#I've only watched the 1975 version

[silverview]

alright i’m shifting back into tlw mode. i'm finally writing a fic from chas's POV and it's sticking a little bit. i know i can never actually do justice to him but the attempt is being made and i have a lot of thoughts, i'm just going to throw them all down in one place

chas might be my all-time favourite in9 character. reece has described the performance as being basically the same as he gives in sardines, which is a fair comparison honestly – the difference isn’t really in the performance or the character as much as in the circumstances. as in, stuart doesn’t do much relatively speaking and he never really has to shift gears onscreen. whereas chas is what you’d get if that character went through literally the full spectrum of human emotion onscreen in the space of half an hour, including an extended closeup on him experiencing the most extreme betrayal and mortal terror it’s possible to imagine, while covered in gunk and immobilised from the neck down. it's an extreme exercise in humanising/complicating a stock character, and it's an extraordinary performance. chas’s vulnerability and humour and courage carry the entire episode. and his little dancey dance. i love him for his defence mechanisms and the pain and heart that's underneath when he lets them drop. i love him for losing his dream, and coping with it terribly, and being forced to rebuild his life and his sense of self. i love him for being a bad person and a good person

and YES i love him for being camp!!!! i watched the original boys in the band recently and recognised so much of chas in some of those characters, especially emory, both as written + performed. crucially the humanising/complicating of a comedy stock character for pathos. tlw is only two seasons out from how do you plead and i think that contributed to some negative reactions about reece's camp performances being too exaggerated and/or too frequent. i don't think many people really noticed that urban explicitly, intentionally speaks & acts that way as part of his job. he is a man who is explicitly playing a character for most of his screentime. why exactly he does it in that particular way is not clear to me. i am desperate to understand that episode & character better, partly because i feel like unlocking it would also provide a key to better understanding their overall handling of gay characters & themes

i've talked before about chas and simon being linked by the experience of death by parasocial rejection. lately i've been thinking about how this strand of rejection (in a less fatal but still tragic form) also runs through reece's characters in merrily merrily and plodding on. "i never responded in kind" = *suffocates you with a pillow* = "move on" = "i don't even know if we are friends anymore." why is he always the one who loves too much, discovering that his feelings are not reciprocated? and why is this tendency punished so much more violently in episodes where it's figured as explicitly gay, hmm? if you read the end of plodding on as resolving the rift in that episode, then it's also resolving this long-running meta arc; if you read it as unresolved then it is also leaving the meta arc unresolved

anyway here's my tlw timeline. i have joe & chas being born in 1965 + 1975 respectively. that puts chas in his early 20s in the late 90s when atlantic 5 was active, 30 when olivia attempted suicide, 39 when he met joe, and 48 when he died. if you listen to the audio described version it literally does differentiate them as being "the younger one" / "the older one," even though that's not explicit in the episode. they do need a bit of an age gap to make the backstory work. idk, i know they have a small age gap irl – it's just funny to me that they managed to turn that into a more noticeable/significant age gap through sheer looks and vibes

and here is my tlw playlist and here is my dedicated chas playlist, which has some overlap and is still evolving and is a mix of songs about him + pure vibes. i get really emo thinking about him listening to eternal flame as a sad teenager and dreaming of finding love someday :/

[unfortunatetheorist]

*Joint Theory 6 - @unfortunatetheorist & @snicketstrange*:

-The Truthful Time Period-

When EXACTLY do the events of ASOUE (Netflix & Book) occur?

Firstly:

*Happy New Year, wherever you are celebrating from!*

(This post debuts on my, @unfortunatetheorist's, blog; 00:00 GMT)

The subject of time has been one of great debate throughout the ASOUE fandom, especially with references such as the Baudelaires' favourite film being the 1938 version of Dawn Patrol and Olaf saying he bought the hourglass from TBB online.

In this theory, @snicketstrange and I have come up with what we believe to be a definitive answer, for each case - Netflix Canon and Book Canon.

A firm starting point is this line from TBB:

"In the years since, I've inquired what became of the Brothers Poe. One followed his father into the world of banking. The other lives in a cave and talks to sheep. They each think the other has it better."

This means that the time between the main events of ASOUE and the release of the first season of the series on Netflix in the ASOUE universe is enough for Mr. Poe's children to grow up and one of them to become a banker. We can assume that it would be reasonable to think about at least 10 years. This should be approximately the age difference between Lemony who appears in TSS and Lemony who narrates.

Also, Violet's line from TRR:

"Um, Dawn Patrol, the 1938 version."

This implies 2 things: there was a later remake of Dawn Patrol (hence, "version") and the Baudelaire parents must have been at the suitable age rating to watch the movie when it came out, as:

Monty: "It was your parents' favourite too."

Let's estimate to see how accurate we can be. In 1938 the film was released. Bertrand probably saw this film when he was a teenager, but perhaps not at the premiere. But maybe. (Favourite films when we are adults often arise when we watch these films in [pre-]adolescence).

So, Bertrand in 1938 could have been 12 years old. Let's put this scenario as the oldest. If he was 12 years old in 1938, he must having got married and fathered Violet at around 28 (estimate based on all of Beatrice's history with Lemony prior to her marriage to Bertrand, and Bertrand's appearance in TE). In this case Violet would have been born in 1954, and the series' main events would have been 14 years later in 1968. Lemony would be narrating the story in about 1978.

Now, thinking about the upper limit, we would have the case where the premiere of the Netflix series in our universe happened in the same year as in Lemony's universe. In this case, 2017 would be the year of Lemony's narration, and then 2007 would be the year of ASOUE's main events. So, to date, our estimate is between 1968 and 2007 (book + Netflix).

The main problem is that ASOUE in the books is quite anachronistic. Despite the aesthetics Netflix exists within the universe. But, in contrast, we can argue that Netflix at the time was a video home delivery service, as was the original Netflix. (We don't see people with internet at home in ASOUE, and a computer like in Prufrock Prep was quite rare, hence it being called 'Advanced').

[And apparently something not connected to the internet.]

And this is very interesting. ASOUE's Netflix series is meant to be a video delivery service. After all, we see in THH that there are video delivery services in the library and devices for showing videos.

The first type of Home Video to exist in our world was Betamax in 1975.

And the first microcomputer for personal use was also launched in 1975, the Altair 8800.

And if we look at a detail in LSTUA.

