#oh almost forgot homoeroticism

[variousqueerthings]

favourie movies i watched for the first time in the first half of 2024

(yeah I originally wrote this post in July and forgot to finish it, shhhhh ignore the date)

a death in the gunj: i went into this one not knowing what was going to happen. it's a profile of a young man who doesn't fit in the world around him, portrayed in a microcosm of familial events -- it was so intensely emotional and set off a lot of the underlying thematic thread of this year's watching

beau travail: this is one of the "top 100 movies lists" movies that i watched and i spent a good deal of it wondering where it was going and what it was exactly doing and we get to the final scene and my mind suddenly flips and goes "oh it's been doing it the whole time!!!" it's a film that felt like i was soaking in it, rather than watching something chronological or putting together a puzzle. white, colonialist toxic masculinity in djibouti and homoeroticism

maurice (vietnamese film club extended edition): i've seen maurice sans these scenes before, but then this youtube channel uploaded a version with the deleted scenes spliced in and ohhh my goodness it gives so much more Moreness to the whole story. i also read the book for the first time afterwards and truly the movie follows it so closely, but yeah. there's something special about maurice, on a meta level as well as quality. doubly so with the deleted scenes

to kill a mockingbird: yeah yeah i'd never seen it before, duh it's a really good movie. tbh i do think there's something in the water of more classic hollywood Cinema. a messy af place, but i'm a sucker for the beautiful acting, astounding scores, the sincerity of the story and the acting. it's a perfect film

the watermelon woman: interestingly, on the flipside of the "movies that mean something" scale, about as non-hollywood as you'll get, a movie about who gets remembered in movies, a movie about documentation, a movie that wanted to make a documentary, but instead is making a movie about trying to make a documentary (that isn't a documentary), a movie about black lesbians throughout history, a movie that was nearly impossible to find for awhile (god bless piracy), a movie about in/visibility

southern comfort: a documentary about the final year of robert eads, who died of what would have been initially treatable ovarian cancer, but who had been told he didn't need his ovaries removed and then later was denied treatment until it was too late. this is incredibly sad, yes, but it's also a movie about the trans south, a community documentation that feels incredible in its existence, a group of people who would risk being forgotten were it not for the hungry, beautiful need to document

the zone of interest: one of two oscar-nominated movies on this list, i had never heard of this term before, which was shocking to me -- but even moreso when i realised how few people in my life knew about the term either. this film is not-about auschwitz from the pov of its commandant, rudolf höss and his family, and about how easy it is to casually dehumanise. the director - a jewish man named jonathan glazer - faced censure for drawing parallels between his movie and the treatment of palestinians, especially considering Big Walls

fahra: a movie based on the real-life recollections of a survivor of the first nabka. fahra gets locked in a cellar while her village is overrun by troops and tries desperately to get out and find her father. the way it's told -- almost never leaving the cellar -- is both deliberate in that this is what happened, but it also serves as an intimate eye through which the audience is given perspective on some of the violence perpetrated during the first nabka and since

the advocate for fagdom: a documentary/portrait of bruce la bruce, the creation of queercore, queer punk scenes in the american 80s, tbh it's just a good time and a good insight into history -- particularly enjoyed the bit where they talked about queer already being not radical enough in the 90s and wanting to shake things up. *glances at corporate queer* oh little did they know (or maybe they did)...

monkey man: i was not necessarily the only trans person at the screening of this film i was at, but i was definitely outnumbered by heterosexual couples and we'll never know what the other cinema-goers felt about it, but this being mainstream-but-not. mainstream, in that dev patel is a name that draws audience, not in that this was all his production and certainly not a massive budget film for what it was doing. mainstream in its cool action set-pieces, not in that it's politically right in your face. dev patel is hot, also

the holdovers: the other oscar-nominated film and one i feel went waaay under the radar. hearkened back to an older era of american film-making that wasn't in a hurry, that had a simple story with deep reservoirs of feeling to tell, with quirky (but real) characters going through things together. the fact that it's set around the vietnam war makes that image even stronger. i just felt things. movie emotions, the emotions you get when you're watching such a solid fucking Movie, yaknow? *harry styles voice* It's a Movie

desire lines: gay trans men and mascs and gay saunas and lou sullivan and documentary but also the story of a middle-aged iranian trans guy who meets a younger american trans guy in an archive and they bond and he gets invited to the trans night at the sauna, i was so emotionally overcome by this film that i couldn't go back to the film festival i was at the entire rest of the weekend (two whole days i missed after this film got to me!!!) where do you hear gay trans men and masc stories? ever???

