#it was am hi its 3 am in vietnam

[foxcassius]

so it is the nature of this airbnb that there is light streaming in at all times with no curtains to close to block it, and it is basically always the same amount of light, because this room is sort of under a building and very much out of the path of sunlight, so the light comes from an electric light in the hallway that never gets turned off. this makes it pretty easy to take naps/pretty hard to go to Sleep For The Night and also makes it impossible to accurately gauge what time (of day) it is so i went to sleep a smidge early last night, woke up, checked the time on my phone, saw 2:00, and panicked trying to determine if it was am or pm

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Some Surprises

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

NOV 2024 Week 1

Ongoing Series - Thai

Fourever You (Thai Thurs YT) ep 5 of 16 - I love this show, but I absolutely hate the main couple's communication style. Or complete lack of communication style. I really hope the other couples are not gonna be this bad and it’s just because this one is leaning into the worst of BL archetypes. But I’m not confident. Poor Ter dating Hill put a big old target on his back. Earth being a dramatic stressed gay queen was peak comedy tho. Apparently the good kisses are only on WeTV (I am annoyed) so props to the giffers who keep me supplied. You're doing the BL gods work.

I suddenly realized, after the bullying sequence, that one of the reasons I’m liking this so much is it reminds me of early Japanese yaoi. There’s something about the dynamics of the characters and the way they're reacting to situations that’s not very Thai BL feeling. And if I think of this is more JBL, I forgive it. Or maybe that’s just why I’m liking it so much despite its flaws? Difficult to understand my own feels about this show.

Jack & Joker (Thai Mon IQIYI) ep 8 of 12 - I don’t like this new evil-bonkers rich kid character and whatever is going on with Jack and Rose and that whole story. It’s boring. And then my brain short circuited. No further thoughts... just War in a wife beater. 

Love Sick 2024 (Thai Sun iQIYI) ep 7 of 15 - Phun's bitch face really is epically wonderful. I kinda enjoy everybody ribbing the two of them because they have no idea what’s actually going on. I'm chronicling my experience with 2024 as compared to 2014 here.

Kidnap (Fri YT) ep 9 of 12 - Omg cutest boyfriends EVER. I don’t even mind how cheesy their bf era is. Does this lull jive with the rest of the story? Nope. But ya know that’s GMMTV’s thing these days, flailing during the final act.

Perfect 10 Liners (Thai Sun YouTube?) ep 1 of 24 - Pretty standard Thai BL university fair. I am hoping it’s better than ForceBook’s previous offering. Yet another sniff test. Is this the trope of the year? Meanwhile, they also deployed the crash into me trope in episode one. Who do they think they are? Taiwan?

New is directing this uni BL with a massive cast + massive run time. It's an endurance test ya'll - we will be watching this until APRIL of 2025! Su su na.

Every You Every Me (Thai Mon Gaga) ep 4 of 10 - I really like that they had the bandwidth to give us a little side couple with this installment. Fun crumbs. Meanwhile, the thing with the shirt in front of the mirror was extremely sexy. This installment was very sad though. And, of course, I’m not happy about it. To top it all off, next week is musical themed, so you know I’m disgruntled about it. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

See Your Love (Taiwan Weds Gaga) ep 3 of 13 - Aw spoiled neglected rich boy wants to be cared for and spoiled honestly. I do love them. Also tiny idiot syndrome is spreading. 

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YT) ep 6 of ? - The side couple (teacher student, hyung romance but he’s using em) interesting. Not sure how I feel about them. The subs are so bad it’s largely incomprehensible but I’m still enjoying it for no defensible reason. 

My Damn Business (Korea Sat YT) eps 5 of 7 - I love that our uke can be such a little shit. I love it when a tsundere has some serious snark and attitude to back his petulance up. Also liquid courage. At least we got to the root of the tsundere. Also neck kisses and cuddles! 

Eccentric Romance (Korea Weds Viki) eps 7-8 of 12 - Oooo, cute kiss. Drunken but adorable. I do like it when they use older Korean actors in KBL, they actually know how to kiss. Has the kiss saved this show? Possibly. I’m shallow. 

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues Netflix?) 7 of 10 eps - Our con man is such a good little homemaker. And it’s sexy yukata time! Love this trope. 

Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 1 of 10 - Same plot as the Thai original, only from Japan. Very similar so far. I hope Rei is a bit more smart and Arashi is a bit less of a sleaze. I still get too much secondhand embarrassment and my mame alert is blaring.  I'm wary.

Blue Canvas of Youthful Days (China Sun iQIYI) eps 1-2 - Triggers for child abuse, alcoholism. Two artists, one an abused rich kid and the other a tough scrappy poor kid, in the same art prep school. I of course adore the side couple of the much younger kid and the older teacher. Oh, I do like it. But it's CBL, I'm very scared as to where it might go.

Bad to Bed (Taiwan Sat YouTube) ep 1 of 10 - Influencer Wan Xiong suffers from insomnia, it’s a physical and mental battle. As he tried to find a solution, he encounters five boys along the way. I'm putting this on the list because it's airing and I just found out about it but I didn't have time to watch it yet. I hear it's v weird.

It's airing but...

The Hidden Moon (Sat WeTV) 10 eps - Supernatural romance (my ghost boyfriend trope) by Violet Rain (I Feel You Linger). A man is hired to write an article about an old mansion. He sees the ghosts of people who died at the mansion, falls in love with one of them. Was substantially recast. I loved IFYLITA except the ending so I think I'll let this one run it's course you can tell me if it's work tracking down... if they managed to land it. I have my doubts.

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) 10 eps - I DNF'd at ep 7, I couldn't make it. I am weak. Life is hard enough right now, this show is making it harder. It’s not what I want from my entertainment.

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 4 of 8 - I put this one on pause. It's too heavy for me right now. I'll wait to know if the ending is hard fought happy (and then watch) or not (and won't finish). Sorry all, rough times this side of the screen.

Random I watched it

Vending Machine Sabi Koi AKA Can I Buy Your Love From A Vending Machine AKA Sono Koi, Jihanki de Kaemasu ka? (Japan 2023) - This show is utterly adorable, impossibly awkward, and kinda old fashioned. About a cute nerdy little office worker (he's out!) who has a big'ol crush on the tall hulking vending machine guy. They fall in love. And that’s it. And it’s charming. There’s some first name eroticism, because Japan, and there's emphasis on communication, which is so not Japan, but turns this into an organically loving and talkative relationship. There’s a bit of an age gap, and our office cutie may or may not have a muscles fetish (the hot bod not the shellfish) because (if I’ve told you once I’ve told you 1 million times) Japan always goes kinky. And you know what, I loved it. 9/10

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.

November BL:

11/4 Our Youth AKA Miseinen: Mijukuna Oretachi wa Bukiyo ni Shinkochu (Japan Mon Gaga?) 11 eps - Minase was an exemplary high school student who hates Hirukawa, head bully and top delinquent. But then Minase uncovers Hirukawa’s secret and the two get intimate.

11/15 Caged Again (Thai Fri WeTV) 10 eps - Penguin escapes zoo by turning into a human. Gets trapped again and a panther falls in love with him.

11/17 Your Sky (Thai iQIYI) 12 eps - Due to an unforeseen situation, a naive freshman and the campus’s popular senior agree to pretend to be a couple - but their fake deal begins to generate real feelings.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Honor the crumbs indeed. This pair is so much crumbs it's practically dust. (Love Sick 2014)

God he is so stupidly in love.

(lask week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many at-ings.