They are separate universes, but this photographic record is the only one dated in the entire Unfortunate universe: October 1977. It wouldn't be surprising if the series' writers (who are fans of the books) had this enigmatic date in mind, and made ASOUE take place in the 1970s.

And 2 years after the launch of home video and after the launch of microcomputers would be exactly the time needed for a newly launched technology to have spread enough to suggest services like Netflix in the world of ASOUE.

Long enough for some people to buy video cassettes and even cameras.

Here's the full picture:

So the answer to our original question:

JOINT THEORY: ASOUE is set in the 1970s.

[edgar-allan-possum]

So! I've been wanting to watch a Godzilla movie for a while now (because I have a Godzilla art book and it feels weird not. actually knowing anything about Godzilla) but I'm not sure where to start! What are your recommendations of Godzilla movies/media?

Thanks for asking! Now, I love most of the Godzilla movies, so I'm going to do a quick rundown of each era and its tone so you can make your own decision on where to start.

EDIT: This got WAY longer than I was planning, so... Under the cut.

Now, the obvious beginning.

The original 1954 Gojira is where it all started, and most of the later movies are in continuity with it, though not always with each other. It's a haunting story about the dangers of nuclear weaponry and, outside of some outdated special effects and science, still holds up well today imo. From there the Showa series of Godzilla movies started.

Godzilla Raids Again, the immediate sequel to the original, had Godzilla fight another monster for the first time. The third movie, King Kong vs Godzilla, significantly lightened the tone and that set the template for the rest of the series. The Showa series are largely kid's movies. That doesn't mean they're bad, but the plots are fairly simple and the focus is mostly on monster brawls, often started by one of a few alien species trying to conquer the earth. The continuity of these is kind of loose, as King Ghidorah dies in Destroy All Monsters but continues to make appearances in later movies. After 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla, there were no more movies until 1984.

Godzilla, or its American title The Return of Godzilla, ignores the majority of the Showa series in favor of being a direct sequel to the 1954 movie. For the first time since the original, Godzilla does not fight another monster and is instead the main threat. It also returned to a darker tone after the previous movies had gotten progressively goofier. The Return of Godzilla is considered to be the first movie of the Heisei series, despite not being released in the Heisei era.

The Heisei series (also called the Vs series because of how many titles have a "Godzilla vs X" scheme) has a darker tone, with Godzilla himself being more destructive and less of a superhero than the Showa version. Its monster fights are more often beam wars than brawls, due to the comparative stiffness of the new suits making that kind of action difficult. There's also a tighter continuity with returning characters between movies, the ways G-Force tries to take Godzilla down, and the way Godzilla adopts and raises a young godzillasaurus (no really!) as his son and eventual successor. It ended in 1995 with Godzilla vs Destoroyah, as Toho prepared to take a 10 year break while the American company TriStar tried out their own version of the King of the Monsters.

1998's Godzilla, directed by Roland Emmerich, was the first true reboot of the series, ignoring the 1954 original in favor of giving Godzilla a new origin as a mutated iguana. Godzilla fans generally call this version GINO, or Godzilla In Name Only, criticizing the changes to the monster's design and powers, plus making the main existential threat the thousands of Godzilla offspring lurking below New York. A Toho executive said it "took the god out of Godzilla". However, it was better received in areas that hadn't gotten the previous Godzilla movies and is still a pretty good monster flick, imo. It's just not a great version of Godzilla. There was an animated series based on this movie that was pretty good, but after plans for a sequel fell through, Toho took the reins back and produced Godzilla 2000: Millennium.

While still produced in the Heisei era, this period of Godzilla movies is called the Millennium series since it's not really part of the same series as the earlier movies. All of these movies are in continuity with the 1954 original, but the only ones in continuity with each other are Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, which are collectively called the Kiryu Saga after their version of Mechagodzilla. All the others are standalone films. These movies take a lot of influence from shonen anime and popular action films of the 90s and early 2000s. The standout here is Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (GMK), which portrays Godzilla as an undead monster possessed by the ghosts of everyone who died in the Pacific theater of WWII, bent on getting revenge on Japan for its actions in the war. This series ended with the 2004 semicentennial celebration movie Godzilla: Final Wars, after which Toho really did take that 10 year break.

In 2014, Legendary Pictures released Godzilla, the first installment in their Monsterverse series. The second true reboot of the franchise, this movie portrayed Godzilla as the last member of an ancient superspecies that protects the balance of nature. It's sort of a return to Godzilla as a superhero from the Showa era, with added destruction since there's a lot more fighting in cities instead of rocky wastelands. The Monsterverse is also notable for being a major crossover with the King Kong franchise, and is set to continue March of 2024 with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

With the success of the 2014 movie, Toho decided to get back into the game and in 2016 released Shin Godzilla, directed by Hideaki Anno of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame.

Shin Godzilla portrays the titular monster as a natural disaster akin to the Fukushima incident, and is a criticism of the bureaucracy in the Japanese government that places more importance on looking in control than on actually being in control. In many ways it's a remake of the 1954 movie. It's also the first of Anno's tributes to classic tokusatsu and was followed up by Shin Ultraman and Shin Kamen Rider.

The anime trilogy, created by Gen Urobuchi, tells the story of a group of humans who left earth on a colony ship to escape Godzilla, only to find on their return that 20,000 years have passed in their absence and Godzilla has completely conquered the planet. Urobuchi's trademark nihilism is on full display here and I never finished the last movie, so I'll move along rather than continue to talk about it.

Once the Reiwa era started, Shin Godzilla and the anime trilogy were retroactively declared to be the first installments in a Reiwa series of Godzilla movies. The next installment was the TV anime Godzilla Singular Point, which tells the story of grad student Mei Kamino and the members of the Otaki Factory as they face off against the reality warping Godzilla and the hordes of monsters he's brought with him from either the future or another dimension. This one's heavy on the quantum physics.

Lastly, a new movie called Godzilla Minus One is being released this December. It takes place in the 1940s and is the first Godzilla movie to be placed earlier in the timeline than the original film.

No idea if it'll be a good jumping on point or not, but I'm excited for it!