femme: fucked up gay revenge story in which a black drag queen (played oh so fucking well by nathan stewart-jarrett who is getting what's his after being done dirty by misfits back in the day, oof my boy is killing it in angels of america, in candyman, in this gem!) is hatecrimed by a group of white homophobes, and then proceeds to meet the leader of them in a gay bathhouse... oh if you can deal with the delicious tension of it (practically nonstop) it's so so worth it

secretary: first of two james spaders i watched for the first time, making me come to the realisation that mr spader is a Freak and so so good. a young woman yet to uncover her latent sub-side (the great maggie gyllenhaal) leaves a mental health institution and gets a job as a secretary for an incredibly repressed dom... and youknow....

crash: the other james spader i watched for the first time, ngl i was building to crash because i need to know when sex is going to happen onscreen, i need to approach it from the side, i need to be analytical about it lest it get too discomforting for me. i actually don't mind sex so much onscreen anymore, because im quite desentised to its being "not-real," but it still needs a bit of build. point being, these people get off on car crashes and that part is hot. idk what that says about me (kinky ace)

kamikaze girls: two girls from two different worlds meet, one is a member of an all-girl biker gang, the other wishes for nothing more than to be a rococo era girl (helpless, feminine, prone to fainting, beautiful, cared for). it all gets very gay very fast. this movie was delightful, i had such a good time

angel's egg: i am getting more into watching animation on the whole and so far this is the one that's knocked me the most over the head this year. i cannot describe it, it needs to be watched. it's just visual poetry wrapped in a fairytale wrapped in a series of questions, but you've gotta just... bask. just live in its world

tetsuo: the iron man: feel like there's nothing I can say about this movie that other people haven't said much better. I don't know much about this period of film-making, this feels like the intro to it all (for me), and it's. I mean really I ought to just go out there and make some fucked up movies in black and white with a bunch of simple special effects that come together to leave you oh-so-disturbed. they all become machines and fuck and vore each other i don't know what else to tellya

love lies bleeding: idk what to tell you man. fucked up lesbians. greasy smoker butch stewart, who's jonesing the entire time and so fucking into her pretty bodybuilder girlfriend who you think is the reasonable part of the equation but truly truly not. there's some body-stuff in there i did not expect. everyone is kind of terrible, and the score is great. lesbian crime hits different, it just does

SO FAR TOP MOVIES FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR: Flee I Saw The TV Glow Death By Hanging It Must Be Heaven The Act Of Killing/The Look Of Silence Becket This Is Not A Film

[measuringbliss]

Spider-Man Read-Through 022: The Master Plan of the Molten Man... and Dracula is also there (ASM 132-133, GSSM 1)

MASTERPOST

In this duo, we see an old friend... or two. And then, we meet a vampire. OoOoOh~!

I really enjoy the Molten Man's new design! Gorgeous cover.

It may be January in the Marvel-verse, but we're in May 74, publication-wise!

Liz is back! Hasn't been seen since issue 30, which explains why I keep mistaking Betty and her.

I don't know why, but I remembered this specific (and very ugly) maid. Poor lady.

Anyway, Raxton is hot, there I said it, we can get on.

When I first saw those panels, I thought it was exactly like how Romita would draw Liz... then I checked the credits again... and it's him! His soapy style is gorgeous as ever. Peter says she never got on with MJ, but given that MJ appeared for the first real time in #42... I don't know what he's on. The art of the retcon!

Ned, who's investigating the maid's intel on Raxton, almost dies as Raxton (actually the Molten Man) makes his room explode. I like that Ned (and the rest of the cast) are more involved! I miss them.

The Molten Man has apparently not been seen since #35, which checks out. It's the occasion for the artists to put gold, which is a shade we don't see so much.

Look, is this a safe space? Can I say what's on my mind?

The feet are really nice. I'm not particularly into feet (I know, TMI) but I'm really impressed by how it looks good. And the rest of Raxton's body is obviously quite well-done too. I'm not saying that Spider-Man comics made me gay, but they sure aren't beating the allegations.

Ned is very badly aged, but I like the damsel in distress look.

Raxton's radiation has a bad influence on Peter's metabolism, and he might very well die by the next issue...

Oh, who are we kidding?

In the readers' letters, it seems like Gwen's death has now mostly been forgiven, and someone is praising MJ--and she deserves it!