[dromaeo-sauridae]

big cave post

you like caves? no? im showing you anyway. you hear cave and probably think of like, a video game cave. maybe a minecraft cave with axolotls? while i have my gripes with axolotls in caves, this is about the caves themselves. so here, lets get started:

number 1, lod cave in thailand. now, i could do a whole posts about JUST caves in thailand, but here's your first taste of caves from this area. this is a karst cave, formed by water trickling through soluble rock like limestone. it's what most of the caves on this list are going to be. it's one of the most common types of caves. if you've been inside a cave, it was probably a karst. very cool! i particularly enjoy the man shaped stalagmite in the middle (joke, thats just a real guy)

number 2, ellison's cave in georgia, usa. featuring a drop over a thousand feet deep, this one is pretty high on my bucket list. this is what's called a chute, formed by waterfalls cascading downwards. not recommended for people with a fear of heights! if you watch jacon geller, youve probably heard of this type of formation when he talked about krubera (not on this list, sadly)

number 3, mammoth cave in kentucky, usa. one i've been to! mammoth is the longest cave system in the ENTIRE world, that we know of. another one the jacob geller fans are familiar with. i would love to go back someday, pictures dont convey the magnitude of this place. they also used to host church services in here. well worth the visit

number 4, han son doong in vietnam. the LARGEST cave in the world! wait, didnt i already list that? nope, while mammoth is the longest and is massive in its own right, son doong trumps it by having a ceiling 660 feet (200 meters) high. it has stalagmites the size of skyscrapers. its one of the many caves in southeast asia to have its own rainforest system. a bit of a hike to get there, but another i desperately want to visit someday.

number 5, fingal's cave in scotland. though not record setting, its one youve probably seen before. or, maybe my perspective has been skewed as someone who looks at a LOT of caves. ive seen this exact picture more times than i can count. its a sea cave formed from our good friend columnar basalt. upon further research, apparently its also known for its natural acoustics. the more you know!

number 6, grotta azurra in capri. that photo isnt edited! only accessible by boat (and laying flat on your back to get through the entrance) this place looks ridiculously magical. i dont really have much to say about this one, i just think its really cool.

number 7, domica cave in slovakia. this one was brought to my attention by an anonymous asker (if youre still here hi) and i am in love with it. just an absolutely gorgeous cave with some of the most beautiful formations ive ever seen. just look at it! augh! the tiered pools arent something ive seen in any of the caves ive been to and theyre captivating. i love caves.

number 8, ending it off with a bang. here's the gloup.

[victoriadallonfan]

Let's Talk About the Alien vs Predator Films

Talk about wasted potential, am I right?

I'm struggling to format this in an interesting way, since so much has been covered over the past 20 years since the first film was released. You can read my thoughts on Aliens Franchise and the Predator Franchise as well.

Note that it doesn't include Alien: Romulus, but suffice to say it was a good movie!

I think the best place to start is with covering the themes of Alien and Predator, and the history before these films were created (and the failure of Fox).

My fellow AvP enjoyer @agendergorgon has already posted some thoughts on the topic, giving me a lot to think about, so check out their blog too!

For the purposes of this review, I am not going to include Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, Prometheus, nor Alien: Covenant.... mostly. The AvP films really don't take much of anything beyond the first two films, though I will touch on Prometheus when it comes to religion.

Ditto for the Predator films, but that's because Predator wouldn't get a third film until 2010, 3 years after the AvP duo.

The themes of Alien Franchise:

I'm sure the first thing to come to mind is that the Alien series is about sexual assault, and you'd be correct. The xenomorph is designed to be extremely phallic, the facehuggers quite literally rape their victims, Burke locks his victims (including a child) in a room to be raped, Ash tries to murder Ripley by thrusting a rolled up porn magazine down her throat etc etc.

Some of you might also remember how Aliens was noted by James Cameron to be a criticism of the Vietnam War, Corporate Greed, and the callous arrogance of the US Military. The xenomorphs represented the innumerable "faceless" soldiers that could overwhelm more advanced enemies with ambush tactics and numbers, Burke thinks only in "goddamn percentages" and how this could benefit himself and the company, and the Colonial Marines are not only woefully mismanaged a newly brought on commander but also completely delusional with their own sense of invulnerability, only to break and panic under pressure once they meet a foe who is determined to fight to the death.

(I will NOT be tackling the fucked-upness of comparing people fighting for their independence vs a fucking Xenomorph, because holy fucking shit, it is literally the opposite AND worse counterpart to having the Predators be colonizers)

But, in the broader scope of the series, Alien - and the xenomorph - represent the uncontrollable, unfathomable, unknown. What are they? Why were they there? What are their motives? How did they end up in that ship? Were they built? How do they 'see'? Why did the xenomorph spare Jonesy the Cat? Are they intelligent life? How on earth do they function with their bizarre biology?

We don't get any real answers to these questions in the original films. The whole point of these movies is that there are things that mankind does not understand, and the horrors of space are vast. And equally terrifying is the arrogance of man (and synth kind) to think they can harness this horror for profit at the expense of human lives.

The themes of the Predator Franchise:

There's been tons of articles on how Predator is either a reconstruction or deconstruction (depending on who you ask) of the 80's action hero flick. A team of muscle laden, big gun toting, sweaty men spouting off one-liners as they mow down their enemies in a secret CIA led operation during the Cold War, interrupted by the presence of an intergalactic hunter than treats these badasses like mere toys. The massive Arnold Schwarzenegger is smacked out like a mouse facing off against a particularly cruel cat, needing to rely on tricks - not his brawns or guns - to stay alive and eventually defeat the Predator.

Others might point to its related take down of machismo. The opening scene is rife with characters testing each other's physical strength against each other such as with Dillon and Dutch, Ventura and Dutch have a small face-off in the helicopter as they try to make a pecking order, Ventura makes a whole speech about being a "sexual tyrannosaurus" and then mocked about sticking a gun up his "sore-ass", Hawkins repeatedly tries to make pussy and sex jokes, and they end up with a single woman in the group who is treated more like an object and baggage than a person for much of the movie. All of these men are emasculated by the Predator, some of them not even lasting a single second to its predations (both in tech and physicality), all of them losing any sense of quips and confidence, and the sole woman of the group survives because she didn't fit the movie's (and Predator's) mold of "tough as nails". When Arnold/Dutch is rescued by helicopter, it's not a cheerful one; he's haunted by what he endured and remains silent as the film pans into his thousand-yard stare.

All of this applies to Predator 2 as well, amping up the violence, dick measuring, and rules of the Predator targeting anyone who thinks they are tough shit for carrying a gun or knife. Even Danny Glover's victory is bittersweet, because he is now left in the middle of dozens of officer deaths, and entire subway car filled with corpses, and an antique flintlock pistol that promises the return of the Predators to Earth.

In a much broader sense, the Predator films are about the oversaturation of violence and lack of care for human life. Predator 1's main plot before he arrives is the CIA using Green Berets and then Dutch's special ops team to clean up their dirty work, giving them false information and not even reporting the Berets being MIA in furtherance of their Cold War goals (slaughtering guerrillas who were working with Soviet Russia). In Predator 2, the police are seen as being ineffective because they trample on each other's jurisdiction, with the Federal task force being willing to kill their own cops to keep the Predator existence a secret and letting it hunt people down for a better chance at capture and experimentation.

The Predator creatures are the epitome of such greed and arrogance. They are the General Zaroffs of The Most Dangerous Game, taken to a new height by showing that human lives literally mean nothing to them beyond a trophy hunt. They care nothing about our social lives, our politics, our loved ones, because for them this is nothing more than the equivalent of posh British Elite going on a Fox Hunt: cruel and sadistic, just to placate their egos. They will violate the corpses of the dead and taunt those in mourning, for the thrill of the game. And in that sense, the Predators are very human antagonists: they are not unfathomable nor are their goals beyond our understanding. The horror of the Predators is that they are creatures we can understand, communicate with, and even see similarities in their culture to ours... and that culture is putting us on a trophy rack alongside other skulls of creatures they felt a thrill to hunt.

So, did the Alien vs Predator films cover even half of these topics?

Well... kinda? Just... not well.

Not well at all.

The Build Up

Alien and Predator have a connected history dating back to the creation of the Predator itself. Stan Winston was on a flight with James Cameron some time after the famous director had finished with Aliens, and the director made a comment about wanting to see a monster with mandibles, which eventually led to the creature we know and love today.

Predator's debut on screen was also often compared to Aliens due to the superficially similar premise of a team of commandos going on a mission and fighting an unknown alien threat.

Despite what some people think, the AvP series wasn't started by the films.

Yes, there was a particularly memorable scene in Predator 2, where the City Hunter is admiring his trophy room and a xenomorph skull can be seen mounted on the wall (though, fun fact, it's actually an inaccurate depiction as xenomorph skulls look more humanoid facing), but that wasn't the first time the duo met in media.

And I'm not referring to the 1993 Arcade Game either (since that only came out a year after Predator 2).

The Alien vs Predator comic first appeared in 1989. And there were publications continuing ever since.

Think about that going forward. There was 25 years of content to choose from, storylines they could adapt, interesting forays into the cosmology and interactions between Yaujta, Xenomorphs, and Humanity.

The movies used exactly none of it (barring 1 thing: the Predalien).

Alien vs Predator (2004)

The plot of this movie is that Weyland-Yutani corporation detects a heat bloom under the ice in Antartica that reveals an underground pyramid, and in a race against his competitors, Weyland rounds up a team of elite experts led by Lex Woods to investigate the ruins (and find that the Predators have left them a convenient tunnel to enter the deep ice). Only to find out that this was a trap, as the pyramid comes to life activates a Xenomorph Queen, unleashing a brood of facehuggers on the helpless crew, all the while the Predators hunt them down. After a spectacular shitshow and release of the Xenomorph Queen, Lex and the last Predator (Scar) have to reluctantly team up to escape the pyramid and blow up the xenomorphs, ending in a final battle with the Xenomorph Queen. Scar perishes in the fight, but Lex manages to send the Queen into the depth of the artic ocean, and is rewarded by the watching Eldar Predator with a spear for her troubles. A post-credit scene reveals that Scar had a chest-burster inside of him, birthing the Predalien!

