#siames my way

[takkytakk]

And maybe I'll make some mistakes

But I'm taking my life in my hands

Oh, I'm better this way

My way

No, you don't understand

So, please, stop pretending

[orykorioart]

June 2023

How could you forget Lup?

[Image Description: A 5-panel illustrated comic featuring Taako and Lup in a limited color palette of pink, light brown, light red, purple, blue and yellow. Taako is is depicted with light brown skin and dark hair, which he ties behind his back. He wears a purple cloak. Lup is depicted with light brown skin and dark hair, which she ties in front of her. She wears a red cloak.

Panel 1: Young Taako and Lup, on both sides of a pot. Lup is stirring as Taako looks in. Below the panel is captioned with purple text:

“What’s the feeling”

Panel 2: Close-up of young Taako and Lup. You can see half of their face, and they are excitedly talking to each other. Below the panel is captioned with purple text:

“When you have a broken home, home, home?”

Panel 3: Pans down to young Taako and Lup’s torso. They are standing close to each other, indicating that they are holding hands. Below the panel is captioned, text in purple:

“Where’s the love when you were left on your own”

Panel 4: Taako’s hand, wearing the Bureau of Balance bracer. His hand is relaxed, but alone. There is a brief out line of Lup’s hand, reaching out for his. Below the panel is captioned with purple text:

“So alone”

Panel 5: Taako is standing center-frame, and you can only see the bottom half of his face and his torso. There is a single tear rolling down his cheek, his mouth slightly agape. He is grasping the Umbrastaff tightly in one hand, holding it close to his chest. There is a faint outline of a hand on his shoulder. Below the panel is captioned with red text:

“Who said you’re on your own?” End ID]

[oobbbear]

More music videos should be animated

[l-0puko]

the forbidden lines slowly fade away - sugar rush ride (2023)

[coolerthancats]

SIAMÉS "My Way" [Official Animated Music Video]

[gauntletqueen]

Brain check! What song is in your head right now?

This because I am listening to it right now hjsafghhgajsf

[flying-pierog-art]

AAAAAARGH I MISSED SIAMES'S LAST GOOD TOUR. THEY HAVE A TOUR NOW. BUT THE SONGS IN MELODRAMATIC ALBUM FRICKIN SUCK. STÖLTZ COME BACK DAMN YOU 😭😭😭

Home album was so good :( and genuinly everything where Stöltz was the songwriter. Cause now the vocals are good but the lyrics are honestly tiring to listen to ._.

Rip SIAMES.

[draconic-desire]

Alright, let’s hear your thoughts on the Yan!Penacony boys’ theme song(s)

My votes are:

Yan!Aventurine … Dice and Roll (Odetari), Russian Roulette (Tungevaag, Raaban, Charlie Who?)

Yan!Dr. Ratio … Counting Sheep (SAFIA), Mad IQs (I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME)

Yan!Sunday … One Way or Another (Until the Ribbon Breaks), Tonight You Belong to Me (Patience and Prudence)

Yan!Gallagher … The Wolf (SIAMES), Tear You Apart (She Wants Revenge)

——————————————————————————

Please comment your thoughts! I’m building a playlist hehe

[thescarletnargacuga]