[watching-pictures-move]

Viddying the Nasties | Deep Red (Argento, 1975)

I always like to throw on some Argento every Spooky Season, and as the only one I'd watched so far these last few weeks was Giallo with Adrian Brody, and as I was listening to this one's soundtrack on the way to work this morning, I figured it was time for another viewing. Now, I've been turning into the type of person who will eventually shed tears after I watch a horror movie enough times, but I must report that I did no such thing with this viewing. Who knows, maybe next time I watch it I'll cry during the arm wrestling scene. Not tears of sadness because I'm lamenting David Hemmings' defeat to Daria Nicolodi, but tears of joy as this is the first step in him overcoming his male chauvinism and becoming a better man. We could all learn a little something from this scene.

I'd previously only seen the uncensored American version from the Blue Underground DVD, which I understand has all the violence intact but loses over twenty minutes of character scenes. To be honest, I didn't think the shorter version is the most tightly paced thing in the world, so naturally the longer version isn't either, especially as it runs more than two hours long. All that being said, this is definitely Argento moving away from the rhythms of the hero's investigation and letting the movement of the camera and the shot sequencing take over in propelling the movie forward, so maybe wonky pacing is more of a feature than a bug. I always like hanging out in his classics, so more runtime isn't necessarily a problem for me.

That being said, let me weigh one concrete point in each version's favour. The American version has the English dub, so we get David Hemmings' real voice, which has a lovely texture, more finely aged than his voice in Blow Up, and maybe the age and wear suggests he's a bit old fashioned, but it also suggests that he's accumulated or is capable of accumulating some wisdom. He's not perfect, but he's willing to learn, and his voice is maybe not silky smooth, but it's got its charms. The Italian version has more scenes with Daria Nicolodi, including one where she and Hemmings drink coolers in her crappy car while his seat is at a noticeably lower altitude, and another where she does a weird dance on the way to the door after dumping a picture of his super sexy ex in the garbage. I always loved the screwball repartee of these characters, and there's more of that here.

The copy on the Criterion Channel opens with a disclaimer about its restoration, and while there have been more than a few restoration jobs that leave a movie's colours looking substantially different than previous versions, I can safely report that this felt true to the visual character of the version I'd previously seen. The colours are certainly richer, but they're still true to their chocolatey character, white chocolate for the lighter colours, dark chocolate for the darker scenes, milk chocolate for a bunch of shades in between, the ones with cherries in them that nobody likes for the blood. This movie is like a box of chocolates. You never know when you're gonna get STABBED! Hah! Bet you didn't see that coming. No, I'm not eating a box of chocolates right now, but I did nibble on a bar of some Hungarian chocolate brand that I picked up at the European grocery near my local multiplex. Pretty good, but I'd recommend grabbing a Milka bar as a priority if you ever drop by such a place.

Anyway, apologies if my ramblings have been even more inane than usual, but the point is, the movie rocks, and I got out any remotely non-stupid thoughts I had about this time in my last review. I will add that I appreciated this time around how much detail Argento is able to sketch out about the Macha Meril character despite her limited screentime. I know dullards like to characterize him as a misogynist or misanthrope, but I have a hard time agreeing when he can treat them with such warmth. Also, the violence in his movies is usually too stylish and elaborately orchestrated to disturb me, but the bit with the bearded guy's teeth had me wincing pretty hard this time around.

[dru-reblogs-stuff]

Nine people I’d like to get to know better/ Get to know you tag

I'm combining 3 different versions of this tag from @writeouswriter @nostalgicyorkshiregirl & @thewritinggrindstone

Bouncing this back to @nostalgicyorkshiregirl and also tagging @babyblueetbaemonster, @housemarcellus, @choccy-zefirka & @downontheupside cuz I feel like I haven't caught up with you guys for a while. And as usual, leaving it open to anyone else who wants to play.

Currently reading: - Fanfic: Although He Smiles by HonestlyHelen. A Star Wars: Clone Wars AU in which Ahsoka is send back in time after leaving the Jedi order. - Published: I'm in the middle of the Rogue Sorcerer series by KE Mills, but I need to order book 3 as I somehow own 4 but not 3???

🎶 Last song I listened to: Skyrim Atmospheres by Jeremy Soule. I was doing some writing and needed a neutral track, but also it's 45mins which is a good time limit for a session.

📺 Currently watching: Starsky and Hutch (1975). It's research, okay? (I am actually enjoying it immensely)

Last series: The Orville. Only got a few eps in and stopped because Starsky and Hutch became available

Last movie: Twisters (2024). I saw the original in the cinema (I think for my b/day) and loved it. So I was a bit cautious about the new one, but if anything it's even better. Highly recommended for a stormy evening ;)

🌶️ Sweet/Savoury/Spicy?: Today I'm feeling savoury, because I'm having anchovies and cheese & tomatoes on corncakes.

❤️ Relationship status: Happy with my odd set-up, but a bit sad that my step-ish son was so upset when I left last time that he couldn't get to school.

Favorite color: Today I'm clinging what green is left before the trees start to change into their autumn colours. Having said that, I'm also into bright oranges - I changed the LEGO flowers over to be more autumnal from the summer colours we did have.

🤩 Current obsession: Writing Her Countenance was Light. I'm so close to the end, I'm sure I'll finish it by the end of the year. I've just hit a few snags with a new plot hole, though, and need find the literary gravel...

Tea or Coffee: The tea du jour is Blackberry, Apple, Ginger and Beetroot from Sainsbury's 'Taste the Difference' range. Nice and warming from the nip that's already in the air.

Last Thing I Googled: 'checkatrade', to get the website for user-approved tradies. I need my boiler fixed/ replaced...

[nolita-fairytale]

make my heart surrender | carmy x reader | the playlist

here's a fun little collection of songs that make me think of this story. some of the songs feel like they could function as a soundtrack to the story, and some just make me think of carmy x reader. i created this playlist and listened to it while writing, in the car, doing dishes... seriously, the way this story took over my brain.

make my heart surrender: the playlist

***

sleeping with a friend - neon trees

carmy & reader's relationship in new york city -- while the title feels self-explanatory, this song has all the sexual tension of wondering our favorite kitchen lovebirds' will they won't they relationship. do we need a oneshot of the before times? maybe...

robbers - the 1975

angsty carmy & reader's relationship in nyc. this is also allegedly the prequel to 'about you' so it felt right to include it.

about you - the 1975

where the title of this fic comes from: 'now there's something about you that i can't remember / it's the same damn thing that made my heart surrender / and i miss you on the train, i miss you in the morning / i never what to think about / i think about you

it's the pining for me

chicago - sufjan stevens

the iconic song used in the show. i could see this song playing on reader's first day at the bear, or underscoring reader's travels to chicago

sleep tight - holly humberstone

oof, this song kills me. i'll add notable lyrics that make me think of carmy x reader, but it would be a beautiful underscore for their moment at the end of chapter two, when they say goodnight to each other.