Rewatching this movie, I'm surprised at how good it looks. The opening scene of the satellite in space, several shots of the ship (and spaceship), the frozen tundra, the set pieces like the Xenomorph Queen Prison, and the CGI!

The CGI! Of 2004! I was shocked that they looked so good for something that is 20 years old now, but they did really well for themselves.

But it was the practical effects that blew me away the most. The shifting Pyramid is absolutely iconic and the abandoned whaling station is suitably creepy. The face-huggers look amazing and the xenomorphs are just *chefs kiss*. It's so funny seeing these Xenomorph effects compared to that of Alien:Covenant, and seeing how much work bodysuit and puppetry can do to make a monster look so much more terrifying than a CGI creature.

I know a lot of people didn't like the Predator's bulky appearance in this movie, but honestly... I dig it? It makes sense that not all Predators are literally built the same, and that the ones who would choose to go hunting in the artic would be the bigger ones who could hold more body heat. And the movie does a really great fucking job of making these Predators look badass and distinct from each other, with Celtic having the coolest mask of the whole group.

And the way the movie is shot is really fantastic! There are a lot of wide and tracking shots where the movie lets the atmosphere do the work instead of badgering us with words, taking its time to build up tension and soak up the visuals. One of my favorites shots they did was slow roam through the Predator ship as the systems come to life and we get to see holograms come on-line, feeding information directly into their masks. Equally good was when the Xenomorph Queen is awakened to cackling electricity and ominous lighting, showing us how vast this chamber is and how huge this Queen is in comparison to the one Ripley faces.

The same goes for most of the actions scenes, with a decent amount of cool slow-mo shots for things like Face-huggles launching themselves, Predators leaping across chasms, and showing Scar's impressive athleticism when he leaps 10 meters into the air and stabs a spear through the Queens skull.

And I can always rewatch the first time Alien Meets Predator Fight. God, that score! The music is just so damn good!!! You really feel like you are watching two massive horrors from space finally finding themselves sharing a space together.

Honestly, the Predators using the Xenomorphs as some kind of fucked up exotic pet for hunting trials and training fits the lore PERFECTLY. It’s actually a literal fox hunt not just metaphorical (and of course, in typical Alien fashion, it all went to shit).

Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)

"Wait, Ridtom/VictoriaDallonFan, are you about to say something nice about AvP:R?!"

Well, after turning up the brightness and hanging blankets over my windows and then watching the movie underneath more blankets... yes!

For one thing, the Alien and Predator effects are spectacular! Some of the best work I've seen in the franchises! The fight scenes are creative and use really cool set-pieces like the sewer and power plant, where we get to see Wolf (the name of the Predator of this movie) absolutely kick ass and slaughter his way through hordes of Xenomorphs. Not that the xenos are left in the dust, as they get plenty of murders on screen and even outsmart Wolf on occasion.

I actually like the Predalien design and the idea that it’s more intelligent than the average Xeno, including holding personal grudges and understanding Predator behavior.

And the Predator tech is really cool too! We got laser grids, land mines, power fists, converting the plasma caster into a plasma pistol And I love the moment where Wolf kidnaps one of the human protags to use as live bait. Such a dick thing to do but so in-character.

Even the bits we get of Wolf mourning his fellow dead hunters was a neat addition.

And to be honest, I didn’t mind the idea of seeing an actual xenomorph infestation in real time, in a small town. I think that sort of setting would be really fun for a one-shot story.

And… that’s it. That’s all the good stuff.

What Went Wrong?

I compiled a list of sources where I got a lot of information on the AvP production: Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4

Note that a lot of these are 20 years old so I apologize for the outdated and honestly abhorrent word use that some articles and videos may use. And another apology for using the Xenopedia wiki, it was just a good shorthand for other information.

In short: Fox fucking sucks. They will absolutely self-sabotage themselves in order to make a (perceived) profit. Tom Rothman is the most well known (and he’s gone to Sony as of now), but Fox has had a looong history of being stingy and terrified of any risks for their films.

The sheer amount of drama involving Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection is an insane rollercoaster.

AvP removed pretty much any sense of horror and purposely had the design of the Predators to be more “human” and “heroic” (hence the weird human eyes and bulky physique), with a PG-13 rating for more audience numbers. While the human characters aren’t bad, they are not unique or even memorable (barring the fandom romantic tension between Lexi and the final Predator). Also, it was very weird that the Predators couldn’t kill a single Xenomorph, meanwhile the Colonial Marines couldn’t trip without blasting apart swarms of them. It felt like they really wanted to save money on the film in that regard.

AvP:R was even worse, with it being filmed with such a lack of lighting that people could not actually see any of the movie, and even modern advancements in color grading make it a strain. The human characters are awful, just absolutely boring and unremarkable beyond being veiled callbacks to characters from Alien, and we get a bunch of stupid Dawson’s Creek drama involving teenagers who look like they are 30 years old fighting over a girl who has no personality because she was written to just be “hot girl”.

If the story had focused entirely on the wife coming home from the war and dealing with the fact that her own daughter doesn’t feel close or comfortable with her after years of being gone, there could have been focus and themes and yadda yadda yadda.

Also, while this movie at least has horror aspects, did we REALLY need to see the Xenomorphs eating the fetuses and belly bursting out of still screaming mothers? Like, there is horror and then there is just being gross.

Final Thoughts

I often wonder if AvP took the wind out of the sails of Prometheus. Both play with the idea of humans worshiping aliens as gods, because Ancient Aliens is fucking everywhere, but it’s really hard to take Prometheus seriously when you remember AvP did basically the same setup (with arguably smarter characters).

And these movies have really soiled the idea of the AvP franchise barring the video games and comics. There’s apparently an AvP anime locked up in Disney Vaults and so far, both franchises have kept their respectful distances from each other.

However, with the recent successes of Alien: Romulus and Prey, there’s been a bit of a stir with some comments hinting at a potential AvP future.

Who knows. It’s been 17 years, perhaps 3rd time is the charm.

[mrs-monaghan]

OMG Tae did way worse than I expected 💀💀💀

Slow Dancing - #3 on Billboard's Global Excl US. Jimin did #2 because of that Morgan whale

#4 on Billboard's Global 200 this week! - JM #2

BB 200 - Tae - #2 100K album, JM #2 164K.

BB 100 - Jm #1, Tae - #51 💀💀

the way most popular member charted below than Suga is crazy lol. Even Jimin's all hated Bside SMF ate it up so bad (#30 BB). This is answer to his rabid stans than internet popularity doesn't give you a shit irl. First outchart supposedly unpopular rapline before getting Park Jimin's lowest numbers lmao

Before I comment on this I would just like it to be known; I AM NOT A V ANTI!!!!!

This isn't a disclaimer. I am only stating this because of the asks I've go10 shitting on him. I will not be posting those. I don't blame anyone but myself. I know I have allowed people to vent about him here before and I was definitely among the people getting pissed at the JK name dropping but I'm pretty chill these days. So V's antics don't bother me and also there is something about binging all that Layover content continously that just reminds you that V is not the monster people paint him out to be.

If you haven't had the time i recommend this video. It was my favourite and I quite enjoyed it.

He is funny and honestly I also wanna say adorable 😂😂

Sure, the way he treats those around him could use some adjustment. But those around him seem to love him just fine so who I'm I to be mad at him, you know?

Now that that's out of the way, let's indeed talk numbers. I've said multiple times the 2 most popular members are Jimin and JK. Not V and JK. We've seen this before but sure, let's revisit the topic.

So a friend of mine who quite enjoys keeping tabs on numbers did the following math:

September 9th Streams, Thailand percentage compared to overall Streams:

Seven: 17,6 %

Slow Dancing: 29,6 %

Like Crazy: 8,7 %

So this is the amount of Streams Thailand had for the Maknae line Main Tracks on September 9th, Compared to worldwide Streams.