Even men want to see more of Peter! I'm afraid the situation isn't exactly adapted, however.

As a matter of fact, Spidey has already planned to party in a sauna with another man. Better luck next time!

(I love those smoke effects.)

Liz reveals that Raxton is her brother, which I completely forgot about.

We rarely see that kind of comedy, hahaha.

So. Um. It's a classic story of Spidey kind of being a jerk. Um. So Liz's brother is dead. For now. Maybe. Oof.

In the comments, there's also people talking about Russia's attack on Ukraine. Gerry Conway's run is really provocative, huh! I'm kind of loving it. His shaking of the status quo, not the attack.

I wonder if we'll get to see Liz's reaction :(

I'll do Giant-Size 1 later, it's currently more than 3 am. Hey, do you know what we'll get next time? A big batch... and Harry's big moment as, you know, the, the...!

Oh, you'll just have to wait!

______________________________________________________________

And here's the late addendum of Giant-Size Spider-Man #1!

I'm into that, actually!

So May's dying again (isn't she always?) and Peter needs to get her a vaccine. Ross Andru thus entertains us with a brilliant perspective shot.

Their homoeroticism never fails. Reading the summary of Marvel Team-Up 23 actually was a treat, because I finally got the answer to a years-old question of mine: did Iceman really rob a bank in the first few pages of this issue?

No, he didn't, folks!

Yes, you're getting a ton of screenshots for this part, since I know there's no more issue in this batch after this one.

Anyway, Dracula... Could you please breed me?

To me, Peter and Dracula crossing paths was like, an interplanetary event. It gave me chills. In fact, it still does and I think I should write Peter/Dracula smut now so thank you to the whole team, you've made a mess out of my brain, ARE YOU HAPPY?!? (It is 3 am.)

At least three factions are out there to find Maxfield, either to kill him (Dracula), use him for bartering (the Whisperer and Simian), and naturally Peter just wants to heal his aunt.

I remember that exact cosplay!!!! Funny what the brain remembers and doesn't. Sir, if you thirst so much, maybe I could come to your aide. You just need to ask. Okay, that's actually optional.

The Whisperer's men have a run in with Dracula and think he's Maxfield, which totally offends Dracula. As revenge, he decides to homosexualize his assailants.

Muahahaha.

The writing team then attempts to gaslight me into thinking Dracula isn't hot as fuck.

They're not doing a good job, I can tell you.

A woman is attacked by Dracula, Peter hears her, alerts the captain, who makes Dr. Maxfield come... and Simian follows them.

The fake Hawkgirl attacks one of them and is knocked unconscious. They escape with the man, Peter escapes too...

I'm all giddy!!!!!! Don't know why, but I love that "oh it's not the end yet... or rather, at all! I'm loving this romp. It's a complete joy.

In a great feat of misdirection, Simian and his men find Spider-Man... but actually, he's just a rando in a costume! That's funny and foreshadowed (given that everyone's in a costume anyway). And if I remember, this isn't the only misdirection...

The guy on the right is a fun one.

Meanwhile, Dracula is just as uncomfortable watching Babylon's first 10 minutes as I was. (It's a great movie, go watch it.)

Great mise-en-scène! The Whisperer has trapped the guy, but a bat follows... and hits Simian with its gay ray. Hurray!

Gosh, Dracula is such a girlboss. "I have been harassed--attacked--INSULTED..." Iconic.

Dracula eventually escapes, convinced that he just threw Maxfield overboard... but Spidey caught fake Robin Hood!

And thus, the biggest twist arises!

What a girlboss too.

And that's how it ends. A stellar issue! Loved it.

[darkmacademianut]

the dark academia community is sleeping on daniel handler’s the basic eight, it should be right up there with the secret history as a first media recommendation

[isingonly4myangel]

Cinnamon and spice for the autumn ask!

Cinnamon: if you had to live in a time period different than the present, which would you choose and where?

God, you know me so well! So I think my soul is originally from Victorian-era England. Well, late Victorian/early Edwardian. I move far too easily in a corset and full skirt, whether sitting, standing, or doing a choreographed formal waltz, lol! I think my next incarnation was in New York in the late 1940s/early 1950s. All the fashion of Mrs Maisel with all the homoeroticism of Carol, hahaha! Also I have a picture of my doppelgänger from the 40s that backs up this theory. 

Spice: have you ever encountered a house that you believed to be haunted?

