proof of the lost 1932 edition of 《走到鏡子裏》("Through the Looking-Glass") prepared by the Commercial Press in Shanghai but blown up by the Japanese.
April 29, 2025 at 11:06 AM
I did a long twitter thread on Chao's Jabberwocky translation and his invented Chinese characters, including an image of his annotated proof of the lost 1932 edition of 《走到鏡子裏》("Through the Looking-Glass") prepared by the Commercial Press in Shanghai but blown up by the Japanese.
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
I would like to think that @loresjoberg.bsky.social predicted the Pope's last words to JD Vance.
Kitchen Floor
YouTube video by Lore Sjöberg
youtu.be
April 21, 2025 at 11:16 PM
I would like to think that @loresjoberg.bsky.social predicted the Pope's last words to JD Vance.
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
I've been intrigued by the criticism of 'podcast' as an elite/elitist cultural phenomenon that has become palpable on social media lately. a viral post on Douban sparked much debate. complaints are typically from young people in lesser known cities and towns,
April 11, 2025 at 8:55 AM
I've been intrigued by the criticism of 'podcast' as an elite/elitist cultural phenomenon that has become palpable on social media lately. a viral post on Douban sparked much debate. complaints are typically from young people in lesser known cities and towns,
Some great titles here I’ve already read, and lots more I’m eager to dive into.
Just three days left! storybundle.com/scifi 10 books, $20, a collection of international speculative fiction, supporting independent publishers, no Amaz*n, and some great stuff!
Re-posts much appreciated - as if everyone who's purchased so far!
Re-posts much appreciated - as if everyone who's purchased so far!
April 7, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Some great titles here I’ve already read, and lots more I’m eager to dive into.
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
Just three days left! storybundle.com/scifi 10 books, $20, a collection of international speculative fiction, supporting independent publishers, no Amaz*n, and some great stuff!
Re-posts much appreciated - as if everyone who's purchased so far!
Re-posts much appreciated - as if everyone who's purchased so far!
April 7, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Just three days left! storybundle.com/scifi 10 books, $20, a collection of international speculative fiction, supporting independent publishers, no Amaz*n, and some great stuff!
Re-posts much appreciated - as if everyone who's purchased so far!
Re-posts much appreciated - as if everyone who's purchased so far!
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
I liked halfbakery dot com, it was the website for half-baked ideas back when half-baked just meant silly rather than unhinged fascist plans to create a global recession and sacrifice billions to the machine god, back when it meant like "a dorsal arm"
i miss the early internet. people were like “you gotta see this dude. this cat sure is long.” and they were right. it was really long. it never shoulda gotten any more complicated than that.
April 4, 2025 at 10:57 PM
I liked halfbakery dot com, it was the website for half-baked ideas back when half-baked just meant silly rather than unhinged fascist plans to create a global recession and sacrifice billions to the machine god, back when it meant like "a dorsal arm"
Reposted by Joel Martinsen
It's wild that this is turning up right at the point when I'm polishing up the draft of the Arthur book that ends on *exactly this material*, which isn't just from the Vulgate Merlin, but from specifically from the very end sequence that sets it in a very curious relationship with the Livre d'Artus.
March 30, 2025 at 11:28 AM
It's wild that this is turning up right at the point when I'm polishing up the draft of the Arthur book that ends on *exactly this material*, which isn't just from the Vulgate Merlin, but from specifically from the very end sequence that sets it in a very curious relationship with the Livre d'Artus.