😁

Maknae Line, Main Track Streams Debut Day. Global vs USA vs Thailand

Debut Streams "Seven":

Global: 15,99 M

USA: 2,064 M (12,9 %)

Thailand: 1,3 M (8,13 %)

*

Debut Streams "Like Crazy":

Global: 6,6 M

USA: 0.997 M (15,1 %)

Thailand: 0,165 M (7,5 %)

*

Debut Streams "Slow Dancing":

Global: 6,14 M

USA: 0,388 M (6,3 %)

Thailand: 0,970 M (15,8 %)

These are the Streams for each Main Track's Debut Day. Global vs US vs Thailand

In conclusion:

-USA and Thailand looooooove JK. BUT Seven is charting in 71 out of 72 (wow) eligble Spotify countries. So it's a bob and a hit globally.

-USA loooooooooves Jimin. Thailand, not so much 😬

-Thailand absolutely looooooves V. USA, not so much.

But we kinda already knew this no? Alot of vermin are in Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines, etc. SouthEastAsian is Taekook domain statistically speaking. But the thing is, its still mostly V they prioritize. SEVEN experienced global success coz JK appears to be a fan favourite everywhere. So that helps him even when the SouthEastAsians decide to mostly support V.

So assuming these calculations are correct, which they should be since they are from Spotify Global, (feel free to go do your own) I really don't understand how it was concluded V is the most popular member. And there is many more countries to choose from, my friend only used Thailand coz its one of the countries that stream the most.

People assuming V is the most popular coz of his followers on IG, Guys, Instagram is only one app. V solos n V biased Armys can convince themselves that he's the most popular but numbers do not lie. Chapter 2 has shown that that, is not the case at all. I mean if you've been on twitter you've seen V hasn't even been able to beat Suga in certain categories and records. Like anon said.

The purpose of my post is not to say V isn't liked. That would be a lie. I'm just saying if anything JK is the most popular BTS member. And that's on fax 💯💯💯💯 with Jimin being a very, very, close second. And I know by saying this I am beating a dead horse atp but if Jimin had go10 the push JK did they would either be head to head or he would have surpassed him. So imagine what a big deal it is, that Jimin is doing so well right now and he didn't even get that huge company support.

US album sales were 3K according to Billboard, thats like 30k singles. China did 800k 😱 Asia loves V. US however, which is where it counts for Billboard, do not. Billboard sabotaged all Asians after Jimin won, which means if JK hadn't go10 radio play he never would have won. So, without radio play, V was never going to get that number 1. Those who aren't dillusional already knew this. So we aren't surprised

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

season 1 episode 20 thoughts

oh i did NOT think the BUG episode would be the scariest one so far, but here we are!!!!

so there are some weird disappearances in the pacific northwest again. famously a spooky place (see twilight for further details)

we see the bugs start swarming and i did NOT like that <3

cut to mulder and scully in his office, he's showing her a bunch of lumberjacks that he describes as "rugged manly men in the full blood of their manhood" which is. already a lot to unpack. but he asks scully to notice anything off about them.

she is, rightfully confused, and says "what am i looking for?" "anything strange, unusual, unlikely, a boyfriend"

now mulder. you sound like you are into lumberjacks. this is a safe space to share your thoughts on the subject of rugged manly men.

(scully laughs at this. she was probably also thinking, man, he seems really into that. we can unpack that later. but she wouldn't press him on that subject because she is respectful)

but he's so excited to go! he pulled strings to get the case and he says "c'mon scully, it'll be a nice trip to the forest" which is somewhat charming but again this is the forest where people disappear so i would personally be LESS excited to visit than he was

(oh. and the fact that he told her it would be a nice trip gets a LOT sadder later)

so they trek up the mountain in their raincoats! and get stuck in the back of a truck together! all things that we want to happen to them!

there seems to be this war going on between ecoterrorists and loggers that they've stumbled into. and the logger guy says that these ecoterrorists are "treehuggers" who are the same as those who "went up to Canada in the Vietnam War... they're cowardly and so are their tactics"

and it's so rare you learn exactly what to think of a person with one sentence they say but boy. is this a prime example.

they find a suspicious cocoon in the trees and decide scully should be lifted up and investigate which i thought was RUDE. why her? hasn't she done enough? i mean i think the real answer was she was small enough to fit in the lifty contraption but still. she sees a desiccated hand sticking out and 2+2 is starting to look a lot like 4

they drag the cocoon to the ground and cut it open and she says it feels like the body has had all its fluids drained from it, which is exactly the kind of knowledge i think is attractive in a woman to possess

at this point, i made a note that as far as evils go, i certainly could believe man eating bugs. bigfoot, as they note in the episode, seems far-fetched for this case, but if i woke up tomorrow and checked the news and saw that a new bug was eating people in washington i'd be like damn, hope my mutuals there are okay. but would i have trouble believing it? ABSOLUTELY not.

the environmentalist they rescued seems to think that the bugs are coming from the old growth trees, which i found to be a very compelling argument from the show to Leave the Damn Trees Alone. logging rates must have crumbled after this hit the airwaves.

and he reveals that the bugs HATE the light, so now fuel preservation is very important. the old logger guy runs away and gets eaten and tbh i wasn't that sad sorry.

scully gets some of the bugs from a core sample of the old-growth tree and starts talking about what she learned in biology courses about them. i am very much in support of bug facts with scully and would attend many hours of this lecture.

they find an old radio but it's broken :( but mulder fixes it! which tells us he knows how to fix things. what a Rugged Manly Man.

the environmentalist takes the last of the fuel to go and rescue his friends and mulder stops him at gunpoint but ultimately lets him go. now they have like, no fuel!!!! and the others- scully included- are pissed! if it gets dark they will die because the bugs will eat them which is a lousy way to go! they argue for a bit and then realize they should patch up any sort of holes in the walls to prevent bugs getting in. scully is justified in her anger, i would say.

(actually thought this was a great detail. mulder is so trusting. he genuinely believes that people can be good, or rehabilitated if they aren't. he trusts the deepthroat figure and is deeply hurt when he tries to lead them down the wrong path. and when that one guy who vowed to kill him was on the loose, he still wanted to take him alive. he seems to fully believe that people can be good, even at the expense of his own safety)

i sat back to watch the next scene and things got very intense VERY FAST. the bugs start getting into the cabin despite their best preparation and scully freaks the fuck out. she's panicking, swatting her arms, backed up against the wall, screaming "mulder, get them off of me" and he holds her while he tries to explain that they're okay, the bugs won't swarm while they're in the light.

this, to me, was excellent. exactly the level of angst/comfort i can hope for when i click play on an episode. i love to see our normally stoic characters lose their minds, and i think this is the wildest we have ever seen her (with a close second being the time she told the psychic that if he hurt mulder she would kill him herself) and i loved that she asked mulder to get them off of her, seeming so desperate to believe that was a thing he was capable of doing. she trusts him so entirely.

so after that they sit on the bed next to each other with their shoulders touch. which is fine! i'm fine. toooootally fine. and she explains to him how the bugs are like fireflies in their biological processes. more bug facts with scully.

mulder says again that he hasn't given up hope that their environmentalist will return to come and get them, once again reiterating that he is deeply trusting and in many ways a sad puppy dog

in the day they make a break for it and they find the old logger guy having been eaten and left in a cocoon and ohh my skin was CRAWLLLLLING.

but the environmentalist comes back!! mulder's faith in humanity was well-placed!!! he tells them to get in the jeep NOW.

just when we think everything is in the clear the environmentalist hits one of the spikes he set to pop the logger's tires and NOOOO. THEY'RE IN THE DARK... NOOOOOOO THE BUGS ARE GETTING IN. NAURRRRR. I WAS SHOCKED. THE BUGS COCOON'ED THEM. IT WAS HORRIFIC.

but the people mulder had called for help with the fixed radio came and got them shortly after. they took their cocooned bodies and brought them to a quarantine. and somehow they had not yet had all their fluids drained.

we see mulder come out with an oxygen tank attached and horrific burns/rashes and i wrote "dude the bugs Fucked them up". scully and the forest agent are still out. he asks the doctor if scully will be okay; he says she's not out of the woods yet (poorly timed pun) and lost a ton of fluid. for once, she cannot do the doctoring.

(and this is where my heart shattered and dropped onto the cold floor) mulder says, "i told her it would be a nice trip to the forest"

oh, mulder, who is driven to the brink by the need to keep everyone around him Safe at all times, led them straight into this scenario. and now her unconscious body laying on that bed while the doctor does everything he can to try and get her back to life is going to haunt him forever, just like every other person he couldn't protect from the world.

the doctor says that the government WILL succeed in eradicating the bug species through controlled burns and pesticides. when mulder says what if that actually doesn't cut it, he says it'll have to. and thus ends the episode.

i was at the edge of my seat throughout this, and did not think it was going to get as dark as it did, but it certainly did! i feel like they will need a few weeks to recover but i've gotten use to this show just. putting them back in the office after a near death situation. so i doubt the long term bug trauma will be addressed here. however, i bet that it will make any future visits to the doctor by our three survivors very uncomfortable.

