#Kate McKean

[lgbtqreads]

August 2024 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction Mary E. Roach‘s WE ARE THE MATCH, pitched as a sapphic reimagining of the Helen of Troy myth set in modern-day mobster Greece, in which Helen is the daughter of a powerful crime lord and Paris is the woman hell-bent on destroying her—if they don’t fall for each other first, to Lauren Plude at Montlake, for publication in summer 2025, by Claire Friedman at Inkwell Management…

[ilomilodailystuff]

Okay. I see the fandom panicking and even starting to destroy itself...

For the ones who still love GO and would continue to love it as they always did but is judged because of ONE☝️ person's actions that might or might not be true, know you're safe here and I wouldn't judge you for loving GO despite Neil's accusations.

Because you gotta keep in mind that this show AND book are also Terry's. And you have to keep in mind that Neil wasn't alone in that project. Think about all the people that worked on the show, whether it's the crew or the actors. They're absolutely innocent, so why would you spit on their work as if they were guilty too ? Of course none of them would support Neil's actions if it's true, that doesn't mean we have to throw every poster or book or drawing or delete every fanfic or even stop writing fanfic because of this as if everyone were in the same boat.

These accusations are about Neil and Neil only and I would find it kinda sad that this story would be thrown away despite Terry had worked on it too, despite it also was in his memory. Ofc, if it's true, it's obvious Terry wouldn't be okay with it either but does that mean a story fully achieved and their characters have to be condemned with Gaiman ? Mostly when now, a lot of illustrators, writers and animators made it their own ? Mostly when it somehow saved many people's lives ? Mostly when this book or show had made people laugh and cry ?

This fandom is stronger than that.

Let's not mix everything.

Would you find it appropriate to talk about GO to the victims ? Obviously, no. For the sole reason that it's not. the same. thing. We have to put things back in their places. GO is GO, harassment and s*xual aggression are what they are. And it would be incredibly disrespectful to mix both.

So, my point is. Don't be ashamed to love GO despite what's happening. Don't feel guilty for supporting a show while you don't support the author. Don't let the fandom die because of one person's actions when there's so many people who worked on it almost just as much. I understand you're upset, I understand you'd think it might be hypocritical to love a show with the creator being accused of horrible things. But make the difference.

And I can assure you, if Neil is not guilty (and if he is, I hope the victims will get justice and Neil will have what he deserves) I'm pretty sure that he's not thinking about Good Omens at all right now, but just thinking about sorting this out and clearing his name as every innocent person would need to do so.

So, whether the truth is hurtful or a relief, let's keep the GO fandom going. For if it's hurtful, we will make Terry's story alive for his and many people's sake, and if it's a relief, we would have been doing things right by not jumping into conclusions.

Either way, you're welcome here and you're safe with me. Keep loving. Spread some joy. Don't let Neil's possible actions stain a wonderful story that is not only his own ❤️

[tuttle-did-it]

Michael McKean was a lot of fun as The Clown. I love him in anything, I really do. I have watched shows I wouldn't normally just because I love McKean. He's just a delight to watch. He's always good at balancing the silliness and absurdity along with the serious, and that's always fun to see.

He was a lot of fun in the episode, especially against Kate.

[blackramhall]

The guys practically live on a Clue board.

The suspects in Cluedo, but with the Glass Onion (Knives Out sequel) actors/characters.

Madelyn Cline/Whiskey as Miss Scarlett

Dave Bautista/Duke Cody as Colonel Mustard

Kathryn Hahn/Claire Debella as Mrs. White

Edward Norton/Miles Bron as Mr. Green

Kate Hudson/Birdie Jay as Mrs. Peacock

Leslie Odom Jr/Lionel Toussaint as Professor Plum

It's a terrible, terrible game.

CLUEDO card art by Lacey Van Nortwick

Blackram Hall: whodunit, murder mystery, hardboiled, pulp, crime, thriller, italian giallo, noir and neo-noir, detectives and serial killers, spy stories, vintage, manor houses, art, life and death.

Avatar pic by Mitchell Turek

[meret118]

Please Watch The Diplomat!

Netflix decides if they are going to renew a show based on how many people watch all episodes the first month it's on. If you liked The West Wing, you will like this too! In fact, I think it's better than TWW, because it's set more in the real world, and doesn't contain sorkin's misogyny. Plus, a woman is the main character! The creator worked on TWW and Homeland, and this show combines the best elements of each.

Kate is a career diplomat who was working on getting people who helped the US out of Afghanistan, particularly women. She's ordered by the Biden stand in president, played by Micheal McKean, to take the appointment of ambassador to the UK, a post normally given as a reward to powerful donors, and one requiring speeches and shaking hands more often than actual work. She's determined to make a difference while there however.

Her marriage to Hal, a former ambassador and high profile diplomat in his own right, is ending(?), but he's going with her for the first few weeks while she gets up to speed for PR purposes and support. They're both having trouble in this switch of roles as they try to define new boundaries.

Their relationship is entertainingly codependent and complex. They have terrific chemistry, and are totally believable as a long time couple who love each other, but don't know if that's enough anymore.

Speaking of chemistry, Austin Dennison is the Foreign Secretary who's far more qualified to be PM than the blowhard BoJo stand in he serves. He wants to trust Kate and work with her toward common goals, but the Iraq war and more has damaged US/UK relations.

Stuart Hayford is Kate's Deputy Chief of Mission, a job Kate's more used to doing herself, and is having trouble relinquishing. He's also receiving orders about Kate from the WH Chief of Staff.

