#if life is a performance

[elizabethplaid]

Hey, I'm not really religious, but this reminds me of when people will speak to their god(s). Usually, it'd be like "God, why do you put me through these challenges?" But it can also be, "I hope you are entertained by my folly," sort of just knowing that someone's "watching over us".

Somewhat similar, we joke about the personally-assigned FBI agent to watch over our internet activities. But, in a way, that's also like a guardian angel. Just because they watch doesn't mean they take any/much action in response.

I've played The Sims franchise for 20+ years, so I'm kinda chill with the absurdity of someone "watching over us", potentially just for laughs. I was always weirded out as a kid of the thought of god or dead relatives "watching from heaven". Like, even when you're in the shower? That's gross.

To have the modern equivalent be that someone's watching and commenting (still alive, too), it's a frog-boil analogy. I'm sure there's potential for incorporating kay-fabe into the interpretation, too. I'm just like, "Hey, if you wanted me to to be scared of this now, then you shouldn't have told me 30-years-ago this was already happening."

[novaneondream]

Anyways what kind of music do you think Eri listens to

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Circus performers (1940s, 1950s)

[shitpostingkats]

The bad kids are a great group dynamic, but also the individual team ups? Never miss.

Fig and Fabian going in to talk to Garthy O’Brien completely confident despite the fact that neither of them remember what they’re supposed to ask for. Adaine and Riz sweating profusely through making small talk but being overjoyed when they get past it and get to investigate a bloody ritual site. Fig and the Cig Figs. Fabian and Gorgug being jocks together (bonus points if there's Ragh). The Bardy Boys. Spring Break I Believe In You. Every combination of these characters is some entirely new nonsense dynamic and I am so here for it

[zegalba]

Tracey Emin: Life Model Goes Mad (1996)

[maybe-boys-do-love]

Mix Sahaphap gets to perform (and has the performance chops to perform) in a style that I’ve never seen any other male actor get to embody. Mix gets to unironically play the #strongfemalecharacter. The Beatrice, the Elizabeth Bennett, the Jo March. Strong-willed, emotional, kind-hearted.

Not only do the plot points line up, but Mix, more than any BL actor I’ve seen, fully leans into the embodiment of this archetype. In his roles, he rolls his eyes, pouts, banters flirtatiously, softens his posture and expression at small details. He doesn’t over-exaggerate and imposition other characters but his face also doesn’t hold back his character’s thoughts and judgments. And when the moments arrive, he lets all the hurt and anguish pour out in shatters of tears and visible heartbreak—the star-counting scene, anyone????—in a way that harkens to the operatic emotionality of well-done melodramas, soap-operas, and their contemporary Thai equivalent of Lakorn. It’s only that these have never been men’s roles in those.

It’s no surprise that one of Mix’s roles—Cupid’s Last Wish—is explicitly a gender body-swap, and Tian in A Tale of Thousand Stars is (albeit explicitly denied within the show) heavily connected to gender body-swapping. What Mix specializes in as an actor, and does exceptionally well, has been defined as feminine. To depict a kind of queer expression in this style is novel because it’s not camp, it’s not okama, it’s not a soft or femboy, it’s not a BL twink (Mix has been mostly excluded from the schoolyards and quads of the BL universe except for a role as a senior crush in Fish Upon the Sky). It’s too sincere and too adult for any of that.

In Moonlight Chicken we get to see, without the pretense of gendered mysticism, this performance style’s seduction, warmth, wit, and explosiveness within the framework of a general gay form of expression. It says that this kind of femininity might just be a gay thing. Not all gay men exhibit it, obviously—queer men aren’t a monolith. Still, it gives us something to consider about how we observe performance of queerness on screen, especially in front of an audience that puts so much more emphasis on ships, heat, and pairing chemistry to assess how well they perform a BL role. Could we look for other features to judge performance of queerness instead of how well they kiss?

Seme and uke roles would be the major performance style categories loyal BL fans assess actors with, yet even within the archetype his character’s fill within BL narratives, Mix’s performances differ from the typical uke depiction in BL because he really doesn’t perform them as passive. Rather, Mix’s characters and his portrayal of them are dynamic and demanding. It certainly fits certain stereotypes of ukes (Gilbert!) and their gay stereotype equivalent of bottoms as pillow princesses and brats. Mix’s characters, though, have more drive, agency, and compassion than that, and he plays them with all of those currents running underneath.