THE BULL

A HARLEQUIN AU CAINE SONGFIC

Harlequin AU and ART credit: @tadc-harlequin-au @iamespecter

WARNING: angst, PTSD, guilt, anxiety, regret, alcohol

~~~

Caine dropped the empty bottle. Numb all over, he slouched in his office chair. His mind finally stopped screaming. Dizzying nothingness awaited him. It was the only potential bit of peace he knew.

Each and everyday, hiding from the sunshine

Wandering in the shade

Not too old, not too young

His soul still aches. That never changed no matter how much he drank. A pain that could never be silenced.

Every night again

Dancing with the moonlight

Somewhere far away, I can hear your call

A giant black bull, covered in colorful eyes, burst through the door. The horned shadow charged Caine, plowing through his desk and throwing him through the wall behind him.

I'm out of my head, of my heart and my mind

Cuz you can run but you can't hide

I'm going to make you mine

Caine fell way too far before hitting ground. Getting up, the City of Circuits was on fire. Human families ran and screamed with their children. Puppets brandishing weapons pursued. Gunfire and explosions made his ears ring.

Out of my head, of my heart and my mind

Cuz I can feel how your flesh now Is crying out for more

The bull was back. Charging through the swarms of panicked people. It didn't touch them, having a clear path through the chaos to Caine. He tried to run. The ground beneath him crumbled.

Ain't No fairy tail what I see in your eyes

Awaiting your mistakes

Not too close, not too far

The abyss that swallowed him was lined with abstract eyes. He landed in something liquid. He couldn't stay afloat, no matter how hard he tried to swim. He went under, hitting the bottom. It was made of glass.

Sneaking in the pain

Every truth becomes lie

I won't trust myself

Once I hear your call

The roar of the bull was the only warning before impact. The glass prison shattered. The force of the bull tossed Caine like a ragdoll across the hard floor. It's hooves trampled him, excruciating pain stabbed his abdomen and head.

I'm out of my head, of my heart and my mind

Cuz you can run but you can't hide

I'm going to make you mine

He saw what he thought was Pomni. She was high up on a platform. He reached out for her. She jumped. She landed face first into the floor, it broke on impact and she disappeared below.

Out of my head, of my heart and my mind

Cuz I can feel your flesh now

Is crying out for more

He screamed. He cried until his voice was gone. Then he was surrounded by Pomni. Over one thousand stoic harlequins stared at him. He couldn't look at them. He heard the bull again.

I'm out of my head, of my heart and my mind

The bull charged through and the harlequins turned into hundreds of thousands of photos. The faces burned off of all of them. Caine was struck again. He didn't even try to get out of the way this time.

Out of my head, of my heart and my mind

The blizzard of photographs cleared to reveal scorched earth. The ground was littered with humans and puppets alike. Marionettes of all sizes lurked in the shadows.

I'm out of my head, of my heart and my mind

Cuz you can run but you can't hide

I'm going to make you mine

Caine stood alone in a dead world. Only the bull remained. It pawed the ground and snorted, its many eyes all focused on him. He closed his eyes as it charged.

Out of my head, of my heart and my mind

Cuz I can feel how your flesh now is crying out for more...

The roar of the bull was the last thing Caine heard before he jolted awake. He was soaked with sweat and alcohol. Bottles littered the floor around his desk. He held his head in his hands. His whole body trembled.

He deserves this.

And he knew why.

~~~

ADDITIONAL ART BY SPECTER HERE!!

[hallowpen]

Episode Eleven has a lot to unpack... including some cultural nuances that even I wasn't too knowledgeable about (so I had to ask my mom for clarification)

We're heading to Chao Fah Palace (คุ้มเจ้าฟ้า) in the province of Phrae (แพร่) for this episode... which is derivative of the old Lanna Kingdom and its culture. (We spoke a little bit about Lanna traditions when referencing the hairpins in episode five). Lanna territories are now part of modern-day Siam. In Lanna tradition, women were known as ช้างเท้าหลัง (pronounced 'chang tao lahng') which would literally translate into "the hind legs of the elephant". What it meant was that the direction of a woman's life and family were to be guided by the authority of a man, ช้างเท้าหน้า (pronounced 'chang tao nahr') "the front legs of the elephant". The woman must learn to accept her place. Lanna Buddhist tradition would preach that being born as a woman in this life meant you had not earned enough merit to be born a man, and to pray for better karma in the next lifetime. Ironically, before the rise of Buddhism, Lanna was one of the few territories to practice matrilineal succession... where lineage was passed on from mother to daughter.

Both of these beliefs were somewhat knit together for TLP's narrative in regards to Uangfah... which we'll talk about later.

ผ้าซิ่นตีนจก (pronounced 'pa sin tin jok') is a traditional skirt worn by women in Lanna. The skirts are known to have elaborate borders with strips of precious metals woven together, with spun gold or silver threads, by using a traditional loom. This technique emphasizes the beauty and value of the weaving, as well as the social status of the person wearing the skirt. The garment was generally reserved for high-ranking members of society.

Another practice steeped in Lanna tradition, is the art of making ตุง (pronounced 'toong'). In the northern dialect, this refers to a type of flag used in Lanna art and Buddhist ceremonies. The flags, adorned with various patterns and designs, are used to mark the boundaries of sacred sites as a symbol of the pathway toward enlightenment.