Stuart is in a secret relationship with CIA Station Chief Eidra Park. She's used to dealing with secrets, but some of the ones he's keeping may be more than their bond can tolerate. She expects Kate to be the typical political appointee, and has to rapidly adjust her opinion.

The center of the show, and where it shines, is its focus on the politics of the world we live in as the characters deal with terrorism, intrigue, corruption, and political text and subtext. The few times the show stumbles is when it forgets that, and focuses on the relationships too much. That's rare though, and the show normally does a good job of integrating both into an engrossing whole.

No country is presented as perfect, and if there are heroes they're more likely to be the unsung career foreign service employees more often solving problems in spite of elected officials and political appointees rather than because of them. I highly recommend it!

ETA: The final episode ends in a cliffhanger. It didn't bother me, especially since the outcome seemed obvious to me, but I wanted to mention it.

ETA 2 - It's been renewed for a 2nd season! Yay! :)

ETA 3 : I'm so glad people watched it. I'm excited to see season 2. :)

[autistpride]

How many of these famous autists do you recognize? And this isn't even a complete list!

So many amazing wonderful people are autistic. I will never understand why people hate us so much.

Actors/actresses/entertainment:

Chloe Hayden

Talia Grant

Rachel Barcellona

Sir Anthony Hopkins

Dan Akroyd

David Byrne

Darryl Hannah

Courtney Love

Jerry Seinfeld

Roseanne Barr

Jennifer Cook

Chuggaaconroy

Stephanie Davis

Rick Glassman

Paula Hamilton

Dan Harmon

Paige Layle

Matthew Labyorteaux

Wentworth Miller

Desi Napoles

Freddie Odom Jr

Kim Peek

Sue Ann Pien

Henry Rodriguez

Scott Steindorff

Ian Terry

Tara Palmer -Tomkinson

Albert Rutecki

Billy West

Alexis Wineman- Miss America contestant

Athletes:

Jessica- Jane Applegate

Michael Brannigan

David Campion

Brenna Clark

Ulysse Delsaux

Tommy Dis Brisay

Jim Eisenreich

Todd Hodgetts

John Howard

Anthony Ianni

Lisa Llorens

Clay Matzo

Frankie Macdonald

Jason McElwain

Chris Morgan

Max Park

Cody Ware

Amani Williams

Samuel Von Einem

Musicians:

Susan Boyle

Elizabeth Ibby Grace

David Byrne

Johnny Dean

Tony DeBlois

Christopher Dufley

Jody Dipiazza

Pertti Kurikka

James Jagow

Ladyhawke

Kodi Lee

Left at London

Red Lewis Clark

Abz Love

Thristan Mendoza

Heidi Mortenson

Hikari Oe

Matt Savage

Graham Sierota

SpaceGhostPurp

Mark Tinley

Donald Triplett

Aleksander Vinter

Comedians:

Hannah Gatsby

Robert White

Bethany Black

Scientists/inventors/mathematians/Researchers:

Damian Milton

Bram Cohen

Michelle Dawson

Carl Sagan

Writers:

Neil Gaimen

Mel Bags

Kage Baker

Amy Swequenza

M. Remi Yergeau

Sean Barron

Lydia X Z Brown

Matt Burning

Dani Bowman

Nicole Cliffe

Laura Kate Dale

Aoife Dooley

Corrine Duyvus

Marianne Eloise

Jory Flemming

Temple Grandin

John R Hall

Naomi Higashida

Helan Hoang

Liane Holliday Willey

Luke Jackson

Rosie King

Thomas A McKean

Johnathan Mitchell

Jack Monroe

Caiseal Mor

Morenike Giwa- Onaiwu

Jasmine O'Neill

Brant Page Hanson

Dawn Prince-Hughs

Sue Robin

Stephen Shore

Andreas Souvitos

Sarah Stup

Susanna Tamaro

Chuck Tingle

Donna Williams

Leaders:

Julia Bascom

Ari Ne'eman

Sarah Marie Acevedo

Sharon Davenport

Joshua Collins

Conner Cummings

Kevin Healy

Poom Jenson

Amy Knight

Jared O'Mara

David Nelson

Shaun Neumeier

Master Sgt. Shale Norwitz

Jim Sinclair

Judy Singer

Dr. Vernon Smith

Artists:

Miina Akkijjyrkka

Danny Beath

Deborah Berger

Larry John Bissonnette

Patrick Francis

Goby

Jorge Gutierrez

Lina Long

Johnathan Lerman

Julian Martin

Haley Moss

Morgan Harper Nichols

Tim Sharp

Gilles Tehin

Willem Van Genk

Richard Wawro

Poets:

David Eastham

Christopher Knowles

David Miedzianik

Henriette Seth F

[literaticat]

I've seen some publishing deals made by (agents?) with Alloy Entertainment. But I can't find any info about this company- how to submit, who the agents are, etc. Do you know anything about them?

Alloy is not an agency, it's a book packager. You don't submit queries / manuscripts to them.

VERY basically, a book packager works like this: They think of the idea and write a synopsis /outline / whatever, they get an author on board to write a sample***, they sell the concept to a publisher. If/when they sell it, the author writes it, the packager is also involved editorially, etc. For this, the author gets either a flat fee or some % of the deal, the packager gets the rest.

I don't personally have a ton of experience with packagers, but here's an article from the always-knowledgeable Kate McKean about it.