"any changes to your medical history?" "i was eaten by ancient bugs that drained my fluids and wrapped me in a cocoon so i'm not sure if that will have any long term effects" "...okay"

[macirollfights]

Alastor makes Mac N Cheese At 3 Am Bro's been haunted

Alastor makes Mac N cheese at 3 am cause why not. Maybe because his traumatized by that one AMV that I shall thy not name but it costed 50k, Alastor had watched the thing, And its vietnam flashbacks for him, He probably has shellshock from the words "run away"

Still thought it would be funny to just draw him making mac n cheese late at night

[savage-rhi]

Wesker: i bet chriiiiiiiiiiiissss told you that i was a complete lunatic, didnt he.

Leon: actually, all he told me about was “dress up like wesker day.”

Wesker: and you just lost a chance at a quick death.

Coming up! To read the other STARS shenanigans drabbles for context, here they are 1, 2, 3, 4

The altercation between Leon, Wesker, and Jake had thus far been perilous. The three had been locked in combat for what felt like hours, though it had only been mere minutes. Winded and low on reserves, they reached a stalemate and temporarily allowed each party to rest.

With an army of the undead trailing not far in the city center, everyone was fair game as the outbreak continued its rampage. Leon knew if he and Jake didn't take Wesker down now, the B.O.W.s would finish the job or even kill them all in one fell swoop. He didn't like the odds, but no matter what happened, he couldn't let Wesker get away—not without knowing what had become of Ada, and not without Jake getting the answers he had been desperately seeking.

"Kennedy," Wesker raised his voice between breaths. Adjusting his shades, he smirked at Leon when the latter gave him his undivided attention with a glare. "It's a shame we never became acquainted before Raccoon City! You would've been an asset to S.T.A.R.S. That much I am willing to compliment."

Leon scoffed, shaking his head while he chuckled. "That's a hard pass from me. You already had a rep prior to that nightmare!"

"Oh?" Wesker raised his brows, the smug look remaining on his face as he mused. "I bet Redfield told you I was a complete lunatic, didn't he?"

Leon drew a blank as he tried to recollect the conversations he and Chris had about Wesker in passing. "Actually, all he told me about was 'dress up like Wesker day.'"

In that moment, Leon's body tensed as his eyes focused on how quickly Wesker's demeanor changed. It was like a switch being flipped. The haughty aura and ego Wesker had carried long into the battle shattered as he went neutral.

"And you just lost your chance at a quick death..."

A new air of cold and dread seemed to encompass Wesker's form, and it took Leon a few seconds to register that he had unintentionally pressed a button, triggering something so deep that he felt genuine fear toward Wesker for the first time during their fight.

"Did he just have a Vietnam War flashback?" Jake sarcastically quipped, breaking the silence as Wesker made his move.

"Get down!" Leon shouted as he tackled Jake to the floor, urging him to scramble behind a large set of crates as Wesker fired upon them both.

"You just had to say something smart, didn't you?" Leon glared while panting.

"You're one to talk, you pissed him off!" Jake shouted. He flinched as a bullet ricocheted near him. "We sure got his attention now!"

"And then some," Leon swallowed. He nudged Jake and looked him in the eye. "If we live through this, remind me to interrogate Chris later."

"You got it, hero cop," Jake muttered. "Next time the team has to separate, I'm going with Sherry. You trudge up too much drama."

If you like my work and feel generous, feel free to donate to my ko-fi account or my cash app account!

Cash App: $JayRex1463

[walder-138]

Hello darl!! From the edgy ask meme:

10, 13, 14 and 15 - for Oz please!! I'd love to get to know more about him!! <3

Hi Goose! I’m happy to hear from you again!

What's an AU that would be interesting to explore with your OC?

One where Oz takes up Adler’s offer to help him hunt down Perseus. Perseus (organization) really fucked him up and during his time as an Army Ranger, so he’s got a personal vendetta against everyone involved with them.

Oz knew Adler beforehand as the Rangers and MACV-SOG worked together countless times, so the two are well-acquainted and they kept in touch after Oz’s… thing that resulted him in getting discharged.

That was all backstory, but the reason Oz didn’t get involved with the Safehouse people was because of Bell. When Adler said they were brainwashing a literal fucking PERSEUS agent he left almost immediately. No matter how hard Adler tried to convince him using the ‘greater good’ bullshit, Oz wasn’t taking the chance with a fucking Red. (In my AU, he was right)

Okay I got sidetracked, but I think it’d be cool to see how he’d interact with the others. Like if he didn’t know Bell was brainwashed like Mason and Woods didn’t. I’d imagine him and Hudson would have some choice words to throw in each other’s direction. Oz, Sims, Lazar, and Bell (if Oz didn’t know they were Russian) would be besties.

I could imagine since Oz’s dad was a Brit, he’d fuck around with Lazar by giving him the wrong definitions for British slang. (Since Lazar had a thing for Park)

He’d be like “Yeah bro you should tell her you’re going out for a shag and invite her to join you. It would get you two some time alone. Shag means cigarette dude trust me I swear to God I would never lie to you.” And whenever Lazar’d walk away to talk to her, Oz would break down and start laughing when he was out of earshot.

Also, depending on the Bell, I could imagine Oz showing them pictures of Jenny and telling them about her throughout the campaign. However, when Adler was eventually forced to tell Oz they were brainwashed, he’d probably try to kill Bell for that reason. Cause if they go marching straight back to Perseus, knows who Oz is AND that he has a daughter, Jenny would be a prime target due to both her disability and her father.

If you met your OC, would the two of you get along?

It depends. If he knew I made him? He'd murder me. No hesitation, and there wouldn't be anything I could do about it. I know it's a cliche answer, but I am NOT lying when I say I've put dudebro through hell and back. It’d be on sight.

If Oz didn't know who I was? He wouldn't care enough to have any negative feelings towards me. I’d get along with him well enough so that he wouldn’t beat me unconscious if we met.

How does your OC want to be seen by other characters?

After he left Vietnam, Oz wanted people to be intimidated by him. Growing up, and during the war, he learned the only way to get what he wants is through coercion and breaking noses. Oz didn’t really like talking to new people even before his wartime nostalgia, so if people were intimidated by him, they’d fuck off.

However, when Jenny came into his life, Oz changed. He didn’t want people to be intimidated by him (at least not all the time) cause he didn’t want their fear to run off on Jenny. His worst fear is for Jenny to see him the way he saw his father. (😔 spoiler alert: she will) So he starts acting softer, and he’d want to be seen more as a protector than an aggressor.

Jenny changed his life for the better.

Does your OC have a faceclaim? If so, who?

This might come off as a disappointment, but no 😭 I suck at finding faceclaims and none of them match how I imagined Oz to look cause THERE NOT UGLY ENOUGH 😭 THERES TOO MANY PRETTY BOYS AND NOT ENOUGH WRETCHED CREATURES FROM HELL. OZ IS NO MORE THAN A SOLID 6/10, AND THATS TOO NICE. ITS IMPOSSIBLE FOR SOMEONE MAMED OSWALD TO GET HIGHER THAN A 6/10. IM SORRY POOKIE 😭

Thank you again for the asks! I’ll get to your other one between now and the next 40 years!

[askylongingformemories]

1.Showdown On My Sombrero

A Sky Longing For Memories

   

"You have explicitly, expressed your contempt for me, You have got student loans to pay and can't risk alimony"

Nah, I am not writing a song lyrics, like I have even changed the first line cause even I am not interested in matrimony or stuff close to that, however the idea of ​​​​​​​​​having someone you like or can like, someone you can claim that when you go home you'll ask her out. Sometimes that someone can provide you a little hope and dream and a way to feel less miserable when you are suicidal. That sight of someone leaving actually hurts the most on the last day of school. Factually speaking I have got one more day to go to school as I have got an exam on 2nd April but its of a minor subject that only 25 out of 2-300 students had opted. So she'll not be coming . She has different subjects so she did not even come on 9th the day I saw most of my friends for last time. She has got an exam on 19th but I don't think I should go solely to meet her. After all I' ve got some self respect. Nah, actually I have not but I am haughty and if she was interested in me even half as much I was in her, she should have asked me out. I wouldn't have said no. Maybe. I wrote her messages. She didn't reply to any of them. None was informal, none was mentioning the sky I dream to go to with her. All were formal asking her to bring her books or whatever asking her to prepare for her part in the group activity we were in. Actually there were three of us and the other boy. Ah I so much love the classic love triangle .Thomas hardy wrote one with it- Far from the madding crowd.

