#i'm so fucking normal about this trailer and upcoming movie

[snackugaki]

... and now we return to normal levels of unhinged about turtles here at snackugaki.tumblr.com

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Thailand surprised me

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

May 2024 Wk 1

Ongoing Series - Thai

My Stand-In (Thai Fri iQIYI) ep 2 of 12 eps - I love love love Sol! Pink-haired baby idol blast from the past nursing a crush = absolute catnip for me. This is def my favorite Thai BL currently airing. And it’s probably because it has a sort of odd queer authenticity to both its gayness and its rep of the film industry. I mean, of course it’s sanitized into BL fantasy-landia, but there’s an underpinning of something real, for lack of a better word. Normally I prefer the fantasy of my dumb BL worldview, but in this one I’m kind of liking a little chew and grit.

All of which is to say: this is very fucked up messy gay, which normally I’m not wild about, but for some reason I’m really enjoying this version.

On the other side of the BL coin we have:

Wandee Godday (Sat YT) ep 1 of 12 - And I like it a lot. It’s fun and I’m enjoying it (possibly more than it deserves). I like how it’s a little absurdist. I like that it starts with a one night stand. I like all of the side characters. I love the asexual representation. Bonus LUBE! It’s a fun show. More FUN that GMMTV usually goes for.  

Two Worlds (Thurs iQIYI) ep 8 of 10 - The sketching in the cave scene was v sexy. And I’m enjoying this BL, but not for any other reason than MaxNat being MaxNatty all over my screen. 

1000 Years Old (Thurs iQIYI) ep 12fin - I don’t know what I feel about this one. Mostly just indifferent. It was meant to be the paranormal Thai BL pulp about vampires that we were all waiting for, and it ended up just being boring. Frankly, I'd rather be pissed off than bored. 6/10

Only Boo! (Sun YouTube) ep 4 of 12 - I truly love the naked lust on our side couple's pining friend's face. Usually only Japan get this thirsty.

Book is perfectly cast as Moo's older bro. They even look a bit alike but it might have been a mistake, because he’s so damn charismatic. Stole all the breath from the show for a bit. 

We Are (Weds iQIYI) ep 5 of 16 - No report until next week. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Unknown (Taiwan Tues YouTube & Viki) ep 11 of 12 - What a fantastic ep. This show really is killing it. I’m so happy with Taiwan right now. 

Carry on.

Blue Boys (Korea YouTube) 3 of ? - It remains lovely and I remain enjoying it immensely. It’s very Strongberry feeling. That's always a welcome sensation.

Living With Him AKA Kare no Iru Seikatsu (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 4 of 10 - They are so cute and pretty much just boyfriends already regardless of what they each think. I'm scared that next week is the final episode, it doesn’t feel like it’s gone very far.

At 25:00 in Akasaka AKA 25 Ji Akasaka de (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - I liked it a little better this week. I guess I’m warming up to this one?

Boys Be Brave AKA Roommates (Korea Thurs Viki) ep 3-4 of 8 - Ah poor lonely neglected child. They are all such weirdos. I don’t understand any of these characters or their motivations except they are strange kind of cartoons of... something.

Love is like a Cat (Korea Mon Viki) eps 9-10 of 12 - The guy who plays the vet should be playing a vampire. That's it. That's all I have to say. 

It's airing but...

Lady Boy Friends (Thai WeTV grey) 16 eps - reminds me a bit too much of Diary of Tootsies only high school. Not my thing. DNF unless it turns a corner and is truly amazing.

Memory in the Letter (Thai WeTV) - 6 eps, when it's done, tell me if I should bother?

You Made My Day (Thai YT) ep 1 of 5 - supposed to have started on Friday but I couldn't find it, I also didn't try very hard.