So that’s a yes, both intentionally and unintentionally. A few places I’ve visited deliberately and either they happen to be considered haunted, or I went there specifically because they’re considered haunted. Exhibit A is the Winchester Mystery House- widely known to be haunted, and I paid for a tour. Exhibit B, The Ahwahnee Hotel- I’ve stayed there a solid handful of times but didn’t learn till later than it’s reportedly haunted. It also served as inspiration for The Shining, and much of the film set was meant to resemble it! I didn’t personally see anything supernatural at either of those places, but I very much enjoyed them. 

A place that I didn’t mean to go and that I did NOT enjoy was this hotel in Normandy. The last time I was in France (spring of 2018) it was on a school trip where I was an honorary chaperone (because I had actually graduated the year before, but I was acting as one of two translators) and our group stayed at this one hotel, I wish I could remember the name of it. Anyway, I was in a room with two other girls, so we got a little suite with a mini kitchen and a baby living room. Initially we’d decided that two people would be on the double bed and one person would sleep on the pullout in the living room, but when we got into the room we all realized that none of us wanted to be alone. It just didn't feel right in there, felt like we shouldn't be there because the space was already occupied. It was the spookiest thing, and not really in a good way. There really was an ever-present sensation of being watched, we didn’t even shower without someone else in the bathroom. And when we tried to go to bed, we all ended up in the bedroom together because we were too afraid to separate. We dragged the couch cushions in so someone could sleep on the floor next to the bed... except none of us could do that either. Looking under the bed, it felt threatening, angry, DARK. And we were 17 and 18 years old, well past an age of being afraid of the dark or a monster under the bed. That night we all slept on the bed, piled on top of each other, with the bedroom door locked and the nightstand lamp on. Mercifully, we only had to stay the one night. 

And oh my god I almost forgot- the auditorium at my high school was hella haunted. And yeah, I know theaters always seem a little haunted, but I swear to god this one IS. We get light orbs (unconnected with any stage lighting), we get moving shadows where there are no people, we had disembodied voices, doors rattling on their hinges so violently you’d think someone was kicking it from the other side, objects moving on their own the moment you turned your back, we had posters and frames thrown forcefully off the walls while people watched, circular saws inexplicably powering on when the scene shop was empty, the list goes on and on. And somehow we all just learned to live with it? Anybody who was a guest in the theatre was so weirded out- the choir kids who did seasonal concerts, the kids who only did the spring musicals, any and all incoming freshmen. But if you were one of the ones who stuck with the drama department (heaven help you) you grew accustomed to it. It phased you less and less, you learned to announce your presence if you were alone or in a group of less than 4, sometimes you made polite conversation with the darkened space around you, you said “thank you” when you left, you explained how things went to the freshmen every year, and so forth. And it felt like the theatre grew accustomed to you, too. Whether that was just age and experience, or desensitization, or actually the entity backing off, it felt much more peaceful and less threatening to be in there alone as a junior or senior. We always joked about holding a seance or planning a Halloween haunted house in there, and I really still think someone should! 

[moro-nokimi]

rewatch part 5

yes ik i said i was going to pick it up tomorrow but i don’t feel like doing fuck or shit

dark knight!joker voice here we go

YEA IT DIDN’T SKIP THE OPENING

i love this OP so much. 

OH NO LA PIETA. that sure is a thing

THE BELT

(cracks knuckles)

oh wait we’re getting early into the squick

grody

why his eyes so blue

BRUH?

WHAT 

WOW THEY REALLY JUST SMACKED HIM IN THE FACE WITH THE IDIOT BALL

(tells his whole life story to the teenager he’s supposed to be tailing) (hauls ass away)

NAOMI. TABITHA ST. GERMAINE

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

same bangs

dramatic ass. can’t blame him

why is this so horny

she’s practically taking a witness statement

dawg you saw him get beaned by a car

i wish they’d created this panel by panel. yes it’s wish fulfillment what ab it

oh yeah here goes the shitty delivery :(

too bad the tone sucks bc it is a genuinely good scene that does establish he gives a shit about her

he sounds waaaaaaaaaay paternalistic and shitty in the dub and sub. i don’t blame ppl for their wrong opinions ab their relationship

like by definition an opinion is objective but that doesn’t make it any less wrong

and here we go

aw

oh bye i got hit in the nuts with sad :(

they really were planning a family huh :(

oh the joke about her dad scaring him more than kira. bye

cinnamon tography

NOOOOO

ugh it was almost his birthday too when he d*es :( naomi spent it alone and grieving i bet

i wish they hadn’t moved it forward three years, bc now the tracksuit from this jagoff makes more sense