***OK but how do the packagers find the authors? Well, it varies! Some companies might have a sort of "stable" of authors that they work with all the time. Some companies might do a "slush pile" of sorts where writers can submit their info and hope for the best.

And often, they come to agents! "Do you have somebody that could write _______" or "We have noticed so-and-so loves _____, would they be interested in trying this project?"

[gagfadget]

top 5 artists

Idk if you mean music artists or artist artists 💀💀 so I’ll just do both.

Music:

1. Kate Bush

2. Cocteau Twins

3. Clarence Clarity

4. Yves Tumor

5. FKA twigs

Honorable mentions are Bjork, Drab Majesty, Sevdaliza, Daniela Lalita

Art:

Literally too many to list but here are just some:

Bernie Wrightson

Dragon Bibin

arkadiusz szymanek

aleksandra waliszewska

Fransico goya

Dave mckean

Joanna Quinn

Rebecca Sugar

George Pratt

Yuko Tatsushima

Ralph Bakshi

Frank franzetta

Walter molino

Malene Reynolds

Fred L Packet

Peter Bentley

Tim Jacobs

Rodney greenblatt

[boomgers]

Ten cerca a tus amigos, pero más cerca a tus enemigos… “La Diplomática”

Kate Wyler es la nueva embajadora de Estados Unidos en el Reino Unido. Originalmente, iba a trabajar en Afganistán, porque es excelente manejando situaciones complicadas en zonas de riesgo.

Mientras el fantasma de la guerra comienza a materializarse en un continente y se asoma en otro, Kate deberá mediar en una crisis de talla internacional, forjar alianzas estratégicas en Londres y ajustarse a su nuevo puesto de alto perfil con la presión adicional de ser la esposa de Hal Wyler, gran diplomático y figura política.

Estreno: 20 de abril de 2023 en Netflix.

La serie cuenta con las actuaciones de Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, David Gyasi, Ato Essandoh, Ali Ahn, Rory Kinnear, Celia Imrie, Nana Mensah, Miguel Sandoval, Michael McKean, entre otros.

[bardicbramley]

Bramley's Book Of The Week - Master Thread

I've been adding to a thread over on my twitter (bardicbramley) every week-ish with a new Children's or YA book that I have read recently and would recommend! With everything happening on twitter, I'm going to make a master list of all my recommendation so far here, and then continue adding them to a tag on this blog as well, just in case!

So, without further ado... #bramleysbotw so far!

31/10/22 - Home by Tonya Lippert and Andrea Stegmaier

A gentle story of homelessness giving so much space for understaning & discussion. A great tool for deeper talking ab houseless people, different types of homes and unstable living situations with gorgeous, simple yet detailed art.

7/11/22 - How To Be More Hedgehog by Anne-Maire Conway

So much deep and true emotion, a relatable MC and great messages of self advocacy, confidence and activism. As someone with selective mutism and tics, I enjoyed every second of Lily's proudly stammer-filled journey.

14/11/22 - Lifesize by Sophy Henn

Over to my library kids for this #bramleybotw A new addition that they've not stopped talking about...Even my most energetic readers are sitting on the floor, reading the animal facts to their friends and comparing their hands to that of a polar bear!

21/11/22 - Me and My Dysphoria Monster by Laura Kate Dale and Ang Hui Qing

In honour of #transawarenessweek2022 and as a personal thank you from a trans educator. An amazing addition to trans children's literature (& kidlit in general) that I would highly recommend to other educators!

28/11/22 - Love Your Body by Jessica Sanders and Carol Rossetti

A beautiful and uplifting non fiction to support girls in loving and appreciating their body for all the amazing things it can do, and all the incredible ways it can look.

I needed more words to also talk about the incredible art in this week's choice. The colour pallet just so comforting and the style is a new favourite of mine!

5/12/22 - Paws by Kate Foster

My younger self would have loved this book and even now I adore it. It has authentic #actuallyautistic representation (without negativity!) and is all round a lovely story.

6/1/23 - When I See Blue by Lily Bailey

An emotional and gritty real world adventure with Ben, as he navigates making friends, protecting his alcoholic mother, and battling the bully in his head, his OCD. A tough but beautiful read.

30/1/23 - Star Knights by Kay Davault

A Graphic Novel filled with self acceptance, incredible worldbuilding and animals that turn into magical adventurers?! I mean come on, how could I not rec this one 💖 bonus points for queer rep too.

9/2/23 - All To Play For by Eve Ainsworth

It's recommended by Empathy Lab UK this year and I couldn't agree more. It has Barrington Stoke's signature dyslexia friendly pages and font - but so much more than that. A story of family, class and determination.

20/2/23 - Birdsong by Katya Balen

I'm a bit late to the party with this one. I've seen so many people sing it's praises! A gorgeously honest, emotional and raw story that any child will love, but will strike a chord with certain ones especially.

27/2/23 - Speak Up! by Rebecca Burgess

A graphic novel about a secret teen pop star with a wonderful autistic main and genderqueer side character representation? Of course it was amazing!

6/3/23 - Tyger by SF Said

Much like Phoenix, the dedication to world building, the layered, lovable characters, and the beautifully descriptive language had me gripped from the very start. Dave McKean's incredibly detailed and emotive illustrations surely helped!

13/3/23 - Needle by Patrice Lawrence

An incredible heartfelt read for UKS2/MG/KS3 - exploring often avoided topics of fostering, UK police and court systems, racial profiling, when to be honest (or fake it), whose voices matter most and questionable justice.