The series highlighted the Phra That Cho Hae Temple (พระธาตุช่อแฮ), which has rich history as a spiritual center and the most sacred Buddhism site in Phrae. Its highlight is the brass wrapped pagoda that stands 33 meters tall, which enshrines holy relics of Lord Buddha.

The Peacock Feather Dance (รำฟ้อนหางนกยูง - pronounced 'ram faan haang nohk-yuung') is a cultural piece of entertainment that sees dancers move in a circle and change positions in order to imitate the movements and courtship "dance" of a peacock. The dancers wear traditional northern costumes while holding peacock feathers. Known for its striking appearance, the peacock holds deep cultural and religious significance in Thailand. It is often associated with the ideas of beauty, royalty, prosperity, and spiritual awakening.

We are introduced to Uangfah's mother this episode. Princess Dararai holds the title of หม่อมเจ้าหญิง (mom-jao ying or M.C.) for being married to a descendant of the king. Princess Dararai wishing for her daughter to remain close to her after marriage has inklings of matrilineal customs, where the husband would typically come to live with the wife's family... and not the other way around.

The suitor Princess Dararai has chosen for her daughter to marry is Lord Muang-Rahm. Muang-Rahm holds the tilte of หม่อมราชวงศ์ (mom rat-cha-wong or M.R.) as a child of one "commoner" parent, but whose ancestry can be traced back to the king.

Uangfah has accepted the fact the she must submit to her mother's wishes and marry a man she does not care for (he's truly terrible... lesbi-honest). It's a bittersweet moment where we realize the realities of a woman who cannot openly pursue the love of another woman, given the views of society.

The proceeding conversation Uangfah has with Muang-Rahm is subtlety indicative of Lanna women who were in charge in their own relationships. Uangfah quietly inserts her authority over their future courtship by informing Muang-Rahm of her intentions to not wed straight away AND by addressing him by his nickname in front of Pia. Given his behavior, Muang-Rahm knows he cannot say anything untoward in order to save face... such a fun scene.

SHE KNOWS!!! The facial expressions 😂😂😂... you have to laugh

Anil and Pin have become more reckless the more comfortable they have become in their relationship... and that spells trouble ahead.

[telomeke]

4 MINUTES EPISODE 5 – FLASHBACKS, WATCHALONGS AND AN OMINOUS CULTURAL TOUCHPOINT

They're doing a great job with this show and I'm now a newly-minted fan of Director Ning Bhanbhassa Dhubthien, whose confident hand has been assuredly steering the proceedings in 4 Minutes. 🤩

Ep.5 has irrefutably confirmed that the 4 Minutes of the title really is a reference to the four-minute limbo after the heart stops beating (4 Minutes Sultrier Version Ep.5 timestamp 42:20).

So the layers are now being slowly peeled back and more was revealed to us, shedding flashes of light on the convoluted storyline. All is still not clear yet, but some ideas are starting to take shape.

OK, this is mostly guesswork but anyway–

It's quite firmly implanted in my mind now that we're seeing a lot of Great's four minutes of brain activity post cardiac arrest. But what's been percolating in my mind since the last episode is that that we might also be seeing Tyme's four-minute post-death flashback, especially since we also saw him getting shot in the opening sequence of Episode 1.

And so those scenes and sequences shown from Tyme's point of view may also be him re-living his own past experiences (concurrently with Great's?) even as his own heart has stopped.

This thought was triggered by Ep.4's revelation that people who find themselves in the Four-Minute Zone get to enter some sort of common waiting room, and they get to meet others in there too:

And the vibes I got watching this scene reminded me so much of Great and Tyme's conversation at their lakeside glamping in the trailer, which we got to see fully in Episode 5:

I don't think this is Great and Tyme on a romantic date in the real world. Serene, other-worldly and seemingly divorced from reality – this locale has them talking about how beautiful it all is, and Great even says "I wanna stay here forever" before admitting "But we probably can't."

It really looks like this is Great and Tyme finding each other in the four-minute post-death netherworld, with the art gallery meeting room switched up for a more romantic getaway instead (that Great got to choose). And with the clock ticking ominously down to 11:04...

