#top 10 spiritual movies

[2day-ago-kids]

Wanderlust reminds you that life is an adventure. And it's up to you to make the most of it. trust your intuition follow your heart and a sense of travel guiding you on your journey. Maybe life isn't strewn with petals. Your receipt of this card is a sign that your soul wants to awaken from its journey.

Available here

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 10/22/2024

rare tuesdaypost with no fallow sections. i CANNOT find the exact image i am looking for (mouse-drawn person sitting on bar stool with ankles crossed and blushing with eyelashes) but i feel like i found a lot of things this week that charmed me immensely. rare many such cases of many interests intersecting.

listening

almost exactly a year ago i wrote about jolynn j chin's SHIFTED, a piano jazz piece where the time signatures change on every bar, which came with an explainer video that is, spiritually, a physics video.

she's done it again with OFF TIME and a full album of equally bonkers concepts. i have a brain that is fairly good at manipulating 2D things (yarn, fabric) into 3D things but i do Not have this kind of math brain. wild shit.

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reading

thank you philip for overseeing the photography of this trio of DELILAH DIRK graphic novels from Tony Cliff. i saw these on the library shelf and went "holy shit i read one of these as a webcomic in high school".

very well-paced indiana jones and james bond adjacent pulp adventures, with a soupcon of steampunk conveyances for taste. delilah started life in 2007 when strong snappy female characters were far less common. this is particularly...not quite grating, but very notable in the first two books (published in 2013 and 2016 respectively). they are intended to be middle-grade (disney villain falling deaths, no tits or ass, etc), but they punch far above their intended age range. a particularly interesting reckoning with the long-suffering native guide trope. not a series overly concerned with historical accuracy, although it's certainly more grounded in real history than you might expect of a middle-grade pulp adventure graphic novel. more colonial political concerns than i remembered or expected.

the art is really killer in all three books. tony cliff really knows the effect of a good page turn spread.

he also has a very charming way of illustrating continuing action across a huge panel. all four shots are from The Pillars of Hercules (2018) bc it happened to be the last one i read and the one with by far the most ambitious art.

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watching

tubi has acquired the streaming rights to most of the batman animated movies. i keep getting served ads on instagram for an upcoming animated film about batman and the yakuza, where the premise is that a portal from real-life japan has opened up over gotham and the yakuza are pouring through like a demonic horde. this seems to be a sequel to batman ninja (2018, dir. Junpei Mizusaki)

Batman, along with his allies and adversaries, finds himself transported from modern Gotham City to feudal Japan.

batman ninja includes the lines:

I’m going to rule this country and turn it into a kingdom of monkeys and rewrite the history of the world!

and

What am I going to do with you, Batman? You’ve destroyed a perfectly good giant robot castle!

i would describe this as more of a feature-length animation showcase than anything else. the haters on letterboxed didn't even give it an average of 3 but that's bc they hate fun. this is some real weeb shit. this is not a grimdark or particularly thoughful batman entry. this is an entry to clap your hands in glee at the giant gundam vs monkey army fight. they have once again done my favorite comics boy jason todd dirty but what the fuck else is new.

so much fun even on just the like tree field guide level of identifying the six or seven animation styles. plus everyone's feudal japan looks are sick as shit.

was it Good? no. was i delighted at nearly every moment? fuck yeah.

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playing

EXCEPTIONALLY charming embroidery-based game jam game, Cross Stitched by Panzerr here for free on itch.io. made in godot. god bless.

(image from the developer) you've got your little baba yaga house gundam in the center constantly firing projectiles, and you have to keep these fucking birds back. you can WASD around the edges of the tapestry, and your health is in the top (i really love how it gets "ruined" dark chunks taken out of it as you lose health, like a piece of embroidery decaying) and the bottom black bar of motifs fills up as you make progress towards adding another level and another piece to your powerup level tapestry.

(following images from me) you do have to think about your placement and plan it out a bit, and you can't embroider over something you've already stitched. would not recommend surrounding your initial base damage motif with other motifs bc then you've sort of fucked yourself over. a really simple concept (a good bite size for a game jam) elevated by a very fun visual style and great music. really delighted me! i am so jaded by my time in the video game marketing mines that i forgot they can be fun actually!

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making

unphotographable: too many bugs in my house! tried to replace the weatherstripping on my front door and discovering that both the front door and the storm door were installed incorrectly and should probably be replaced.

in better news, the newest pathetic little waif in the office bathroom has been freshly neutered and will be going to a nice cushy indoor home next week-ish. whenever he is fully recovered. the most polite cat i have ever had in this carrier: did not piss, shit, or throw up.

KO'd by six cc's of various goops. poor man.