20/3/23 - Twelfth Grade Night by Molly Horton Booth, Stephanie Kate Strohm and Jamie Green

Sometimes you really just need a queer, unapologetically corny modern Shakespeare smash retelling of Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and that's 100% okay! I got you covered!

In all seriousness, with all the hatred filling queer spaces atm, it was great to just float in a fun, sweet, dramatic world full of lovable ✨fairies✨The illustrations caught me instantly - the pining faces, the dramatic lighting! A teen romcom Will'd be proud of.

28/3/23 - Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

A beautiful UKS2+ novel in verse following Jude's journey across oceans, growing up, making friends and finding her voice. Rich and realistic, not shying away from subjects often avoided, and with poetic Arabic intertwined.

3/4/23 - Frizzy by Claribel A. Oretga and Rose Bousamra

Whilst not my own cultural story, it resonated deeply still 💖 an incredibly honest, beautiful and joyous graphic novel with gorgeous colours and rebellious questioning of generational trauma!

12/4/23 - Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes Smith

I put it off for so long bc I was a little scared it might not live up to my hopes, but it was so much more than I imagined. The love I have for these kiddos (and Callie's dads 😭) is intense. Kidlits often shy away from big, scary or rebellious topics. Neither Callie nor Esme are afraid to speak up ab what trans kids (and so many others) need/deserve to hear, and I am so proud of them for that. This is the book I needed as a kid - I am so glad it exists now 💖⚔️

24/4/23 - Jamie by LD Lapinski

A powerful story of never backing down and demanding your full self to be acknowledged. I'm so excited to see a story encouraging children to stand up for themselves and recognise that adults can be (& often are) wrong.

5/5/23 - Dungeon Club: Roll Call by Molly Knox Ostertag and Xanthe Bouma

Great for those who haven't played and incredible for those who have - the use of D&D stat blocks and dual narrative (irl and in game) 🙌🏻 simply amazing! Can't wait for the next!

15/5/23 - Call Me Lion by Camilla Chester

Being autistic, sometimes partially or non-speaking, and having struggled with confidence all my life - I just loved this little joyful tale. Realistic but hopeful, with easily likeable, well rounded mcs!

22/5/23 - My Brother is Away by Sara Greenwood and Luisa Uribe

A /beautifully/ illustrated and gently poignant picturebook of a child whose brother is incarcerated. I've seen this kind of book before, but this is it done right, well, and to a v. high quality.

19/6/23 - Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Been meaning to read this for so long, finally have, and of course its been added to my all time favourites list! What an incredible, reflective and honest piece of art for children. I don't do mandatory reading, but if I did: top of the list.

26/6/23 - The Golden Hour by Niki Smith

A gorgeous graphic novel, upper KS2-3 cusp/YA. It takes a beautifully artistic and honest look into managing childhood PTSD from gun violence, with help from an eye for photography, a cute calf, and a first queer crush 💖

3/7/23 - My Aunt is a Monster by Reimena Yee

A sweet and exciting story of adventurers, curses and mysteries with a healthy dash of queer and disabled representation, all whilst learning to see past first impressions.

[can-i-make-image-descriptions]

[Image ID: Tweet from Kate McKean (@/ kate_mcKean) reading: When I sign an email 'Yours" it's not a term of endearment—it means this email is now yours I'm done with it get it away from me. /End ID]

[juliopison]

CINE (Serie) La diplomática (2023) Título original: The Diplomat EEUU Dirección: Debora Cahn (Creadora) 8 Episodios en un solo video Idioma: Doblada al Español

Atención: Solo para ver en PC o Notebook Para ver el Film pulsa el Link: https://artecafejcp.wixsite.com/escenario-cafejcp/post/la-diplomatica-2023

Protagonistas: Keri Russell · Rufus Sewell · David Gyasi · Ato Essandoh · Ali Ahn · Rory Kinnear · Michael McKean · Nana Mensah.

Género: Drama. Thriller | Política

Sinopsis: En medio de una crisis internacional, Kate Wyler, una diplomática de carrera, aterriza como nueva embajadora norteamericana en Londres, un puesto de alto perfil político para el que no estaba preparada, con implicaciones tectónicas para su matrimonio y su futuro profesional.

Críticas: "Una mirada aguda al estado profundo. (…) Muy logrados los protagonistas (…) Diálogos chisposos, rápidos, inteligentes" -Ricardo de Querol: Diario El País

Premios: 81ª Globos de Oro (2024) - Películas del 2023 nom.Mejor serie de TV - Drama nom.Mejor actriz principal en serie de TV - Drama (Keri Russell)

Café Mientras Tanto jcp

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 4.19

Beer Birthdays

Henry Becker (1851)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Fernando Botero; artist (1932)

Tim Curry; actor (1946)

Dick Sargent; actor (1930)

Glenn Seaborg; chemist, discovered Plutonium (1912)

Larry Walters; lawn chair pilot (1949)

Famous Birthdays

Don Barbour; pop singer (1927)

Czeslaw Bartkowski; jazz composer, drummer (1943)

Hayden Christensen; actor (1981)

Elinor Donahue; actor (1937)

Ole Evinrude; outboard motor inventor (1877)

Kate Hudson; actor (1979)

Richard Hughes; English writer (1900)

Ashley Judd; actor (1968)

Jayne Mansfield; actor (1933)

Thomas McKean; signer of the Declaration of Independence (1721)