"sleep tight i'm on my way back and feeling kind of sad because you were the best thing i never knew i had"

"you were the best thing i never knew was mine"

"god knows i've missed this feeling" makes me ache in the best ways why do we love being sad sm?!

closer - tegan and sara

i could see this song underscoring some of the kitchen flows when carmy & reader have smoothed things over around chapter three. i can just see reader working the garnish station and falling in love with carmy all over again as she watches him expedite.

can we also just talk about how this is a peak in the flow of the playlist? like they've finally smoothed things over and it's been nostalgic/acoustic/angsty and then this song happens and it's like an explosion of energy?? we're finally going to get some connection between these two

only human - the code, william singe

if this were a movie/tv show, i'd have this song play in the background of their conversation (date) at the aviary in chapter three.

untouched hearts - acoustic - the hunna

the lines "i know it's been hard but now it's time for you to get what you want, to know you're enough" feel like a fucking love letter from mikey to carmy. #LetItRip

it also feels like a feeling reader and carmy would share between the two of them about each other.

la vie en rose - emily watts

the song that plays at carmy's apartment after putting her dinner party playlist on shuffle. reader is flipping through the cookbook while he finishes the carbonara to the sweet sounds of this song. and they're making eyes at each other, and stealing glances when they think the other isn't looking GOODBYE

the girl - city & colour

this song is giving major waking-up-together-morning-after vibes. i mostly saw this song for the second to last chapter for the cute tattoo scene, but it could also be great for their first morning after season in chapter five.

flashed junk mind (acoustic version) - milky chance

just picture carmy & reader traipsing through chi-town's chinatown, arguing over who's gonna pay (because they both think it should be themselves), being cute, and fighting over carmy's cigarette during their walking dumpling date.

strawberries & cigarettes - troye sivan

this song accompanies their sweet goodbye at the start of chapter 7 and i'm quite convinced that troye sivan wrote it about carmen berzatto and you can't change my mind lol.

for the lines: "blue eyes, black jeans, lighters and candy, i've been a fool / strawberries & cigarettes always taste like you" and "remember when you taught me fate / said it'd all be worth the wait."

somebody - dagny

less on brand for the show, but the lyrics make me think so much about these two. it's giving: plot twist this is now a freeform show, i know. however, i envisioned this song being a part of reader packing up her things and catching up w friends back in ny. maaaaybe even as she's getting in her u-haul to drive to chicago.

solsbury hill - peter gabriel

peter gabriel said that this song was about losing something so that you can gain something else and i'm just not okay. this is the song that underscores the final scene in our lovely little epilogue, when reader surprises carmy at the bear ready to tell him that she's finally all in.

[sasorikigai]

Ever since Game of Thrones came to an end back in 2019, I've been itching for some expansive medieval political intrigue. FX's adaptation of Shōgun, James Clavell's 1975 novel, provides exactly what I've been craving. It widens its view of the original story, which follows a fictionalized version of the adventures of the first Englishman to reach Japan, to put a greater emphasis on the dangerous political world that man finds himself trapped in. This new adaptation of Shōgun is all about the machinations of feudal lords, their vassals and retainers, and their spies and confidants, as Japan careens toward civil war in 1600.

The wider scope that creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks give the story makes room for a wide array of characters, all of whom are trying to square the requirements of loyalty and duty with their own searches for power or even just survival. That almost makes Shōgun a political thriller, and every scene carries the undercurrent that, despite the polite strictures of the society they find themselves in, everyone is fighting a death that's inexorably sweeping toward them.

At the center of the story is Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada, John Wick: Chapter 4), who is trying to navigate the dangerous politics of a degrading peace. A year after the death of the Taikō, the leader of a unified Japan, Toranaga sits on a council of five regents who share power until the rightful heir comes of age. His main rival on the council, Ishida (Takehiro Hira, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters), is already maneuvering against him when things pick up, aligning the other regents to vote to impeach Toranaga, which will mean his death.

Into that situation comes John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), a Protestant English navigator on a Dutch ship hoping to discover a route to Japan. Up to this point, only the Portuguese and their Catholic church have known the nation's location and thus dominate trade. When Blackthorne's ship is blown ashore, he's taken prisoner with his men, but his hope is to disrupt the Portuguese and establish diplomatic connections of his own as part of a larger battle between the European nations. Where the novel sticks mostly with Blackthrone's viewpoint as he experiences and learns about Japanese culture amidst the rising political tensions, the series shows just how much he's another piece in Toranaga's grander game.

Linking Toranaga and Blackthorne is Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, F9: The Fast Saga), a Christian convert who speaks Portuguese and serves as interpreter for Blackthorne. Mariko is also torn between loyalties, stuck spending time with Blackthorne, who is considered a barbarian, and bound by competing duties to Toranaga, her religion, and her family line.

Sanada stalwartly anchors the drama, and his ability to keep everything behind his eyes leaves the audience guessing at the mystery of Toranaga's plans as much as the characters. Jarvis plays foil to the more subdued characters, particularly Sawai's Mariko, and his emotional swings bring an intensity to goings-on that often have the feel of a current carrying everyone out to sea. But it's Sawai who provides Shōgun's empathetic heart more often than not, especially in scenes when her duty and her place in patriarchal society force her to sit stony against the abuse--mostly verbal but sometimes physical--of others. When she turns that purposely emotionless gaze against other people at a few key moments, it has a devastating effect.

Shōgun also features a large cast of great supporting characters, as well. Tadanobu Asano (Mortal Kombat) is the most fun to watch as Yabushige, Toranaga's scheming vassal who is by turns sadistic, boisterous, courageous, and sometimes a bit incompetent. He often brings a much-needed frankness to the other, stodgier characters. It's worth noting also that most of Shōgun is subtitled; the Japanese characters speak Japanese to one another, and English only comes up among the foreigners and when Mariko speaks to Blackthorne.