We certainly have openly gay writer/director Aof Noppharnach to thank for writing this kind of queer character for Mix to play in Tian and Wen. But for Mix’s specific commitment to the performance starting off with his (debut!?) role in ATOTS, we first have Earth to thank for believing in Mix’s ability and recommending him to portray the role of Tian, and then Aof’s acceptance despite his differing initial expectations for the character. Mix, Earth, and Aof have all been open about how Mix in his personal life and nature holds a lot of similarities to both his role as Tian in ATOTS and Wen in Moonlight Chicken. Some people might knock points off his performances because he’s like them. But his relationship to the characters, rather than dampening my enthusiasm for Mix’s performances, helps me appreciate his willingness to give an authentic performance in a style that hasn’t been encouraged on screens previously. It’s made more impactful that he chose to risk vulnerability to bring something personal that had previously been excluded from screens because of its gender deviance (and in broader society explicitly condemned). This doesn’t make a claim on Mix’s actual identity, but simply shows his willingness to understand and perform the expressions of his queer characters with an effort at empathy that many other actors would feel challenged to bring.

Some actors are chameleons, but some actors have a gift of a type within which they can explore depths and range that no one else can best. For me, that’s what Mix does in his work when directors and casting understands his talent. There’s a BTS video of Mix actually fainting during a scene while in Earth/Phupa’s embrace on the mountain that immediately brought to mind the wildly famous final scene in the film Camille where Greta Garbo as Marguerite dies in her lover’s arms.

For Mix, it was a serious incident due to regrettably extreme conditions and requiring the on-set paramedics, but these levels of theatrics, for me, are emblematic of what Mix is capable of as a performer, as well. After all, he had to faint in Phupa’s arms multiple times on purpose. It’s the kinds of Old Hollywood and heightened sentimental romance realms Mix takes his performances to! Then he can turn around and make it look easy to take that same character into grounded quips or dedicated everyday tasks. It only takes writers, directors, and audiences willing to see that men can feel this way and act this way. Mix has paved the way.

[luwha]

One day you're working on videos on autoplay and another you watch a 50 minutes videos of how a user faked a democracy for discord political roleplay for 3 years and it's impact on the citizens and neighboring nations

Also the author of a book (related, don't ask) got a cease and desist from the united Nations and proceeded to change the name of it on april's fools

[worldwidewandress]

the audience doesn't come to see you. they come to see themselves

— julienne moore

[jkvjimin]

JEON JUNGKOOK + fire stage performances 🔥 (cr. 0613data, namuspromised, moreloveforhobi)

happy birthday, steph! @cosmicdreamgrl 💗

[fanaticalthings]

Broke: "Dick Grayson was upset at a new kid taking over his mantle because he doesn't think Jason will be good enough as Robin"

Woke: "Dick is upset at Jason, not because he's suddenly taking over the mantle he created, but because Jason isn't nearly feral enough of a child to drive Bruce insane in Dick's place"

Dick: You wanna be my successor? Go swing from that chandelier right now.

Jason:

Dick: As a matter of fact, I need to see you crawling all over the walls. Make a ruckus, break some furniture

Jason: But Bruce-

Dick: SCREW Bruce. Your job as my new brother is to make his life HELL. Why are you so polite? Why are you so calm? Where's your DRIVE, your PASSION, huh? You may be worthy of the title of Robin, but are you WORTHY of being my disaster brother?

Jason, a little scared: I dont-

Dick, scoffing: The youth these days just don't rebel like they used to.

[imaginariumwanderer]

That haunting chorus of violins that fill the dark, those words– Pure Vanilla looks back over the space and finds exactly what he'd feared. Expected. There they are, gliding across the void so, so terribly intertwined they almost appeared as one. In some ways, he supposed they were. Pure Vanilla watches himself be led in a dance so improper and aimless and… Had Shadow Milk's expression truly been so… adoring, that day?

Fanart and coincidental birthday gift for the talented off1cially_done who wrote this (the fanfic is pretty heavy, remember to look at the tags before reading!)

Shadowvanilla fanfics are so rare, I gotta show my appreciation for them when I can(!) There was plan to draw a different scene but this chapter was too good, came for the toxic stay for the Eternal Sugar. I refrains from drawing the unreleased beasts in fear of messing up their designs but her depiction in the story was amazing I just had to draw her! Like ughh, pretty pink angel pls be my winglady <333

Also, the dancing scene was my favorite scene in "the light continue". For it to come back and confirm to us that yes this was PV's first spark of love is so aaaa- Anyways, here's something extra!

Denial.

Newly-wed woes.

[turtleblogatlast]

I think a lot about Leo’s tendency to push his way into the spotlight despite clearly being a natural in the shadows. Hell, you could argue that his worst moments are when he’s forcing himself onstage, and his best are when he does things no one notices until it’s already been done.

[muppetydyke]

i do agree that Chappell Roan would be a great muppet show guest, but I’m gonna throw something else out there.

She’d be INCREDIBLE on sesame street

[novelconcepts]

Read this article, and then put Liv Hewson in everything, because damn. They are a fucking legend.

[wasyago]

im just gonna uhmmmm leave this here

[virfujiwara]

Any The Book Of Life (2014) enjoyers here? Ramble in the tags lol Reminder that commissions are open and I'm making art for your donations and we are raising money for an AAPI charity through this zine, if you or someone you know likes Watcher, check it out!