Dudley Moore; actor (1935)

Eliot Ness; federal prohibition agent (1903)

Hugh O'Brian; actor (1923)

Murray Perahia; pianist (1947)

Valerie Plame; former CIA agent, maliciously outed by Republican administration (1963)

Troy Polamalu; Pittsburgh Steelers SS (1981)

David Ricardo; economist (1772)

Roger Sherman; signer of the Declaration of Independence (1721)

Al Unser Jr.; automobile race driver (1962)

Alan Wheatley; actor (1907)

Dar Williams; blues musician (1967)

[movienized-com]

The Diplomat

The Diplomat (Serie 2023) #KeriRussell #RufusSewell #DavidGyasi #AtoEssandoh #AliAhn #RoryKinnear Mehr auf:

Serie / Diplomatische BeziehungenJahr: 2023- (April) Genre: Drama / Thriller Hauptrollen: Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, David Gyasi, Ato Essandoh, Ali Ahn, Rory Kinnear, Celia Imrie, Nana Mensah, Miguel Sandoval, Michael McKean … Serienbeschreibung: Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) trägt als hochrangige US-Botschafterin und Diplomatin große Verantwortung. Ihr Ehemann Hal (Rufus Sewell), selbst…

[holly-childs]

"ex-situ" text in a do ocean curated by Christopher L G Hill at Kings, 20 October 2022–12 November 2022

With Cameron Allan McKean, Ricarda Bigolin, Hugo Blomley, Nicola Blumenthal, Holly Childs, Stacey Collee, Renee Cosgrave, Gabriella D’Costa, George Egerton-Warburton, Debris Facility, Endless Lonely Planet 11, Sam George, Luke Gerrard, Aurellia Guo, Chloe Hagger, Christopher L G Hill, Christopher Theofanous, Jesse Hogan, Lou Hubbard, Helen Hughes, Raafat Ishak, Eleanor Laver, Alice McIntosh, Sean McMorrow, Gian Manik, Kate Meakin, Virginia Overell, Ashley Perry, Lisa Radford, Yuval Rosinger, Nick Selenitsch, Amy May Stuart, Savanna Szelski, Yundi Wang, and more.

[chaos0pikachu]

Okay so just a couple things I wanna contribute here, and I'm putting a chunk of this response behind a cut to save folks the scrollage (especially mobile users).

TLDR: I disagree with some of the "trends" listed here, specifically the stuff about the remakes, Korea not knowing what sex and kissing are, and especially that BL is being overly influenced by "modern romance trends out of the west"; the latter two read a bit, hm, xenophobic to me ngl and spread a bit of misinformation about the media from countries like Thailand, Korea, and Japan. I also added some of sources from academics, journalists, and publishers as well. Also James Cameron is a weeb so jot that down.

So regarding Japanese IP stuff, I keep seeing people talk about how ~crazy~ Japanese copyright law is, but the general laws aren't that much different from international standards.

I'm not sure if I'm like, missing something here no one provided any sources to any case files or articles on the subject when the issue with Cherry Magic came up. Which, I can only assume since I don't have access to the contract, it wasn't a copyright issue it was a distribution issue. It's complicated, as distribution falls under copyright, but it's a subset, and typically in my direct experience, creators will sell their distribution rights or share them with their publisher (or studio) so the company can handle actual distribution negotiations.

It's very typical to only have distribution rights in select countries for adapted works (which are why VPNS are a big thing). Gmmtv more than likely, only had distribution rights for Thailand, not other countries which is why their youtube broadcast got got. That's not Japan - y'all realize this is like an entire country right?? - being assholes. It's one copyright holder - SquareEnix who publishes Cherry Magic - asserting their rights b/c gmmtv was stealing money from their - and the authors - pockets.

Now like, Nintendo is highly protective over their copyright but no more so than Disney (source 02) or Taylor Swift.

Remakes like Cherry Magic aren't even new for Japan, Korea, Thailand, etc, even for gmmtv. Their series, F4 is a remake of insanely popular Japanese manga Boys Over Flowers, which does have clips of the episodes on youtube with no issue. Boys Over Flowers has also been remade by Taiwan, Korea, China, Indonesia, China (again), and India.

It's not just the rights to remake the media, usually the IP owners also get a slice of the capital as well. Japan, China, Korea and lots of other Asian countries have been cross exchanging for decades with their television and films.

The series Mr. Queen (2020), a popular Korean drama (that's very queer until the ending, but the original story is also even more queer) is an adaption of a Chinese show called Go Princess Go (2015) based on a novel of the same name, is one example, another is My Absolute Boyfriend (2019) a kdrama based on a Japanese manga of the same name.

Also, while I'm only familiar with American contracting for IP rights (and no I'm not a lawyer I've just seen and been in the room for a lot of these contract negotiations), it's entirely possible gmmtv has optioned many 90s manga.

Optioning is just the set up, its the handshake agreement between two parties "yes I would like to make a thing out of your thing" and that's it. Lots of stuff gets optioned with no announcement b/c optioning isn't a promise or an agreement it'll go into production.

Kate Mckean, one of the best agents imo in publishing, breaks down optioning really well in her article What "Optioned" Means.

So I would argue this isn't really a "trend" so much as normal film making? This stuff happens all the time, it's picking up in BL because of the rise in popularity making it monetarily valuable, but I wouldn't argue it's at all special or a new trend since this is baked into general cultural exchanges in media of which is longstanding between all these countries. Like there's already pre-established history here of this happening for decades so it's not really a "trend" nor "new".