In case you missed it

GMMTV announced the second half of their 2024 line up. I got excited and picked my favorites, details + trailers here.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

May Releases

5/10 A Balloon's Landing (Taiwan movie) trailer - A frustrated Hong Kong writer, Tian Yu, meets a Taipei street gangster, Xiang (Fandy Fan from HIStory2: Crossing the Line), and the two of them embark on a journey to find the Bay of Vanishing Whales. Along the way, they discover unexpected twists and turns and close bonds, which brings out the message that "there is always someone like you in this world who is waiting for you.

5/16 Blossom Campus (Korea Thurs Gaga & iQIYI) ep 1 of 6 - Strongberry doing classic BL! Weeee!

5/19 OMG Vampire (Thai Sun ????) ep 1 of 10 - LeeFrank are back - not unlike the undead (as it were). But how do we feel about it? Unsure given their track record.

5/25 The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer - HoTae & DongHee are back but unfortunately not in a cinema near me. Side couple from Unintentional Love Story, same actors, same character names. I love them. I NEED TO SEE THIS.

5/28 My Biker 2 (Thai movie YT?) - trailer

5/31 The Time of Huannan (Taiwan movie) - May not be BL

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

I love a shrimp peeling moment in my Thai BL. (Only Boo)

Unquestionably the best moment in BL this year. FIGHT ME. (Unknown)

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will add you to the template. Easy peesy.

[objectivelyimpermanent]

Episode 10

Continual pacing issues. I'm going to wait until it's finished airing and I can do a binge-rewatch, but I think it's structural at this point, and it may be just a feature of the series now. And since it is a melodrama, I am not going to comment on: kidnappers ringing the doorbell; not checking inside the vase; evil villain monologing; convenient bulletproof vest; convenient Kinn arrival time.

It's good that Ken is the (dead) mole. I never liked him much. Someone should definitely make a Whack-a-mole joke. Whoever argued that he was the mole since he was always speaking in Ominous English™, well done. I do wonder if he wasn't just the incompetent mole, and the secret mole is Arm because that would make me really sad, but he is being relied upon for all spy tech, we still have a home invasion incoming, and he would be one of the most devastating moles.

I called Big stepping up. Good man. Was he our key character death? It was a bit rushed, if so.

Kinn should have killed Tawan; that would have been more emotionally satisfying. He didn't because he's softhearted at his core, and possibly also because his new piece was watching (although Porsche absolutely would not have minded Kinn shooting Tawan in the head), but it would have been cathartic, and it would have rounded out that emotional arc nicely. It also would have been a moment of growth as the boss-to-be. The jail escape scene, considering that Porsche chose escape, went about as well as it could have gone, with Kinn letting him go. Kinn never thought that Porsche was the mole, obviously, because no one did, because everyone has met Porsche. Porsche was doing the same thing that everyone seems to agree that he was doing in the episode 7 bathroom scene with Vegas and that definitely he was doing with the tug-of-war scene in the spa in episode 5—shutting up and following along until he figures out what the fuck everyone is doing. But trust issues are still here—don't think that I didn't notice the sex distraction from talking about it, and the 'I'm on your side' scene hasn't happened yet, so we've some issues still upcoming. Deutsche Bank looks on disapprovingly, as do we. But the trust issues remaining is fair, since it was a theme so dramatically emphasised in the trailer. Relatedly, Kinn seems to be smoking a lot. If I remember correctly, his vice of choice is usually a whisky or so. I don't know that he's picked it up from Porsche or that it's a return to a prequel habit. Porsche himself was smoking less this episode, possibly holding to his decision to quit in episode 7. He's under stress, and he's not talking to Porsche about it. Nonetheless, the final shot was very pretty, and we got Kinn smiling cutely as he does. Porsche likes Kinn to be happy, and he is happy when they're together, but happiness cannot be itself a foundation for a relationship, especially one under as much constant stress as a tripartite 1) gay, 2) mafia, and 3) heir relationship.