HE DOESN’T EVEN RECOGNIZE THE VOICE? HE WAS JUST TALKING TO HIM

okay i guess the fact that irl there was a week’s time and he spoke to light once hampers things a little but he has a distinct voice (dub-wise anyways)

oh man :(

isn’t that so creepy

okay, gross? he’s a shitty guy but that doesn’t mean he deserved to die

if anything this is pushing me moreso to be anti-death penalty and anti-kira

god he’s bluffing so hard

NO

NO FUCKING WAY

I FORGOT ABOUT THAT

GIVING ME THE HEEBIES, JEEBIES, AND WIGGINS

I FORGOT HE THREATENED NAOMI UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH

oh jesus

he probably worked with those guys beforehand. 

that’s fucking terrifying, not knowing that you’re killing the guys you’ve worked with and then dying yourself.

i wonder what raye’s last thought was, besides it being light yagami

NOPE NOT GONNA GO DOWN THAT RABBIT HOLE

like obviously raye is a smart guy i don’t get the fics that take his intelligence down a few pegs to prop up naomi

those are the same fics that make him to be an abusive dick

like i love her but this is not the move. we can love a woman and hate what was done without removing her agency

oh god, he looks completely dead behind the eyes

aw :(((

NO

YIKES

ugh.

oh shit i thought that was their analogy to g w bush

raye was in a shitload of pain. i don’t envy the guy.

oh god :(((

they’re so heavy on the copaganda, yeesh

light must be peak deer in the headlights rn

oh yeah, yeah he is. that’s why in the manga he’s turned away from his family. wish this had been more faithful to it rather than cutting shit out.

i forgot that netflix spliced in footage from the relight OVAs

OH THAT PHOTO :(

she just barely missed them. aizawa walked right fucking past her. god that sucks.

TREVOR DEVALL.

i love how it foreshadows his arc within the mello/near arc, his dissent to L

no eyebrows u.u

kitty...

how tall is aizawa anyways? we know matsuda is 5′8, and in this he has about 2″ of hair to make him the same height as matsuda. so wouldn’t that make him like 5′6″... but even then there’s sooo many continuity errors, ugh.

fair enough. i can’t wait for the homoeroticism

that bone structure

still geeking about that LLP message with the actual literal message from the man himself

[ghostcat3000]

fic trope meme! In honor of Twilight vortex: any of the following: 1) long-distance pining, 2) 'i have to break up with you! for your safety!', 3) what's a little homoeroticism between rivals? 4) um, cuddling for warmth? doesn't that happen while she's hell-pregant with the werewolf's soulmate? 5)OMG SOULMATES I almost forgot!!

I DID ‘EM ALL.

1) North & South - The kind of tax-prep fic I’m famous for. Starts the moment Margaret Hale goes off in that carriage and John Thornton breathes out look back at me. Lots of brooding. And taxes.

2) Daredevil/Punisher AU - Frank Castle and Karen Page are banging (BECAUSE OF COURSE THEY ARE), Karen is still going after Wilson Fisk (BECAUSE OF COURSE SHE IS) and fearing for Frank’s safety (HA HA HA, WTF) tells him they need to stop seeing each other.

Frank is confused.

3) Crazy Ex-Girlfriend AU where Greg Serrano comes back to West Covina and meets Rebecca’s evil-hot new boss Nathaniel. They sing a duet extolling their “gifts” to one another, in a close-talk way, tight harmony, and just the barest brushing of lips. Think The Boy is Mine meets Body Language.

4) Selfie - A still-dating-Freddy-Season-two-that-shoulda-happened Eliza and Higgs go on some ill-considered camping team-building thing cooked up by Saperstein. They get separated from the group (Saperstein’s cologne has bear pheromones, mayhem ensues) and wind up having to keep each other warm in an abandoned lean-to. Which leads to staring. And distracted lip-looking. And is it just me or is it hot in here in the freezing wood-night? I didn’t mean to say wood. Oh my god.

5) My Mad Fat Diary - Rae Earl, through some intense esoteric method I have yet to imagine, finds out that her soul mate is fit-as-fuck Finn Nelson. Convinced that if he finds out (this is the kind of soulmate AU where only one person is in on the sitch…initially aka DUN DUN DUN), he’ll reject her rather than accept it, she goes through all manner of nonsense to prevent him from finding out. Of course, this winds up bringing him closer.

*

thank you for the ask, @querulousgawks!

from this meme. ask away!