Okay so like, I'm not gonna front I find it a bit xenophobic to say "Korea figured out boys can kiss" this is something I've seen a lot in BL fandom discussion. That Korea "doesn't know what sex is" or similar takes and I just, y'all are talking about an entire country of people here.

I find it trips a bit into a historic trend of desexualizing Asian Men in the west (<- article by Andrew Kung about the desexualization of Asian men in the west, and his exploration of sexuality, identity and discrimination).

Which, I know we're all watching BL which includes nothing but Asian men, and yet.

Like, yes porn is "technically" illegal in Korea but Koreans still know what porn is. They still watch it. In fact it's difficult even for the government to enforce those laws, as detailed in this article by Business Insider:

""It's like shoveling snow in a blizzard," Nuri Cop Moon Tae-Hwa told Hyung-Jin Kim of The Huffington Post." (source)

The existence and debate around porn in Korea is also a complex one, with a lot of historical context. This article talks a bit about Korean feminists and porn. I also find this line of thinking discounts real world politics that effects how media is made and reflected. Like activist groups fighting for discrimination protections currently in Korea.

Like, we know this to be true in American and European cinema but it stops being true for non-white media? That's weird ain't it?

Also like, manwha is really fucking explicit. Korea absolutely knows what boy kissing, sex, and queer narratives are.

Multiple kdramas or films like Hometown Cha Cha Cha, Out of Breath, Schoolgirl Detectives, and Love Alarm, all feature queer characters, narratives and romances. They may not be "BL" - tho I would argue Schoolgirl Detectives and Out of Breath toe into GL tho Out of Breath is more of an romance film for adults - but if we count Love is Science as an honorary BL b/c of Mark and Ouwen then idk why we can't count at least Out of Breath.

Beyond that tho, like whether we count these series or not, to say that Korea doesn't know queer narratives or what boy kissing is b/c one singular sub-genre of romance wasn't delivering (which is an opinion not media analysis) is discounting all the other work being done in Korea by film makers.

Painter by Night is one of the most erotic and sexual comics I've ever read (beautifully drawn as well). Semantic Error also has sex in the comic, and there's a slew of porn comics that exist in Korea and are available to read right now.

I get that a majority of Korean BL isn't sexy, but for a long while a majority of het kdramas in the mainstream weren't either. Hometown Cha Cha Cha only has a post sex scene that's hilariously chaste.

But now? Somebody a 2022 kdrama thriller had explicit sex scenes (multiple of them!), My Name, Old Boy, Squid Game all also come to mind. Has Korea been chaste in the past? Yes and no, for mainstream stuff absolutely because the mainstream will almost always play it safe for capital value, but Old Boy came out in 2013 and has nudity and explicit sex.

I just want people to realize that by making definitive statements "Korea doesn't know what boy kissing/sex is" you're distilling an entire country of people down to 1) a singular genre of media and a niche one at that 2) ignoring cultural context and history that influences said media and 3) being moderately condescending and xenophobic.

It's misinformation and it's frustrating to see this repeated over and over by numerous people in fandom.

Lastly, the "modern romance trends out of the west" with omegaverse used as an example. I'm a good 99% positive Pit Babe was not at all inspired by Teen Wolf or Supernatural.

While omegaverse originated in the west - specifically via Supernatural - it's been popular in Japan and China for almost a decade, if not longer. The earliest omegaverse manga I can think of is Pendulum: Juujin Omegaverse by Hana Hasumi which was released in 2015, almost a decade ago.

There's countless popular omegaverse manga too, and the dynamics only moderately resemble the ones we're familiar with in the west. Juujin is part omegaverse and part furry/beastmen - the alphas are all beastmen the omegas are humans - while something like Ookami-kun Is Not Scary only slightly resembles omegaverse dynamics as a hybrid series - since beastmen are really popular in Japan in part b/c of historical mythology (you see the combination of romantic Beastmen and Japanese culture & folklore in Mamoru Hosoda's work The Boy and the Beast and Wolf Children).

I mean Megumi & Tsugumi (2018) is so popular they're an official English edition published by VIZ's imprint SuBlime and that's a straight up omegaverse story.

So if Pit Babe was influenced by anything, it certainly wasn't the west it was Japan, Korea and China.

I take contention with this line of thinking, because it centers the west way to much. Like mafia settings, why is that considered a "western" trope?

Korea alone in the last 3 years has had The Ballerina, Believer 2, My Name, Bloodhounds, Bad and Crazy, to name a few, and this isn't even getting into the cinema history of popular crime dramas many of which make up a huge chunk of Don Lee's career like The Gangster, the Cop and the Devil, or Unstoppable.

When I saw the trailer for Red Peafowl I didn't see influence from the west, I saw influence from Hong Kong.

The trailer took more inspiration from Jet Li (The Enforcer, Fist of Legend) and Donnie Yen (Flash Point, Raging Fire, Kung Fu Jungle) films than anything I've seen recently here in America. Which makes more sense, the filmmakers working now in Thailand, Korea, Japan, etc would have grown up watching those now crime action masterpieces and are now making their own work today.

So I disagree that BL has become all the influenced by "modern romance trends out of the west" I think that does a huge disservice to these individual countries who have their own histories of cinema and influence and cultural exchange. Like, do I believe American film making has had an influence over Japanese or Korean film making? Yes, absolutely - Train to Busan is a good example of this - however, the opposite is also true.

Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Darren Aronofsky, Christopher Nolan, the Wachowski sisters, George Lucas and James Cameron have all been influenced by Japanese film making, especially the works of Akira Kurosawa, Satoshi Kon, and Mamoru Oshii. Like, dios mio James Cameron is a damn weeb y'all.

John Wick's entire gun-fu sub-genre is heavily influenced by classic Hong Kong action films and the works of Bruce Lee. Legend of Korra, The Boondocks, Voltron, Young Justice, My Adventures with Superman are all obviously inspired by Japanese anime but animated by a Korean animation studio (Studio Mir). Beyond that, the rise in adult animated dramas like Castlevania, Critical Role Vox Machina, and Invincible to name a few are very clearly taking inspiration from anime in terms of style.

So yes there's totally cross cultural exchange going on, that's been true as far back as 1952 with Astro Boy who's design was inspired by Walt Disney's work on Bambi.

But do I think BL is following specific trends set by the west? No. At least not to the degree of an entire trend, because the influences I'm seeing in BL currently aren't from the west (by which we really mean American/UK don't we?) but by other Asian countries.

For example, The Sign is taking clear inspiration from Chinese & Korean costume dramas, especially Chinese ones like Ashes of Love, Fairy and Devil, White Snake (and it's many adaptions), & Guardian.

Sidenote: curious where all the femme gay chars in BL in 2023 are? Genuinely asking, I can't think of any that are very recent. I see femme gay characters more often in films than in TV shows like Marry My Dead Body (2022, Taiwanese) and Tokyo Godfathers (2003, Japanese). But for BL I'm coming up blank.

I'm also not sure what you mean by "messy gay" there's been loads of novels, comics, film and tv shows with messy gays like Shinji Ikari is the messiest bisexual put to screen. But I'm not sure what's the qualifier for "messy gay" here. Are we thinking Only Friends? B/c the only messy gay in that show is Boston, Playboyy features actual messy gay men but it's also one of the queerest BL around right now.

Again, I only take contention with this point because it centers the west and our supposed individual importance way to much. It removes the existence of history these countries have which are rich, varied, and nuanced. BL doesn't exist in a vacuum you can trace the development of Korean BL to the development of Korean het dramas almost to a T.

You can also trace their development to the queer history of each country and how Thailand interacts culturally with China, Japan, Korea, etc and vice versa. It also ignores the history of these countries influencing American cinema as well. The exchange doesn't only go one way.

Overall it feels like we're separating BL into this completely separate category of film making and acting as though we, westerners, are the target audience for any of it. Which we're not. We're a second or third tier audience, Thai studios are probably way more focused on targeting Japanese and Korean audiences than American. It feels as though we're not viewing these countries with a nuance lens, where they aren't just static producers of a singular piece of content people consume rather than a fully fledged individual country we should be engaging with.

TOP 10 BL Trends of 2023

This is just me with my analysis hat on. 

1. 2023 = the year EVERYONE went outside their lanes

Everything went topsy-turvy this year in BL. 

For example, Korea gave us agonized yearning and outright queerness (The 8th Sense, The New Employee) while Japan served up soft office workers and tender family (Our Dining Table). 

The BL world went askew for a while, especially in the spring of 2023. 

Not that we still didn’t still get Korea’s soft angsty bubbles or Japan’s “what are you doing and why does it hurt?” kink-fests. But there were quite a few BLs that made us chronic watchers sit up in confusion and wonder if Korea was dabbling in Taiwan’s territory or Japan in Thailand’s. Then they fudged the kisses and we were like… okay, back in familiar territory. 

In contrast, Thailand stayed course-correcting for the damage they’ve done in the past with tropes (2022) and self referential meta criticism (2021), but also almost aggressively returned to their BL roots after last year’s series of shockers. Certainly, they are reexamining those roots, transplanting some, aerating others. But they really went back to classic Thai university and high school BL and pulps in a big way in 2023. 

Taiwan is always difficult to gage because they produce so few but they seem to have stuck with what they do best with no deviation while producing more this year than they have in ages. I’m happy for that, why change a good thing? But there is a tiny part of me that really wants them to hit it out of the part with a quality piece soon. For me, We Best Love still reigns supreme, but I would really like the HIStory franchise to give us that level but longer - like a happy version of Your Name Engraved Herein. I think Taiwan has the chops to give us something as good as The 8th Sense or Old Fashion Cupcake but in their style, and I would like to see them exercise their talent for good rather than just profit. 

I know, what a very odd thing for me to say. But if any BL is going to break into the mainstream American market, I genuinely think it’s most likely come from Taiwan. 

Vietnam and the Philippines are falling behind, in general. They just didn’t bring out very many shows in 2023, and what the brought out tended to fub the endings. This is forgivable in Japan (because of their style and quality) but not what watchers want in the lower production value propositions. In other words, if you do a pulp, you can’t mess up the ending (by romance standards). that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon. 

2. The Office Romance Dominated

After years of Thailand serving us an endless (and slightly bland) buffet of university (and a few high school) BLs, this year Korea was basically like…

Ofiice. We like the Office. It’s cheap to film we can use grown up actors, acting (mostly) their actual age. 

And yeah… it totally worked. 

To be fair, Japan has always given us office live action yaoi from the beginning (they had the source material) but this year everyone else, including Thailand, seriously started playing in this setting. 