There's a lot less mustache-twirling or open plotting than you might expect here, though, often because so much of the intrigue is bound up in the honor code of the samurai culture in which the show takes place. But in similar fashion to Game of Thrones, you'll likely spend a lot of time internalizing how everyone is related, who they're bound to, and what their goals are. If there's a drawback, it's that much of Shōgun is subdued conversations between characters sitting in quiet rooms. Across the first eight episodes FX provided for this review (with 10 in total), there are a few flashes of action as war draws near, but they tend to be quick and explosive. This isn't a series that's going from battle to battle, but instead builds a consistent tension that the very world puts the characters in danger--not necessarily because of unseen schemes, but because of the rules hemming them all in.

It also just often looks great. Japan is presented with a foggy beauty running through the show's cinematography and presentation, and there's a persistent desaturated understatement to the images. Like everything else, it amplifies the ever-present feeling of death just out of view.

Shōgun provides the same thrill as some of the best moments of Game of Thrones, when the careful plots of powerful people collide in unforeseen ways. It's a gripping story of intrigue, thanks to an excellent cast and stakes the show is always finding new ways to raise.

[theharpermovieblog]

#HARPERSMOVIECOLLECTION

2023

I watched The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

A story by Rudyard Kipling, directed by John Huston and starring Michael Caine, Sean Connery and Christopher Plummer. If that's not enough to get you interested, I guess you hate good things.

Two ex English soldiers and con artists in India, after meeting up with author Rudyard Kipling, head to a hard-to-reach land where the plan to become royalty.

I've always been a Rudyard Kipling fan. I had a book of his children's stories when I was a kid. Not to mention the Poem "If" and of course The Jungle Book. An Englishman born in India, Kipling had a unique view of the world and, to me, represented a classic sense of adventure.

John Huston is a director who's films you should know if you are a film lover. If you don't know a lot of his classics, look them up and watch them. I own a few on DVD because of their significance. Here, he directs a sprawling film that looks absolutely beautiful, and is every bit as adventurous in spirit as Kipling's stories.

The casting here is excellent. I don't need to tell you that Caine, Connery, and Plummer are good, even in bad movies. Here Plummer plays Kipling in a proper manner, fit for the interested and educated minded writer. Caine and Connery, as the two con men, are fantastically fun and exciting to watch. Even if they are a couple of a**holes.

It shouldn't be lost on anyone that what Caine and Connery's characters are doing is just a small version of colonization. Their plan is to pretend to be helping a local tribe leader against other tribes, with military training and support in battle. Eventually they'll usurp that tribe leader and make themselves Kings over these people, reaping the benefits that come with royalty.

They aren't necessarily good guys. Charismatic sure, but out for their own. The only people they actually won't screw over are other Free Masons, which is how they strike a minor friendship with Kipling.

This isn't a story about white saviors. It's a story about two men trying to use a people for their own gain and the dangers of seeking the kind of power that come with kingship and godliness.

It is when Connery's character truly is accepted as a God that the feeling of dread expertly comes in. Things have clearly reached their apex and must now descend. A man can't have that kind of power without being corrupted.

This is a fantastic and engaging story. Simple in execution, but with much deeper meaning and place.

It stands up there with John Huston's best films.

[emilynightshade89]

For the cinema asks, because I know your like your creature/monster flicks:

Pacific Rim, Life (2017), King Kong (2005) and/or Kong: Skull Island (only two I've seen), Jaws (1975)

YESSSS THANK YA!

Pacific Rim

Never Seen | Want to See | The Worst | Bad | Whatever | Not My Thing | Good | Great | Favorite | Masterpiece

Guillermo Del Toro my beloved 💜 I was lucky to see this in a theater during summer and just seeing these bigass robots fight bigass monsters was just the height of entertainment for me at that moment. It had the director's look and underlying themes that I later appreciated more after rewatching and it also offered fun moments and cool concepts that I hadn't seen before. Definitely one of my many favorite "put something on just for fun" movies. 💕

Life (2017)

Never Seen | Want to See | The Worst | Bad | Whatever | Not My Thing | Good | Great | Favorite | Masterpiece

I think I caught this when it was just ending a long time ago, so I haven't seen it the whole way through but I'd very much like to.

King Kong (2005) AND Kong: Skull Island

Never Seen | Want to See | The Worst | Bad | Whatever | Not My Thing | Good | Great | Favorite | Masterpiece(s)

Put them together bc why not. LOVE BOTH OF THEM. Kong 2005 is very much a part of the hall of fame for movies I watched during my childhood, along with the Brendan Fraser Mummy movies. I remember giving it a rewatch some time ago and just being in love with the friendship between the girl and this giant ass Gorilla (played beautifully by Andy Serkis. In this house we love and appreciate Andy Serkis). The infamous bug scene is one of my favorites even tho it freaked me out as a kid and I know people think it's odd that Jack Black is there but I liked his casting in this one, it reminds me of Josh Gad being cast in Murder On The Orient Express after he had done Olaf and it really sticks out to me how much comedic actors can do drama just as well too. Jack does a great job I think and so does everyone else. <3

SKULL ISLAND LETS GOOOO. I love this movie and among my ranking of the monsterverse installments, it ranks no. 2 just behind Godzilla: King of The Monsters. The scene where the scientists and Vietnam soldiers are arriving and are greeted by Kong is just PEAK CINEMA for me!!!! Absolutely bonkers, fun, and kinda scary and it was such a great way to introduce this version of Kong. The human characters are done well to my liking, I never get bored of them and the creative kills and the environment of the island itself is fantastic as well. ALSO HOLY SHIT THE SKULL CRAWLERS ARE BADASS TOO. Cast is great, the monsters ate great, and the end credits scene is one I revisit bc it's just awesome. :)

JAWS

Never Seen | Want to See | The Worst | Bad | Whatever | Not My Thing | Good | Great | Favorite | Masterpiece

I really enjoyed this one! Despite seeing it only once I really liked how it was made and how little we actually see the shark until we need to. I look forward to watching it again sometime for sure. My only beef is that I actually don't like how effective the poster is for the shark. I love it in its design, I think it's just genius how they have the colors stick out so much, the bold red of the title, the bright blue of the ocean and the pitch black of the shark's mouth against the stark white of the background. Creepy and effective I love it but I hate it too. 🤣

[culttvblog]

Un Embarras de Richesses

There is currently an abundance of old, cult TV available for free online, so of course the sheer quantity is frying my brain and I will have to use this post to signpost to a selection of the riches currently available. Please note that some of these shows are desperately rare, are rarely available online, some of them are things which are high on the collectors' lists of shows which 'nobody' has seen since about 1970, and are likely to vanish from the internet quite quickly! I haven't had time to watch these things in great detail at this point.