There's also this little snippet from the trailer:

Tyme is locked out of a room, and he calls out for Great even as his surroundings are all sepia-toned and soft-focused.

I think this is 4 Minutes showing us that Tyme's four minutes will be up before Great's are, and Tyme will swept back to the real world – or away to another world – while Great is left behind. (Or maybe it's the other way around?)

Ominously, we are not shown Great's rapture and release from four-minute limbo – as much as I want a Happily Ever After for the two newest pretty boys who have won my heart, 4 Minutes is making no such promises. So I suppose we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that while Great (or Tyme) may well be waking up from a four-minute hiatus and returning to the world of the living at 11:04 – it's not a guarantee that the other will rejoin him there when his own four minutes tick down. 😬💔😭

‌

Anyway, I've refrained from commenting on the numeral 4 as a symbol of death, because this is more a thing in Chinese culture rather than Thai (and up until Ep.5 Thai-Chinese references were at most only faintly present in 4 Minutes).

Well that certainly changed, at 4 Minutes Sultrier Version Ep.5 timestamp 34:50:

The temple where Ep.1 accident victim Khun Manee goes to hire a hitman is unmistakably Chinese. The mafia don she engages with also speaks in Teochew Chinese (I think) at timestamp 36:25.

And so when her siam si/เซียมซี fortune stick shows up with the numeral 4, the link with death is all but confirmed (the word for death in many Chinese dialects like Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese and Hakka sounds similar to the word for the numeral 4, although there are tonal differences). No surprises then, that the Chinese don tells Manee "Someone's probably going to die."

This had a Thai parallel in Ep.1, when the clock in Khun Manee's hospital room showed us it was thirteen minutes past 1 o'clock in the afternoon:

As portentous as this might appear to occidental minds, it's not just the Western superstition surrounding the number 13 that's threading darker undertones into the fabric of this scene.

In Thai culture (where belief in the supernatural abounds), the numeral 13 is also sometimes considered ill-omened because it looks rather like the Thai word for ghost – ผี – flipped onto its side, adding to the general sense of foreboding in Ep.1.

And for me, this was not meant to foreshadow all the deaths taking place in subsequent scenes and episodes, although it isn't inappropriate as a device.

We have been seeing ghosts in this series – Great, Lukwa, possibly Tyme, and whoever else who found themselves caught in the spectral dimension that exists between life and death in the universe of 4 Minutes.

‌And this may be just my fevered 4 Minutes obsessed brain overthinking things again, but in this light – the paired thirteen (13:13) is likely a reference to the ghostly half-lives of our protagonist couple Great and Tyme, getting to share a precious (final?) four minutes together in that twilight zone between the world of the living and the great beyond.

But it seems more than likely that they will be yanked apart when their four minutes are up. 😧 So will that separation be forever? I wait on tenterhooks to see.

P.S. Links to my own fan theory as to what it all might possibly mean:

And some more supporting information, embedded in the show:

‌

[bengiyo]

Hi, i'm a newish bl drama watcher from thailand that just started watching thai bls. i'm a bit ashamed to say that for a long time as a gay man living here i've been avoiding bl shows like the plague cuz of both the fandom reputation and of misconception from my yaoi era which i leave far behind. i'm just want to ask how did you got into watching thai bls and what were you preconception before you got into it.

Welcome to the Tumblr side of BL fandom. I'd actually like to also hear more of your experience with yaoi and BL as a gay person growing up in Thailand if you're willing to share.

For me, I'm a Black American from the Gulf Coast (the South). I grew up in a Catholic city and spent my entire adolescence in the closet. Despite having a sense of who I was as early as 8 years old, I kept most of that to myself. Because I didn't talk about it much with people, I found out most information about queer media and queerness from the internet.

I entered BL via queer cinema. I think the first explicitly gay character that I remember from TV was Marco from Degrassi: The Next Generation. There were probably others, and definitely more subtle expressions, but when I think about the oldest gay character I remember and connect to, it's Marco. I don't like counting things like shipping Shawn and Corey on Boy Meets World or Tai and Matt on Digimon for oldest gay characters. Sailor Moon can't even count because we got a censored version of it in America.