"... and whenever I look up, there will be you."

She might be Everdene for me but I was none of her two lovers. I was the third wheel who watched all of it happen as if I had no say in the story-a proper NPC.A gal and a guy are talking in a room or in a walkway about physics ,chemistry or work .Suddenly a wild bidoof appears, and they stop talking, try to go away excuse themselves out. Bidoof texts the girl that he'll do this and that work and she'll do that work ,girl doesn't see even after being online. Sees it after a day, doesn't care to reply. Bidoof stops talking to her. Bidoof talks to the other guy who is a genuine friend and was a friend even before the gal arrived to know more about progress of work. The project is finished, group wins but gal talks and celebrates with guy. Bidoof also joins in. They talk for sometime. Go and collect award. Boy goes on to talk with other competitors and does no talk with team. Alpha male asks him to click his photos, he does but has no further talk. On the outset alpha is a general guy and bidoof has come to like him and respect him for he has also earned his place as one of the top 3 representing the school but so has bidof. Now what?

If you've been a third wheel before you know you are that bidoof. You are in team and you were critical at junctures , but no ONE cares. Actually one person cares and it's you Bidoof. MAKE SURE YOU DON'T CARE ANY LONGER , bidoof.

How do we fall in love-that would warrant another blog post. How love was manufacture d by durex to sell more condoms? And lawyers to make up reasons for women to marry men and take up half of their money when brain stops producing enough dopamine, oxytocin and like. And guys like Hardy and Dickens and Shaw and Shakespeare milked it to generate money. I might throw your pop musicians in as well for a good measure. Dylan, The Beatles, Cash, Smiths all talked of love even when they were in protest era, Even Vietnam vets CCR didn't shy from a song like that. And among fortunate son, Proud Mary and related stuff the most popular Creedence Clearwater Revival video is this one. Even most indie songs are of love as if you have nothing better to think about but about it, I'll talk next time. 

I'll come up with more stories about her and love is something that makes a man drunkard or author. I didn't get to experience any of it in high school so at least I got to write out a few stories of encounters I had with her to make up for lost time and opportunities to be happy

[hidelias]

FINAL CHAPTER ! A bend in space-time Season 2 - [Chapter 32: The end of something]

It's always very emotional for me to finish writing a season of this fic, but this time I felt so at home. Thank you for your support! Season 3 will arrive in August ♡

---

[Chapter 30: The end of something] Links : AO3 - Wattpad - FFN

Summary: Time resumed its course, and night is falling on the Umbrella Academy's last day in 1963 Texas. For Five has obtained a briefcase… and soon, he'll bring everyone back to 2019.

Excerpt

It's strange to look towards a horizon to which you don't belong. And yet, I have cherished them, those hard and excluding sixties, yet exalted by the immeasurable hope given by a few. The proto-hippies, the very first nerds, the dreamers, the poets, the activists. And those who accepted that they were simply - humbly - human. Some of them - no doubt - have changed me for life and timelines.

I'm thinking of Mark and Wayne tonight. To all the 'Children', especially Kitty and Jill, Timothy and Allen, and even Priscilla. I think of Lloyd: I don't blame him. I also imagine Ray - alone tonight - in the house he shared with Allison, who now returns to her daughter. To Sissy, who has finally made the choice to stay in this era.

And I'm thinking of Dave. Just like Klaus, still inside the devastated living room behind me.

More than anyone who lived through 1963, he left his mark on my short life here, although being just seventeen. Not for what another version of him had been for Klaus, no. For what he is already - here and now.

Klaus and I both know: by now, if he hasn't changed his mind, Dave should be boarding one of the vehicles parked outside the Avon Street recruiting office. As on every Saturday, the blue Air Force bus will carry off the young recruits, including the aspiring Sky Soldiers, their crest still tattooed on Klaus's shoulder. The skull, the rifle, the palm leaf. But this minibus is never the only one parked there. Right alongside it, a red bus takes young Marines to both similar and different fates. Another kind of involvement in the Vietnam War, in particular. And in this moment, as I walk back through the living room wall, I know what Klaus is thinking about, as he drops his smile of nostalgia, sorrow and hope.

He's wondering - as I am - which of the two buses Dave will be boarding.

(…)

↝↝↝↝ Read 'A bend in space-time' ↜↜↜↜ Full chapter : AO3 - Wattpad - FFN Season 1 complete : AO3 - Wattpad - FFN Season 2 complete : AO3 - Wattpad - FFN Season 3 coming soon

I chose to insert an OC - Rin - into the plot of The Umbrella Academy, appearing almost only in deleted scenes. This fic is not a self-insert nor a OC-centric fic : Rin exists to flesh out the canon characters, and the fic is mostly focusing on Klaus. Please read the introduction for more details ♡

[absolutebl]

Hello! I discovered your blog relatively recently so forgive me if you’ve already done this but would you consider compiling a list of all the times crossdressing has been done in bl? Whether as a plot-device, for comedy, for serious reasons, just all the times crossdressing as a trope has appeared.

In a similar vein if you wanted to explore it I’d also be interested in the breadth of trans rep in bl/queer shows and movies in Asian media and if that ever blends into the crossdressing (maybe also drag would be interesting to throw into the mix as well?). Also just an exploration of Queer Femme characters that are not made fun of or villainized by the narrative would be cool! Basically just exploring femme queer aspects in bl in all its good, bad, and I’m sure sometimes ugly forms!

Hi, welcome! Ooo, crossdressing. Frankly I can't think of many and I don't have great recall on this one so I will have to ask the feed.

BL's With Crossdressing

Meet You At The Blossom (China 2024) - major plot point

Nobleman Ryus Wedding (Korea 2021) - historical, entire premise

Kieta Hatsukoi AKA My Love Mix-Up! (Japan 2021)

Love Stage (Japan 2020) - major plot point (better executed in the anime version)

Love Stage (Thailand 2022) - major plot point better executed than either Japanese version

About Youth (Taiwan 2022)

I Told Sunset About You (Thailand 2020)

Jack & Joker (Thailand 2024)

My Bromance the movie (Thailand 2014)

My Love Mix-up (Thailand 2023)

I Am Your King (Thailand 2017) - this is Mark Siwat's first BL, and yeah, he's the one cross dressing (he plays the femme rich boy in Jack & Joker)

The Sign (Thailand 2024) - historical costume for the girl of the past being played by a boy is a gender mix of female/male attire, it's very clever

YYY (Thailand 2022)

I feel like Gun has crossdressed in one of his. Theory of Love maybe?

Mr Cinderella (Vietnam 2022)

My Sky (Vietnam 2017) - trigger warning

My Lascivious Boss (Vietnam 2021) - major plot point

Moots et al...... other (older?) BLs with cross dressing?

Others worth noting

Either the representation or the BL is in question, or it's not exactly crossdressing it's something else. Still, some obscure ones just in case.

Wait For Me at Udagawachou AKA Udagawachou de Matteteyo (Japan 2015) - may be triggering involves body dysmorphia and fetishization of trans identity, but if you can you should watch this

Spring of Crush (Korea 2022) - this is a bromance

Rainbow Prince (Pinoy 2022)

DNA Says Love You (Taiwan 2022)

Great Men Academy (Thailand 2019)

3 Will Be Free (Thailand 2019)

Love Sick 2024 (Thailand) - made an aggressively male character from the original into a newly out 3rd gender/trans character in the new version, very intentional modernization choice, fascinating. Directly addresses dead naming among other things in the few scenes she has.

Saneha Stories series from Thailand

You should follow Cooheart on IG he does some fantastic gender bending and crossdressing styles. He's the fashion icon gift that keeps on giving.

Thai BL has tons of representation and use of characters/actors of Thai third gender, a lot of which is for comedy. Rarely if ever in BL more like Diary of the Tootsies. I would say my favorite and most beloved 3rd G rep is in The Sign. But that is is different than what you asked for.

Femme rep I have talked about before, most specifically in the context of Daisy in Secret Crush On You......

More Queer Lens & Thai BL 

BL Linguistics & Queer Identity I Am Gay versus I Like Men 

Husband Wife Language in Thai BL (SOTUS, TharnType + a lot of 2022 BL) 

Thai BL Lacks Representation of Butch & Transgender Men (and why this has to do with Thailand's 3rd Gender) 

Thai Military Service & Thai BL

Hope that helps.

(source)

[thefirstanomally]

Bus conversations are so much fun. There was a guy on the bus the other day who upon finding that my major was in biology excitedly got into explaining his concept around what he proudly named an Organ-o-mimic, which was basically bioengineered drone weaponry, with the idea that you would have drones on standby waiting on a command code that would have them blow things up, with them being camouflaged as animals natural to the environment in the mean time.