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Hi!! These polls are so fun, but I was curious, what are your top 10 anime series? 👀

In no particular order and it's always subject to change

Cowboy Bebop a classic that I've rewatched that show several times because of how much I love it

Soul Eater was my first anime and I still get nostalgic about it and would totally be on board for a remake

Black Lagoon a underrated action anime with some amazing badass female characters

The Apothecary Diaries I loved that show. So glad it's getting a season 2. To me, it feels like the spiritual successor of Ouran High School Host Club, which was my favorite romance anime for a very long time

Black Clover is so underrated and it's the perfect classic battle Shonen with great female characters. It actually knocked JJK off my list when it came to my favorite non one piece Shonen anime.

Mashle: Magic and Muscles. As someone who could understand why Harry Potter was so popular as a concept but didn't really like it myself. I love this show because it's basically an anime parody of Harry Potter and it's wonderful.

One Piece I actually started it for real last August because of the live action. Even though I attempted to start it about 3 times during high school and never got past syrup village and I've watched the anime up till thriller bark that I thought the anime was taking too long and just started reading ahead in the manga. Now I have read up to somewhere in the middle of Marineford in the manga. Then I started doing this blog and I've had no spare time to actually read the manga or watch the anime

Hell's Paradise. An underrated anime which I feel like I'm the only person that's seen it sometimes which I would definitely recommend. Since it takes your classic Shonen archetypes puts them on a mysterious possibly Supernatural Island together in an almost Battle Royale where they have to choose to either fight each other or work together to solve the mystery of the island their choice. Please go watch the show. It's now on American Netflix

Yuri on Ice the only one way I will ever forgive mappa for canceling the movie is if they actually finish Hell's Paradise but don't want to get my hopes up

Golden Kamuy thank you to my followers who kept requesting these characters because that's why I finally watched it. It's another underrated fun action show. It's also ridiculous and hilarious but there is a good mystery

So if anyone's looking for recommendations, I would start with Hells Paradise, Black Clover, Golden Kamuy or Mashle

[psink]

Saiki Kusuo and Kuriko's guidebook full pages translation:

(left side) Disaster element: If he got serious, he could wipe out humanity in 3 days.

Unfortunate psychic who wishes for normal life The protagonist of this story, a psychic, who wants to live a quiet, unobtrusive life without being bothered, but strange people keep gathering around him. ←Only his parents, grandparents, older brother and a pervert know that he's a psychic. ? To avoid encountering･･････ Stay away from sweets!! He avoids troublesome things, but when it comes to sweets, his character suddenly changes. In order to obtain them, he's willing to take on some risks, so the chance of encountering him is high.

! If you happen to encounter･･････ Prepare either N or G!! He can read the minds of most creatures with telepathy with the exception for Nendou and bugs....... If you summon his natural enemies, he'll likely teleport away instantly.

(right side) Ecological information: 【Name】 Saiki Kusuo 【Height】 167cm 【Weight】 52kg 【Birthday】 August 16th 【Blood type】 Unknown 【Favorite food】 Sweets

Disaster Status: Intelligence S, Physical Strength S, Motivation G Psychic powers ◎ Protagonist Pink hair Coffee jelly Versus Nendou × Friendship ×

Overall disaster difficulty: 10% (E) Be careful, because your inner thoughts will be revealed with telepathy!

[Kusuo:] Don't make my page without permission.

Main appearance spots He can move instantly using transportation but chooses to walk normally.

(top left) Emergency evacuation place! When someone approaches his house, he makes an emergency evacuation to the neighbouring house. However, there are also characters who exceed his expectations. (bottom left) My school route Saiki often uses the embankment on his way to school. There are fewer people there, which helps him suppress his telepathy. (top right) Unexpected regular customer His favourite coffee shop is "Café Mami". This place's coffee jelly is said to be excellent, but they're still uncertain whether to renovate it or not. (bottom right) Spoilers are prohibited Saiki likes watching movies, so he frequently goes to rental shops. His target is the B-grade section that no one is interested in! Asou-sensei's idea memo: What would happen if I had psychic powers? After thoroughly considering it, I ended up creating an unfortunate psychic boy. The antennas on his head were said to have been attached when he was modified by aliens at the time of the one-shot.

(up and middle left) Disaster element: Even if you put just one finger on her, she'll gouge out your heart. A mysterious girl who appeared thanks to the transformation ability. Saiki's female form. She became a very mysterious female student. Almost all the male students that have seen here so far have fallen in love with her. ↑Quite high-spec girl. Takashi and his group feel uneasy....... ! If you happen to encounter･･････ Eh? Saiki...kun? Saying words that remind her original form, Saiki, makes her suddenly panic. Avoiding words relating to "Saiki" is the key to preventing that.