Vegaspete! Torture! CBT! That was great. We had a little bonding, and it looks like we'll have some more next episode. I want to know more about the guy who only exists to pull down Pete's trousers. What a guy. I don't think anyone is surprised that Vegas' Red Room of Pain is decorated in Classic Edgelord style. Pete wasn't. Skullfaced Mother Mary next to a ballgag? Why not. We already knew that Vegas was unhinged: trouserlegs in the pool, lovebombing, grabbing arse in a temple. He has so many scenes where it's clear that he's just trying to recreate scenes he's seen in movies or TV: the Italian massacre scene where he slutted over Porsche; the scene where he was somewhat normally flirting with Porsche but revealed that he was more on the stalker end; the kiss scene which I swear he thought was a natural progression; the scene with Pete when he talked about reincarnation in the temple; the miaowfioso conversation with Porsche next to the pool; the jail rescue scene. He's saying lines like he's expecting the instrumental version of Freefall to be playing in the background. It's like he doesn't quite understand how a human is supposed to work. You'll notice also that most of these scenes are romance-adjacent. Absolutely Vegas has never properly dated anyone. Tawan does not count. Vegastawan was disgusting, and Tawan is clearly a yandere (that thinks he's a woobie). I spit. Vegaspete is going to be less about sexy darkside BDSM temptation than about Vegas doing something kind of lame and absolutely baffling and Pete rolling his eyes or laughing in his face. Pete is a human masochist, thank you very much. The scene with Pete laughing was actually really good. We got an aspect of his personality that we've only really seen in his personal trailer with the powermad grin.

Kinn and Kim still haven't been shown on screen together, although we did get the start of a phone call.

Given Porschay's ultimatum to Porsche about the mafia thing, I think that the Kimchay breakup will happen next episode. Perhaps episode 11 will be focused on our secondary couples.

[celanyisconfused]

With me being able to watch No way home tomorrow, here are some hopes and thoughts on the movie:

-I am like 80% sure the old Spider-Men are in this. Of course most of the leaks and stuff were planned and they would really get a lot of negative backlash and people would call it a 'waste of a movie'. I don't really agree because the movie and what it's setting up has so much potential. I'm just waiting for the comedic potential and some redemption/ getting things right because I really like Andrew after watching some of his other movies hand he deserves more.

-My biggest fear is that this movie will have absolutely no stakes. Like yeah the idea of the whole movie is that Peter makes another dumb choice and fucks up, leading to big distruction and danger for everyone (far from home) with wanting the spell. But from the trailer most people think the 'do it' refers to Dr Strange doing the spell a second time/ doing it right and that can turn into 'everything was as it was before the reveal' Which would just reverse it to the beginning of the movie.

I want the spell to cost something, or at least in the course of the story that Peter like actually learns something and they use jt

Wich leads me to:

-unpopular opinion?: Peter is better than the MCU(especially his own movies) treats him. Yeah he is still a teenager, but he has grown and learned a lot and like come on, don't give me two consecutive movies about making wrong decisions with the right intentions and it not working out. He has been through major trauma, losing like 4 father figures, being bliped and getting his biggest identity revealed. He is a kid with a lot of problems but he is a fucking genius and a lot smarter than they make him(In my opinion)

-cant wait for their 'multiverse-rules' and what it sets up for Dr. Strange multiverse of madness

-Also I hope he gets to keep his secret identity because it a big part of Spider-Man. Maybe a few people around him find out but I don't know if the ACA Dec team or flash/ Brad is even in this.

-just a few other things I hope for: more Ned+ Peter content, Harley (?! Because Disneyland), a nice development with MJ (trailer suggest so and I will even get of my lesbian MJ headcanon for this), more Karen/AI interactions, Young avengers teasers?? (I mean we got Yelena and Kate, Shuri and Harley are more wishful thinking, Wanda's twins? ( I actually don't know who is in them for sure but they make sense))

Happy about the second triology news and I'm just super hyped. These were thougts I had while rewatching ffh.

I will post a spoiler free and normal review once I come back cause why not?

What do you want/think about the upcoming movie?