Late Night Horror (1968) was a BBC horror series which had to be cancelled after only six episodes because of the tidal wave of complaints from viewers. Stepping out from among the vampires and mad surgeons is the only episode to survive about a children's birthday party, appropriately enough called The Corpse Can't Play. Suffice to say that this is one of those shows which the Scarred for Life people have featured as the sort of traumatising television they concentrate on! Also of note is that the boys all wear ties for the birthday party, and one of them even a cardigan (pictured). It was released on DVD but is currently available on YouTube.

The 1975 play in the BBC2 Playhouse series Diane, directed by Alan Clarke, is available on the Internet Archive, which is thankfully back online after being taken down by an attack. If nothing else I can confidently say that the play accurately reflects life in the UK as it actually was in the 1970s (or at least as remembered by me) rather than the highly stylish version which tends to be how it's reconstructed.

The Hill of the Red Fox (1975) is an intelligent children's television series about Cold War espionage, about a boy brought up in London who goes to live in the highlands of Scotland. It is a magnificent exhibition of 1970s UK and also of the highlands.

Shirley's World (1971-2) is another of those shows made with transatlantic co-operation, and indeed showed in the USA before it showed in the UK. Shirley Logan (played by Shirley MacLaine) is a photo-journalist and this show is about her adventures. It was produced and directed by Ray Austin, and although I've only dipped into it, it has a quite ITC, globe-trotting feel about it. To be frank, what I like best about it is the episode plot summaries on Wikipedia, which make it sound absolutely wild. For example:

'On a remote island in Scotland Shirley lets slip to a tax inspector about their illicit homemade whisky which causes the islanders to declare independence and Shirley leads the resistance against first the army, then the navy until the Prime Minister sends Dennis Crift to sort it out.'

It did have a commercial release in 2012 and is periodically repeated on Talking Pictures TV but the physical media for The Gold Robbers (1969) is very expensive and I've never seen it so it was nice to find it on YouTube. It's a police investigation show possibly inspired by the famous Great Train Robbery of 1963.

One episode of Second City Firsts (1973-8) did appear on this blog's Blogspot predecessor as an orphaned episode, but there are currently more episodes of it on YouTube. It was a series made here in Birmingham of plays by new writers. I can't do a better description than this link: https://forgottentelevisiondrama.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/second-city-firsts-by-lez-cooke/

This film isn't TV but does fit here because anyone who likes Sapphire and Steel will love it, but Bloody New Year (1987) is about some youngsters who find themselves in a hotel on an island and find the past is intruding. There are ghosts and zombies galore, and my only criticism is that I could have done with more ghosts than zombies personally. There is a particularly effective scene in the hotel kitchen where poltergeist activity is reproduced using the film technology of the time, particularly where knives are flying about on their own. Pre-CGI it also has an immediacy and reality that is curiously organic-feeling in comparison to today's film and TV. The critical reception has tended to be rather poor for this film, but I honestly think it's like Sapphire and Steel on crack, and it's great.

Finally we have the legendary documentary series Man Alive, which made 7,459,372 episodes in its time of being broadcast from 1437 to 1981. Alright, I'm exaggerating somewhat but you get the idea. At the time it was quite controversial because it often covered subjects concerning sex or relationships which were quite avant garde at the time. Even though it suffered from being partly wiped it is so legendary that there are still episodes of it on the BBC website to be watched, forty years after it ceased broadcasting. The ones on the BBC website are possibly the best known ones but currently there is a bumper crop of others online, all very grainy and often with the time signature running along the top. I would particularly recommed Alright We'll Do It Ourselves about the efforts of the people of Stepney to get a football pitch. It features coverage of a festival they hold (including pram racing involving visiting nine pubs) and shows Trevor Huddleston before he departed for South Africa.

I don't often talk about theme tunes on here, but Man Alive has the most magnificent titles and both its and The Gold Robbers' theme tunes are absolute BANGERS so have a couple of sound tracks.

This blog is mirrored at

culttvblog.tumblr.com/archive (from September 2023) and culttvblog.substack.com (from January 2023 and where you can subscribe by email)

Archives from 2013 to September 2023 may be found at culttvblog.blogspot.com and there is an index to the tags used on the Tumblr version at https://www.tumblr.com/culttvblog/729194158177370112/this-blog

[dreamhot]

Hello! Happy June! It's Pride and I have another question (4/30)

Today we are talking about queer representation in media. In 1894 "The Dickson Experimental Sound Film" is released, becoming the first "gay film". It was also known as "The Gay Brothers", it feature two men dancing together and it reportedly "shocked audiences with its subversion of conventional male behaviour". Unfortunately, in 1934 the USA introduced the Hays Code, which, while it didn't explicitly ban queerness, banned queerness in effect. This resulted in three decades of queer-coded villains, such as Joel Cairo in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) and Jack Favell in "Rebecca" (1940).

The Hays Code was lifted in 1968, and the queer cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was released in 1975, and gave a much-needed positive and FUN representation of queer people and queerness. Unfortunately, this was short-lived, as the rising AIDs crisis worsened the stigma around the gay community. This didn't stop everyone though, and in 1985 "Desert Hearts" was released; regarded as the first mainstream lesbian film with a happy ending.

Further on, the first gay kiss on TV in the UK was on "EastEnders" in 1989, "Ellen" became the first American tv show with an openly gay lead in 1997, and other show such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" started to add recurring LGBTQ+ characters. An important show in the UK was "Queer as Folk" (1999) which was one of the first shows to depict the queer community as vibrant and alive.

Even further forward, and "Moonlight" (2017) became the first LGBTQ+ film (and the first all-black cast) to win Best Picture at the Oscars. GLAAD publishes an annual report showing how representation is changing. 2005-2006 1.4% of regular characters vs 2020-2021 the figure is at 9.1%. So, there is still a long way to go obviously, especially because media is often the main or only place that young people have an insight into the community at all.