I got access to satellite television away from observing eyes around age 16 and started watching content on Logo back when they aired gay content regularly. I watched basically whatever I could late at night. It's how I saw movies like Get Real (1998), Beautiful Thing (1996), and Bent (1997). It's also how I saw Queer as Folk (2000-2005) Noah's Arc (2005-06).

After hitting adulthood I mostly got lost in video games and standard American TV for a while, but I did basically show up to any Gay Event in TV. I appreciate that Stef and Lena from The Fosters (2013-2018) were some of the only TV lesbians to survive the horror of 2016.

I watched a bunch of movies in this time, many of which appear on the Queer Cinema Syllabus I made for a hypothetical Westerner new to BL and queer cinema, which @wen-kexing-apologist has decided to try to complete.

I got into Thai BL in 2018 accidentally. I started seeing gifsets of Kongpob telling Arthit he'll make him his wife passing around Tumblr and was basically like, "Right, what's all this then?"

I had watched a few Thai gay films, mostly notably Love of Siam (2007), Bangkok Love Story (2007), How to Win at Checkers Every Time (2015), and The Blue Hour (2015), but this was the first time I was seeing a long series made available so easily from any Asian country.

From there I got into Make It Right (2016-17) and Love Sick the series (2014). Once I realized that yaoi had moved beyond manga and a few anime adaptations, I went looking for a lot more. I basically haven't left since I started in about 2016 with SOTUS.

There's my basic entry into the genre. I don't think I was as worried about fandom and worries at the time because so much of being a fan of queer cinema was a mostly-private experience for me for so long. I didn't realize that BL fans active in the space would predominantly be women or queers figuring themselves out. It took a while to adjust to that, and also to adjust my expectations of the kinds of queer stories BL distributors were willing to fund.

That being said, I tend to agree with @absolutebl that BL has a useful role in normalization for non-queer audiences who encounter it. I like cheering BL when it does things I think work really well, and also deriding it when I think it does things that are offensive to help nudge the genre and offer my perspective as a gay man.

I like the place we're at right now where there's way too much to watch for any person with other hobbies and responsibilities because it means that people can pick and choose what's to their tastes.

More often than not, I'm probably most-invested in something airing from Japan because of my melancholy nature, but there's so much variety these days that it's okay if you don't like everything. I certainly don't!

I'm glad you joined us on Tumblr and look forward to your thoughts!

[waitmyturtles]

SOME GOOD SHOWS THAT I LIKED IN 2023! (AND SOME THAT I DIDN'T)

I watched A LOT of stuff that did not originally air in 2023 by dint of my Old GMMTV Challenge. This list is inclusive of this recognition!

THE BEST SHOW I WATCHED THIS YEAR: HE'S COMING TO ME

I have no other words: this is my favorite Thai BL of all time. Perfect length, perfect plot, perfect celebration of Thai culture, perfect acting, the greatest coming out scene of all time, the BEST of the best BL moms. Perfection.

THE OTHER BEST SHOW I WATCHED THIS YEAR: BAD BUDDY

I don't even want to think about how many words I've written on Bad Buddy this year, but they're well deserved for this REMARKABLE show. I've got a thing for shows by Aof Noppharnach that feature Ohm Pawat, what can I say!

THE MOST INFLUENTIAL SHOW(S) I WATCHED THIS YEAR: LOVE SICK AND SOTUS

The influence of Love Sick and SOTUS can be seen in SO MANY Thai BLs, even through today. Without having watched these two shows to start my OGMMTVC project, I wouldn't have the context for what later shows like Bad Buddy and Theory of Love were commenting on by way of their content and structures. Love Sick in particular was a HELL of a lift -- but I am damn glad I watched it, and I certainly feel nostalgia for it today.

Honorable mentions of influential pieces that had impacts on Thai BLs: Love of Siam and Dew the Movie

MY OTHER FAVORITE OLD SHOWS I WATCHED: UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN AND THEORY OF LOVE

BANGERS!!!

If New Siwaj ever tops Until We Meet Again, I'll fly to Bangkok and give him a gold medal. That long-ass show, 17 EPISODES, I WANTED MORE! OhmFluke's chemistry was great, the story delved SO deeply into historical homophobia and how culture and acceptance changes over time -- scrumptious. Theory of Love, man, the way this show ate up implicit compassion bias and gave it right back to us. I loved it. KHAI FOREVER!