3. Boys Danced with Boys

The darling @heretherebedork​ was a big fan of this one, and I rather like it myself. Prior to this boys dancing together was very very rare in BL, but this year we got way more than our fair share. It was lovely. 

Never Let me Go

My School President 

Bed Friend 

The Day I Loved You 

Step by Step

Be Mine Superstar

Tie the Not 

Dangerous Romance

I think there were a few more. These are the ones I remembered to write down. 

4. Getting (even more) Meta With Tropes 

BL has been getting more and more meta over the past few years but this year they really focused in on tropes specifically. Calling out their own biggest and most favorite tropes in a massive way, especially Thailand and especially GMMTV. 

Like they tunneled in on damaging tropes with Bad Buddy and the like over the past 2 years, and now they are just having fun with us. 

I mean they just started the dancing trope and already they are calling it out? That’s like rapid-fire regurgitated meta there, GMMTV. 

5. Cameos are the norm now 

Taiwan has always loved cameos but in the past the other countries have been show and steady with only one or two a year. (Unless Japan does a parody.) 

This year Korea got in on the game.

Korea rarely starts trends but they do adopt smaller and lesser known existing ones and make them super popular. 

This year they did that with cameo couple appearances, even borrowing a few of Thailand’s pairs (TutorYim and MaxNat traveled north). They did it so much I stopped tracking. Love Class 2, Why R U?, and Jun & Jun were the heaviest hitters. 

Taiwan, of course, came back swinging. Kiseki was the gum-ball machine of pair cameos. (In Taiwan mafia = gay.) 

6. We are entering the cross pollination age

The number of remakes picked up or started this year was startling, not just countries revisiting their own content (Thailand, Japan) but countries revisiting OTHER countries stuff.

Lemme explain…

Korea has started remaking Thai content (Why R U?) alongside cameo'ing Thai pairs.

Thailand is doing Korean IP (My Dear Gagster Oppa) and has 2 Chinese ones slated for next year. 

GMMTV acquired a lot of Japanese IP (Cherry Magic, Ossen, and My Love Mix Up) - and then had problems distributing it. 

This is probably the most surprising trend for me. Especially the Japanese stuff. I would have thought these properties well outside of Thailand’s price range (even GMMTV’s) not to mention Japan’s legendary IP issues (I swear I typed this pout before the pulled TayNew’s excellent Cherry Magic). 

Also why not option some of the older popular manga instead? Bet that’s much cheeper. (I did see a NEW Thai translation of Finder into Thai, which is 90s yaoi, so I have my fingers crossed on that front.)

I shouldn’t be too surprised. 

Thailand is running out of y-novel content. Their publication industry is just not robust enough (I was just talking to a friend about this at length recently). But I didn’t think they had the funds to option, especially from Japan. 

Perhaps the option deals are for peanuts?

7. Korea got cheeky

I’m not sure quite how else to put this. 

After finally figuring out boys can kiss, Korea started to do not just higher heat but playful higher heat, with more aggressive word play and linguistic innuendo, like they are entering their racy rom-com teenage years (Why R U? Love Class 2 and Jun & Jun in particular.) 

I guess: Welcome to your BL teens, Korea? 

It’s cute of them. I am very much enjoying it. 

And now that comedy is warming them up, we get to see them play with actual queer burgeoning physicality in shows like The 8th Sense. 

It’s nice. I like seeing Korea stretch its wings. They still stick to their bubble, but that bubble seems to be expanding. 

8. The Amnesia Trope is back

And I, for one, would prefer to forget about it. 

9. BL got trendy 

I’m not quite sure how to articulate this category but basically we started seeing a lot of “modern” romance trends out of the west (like a/b/o) show up in our BL. Not a ton and sometimes quite small, but there has a been a steady rise of things like: no seme/uke, femme gay, out gay, condom use, messy gay. 

We also got an increasing range of sub genre frameworks (like mafia, office setting) that’s moved BL pretty firmly (even in Thailand) out of school and into the workplace, whether actual working is involved or not. 

It’s not to the point where it feels like we get more non-school BL than school BL (if I include all countries in this assessment).

Japan, in classic Japanese fashion, quietly started moving in the opposite direction. It’s what they do. 

10. The Vampires are coming 

This is an announcement trend, which I don’t usually report on but it’s so CLEAR. 

So last year we had a spate of announcements of possible Omegaverse (2 from China, 1 from Japan, 1 from Thailand - the only one that’s happened). 

This year we got 5 Vampire (or vampire-esk) Thai BLs announced including one from GMMTV. 

Whether all 5 will actually get made is unlikely, but having had (basically) none prior to this (Kissable Lips), I’m pretty confident that we will get at least 2 of them. And I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one other country made one as well. (Side eyes Taiwan with interest.) 

Final thoughts

It feels like we are also seeing a decline in BL (both by quantity and quality) from Vietnam and the Philippines. As you all know, I don’t track or really watch either of these two very closely. But it feels like, now, no one else is either. 

I think we have likely seen the BL heyday already in both places and their industries are now on the decline. 

We might be witnessing a thinning in the players in the BL field. 

FYI we had approximately 

136 BLs in 2023

Previous Years

2022: 117

2021: 95

2020: 62

2019: 40

2018: 30 

2017: 44 (China’s last gasp)

2016: 27

2015: 17 (50% micro)

2014: 17 (50% micro)

And that’s it! Let me know in the comments if you’ve spotted any additional trends you want to call out.

Last year, 2022′s trend report

2021′s Trend report

Last Year’s Stats & Predictions

(source)