Because of this, I want to ask you for a recommendation: What is a piece of queer media that you think more people should see? (it can be literally anything, big/small, funny/sad, smart/stupid <- just anything you think deserves to be watched!:))

(I'll go first: "Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "I Don't Want to Go Back Alone) is a really really cute Brazillian short film available on Youtube! (if you enjoy it, there is also a full-length film version called "Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "The Way He Looks"))

Happy Pride 🌈 🎉

can i mention brokeback mountain again. i mean surely most people have seen that by now but - i'd also mention the novella it's based on, which i think i reread about a thousand times in high school for some reason. the movie is almost shot-for-shot what happens in the novella, which is pretty impressive

again tho i feel as though my lack of exposure to the quintessential works is leaving me floundering here, cos suddenly i've forgotten all queer media i've ever watched. apparently. does rocketman count? cos i fucking love that movie

also this is just recency bias but i watched the mitchells vs the machines for the first time the other day and it just made my heart happy to see a main character whose queerness was simply /there/ and not presented as some massive ordeal or struggle. she just liked girls and her parents knew and were supportive and it was just, taken in stride like you'd see any other teen relationship dynamic in heterosexual contexts. and idk ... it made me happy. i hope we see more of that sort of thing going forward

[kiuda]

Hello! Happy June! It's Pride and I have another question (4/30)

Today we are talking about queer representation in media. In 1894 "The Dickson Experimental Sound Film" is released, becoming the first "gay film". It was also known as "The Gay Brothers", it feature two men dancing together and it reportedly "shocked audiences with its subversion of conventional male behaviour". Unfortunately, in 1934 the USA introduced the Hays Code, which, while it didn't explicitly ban queerness, banned queerness in effect. This resulted in three decades of queer-coded villains, such as Joel Cairo in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) and Jack Favell in "Rebecca" (1940).

The Hays Code was lifted in 1968, and the queer cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was released in 1975, and gave a much-needed positive and FUN representation of queer people and queerness. Unfortunately, this was short-lived, as the rising AIDs crisis worsened the stigma around the gay community. This didn't stop everyone though, and in 1985 "Desert Hearts" was released; regarded as the first mainstream lesbian film with a happy ending.

Further on, the first gay kiss on TV in the UK was on "EastEnders" in 1989, "Ellen" became the first American tv show with an openly gay lead in 1997, and other show such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" started to add recurring LGBTQ+ characters. An important show in the UK was "Queer as Folk" (1999) which was one of the first shows to depict the queer community as vibrant and alive.

Even further forward, and "Moonlight" (2017) became the first LGBTQ+ film (and the first all-black cast) to win Best Picture at the Oscars. GLAAD publishes an annual report showing how representation is changing. 2005-2006 1.4% of regular characters vs 2020-2021 the figure is at 9.1%. So, there is still a long way to go obviously, especially because media is often the main or only place that young people have an insight into the community at all.

Because of this, I want to ask you for a recommendation: What is a piece of queer media that you think more people should see? (it can be literally anything, big/small, funny/sad, smart/stupid <- just anything you think deserves to be watched!:))

(I'll go first: "Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "I Don't Want to Go Back Alone) is a really really cute Brazillian short film available on Youtube! (if you enjoy it, there is also a full-length film version called "Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "The Way He Looks"))

Happy Pride 🌈 🎉

i don't think i've seen any very queer media lately :( i will come back to this one when i do see something i really love! :D

[portdebros]

Hello! Happy June! It's Pride and I have another question (4/30)

Today we are talking about queer representation in media. In 1894 "The Dickson Experimental Sound Film" is released, becoming the first "gay film". It was also known as "The Gay Brothers", it feature two men dancing together and it reportedly "shocked audiences with its subversion of conventional male behaviour". Unfortunately, in 1934 the USA introduced the Hays Code, which, while it didn't explicitly ban queerness, banned queerness in effect. This resulted in three decades of queer-coded villains, such as Joel Cairo in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) and Jack Favell in "Rebecca" (1940).

The Hays Code was lifted in 1968, and the queer cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was released in 1975, and gave a much-needed positive and FUN representation of queer people and queerness. Unfortunately, this was short-lived, as the rising AIDs crisis worsened the stigma around the gay community. This didn't stop everyone though, and in 1985 "Desert Hearts" was released; regarded as the first mainstream lesbian film with a happy ending.

Further on, the first gay kiss on TV in the UK was on "EastEnders" in 1989, "Ellen" became the first American tv show with an openly gay lead in 1997, and other show such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" started to add recurring LGBTQ+ characters. An important show in the UK was "Queer as Folk" (1999) which was one of the first shows to depict the queer community as vibrant and alive.

Even further forward, and "Moonlight" (2017) became the first LGBTQ+ film (and the first all-black cast) to win Best Picture at the Oscars. GLAAD publishes an annual report showing how representation is changing. 2005-2006 1.4% of regular characters vs 2020-2021 the figure is at 9.1%. So, there is still a long way to go obviously, especially because media is often the main or only place that young people have an insight into the community at all.

Because of this, I want to ask you for a recommendation: What is a piece of queer media that you think more people should see? (it can be literally anything, big/small, funny/sad, smart/stupid <- just anything you think deserves to be watched!:))

(I'll go first: "Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "I Don't Want to Go Back Alone) is a really really cute Brazillian short film available on Youtube! (if you enjoy it, there is also a full-length film version called "Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "The Way He Looks"))

Happy Pride 🌈 🎉

oh there are so many things i could pick, so i'm going to do one i think a lot of people haven't seen which is alex strangelove. it's a netflix original movie from like 2018, its a coming of age story about a teen boy coming to terms with his sexuality but it also is one of the funniest things i've ever watched. there's one specific scene i literally laughed so hard i couldn't breathe the first time i watched it. also its the movie that introduced me to the band muna who are one of my favorite bands of all time

[somanywips]

Hello! Happy June! It's Pride and I have another question (4/30)

Today we are talking about queer representation in media. In 1894 "The Dickson Experimental Sound Film" is released, becoming the first "gay film". It was also known as "The Gay Brothers", it feature two men dancing together and it reportedly "shocked audiences with its subversion of conventional male behaviour". Unfortunately, in 1934 the USA introduced the Hays Code, which, while it didn't explicitly ban queerness, banned queerness in effect. This resulted in three decades of queer-coded villains, such as Joel Cairo in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) and Jack Favell in "Rebecca" (1940).

The Hays Code was lifted in 1968, and the queer cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was released in 1975, and gave a much-needed positive and FUN representation of queer people and queerness. Unfortunately, this was short-lived, as the rising AIDs crisis worsened the stigma around the gay community. This didn't stop everyone though, and in 1985 "Desert Hearts" was released; regarded as the first mainstream lesbian film with a happy ending.