THE BEST SHOW I WATCHED THAT ACTUALLY AIRED IN 2023: MOONLIGHT CHICKEN

Not only was Moonlight Chicken my first real live fandom experience on Tumblr, it was a hell of an amazing show, incorporating so much of what I love particularly about Thai BLs, and how many Thai BLs do not shy away from celebrating Asian cultural touchpoints. From exploring Jim's internalized homophobia by way of his rural upbringing, to juxtaposing Pattaya's spiritual symbols with growing development that upends older strains of local culture, Moonlight Chicken offered a lovely commentary on what it means to be queer in an ever-changing Thailand.

THE OTHER BEST SHOW I WATCHED THAT ACTUALLY AIRED IN 2023: WHAT DID YOU EAT YESTERDAY?/KINOU NANI TABETA? SEASON 2

BRILLIANTLY ACTED by literally the best actors in the Asian BL game: we are blessed that Nishijima Hidetoshi and Uchino Seiyou have given so much to this franchise. It's hard to write about this show because it's so perfect -- it needs no extraneous words. Plot, pacing, acting, character development, gratuitous food shots. It has it all.

THE OTHER OTHER BEST SHOW I WATCHED THAT ACTUALLY AIRED IN 2023: I CANNOT REACH YOU

Just like Bad Buddy looked at Thai BL tropes in the eye and said, "over my Nong Nao," I Cannot Reach You asked Japanese BLs about the efficacy of almost every trope we've gotten used to, and questioned them with efficiency. The biggest shocker for me? REAL COMMUNICATION, encouraged by the CIPHER, Hosaka, that allowed the two lead protagonists to confirm their love and understand each other. It was straightforward and FUCKING GOOD.

A SHOW THAT AIRED IN 2023 THAT I HAVEN'T WRITTEN ABOUT YET, THAT I NEED TO REWATCH IN CHRONOLOGY, THAT ALSO DID SOME TROPE/GENRE ASS-KICKING THAT I'M STILL THINKING ABOUT: LA PLUIE

La Pluie was FEARLESS. The show had a LOT to say about romance and soulmates not being as much of a realistic thing as content-makers... and, frankly, majority society would like us to think. La Pluie made its characters WORK for love and understanding, and had us viewers face our implicit biases about how romantic content should and could work. I watched this show out of order of the OGMMTVC watchlist to see it it was one of the best of the year, and it certainly is. I'm planning a deep rewatch for early 2024 to pen my words on it.

A SHOW THAT ALMOST TOPPED MY 2023 LIST BUT GOT DOCKED BECAUSE I ENDED UP LIKING THE NOVEL A LOT BETTER: I FEEL YOU LINGER IN THE AIR

@neuroticbookworm and @lurkingshan know that I flipped THA FUCK out over this show -- FABULOUSLY acted by Nonkul Chanon and Bright Rapheephong, FABULOUS cinematography, great story up until the end of the series. My fangirling led me to read the original novel by Violet Rain, and -- I found out that Jom was a lot more damn sassy than we got in the show! Tee Bundit's penchant for sadness won. This is not to dock the show, but the novel had more than enough material to carry the series through without repeating themes in the end. So it fell on my 2023 list, womp womp. BUT I STILL LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS SHOW, DON'T GET ME WRONG.

TWO SHOWS THAT I'M SUPER GLAD I CAUGHT UP WITH WHILE THEY WERE AIRING: THE EIGHTH SENSE AND BE MY FAVORITE

Be My Favorite looked at Krist Perawat's checkered past as a BL idol and said: we are going to examine this and make an honest BL out of inspiration from it. It wasn't a perfect show, the time travel shit didn't end up adding up in the end, BUT -- excellent acting from two GMMTV VETS made up for those tangles, and I loved the contextual philosophical references throughout the series. The Eighth Sense looked at the tug-of-war that Korean BLs have with K-dramas and their tropes and said, actually? We will have these dudes full-frontal kiss, and placed that energy against commentaries on mental health, both topics that Korea hasn't quite embraced as quickly as other countries.

