#Cooking crush

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

Random loving acts of service (Part 3/?)

A Breeze Of Love

Hidden Agenda

Unknown

Egoist

Tokyo in April is...

Love Class 2

Our Skyy 2

Cooking Crush

My Personal Weatherman

To My Star

Favorite acts-of-service as part of my favorite bl-tropes-collection in no particular order.

[namtanlovesfilm]

"Do you want to continue?"

[gunsatthaphan]

"I don't think this spot is safe."

[isla24]

BL releasing schedules are so irregular, like... what do you mean I am bored to death for three days and then bombarded with shows about things like male escorts, omegaverse, 8 gays in a cabin (that are stupid), I take 7 episodes to realise someone likes me WHILE THEY HAVE BEEN TELLING YOU FOR 5, I can read minds because I'm a virgin, scam cooking course but I secretly like you, gay supernatural cops, and the absolute masterpiece that is Last Twilight???

[stuffnonsenseandotherthings]

[nanihirunkits]

I don’t want to hide this from my mom anymore. You want to tell her? Um. But I’m afraid she might not be able to accept it.

COOKING CRUSH | EP9

[namtan]

NOT ME (2021–2022) COOKING CRUSH (2023–2024)

[maybe-boys-do-love]

I will never be over the kind of queer representation we get in BL, especially Thai BL, because not only do you get, even in a single show, a vast spectrum of mlm characters from bi-awakening jocks and stoners to soft boys and nerds to full-on femme-boys and kathoey folx...

YOU ALSO GET to see how each single character is allowed to act in a broad range of queer performance styles instead of being relegated to stock character traits like a camping queen or the sad repressed cowboy. So you have Tinn in My School President acting serious when he's doing his presidential duties but assertively flirtatious when he's trying to win over Gun and then being hilariously giddy or pouty when he's on the phone in his bedroom. Or you have Pat in Bad Buddy bro-ing out, acting cutesy with his partner, or in deep introspection on the verge of tears. And those are just two especially outstanding examples in a genre full of so many others!

All this means you also get a broader range of actor types that includes actors who present much more clearly as gay (whether they identify openly as such or it's just how they happen to appear), which is such an amazing thing to see for my little gay theater-kid heart. Like Oe-aew in I Promise You the Moon, I was told and repeated the fact to myself that there was very little space in the performance industry for actors whose queerness was too obvious, and that space was made only for the most flamboyant among us (and even then it was only the rare instance that they were more than a comedic side character). But seeing an actor like Gun--who, without naming his sexuality, visually presents like a femme twink and is clearly comfortable with exploring feminine and queer expression in his personal life--have a field where he gets to play such a vast range of rolls and not have it questioned is remarkable. And there are actors who have more subtle tells to a sensitive eye that then now have a place at the table where there used to be no chair at all. And creating an environment for those actors who present as queer means that those traits and gestures can be invested into the characters' queerness in a way that has previously been specifically avoided in a well-meant but homophobic attempt to disrupt gay stereotypes. (And I'd even reach to say it gives straight actors better opportunities to develop gay qualities in their characters.)

I'm so grateful to see a world where the variety of queerness for men can exist because it seemed so impossible not that long ago. I can recognize failures and flaws in this industry but there is no media to my knowledge that comes anywhere close to the kind of gay representation happening in the Asian BL world (especially if you include the reality shows in there!). And while that world is technically a fantasy world, it's built in a real professional industry by real people including a lot of queer-folks, and those fantasies they're crafting within that business are propositions for audiences to bring to fruition in their daily lives.

[forcebook]

This gifset is for me and the five people in the tags of my previous Cooking Crush post who really enjoyed the Prem slipping and catching himself scene.

[heretherebedork]

They really are just the cutest and all those hugs and kisses made everything so good. Truly 10/10 sweetness.

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

The last few days have not been good for many of us and the future looks darker than ever before in our recent history. So I'd like to give you all a big virtual hug (and maybe get one or two back) in the medium that's my best escape from this cold, shitty world out there.

Love For Love's Sake

The Tasty Florida

Cherry Magic Thailand

Pit Babe

Till The World Ends

Something In My Room

Cooking Crush

Kidnap The Series

Plus and Minus

I Promised You The Moon

If you need more hugs, you can find them here.

[namtanlovesfilm]

cooking crush (2023) | the trainee (2024)

[gunsatthaphan]

times change but people offgun don't 🥲

[alienwlw]

a guide to dealing with your touch averse crush by chef prem

[khaopybara]

GMM's Bisexuals of 2023

(of shows that I've watched/am watching at least)

+ Honorable Mention

[bengiyo]

hello, i am a huge fan of your writing on asian queer media from queer perspective. i'm a lesbian who often enjoys BL but feel like it's hard to find one that i truly connect with, maybe because i'm looking for something different than the core audience - reading your post about The Knowing i realized that's exactly what it was. i feel like my whole life has been defined by this knowledge of being different, wrong, unable to truly connect. and seeing it unfold on the screen is some special kind of catharsis. since your last addition to the post, do you have some recommendations of new releases where The Knowing can be seen in the characters?

Looks like I haven't updated the list of boys who experienced The Knowing since The Warp Effect.

Last I remember, @/respectthepetty called out Zo in Hidden Agenda as one who experienced The Knowing, and I do have to agree. He was outed and made to suffer for it.

My boy Dynamite clearly experienced it, and Fire did, too. Still a fan of Cooking Crush.

I think Nomoto Yuki experiences a really compelling version of The Knowing complicated by the expectations of being a woman. Everyone should watch She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat.

Xiao Yuan is a compelling example because of the complicated family dynamics. Despite specific qualms, I did really enjoy Unknown.

Tanaka Kazuhito from Living With Him (aka Kare no Iru Seikatsu) is probably my favorite Japanese BL example of the year, because he's conscious about it and resolved about how he will manage it.

My actual favorites of the year come from Don't Care For An Old Man's Underwear! (aka Ossan no Pants ga Nandatte Ii Janai ka!)It's almost unfair to the BL shows on this list, because this show is a different kind of drama. However, I will love Daichi for the rest of my life. I hope he and Madoka work through their issues and learn to communicate better.

My favorite Thai example of the year comes from Knock Knock, Boys! Peak's entire character arc is based on The Knowing.

The best Korean example this year comes from reigning champion Hwang Da Seul's Let Free The Curse of Taekwondo. Both of these boys are a mess because of it.

Mainland China is back in action and delivering with Blue Canvas of Youthful Days. Qi Lu definitely knows, and this one is not doing bromance.

But honestly, if you really need The Knowing, you should watch Love in the Big City. It's the most intensely personal and semi-autobiographical project of the year.

Thanks for the ask! Let me know if you watch(ed) any of these, and share your thoughts.