The Long Ballad (2021) [/] Chinese historical romantic drama running 49 45-minute episodes. Princess Li Changge (Dilraba Dilmurat, supporting role in Eternal Love, 2017) goes into hiding after her family is murdered by the new Emperor who is her uncle. While plotting revenge she meets the merchant Ashile Sun (Leo Wu, currently watching him as the male lead in Amidst a Snowstorm of Love, 2024) who is actually son of the Khan whose trying to conquer the Tang.

They become friends, then enemies, and friends again and their attraction for each other grow. Li Changge ends up helping her uncle by stabilizing the Tang border with the barbarian tribes and battling Sui dynasty remnants who want to reclaim China. And through those adventures she comes to see that a stable government that supports the people is more important than revenge for her uncle's treachery.

Zhao Lusi (The Story of Pearl Girl, 2024; Hidden Love, 2023; Who Rules the World, 2021) plays a supporting character, Li Changge's childhood friend Li Leyan but also daughter of Li Changge's uncle. Li Leyan has her own adventures, getting kidnapped, freeing herself then having to live on her own until she finds someone who'll believe she's actually a Princess. She also her own romance subplot with swordsman Hao Du (Liu Yuning) who is both there to protect Li Leyan and find and kill Li Changge...

The series had some good parts but in general kind of watchable not quite engrossing. A lot of stuff happens and sometimes they never go back to revisit threads left not quite completed. I do like that, since they didn't have a huge budget, they do big battles and big set pieces as animation (more like action drawings than fully animated). It gives the series a certain style. I did watch this for Zhao Lusi so it's nice her character had a fairly substantive subplot though probably there to spell the main characters for a few episodes, as is often done in Chinese series.

I guess overall not really worth watching when there's better stuff out there, but wouldn't be a terrible mistake to watch either.

2026-09-14: Some more thoughts. I like that in the first episode Li Changge poses as a man in a martial arts team sporting event and both shows she can keep up with the boys and that she devises a winning strategy. Later when she flees she poses as a man for about half the series (with some humorous situations). She shows she can fight fairly well, beating mooks and lesser NPCs. But her forte is strategy, both military and political, and she gets to show that off several times. That was really appealing to me at the beginning but the series went from focusing on Li Changge to also giving other characters subplots so it got less interesting.

Smash Hit+ (2024) [/] Apple Arcade version of a simple mobile game. First person perspective. You glide constantly forward. Throw balls and break glass things that are in your way and cones that give you more balls. Then you encounter moving obstacles and obstacles that jump up at you. And at the end of a level the door is opened by hitting the open button(s). For everything you use balls until you run out and the game ends and if you hit something you lose balls. Neat concept and in general things come in patterns so you develop a rhythm. Has a nice soundtrack and lots of smashing glass sound effects.

EcoSMART Ant & Roach Killer [+] I don't know where I got this bug killer, possibly Whole Foods years ago. Kills ants instantly. Kills gnats instantly even though they have a separate Flying Insect Killer product. It uses various plant oil extracts that are lethal to bugs but harmless to animals and people so very safe to use (does have a bit of a plant-y smell if you use a lot). Loses effectiveness after it evaporates so not as long lasting as commercial pesticide insect killers.

On their web site it's cheaper than in stores but shipping is substantial so you end up paying a bit more but not too much for 2 sprayers.