HONORABLE MENTIONS OF OTHER AWESOME SHOWS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE AIRED IN 2023

Make It Right, Our Dating Sim, Dark Blue Kiss, Gay OK Bangkok, Dirty Laundry, 10 Years Ticket, I Told Sunset About You, I Promised You the Moon, 3 Will Be Free, Lovely Writer (underrated?!), Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars (UNDERRATED!), and Manner of Death.

And the shows that are airing that I know will stay with me well into 2024: Last Twilight and Cherry Magic Thailand.

I had fun!

WHAT ELSE, WHAT ELSE: THE "NO" SHOWS: THE PROMISE AND STEP BY STEP

I'm not even hyperlinking my thoughts on these shows, nor gifting them with gifs. Insert Bugs Bunny NOOOOOO gif here! We got Man Trisanu, though.

THE SHOW I WAS THE MOST OBVIOUSLY DISAPPOINTED BY: ONLY FRIENDS

Despite my passionate disappointment for this show and how it ended: in the context of the OGMMTVC, Only Friends is still an incredibly important inclusion to the list. Some amazing Tumblr bloggers offered commentary that the bias against sex that OF contained within the show was actually importantly and culturally contextual to the still-conservative state of acceptance that Thailand is currently in (here and here for more reading).

Only Friends reminded us that despite any kind of marketing that we here on Tumblr, as a majority non-Thai audience, may receive about a Thai show -- that we are still not fully plugged into the non-verbal expectations of what a show like OF could promise to do, and to be okay when it doesn't reach those heights. In light of the seemingly pro-sex marketing blasts that previewed the series before its airing, OF ultimately seemed to want to take casual sex, chew it up, and spit it out. There might be reasons why that happened that we just don't know about as outsiders to Thailand. But as an Asian-American viewer that was hoping for neutral -- and maybe even supportive -- commentary on single folks having casual sex without judgement, OF did not deliver for me.

I'm ending the year reading Dr. Thomas Baudinette's book, Boys Love Media in Thailand, the first book-length ethnographic study on the impact of BL on queerness, media, and more in Thailand and across Asia. Baudinette comes from the world of Japanese queer media studies -- as someone who came to Thai BLs this year from Japanese BLs, I appreciate his trajectory. It's clearly a necessity for me to read this book in the context of the OGMMTVC, to understand how Thai BLs have changed over time, and to understand the incredibly larger impact of heterosexual/heteronormative media and themes on Thai media as a whole, as larger and larger swaths of Thai, Asian, and international societies welcome and watch BLs with open arms.

All of this feeds into my ever-growing body of knowledge about the impact of Thai BLs, both in Thailand and across Asia, as Baudinette writes about, and how these shows have and are developed/developing over time. It's been an AMAZING YEAR of watching old and new dramas for me, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the genre grows even more in 2024.

I also made AMAZING FRIENDS on Tumblr -- y'all know who you are! What a year of growth and discovery for me: this has been a fabulous experience, and I'm looking forward to even more growth in the new year!

[blackstarchanx3new]

What theme songs would suit the characters of Four Swords? This includes songs that reflect their personalities, relationships, and dynamics with each other. Because I'm curious what you think suits them.

Bro basically asked for my personal playlist lmfao. Link:

Haunted House - After School Surf Club Notion - The Rare Occasions Sugar Pills - IDKHOW Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand Double Life - Pharrell Williams still feel - half alive Ghost - Mystery Skulls Dead Inside - Younger Hunger Why Did I Say Okie Doki? · The Stupendium Ghost Town - Trickle Losing My Mind- Mystery Skulls Dr. Gaster - Shadrow

Green: the perfect pair - beabadoobee Mr. FEAR -SIAMES Vending Machine of Love · The Stupendium Blue: Cold Cold Cold - Cage The Elephant (lmfao) Wild Side - ALI My Way - SIAMES Dancin - Aaron Smith Red: Copycat - CircusP/VocaCircus (This song could also fit Dark haha) The Red Means I Love You - Madds Buckley Wonderful Nothing - Glass Animals I Only Paint in Red Now - Lydia the Bard / Tony Halliwell Don't Come Crying - TryHardNinja Vio: Out of My League - Fritz and The Tantrums Lone Digger - Caravan Palace A Tear in Space (Airlock) - Glass Animals I’m So Sorry - ImagineDragons Ghost Town - Veorra & The Tech Thieves