Further on, the first gay kiss on TV in the UK was on "EastEnders" in 1989, "Ellen" became the first American tv show with an openly gay lead in 1997, and other show such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" started to add recurring LGBTQ+ characters. An important show in the UK was "Queer as Folk" (1999) which was one of the first shows to depict the queer community as vibrant and alive.

Even further forward, and "Moonlight" (2017) became the first LGBTQ+ film (and the first all-black cast) to win Best Picture at the Oscars. GLAAD publishes an annual report showing how representation is changing. 2005-2006 1.4% of regular characters vs 2020-2021 the figure is at 9.1%. So, there is still a long way to go obviously, especially because media is often the main or only place that young people have an insight into the community at all.

Because of this, I want to ask you for a recommendation: What is a piece of queer media that you think more people should see? (it can be literally anything, big/small, funny/sad, smart/stupid <- just anything you think deserves to be watched!:))

(I'll go first: "Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "I Don't Want to Go Back Alone) is a really really cute Brazillian short film available on Youtube! (if you enjoy it, there is also a full-length film version called "Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "The Way He Looks"))

Happy Pride 🌈 🎉

4th man out! I watched it by accident really, it focus on the friendship of 4 guys when one of them comes out as gay, I don't know how to explain it but I like it, it's not the Best movie if you're looking for something that'll teach you something valuable, but like. Queer is comedy is something we need more, and not in a "let's make fun of you because you're queer" and more in a "we are queer and we are gonna have fun".

Also!!!!! These movies you mentioned are my sweethearts!!! It's just generally really hard to find queer latin american movies. I've watched both the short and the full length movie more times than I can count, I recommend everyone watch it!

[spacemilkbag]

Hello! Happy June! It's Pride and I have another question (4/30)

Today we are talking about queer representation in media. In 1894 "The Dickson Experimental Sound Film" is released, becoming the first "gay film". It was also known as "The Gay Brothers", it feature two men dancing together and it reportedly "shocked audiences with its subversion of conventional male behaviour". Unfortunately, in 1934 the USA introduced the Hays Code, which, while it didn't explicitly ban queerness, banned queerness in effect. This resulted in three decades of queer-coded villains, such as Joel Cairo in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) and Jack Favell in "Rebecca" (1940).

The Hays Code was lifted in 1968, and the queer cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was released in 1975, and gave a much-needed positive and FUN representation of queer people and queerness. Unfortunately, this was short-lived, as the rising AIDs crisis worsened the stigma around the gay community. This didn't stop everyone though, and in 1985 "Desert Hearts" was released; regarded as the first mainstream lesbian film with a happy ending.

Further on, the first gay kiss on TV in the UK was on "EastEnders" in 1989, "Ellen" became the first American tv show with an openly gay lead in 1997, and other show such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" started to add recurring LGBTQ+ characters. An important show in the UK was "Queer as Folk" (1999) which was one of the first shows to depict the queer community as vibrant and alive.

Even further forward, and "Moonlight" (2017) became the first LGBTQ+ film (and the first all-black cast) to win Best Picture at the Oscars. GLAAD publishes an annual report showing how representation is changing. 2005-2006 1.4% of regular characters vs 2020-2021 the figure is at 9.1%. So, there is still a long way to go obviously, especially because media is often the main or only place that young people have an insight into the community at all.

Because of this, I want to ask you for a recommendation: What is a piece of queer media that you think more people should see? (it can be literally anything, big/small, funny/sad, smart/stupid <- just anything you think deserves to be watched!:))

(I'll go first: "Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "I Don't Want to Go Back Alone) is a really really cute Brazillian short film available on Youtube! (if you enjoy it, there is also a full-length film version called "Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "The Way He Looks"))

Happy Pride 🌈 🎉

im blanking so hard right now omg, but i've seen a lot of people recommending young royals and our flag means death and i want to watch both

[suenitos]

Hello! Happy June! It's Pride and I have another question (4/30)

Today we are talking about queer representation in media. In 1894 "The Dickson Experimental Sound Film" is released, becoming the first "gay film". It was also known as "The Gay Brothers", it feature two men dancing together and it reportedly "shocked audiences with its subversion of conventional male behaviour". Unfortunately, in 1934 the USA introduced the Hays Code, which, while it didn't explicitly ban queerness, banned queerness in effect. This resulted in three decades of queer-coded villains, such as Joel Cairo in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) and Jack Favell in "Rebecca" (1940).

The Hays Code was lifted in 1968, and the queer cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was released in 1975, and gave a much-needed positive and FUN representation of queer people and queerness. Unfortunately, this was short-lived, as the rising AIDs crisis worsened the stigma around the gay community. This didn't stop everyone though, and in 1985 "Desert Hearts" was released; regarded as the first mainstream lesbian film with a happy ending.

Further on, the first gay kiss on TV in the UK was on "EastEnders" in 1989, "Ellen" became the first American tv show with an openly gay lead in 1997, and other show such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" started to add recurring LGBTQ+ characters. An important show in the UK was "Queer as Folk" (1999) which was one of the first shows to depict the queer community as vibrant and alive.

Even further forward, and "Moonlight" (2017) became the first LGBTQ+ film (and the first all-black cast) to win Best Picture at the Oscars. GLAAD publishes an annual report showing how representation is changing. 2005-2006 1.4% of regular characters vs 2020-2021 the figure is at 9.1%. So, there is still a long way to go obviously, especially because media is often the main or only place that young people have an insight into the community at all.

Because of this, I want to ask you for a recommendation: What is a piece of queer media that you think more people should see? (it can be literally anything, big/small, funny/sad, smart/stupid <- just anything you think deserves to be watched!:))

(I'll go first: "Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "I Don't Want to Go Back Alone) is a really really cute Brazillian short film available on Youtube! (if you enjoy it, there is also a full-length film version called "Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "The Way He Looks"))

Happy Pride 🌈 🎉

ooh thank you for the recs :3 umm i wish i had a ton off the top of my head that i've actually watched but i will say i did love moonlight obvs. one that ive been meaning to watch for a while is alucarda (1977) which is a mexican horror/thriller lesbian/wlw film.. ARCANE watch arcane i love arcane... a couple others on my watch list are badhaai do, pariah, and tangerine. >_< but im a cheerleader is a comfort film for sure too