Now, on my end, this is a fun stranger on the bus conversation, so I'm trying not to take it too seriously, because there were just so many angles from which to approach:

1. Not my area of interest as a bio major. Working on premed stuff. But yeah animal/plant biology are classes I have taken.

2. Don't we have enough weaponry to play with? Like...do we need more? I'm more of a pacifist at heart. Zero interest in helping make more weapons for governments to kill civilians in other countries, or their own.

3. This idea, while so fun, is so completely inefficient. Lol. Especially since he wanted the organomimics to have like...real skin and make real animal noises and move exactly like the animal they copy to blend in seamlessly. The technology required? The advancements? And to do this without needing humans checking up on them or doing maintenance? Oof.

4. Once again. Biology major. Not an engineering or computer major. There is so much about this entire endeavor I am completely unable to even touch on.

5. What kinds of effects would putting a realistic animal into an environment do? Would it be eerie to the animals? Like the uncanny valley effect in humans? Would herds or flocks or packs just learn to accept them? Or just...so many questions. Idk. Interesting to think about.

6. Even if it managed to fool the other animals, especially of its own species, it can't reproduce or truly die. It's a copy of what a deer once was. What if after humans discard it, the deer continued on, becoming stranger to its herd with every new generation? Until its bones and flesh and calls and behaviors no longer look like the descendents of the ancestors it copies? What then? Or would its presence remind the young of how their parents acted? Would it keep those traditions alive? Would a creature of destruction become a preservation of the past?

7. Thank you for the new word, organomimics, I will be repeating it to myself for the rest of the day and then some.

8. The sudden segway into the Vietnam war was both confusing and difficult to follow, made worse by not being able to hear each other over the bus engine.

[thevillagequeer]

Please don't think just because Destiny's Children turned into a cult of personality, they didn't follow the typical counterculture talking points of that era. Spirituality, sexual freedom, civil rights, women's equality, definitely liberal drug use on the followers' part, and you better believe Dave wasn't the only one who heard Klaus' warnings about the Vietnam war -- he had those statistics right at the top of his head. Also keep in mind the first major protests didn't start until 1964.

Oh honey darling sweatheart, no no no, i am so sorry its your ask that is going to be on the recieving end of this onslaught you've just walked into the intersection of everything that makes my brain go brrrrrrr 

First of all, if we are going with the rule that klaus can't take part in things that hadn't at the time he was dropped into the past, he certainly cannot be starting a hippy dippy cult. Hell, he shouldn't be strutting around looking like a hippie either! 

If the beatles are still in liverpool, don't even think about the age of aquarius, you get what i'm saying?.  

Hippie culture was so heavily tied to the anti war movement for a multitude of reasons, you can't have the culture of one without the other. Its the same with music, its the same with the rise of cults in this era, it all ties back back to each other and none of these things were as we know them today until the mid to late 60s, certainly not prior to 1964 and definitely not 1960

So if its historically inaccurate to have Klaus fighting against the war in Vietnam in 1961, it's just as inaccurate for him to have started up a cult. 

But, for me at least, that doesn't matter one bit.  Because Klaus isn't a person of the 60s.  He was born nearly 3 decades after the fact. Everything he knows about this time, save for his ten months in the war itself, is how the rest of us learned.  Books, movies, music, the odd recollection from someone who lived through it, perhaps.

When you take someone with ideals influenced by a time or movement and put them into that time before those beliefs were created, it's nigh impossible to keep them from bringing those ideas in too early.

Its a common trope in time-travel fiction, but it's because characters are human. 

Most of them, at least, want to make the world a better place, and being put in the past feels like a key to that, because for once, you have a cheat sheet. No one knows what's going to happen in life, but now you do.  

Humans also love to impress.  They will play Chuck Berry at their parents prom years before it's released.  They will show someone the palm sized computer they can keep in their pocket that has more technology in it than what sent man to the moon.

And do we really think Klaus would be taking note of historical accuracy? The love of his life has less than a decade to live before dying tragically, he's just seen the world end, and for all he knows, he's the only one of his family who made it. If he knows there was a movement to stop the war, why the hell would he care if he joins it a couple years too early? 

Though, to be fair to the point, I will dive in a little bit to how the cults of the 60s functioned with the aesthetic Klaus and his followers adopted as well as with the anti war movement.

As you mentioned, all of this falls under what we now call the counterculture of the 1960s. It was called this because quite literally, it was *countering* the culture of the time.

the world the flower children of the 60s were born into was tight laced, kept up appearances, and abided by strict social rules.  they danced the foxtrot, they starched their shirts and sent their boys off to die.  

everything they did from then on was to fight against that. it was all an act of rebellion, an act of rejection. the status quo they were dying for needed to know they were not abiding

That's why the aesthetics of stereotypical cults and hippies were and honestly still often are used interchangeably, because a lot of cult leaders would use theseaesthetics and buzzwords to draw young, passionate folks in.

now, given how Klaus has an almost reverse view of all this, entering the decade with the knowledge of how it ends, this is how I can see him accidentally attracting a following by just bringing forth what the 60s were getting to, only sooner.

Because, honestly, if we are talking about cultural shifts and all that jazz and how that spurred these touchstones forward, if especially in line with season 2 of tua, the shift started when Kennedy was shot. That;s the turning point.

(As a history goof, i would argue that the real linchpin was the assassination of Robert Kennedy, not JFK, but we're not really talking about history history rn lol even though this is incredibly long already and I do apologize I just loveeeee this shit)

So, if Klaus wouldn't have been allowed to be an anti war activist prior to 1964, he couldn't be a cult leader in the way he was either. Because technically, historically, the true unrest of the 60s that spurred the attraction to cults, that got these social movements into unruly high gear, doesn't happen until the Hargreeves are all back together and Klaus has abandoned Destiny's Children. 

Charlie Manson wasn't getting shit into gear until around 1967 and the other well know American cult of the time that *did* run at the same time as Destiny's Children, the People's Temple (Jonestown ring any bells?) was specifically run as a Christian community under the guise of being marxist liberation. And they weren't even doing traditional cult shit until the mid-60s either. 

Now, onto Klaus. In s2, the cult is not much more than set dressing. It gives them a cool place to stay and a handful of characters to interact with. Either way you slice it, it was an underused aspect of the season.

But more importantly, what was the role the cult was supposed to fill in the story?

in my opinion it boils down to these points:

Klaus is a charismatic little bitch and he can attract all sorts of people to him with insane ease

Klaus is not good at dealing with things and instead throws his energy out to externalities, obsessions even

He needed to be infamous

Lets take stock of Klaus within the first days of arriving in Dallas, 1960

he is 59 years in the past with only his ghost brother 

they have just come an earth literal seconds away from total annihilation

days before his sibling ended the world, he was actually much closer to the time he is in now.  he's just spent 10 months in Vietnam, 1968

the last days in the war, he lost the love of his life to a gunshot wound to the chest.  he bled out in his arms.  

he's wearing bowling shoes

Literally, though, from Klaus' own words, we know he has never loved anyone like he loved Dave.  And now, he has nearly a decade to prevent his death.  

As viewers, we can see starting Destiny's Children as a distraction on Klaus' part, and that's understandable.  Who wouldn't want a lighthearted distraction to the tune of the summer of love? (which, again, wasn't until 1967 but..)

But, if we're to believe Klaus' goal of keeping Dave alive, shouldn't we also be inclined to think that maybe, even if it wasn't his intent, he was a bit too passionate about the cause to be read as anything but an anti war activist? That even if he tried to just blend in, he'd end up getting a little too heated in conversation? A little too pointed in what he said to kids debating on enlisting? Things that when overheard time and time again, would make certain people think he had a certain agenda?

Because really, what about Klaus in season 2 makes him a cult leader? The throngs of people? Fine, but why are they following him? The wild outfits? Sure, but that's just Klaus, isn't it? Even his followers seem to have taken more from him than he ever led them.  The whole time, it seems like Klaus attracted people with no intention of spreading shit.  He needed food and a place to stay, so he groveled.  It grew from there.  He got in over his head.  Because Klaus is smarter than he realizes.  Who the hell can accidentally start a cult? 

Anyway, its a disservice to the character.  because yes, its impressive, but what did it really do to further the character? we don't even get to see how it affected his relationship with substances! we are just told he's sober.  sober in the 1960s. in a supposedly hippie cult.  okkkkk. 

the plotline and concept on the whole just doesn't check any boxes and it doesn't add any depth.  that's why I am so critical of it.  I don't care if Klaus had a go at being an asshole cultist that he'd have to atone for, just if it's done well.  And it wasn't.  And I honestly do not believe it is in Klaus' character to act in that way.  That's why I think it would have made more sense for him to have ended up as an accidental activist rather than an accidental cult leader.  Because it'd be just as selfish– he'd be in it for one person and one person only. But maybe it wouldn't stay that way.  It'd lead to the same reach and infamy, without the blurriness and crude steterotyping and reliance on cheap humor.  