Shadow Link: Love Away - SIAMES 505 - Arctic Monkeys Do It All The Time - IDKHOW Rasputin · Majestic Freaking Out - Mystery Skulls GRRRLS · AViVA TERRIBLE THINGS · AXIE Wolf In Sheep's Clothing [REBORN] - Set It Off Alone In The Darkness - SIAMES

Dark Link: Gladiator - Jann Digital Silence - Peter McPoland My Love Mine All Mine - Mitski Christmas Kids - ROAR Loverboy - A-Wall 4:00 A.M. - Taeko Onuki ECHO - Crusher My Ordinary Life-The Living Tombstone Tongues and Teeth - The Crane Wives Villain Stella Jang Cover) · Umbratic Forest

Vaati: Lay all your love on me - ABBA The Wolf - SIAMES How I Learned To Love The Bomb - Glass Animals Enemy - imagine dragons

Ship/dynamic Specific songs:

Vidow: Pork Soda - Glass Animals Heat Waves - Glass Animals Hold Me Tight or Don't - Fall Out Boy The Bird Song - Noah Floersch Sex With A Ghost - Teddy Hyde Neovaii - Crash Snuff out the light - Eartha Kitt Stop The World I Wanna Get Off With You - Arctic Monkeys  (Greenvio and Darkblue also fit this) GreenVio: GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE - Cover by Justine M. Vidoween: Jenny - Studio Killers GreenBlue: No lullaby - SIAMES (Not romantic but symbolic of them both dealing with Link's BS lmfao)

DarkBlue: Knee Socks - Arctic Monkeys (Arctic monkeys just IS their vibe tbh) Dissolve - Absofacto Horns - Bryce Fox This Is Hardcore - Pulp DarkVaati: Too Sweet - Hozier Take me to Church - Hozier Church - Fall Out Boy (IF YOU WERE CHURCH I'D GET ON MAH KNEEES- 😏) Soul on Fire - Mystery Skulls Paralyzed - Mystery Skulls Hide Away (feat. Holly) · Synapson · Holly (We damn well know who's hiding lmfao) Flowers - Dj Quads (Lmfao this one is sad as hell but I can't at all elaborate on why due to spoilers X'D) Toxic - Britney Spears rewrite by Lydia the Bard Me and the Devil · Soap&Skin (Could also be Vidow) DarkVio: I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend - Cameron Hayes (This just is THE DarkVio song as far as I'm concerned, the intense as hell almost manic pining specifically haha.) Mixed Messages - Tom C (The question is who's "Dad" is getting punched in the dick...)

DarkShadow: From the Start - GoodKid Cover (One Sided on Shadow's part.) Brothers -SIAMÉS

FSR In general coded songs:

The Walker - Fitz and The Tantrums Rhinestone Eyes - Gorillaz A Good Song Never Dies - Saint Motel The Future - Mystery Skulls Goya no Machiawase - Hello Sleepwalkers Kick back - Kenshi Yonezu Plastic Love - Mariya Takeuchi Blink Gone - BL8M, AKUGETSU Hammer Song To Itami No Tou · BUMP OF CHICKEN Tame Impala - Borderline Stay With Me · Miki Matsubara Curses · The Crane Wives The Rules - Hoosiers dumb dumb · mazie Coffee · Jack Stauber's Micropop Who Is She ? · I Monster Very Good Bad Thing - Mother Mother

This one's straight up Four Swords Returns Again coded but I'd be a fool not to include: The Fine Print · The Stupendium

Okay I'mma stop there for now haha. but I'm sure I'm missing stuff. XD

Hopfully I introduced some people to their new fave songs!!! I'd recommend all of these.

[strifesolution]

Rythian in 94 perhaps? Or Zoey in 12 (lowres)

My Way - SIAMES, Barbie Williams

[sillyandquiteawkward]

looking at ppls mouthwashing playlist videos they throw on youtube and judging but knowing i would make an ass playlist myself.

actually doing a u-turn heres my 8track mouthwashing playlist rate my music boy

pulse and anxiety 2 - fear and hunger 2

headlock - imogen heap (obligatory)

get out the way - mother mother

debt collector - jhariah

the wolf - siames

no. 3 - cosmo sheldrake

pulse and anxiety - fear and hunger (AGAIN)

flip - glass animals