This got verryyyyy long and I bet it also makes 0 sense, but I do not have the braincells to try and make it more lucid, I'm sorry.  I just love both these topics very much sooooo a lot of words.  

If anyone ends up actually reading this you are amazing and I love you and we should probably be mutuals and talk 

[averycanadianfilm]

A few whistleblower movies to watch

by Tyler Aquilina Updated July 27, 2022 at 10:20 AM EDT

1. All the President's Men (1976): Still the journalism movie all others aspire toward, All the President's Men tracks Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) as their diligent work steadily uncovers the full breadth and depth of the Watergate scandal with the help of an anonymous source, Deep Throat.

2. Silkwood (1983): Legendary director Mike Nichols (The Graduate) helmed this drama based on the life of Karen Silkwood (played by Meryl Streep), who died in a mysterious car crash while investigating harmful practices at the nuclear plant where she worked. Kurt Russell and Cher costar as Silkwood's boyfriend and housemate—which, on paper, sounds like the setup for the world's best sitcom. But, in practice, Silkwood is a powerful slow burn, deep-diving into its subject's everyday life and burgeoning crusade.

3. The Insider (1999): Pacino picked up the whistle again, this time alongside Russell Crowe, in The Insider, playing a 60 Minutes producer who pushes to bring Jeffrey Wigand's (Crowe) damning account of the tobacco industry's practices to light.

4. Erin Brockovich (2000): With Pacific Gas & Electric making headlines again for their role in California's spate of wildfires, it's an apt time to revisit Steven Soderbergh's legal drama (for which he lost the Best Director Oscar...to himself, for Traffic). Erin Brockovich stars Julia Roberts as the title character, who discovers PG&E has contaminated a small town's water supply and masterminds a legal crusade against the company.

5. North Country (2005): Before helming Disney's live-action Mulan, Niki Caro directed Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand to Oscar nominations in North Country, which follows mineworker Josey Aimes (Theron) as she spearheads the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in U.S. history. Somewhat tepidly received upon release (EW called it "the right movie at the wrong time"), North Country is a necessary watch in the #MeToo era.

6. The Most Dangerous Man in America (2009): and The Post (2017)A few real-life whistleblowers have had their stories told onscreen through both documentary and dramatization. One such example: Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers and exposed secret U.S. government activity relating to the Vietnam War. The Oscar-nominated documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America tracks Ellsberg through the lead-up to the publication of the Pentagon Papers, while Steven Spielberg's The Post tells the story of the Washington Post journalists who published them, starring Meryl Streep as publisher Katharine Graham, Tom Hanks as editor Ben Bradlee, and Matthew Rhys as Ellsberg.

7. Fair Game (2010): If you want to relive more Bush administration-era outrages, allow us to recommend Fair Game, based on the 2003 Plame affair. That scandal revolved around the administration's outing of Valerie Plame (played by Naomi Watts) as a CIA operative, ostensibly in retaliation for her diplomat husband's (Sean Penn) criticism of the Iraq War. (He wrote a New York Times op-ed debunking the administration's WMD rationale.) The film shifts between spy thriller and domestic drama to explore, as EW's Owen Gleiberman put it, "What's greater, the price of hiding the truth—or telling it?"

8. We Steal Secrets (2013) and The Fifth Estate (2013): Remember when WikiLeaks was better known for whistleblowing than for helping interfere in U.S. elections? Alex Gibney's We Steal Secrets and Benedict Cumberbatch's The Fifth Estate can't help but look outdated now, but both fascinatingly chart WikiLeaks' history and paint vivid portraits of founder Julian Assange.

9. Citizenfour (2014) and Snowden (2016): Edward Snowden may be the most significant—and is certainly the most famous—whistleblower of the 2010s, with his revelations about the National Security Agency's surveillance practices reshaping our views on technology, privacy, and intelligence. Laura Poitras' Oscar-winning Citizenfour is an essential document, chronicling the days Snowden spent in Hong Kong making his initial disclosures to Poitras and two other journalists. Oliver Stone's Snowden, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the title character, is less essential, but helps illuminate the man himself and boasts a solid performance from Gordon-Levitt.

10. Official Secrets (2019): Official Secrets dramatizes a lesser-known (at least stateside) but no less vital whistleblower story—that of Katharine Gun (played by Keira Knightley). Gun, a British government employee, leaked a secret memo about an illegal NSA operation to pressure the UN Security Council to sanction the Iraq War. "What's interesting about this film is it's set in 2003...Yet it still feels like we don't have the conclusion of this story," Knightley told EW. "We're still very much living with it."

[dark-muse-iris]

Pre-dystopian era truly encapsulates pre 2020 now doesn't it? 😂 The things the last 2 almost 3 years have brought forth in humanity is 👀 disappointing at the best of times.

I'm surprised to see just how the app has changed, as I haven't had the chance to hop on desktop just yet. It seems...almost functioning? No more character limit on asks is nice as now I don't have to break this into 6 different messages 😂 New settings and everything else to try and figure out.

I've turned 24 this last July, and the last time I was truly active on here I was 21 so the personal growth and loss that have come with that is interesting for sure. I've lost both my grandmas in the past year and my living grandfather has already remarried (oh boy the family drama that caused), moved twice and live with my boyfriend of 3 years, have gone NC with his narc family and LC with mine as best as possible, started a job that has me earning the most I ever have financially but definitely have cost a part of my soul 💀😂 and I'm trying my best to get to a place in my life where I'm debt free and in a industry I actually love and care for (cannabis and growing it) and get my boyfriend the disability coverage he needs but I'm sure you're well aware that its a poor joke of trying to get that approved. So on some notes, its been good and I've changed into a better person but also if anything bad happens in 2023 I'm very fragile about it 😂😅

I understand the "striving for mediocrety" as a workplace mentality, and just how exhausting it can feel with wanting to bring better things to the office and just getting shot down. The old dodgers of "this is how we've always done it" dont always seem to realize that doing the same thing for 40+ years only works when the system isn't as broken as it is (or if it even worked in the first place). Is being remote going to give you the chances to take care of your sleep issues and anything else health related thats popped up for you? Ik last I checked you were doing the testing to see if it was more than standard narcolepsy.

(I'll probably message again and finish my thoughts but I am night shift and my break just ended so I gotta head back. It's so nice talking to you again ☺️💕)

I’m sorry to hear about your grandmas. I lost two of mine since 2020 and it’s been really hard on the family. If my grandfather had remarried that quickly, I’d be scratching my head as to how they were able to make it happen. My grandfather doesn’t appear to be dating, but that’s likely because 1) he cooks, and 2) he’s got stage 4 cancer, courtesy of U.S. chemical warfare in Vietnam.

As someone who works in a soul-sucking job that pays well, let me just say: it’s worth it. It is absolutely worth it to have a full belly and warm place to sleep during recession years. When I worked in industries I loved and didn’t have enough to eat, I resented my dreams and hated myself for having them. Letting those dreams go gave me the chance to have other dreams and I’ve been able to forgive myself for being so hard in my early 20s. It can take years to get the life you want, so don’t let anyone shit on you for doing what you have to do to eat in the meantime, especially anyone of the older generations who did their part to suppress our standard of living.

The insistence on clinging to broken systems of the past is one big reason I transferred jobs. There’s a lot of that still going around. My managers were panicking and kept asking why I was leaving; I think they finally understood how far I’m willing to go to make sure “office culture” won’t waste my time anymore. For me, being a remote employee streamlines my workflow and reduces my workplace accommodations for narcolepsy by half. It’s also much easier to manage my ADHD at home where I can remove distractions. In the office, no one was working on our job shit; everyone just gathered around to talk about their kids or health problems or ridiculous work drama they didn’t plan on fixing themselves. I had forgotten how much time people wasted just bitching for nothing. When I hear a complaint, I want to fix the problem and get rid of it, but that wasn’t a good fit. My colleagues wanted free therapy from someone their kid’s age because *surprise* their kid isn’t talking to them anymore.

I’m hopeful for cannabis and glad you’re pursuing the field! It’s not fully legal where I live, but I have many chronically ill family and friends who rely on it because they can’t take meds or afford the healthcare they need. I have some family who are growers in different states where it’s allowed and they’re happy with the work they’re doing. I never had the green thumb for that; I’m the only who would take dead grass and make a basket out of it.