(middle right) Ecological information: 【Name】 Saiki Kurki (Saiki Kusuo) 【Height】 167cm 【Weight】 52kg 【Birthday】 August 16th 【Blood type】 Unknown

Disaster Status: Intelligence S, Physical Strength S, Charm G Sweets Mysterious high school girl

Overall disaster difficulty: 10% (E) [Kusuo:] Don't fall in love. (bottom right) Main appearance spots Rare female transformation. While her range of activities is narrow, her appearance rate in woman-only shops is higher.

Woman-only sweets shop Kuriko is a rare character, but she often appears in places that Saiki normally cannot enter, such as a woman-only sweets shop. (bottom left) Surveillance and punishment She has also punished Toritsuka for misusing spiritual powers. Panty shots are not allowed. Asou-sensei's idea memo: Despite being Saiki, it seems as though there are no antennas on her head. When transforming into a woman, she deliberately makes just that part transparent to hide it. Being a girl is difficult.

[bengiyo]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

10 Favorite Characters

You asked a broad question, so I hope you’re okay with answers outside of my daily posting. I post a lot about BL on here, but this list is a mild reminder that I am Black. As I’m putting this list together, I’m recognizing a common thread of ruthlessness in these characters that I will have to unpack at some point.

Omar Little (The Wire)

Omar is one of my favorite characters of all time because he was the first sympathetic gay character I ever watched on TV with my dad. As I got older, my dad decided I was old enough and wanted me to watch what he considered to be one of the greatest shows ever made (NOTE: He is correct). I was obsessed with Omar because of his strict code and how gentle and loving he was with his boyfriends. It was amazing to me that we had this powerful gay character in the middle of a modern Greek tragedy and he is one of the most compelling characters ever created in American television.  

Ender Wiggin (Ender’s Game)

One of the sad thing about growing up queer is the people who wrote a lot of your formative works hate queer people. Orson Scott Card was my first major disappointment in this regard. In the 7th grade, I discovered this book in our school library and ended up reading it and the related books multiple times throughout my adolescence.  I was a weird kid who was too smart for my own good. In middle school I struggled with feeling out of place because I was relatively new compared to most of these kids, and my family had me on a specific life track that meant that I had to perform at a high level constantly. I connected with Ender’s isolation and his brilliance. I also connected to his ruthlessness.

Marco (Animorphs)

Animorphs is a pretty dark series for a bunch of elementary school kids to read, but that was K. A. Applegate’s point. War is horrible, and should be avoided. Reading this series is a reading the perspective of child soldiers. There was something about the way Marco always masked with jokes, but was quietly the most ruthless member of their group that means he’s always the one I remember first. There were also the ways he commented on Ax and Jake that just didn’t read straight, and I’ve been relieved that Applegate and the ghost writers have acknowledged the fan read on Marco’s bisexuality. I just love how from appearances at the end of the series Marco is actually okay after all the war, but he absolutely is not.

Benjamin Sisko (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

He was our first Black captain in Star Trek and I will love him forever. He’s also from New Orleans and cooks our food. He’s a devoted father, which was something Avery Brooks requested for the role to make sure we had a positive depiction of Black fatherhood on TV in the 90s. He has an understated spirituality to him. He has grit from facing the ugly side of maintaining a utopia and has an incredible temper that he holds most of the time. He’s a nerd about baseball. He cares about his people and holds firm as their commander. This isn’t a committee for him. He can be so brutal. I love him.

Ghost Dog (Ghost Dog)

Ghost Dog (1999) is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I’ve always loved the version of masculinity Forest Whitaker put into this character. He has a sense of style and flair, and also follows a strict code of conduct. His adherence to his way earned him the respect of everyone in his community, and gangsters in his neighborhood show him admiration and respect. I loved his friendship with Raymond, in which neither knows what the other is saying and yet they are actually on the same page constantly.

Raymond Holt (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

Yes, this show is copaganda, but I love Raymond Holt so much. I love that Andre Braugher played the Straight Man role in a comedy as a politically out gay man who has such a serious exterior. Holt was so gay in so many ways and I am obsessed with him. He is so deep into his niche interests (like me) and yet he was actually such a great mentor figure to everyone under him. I loved that he and his husband were so devoted to each other but were never depicted as the perfect couple. I love that he has a petty beef with another colleague. He’s just an incredible character.

Kiram Kir-zaki (Lord of the White Hell)

Kiram is the first time I ever realized how deep the programming in speculative fiction to read the protagonist as a white man with brown hair and brown eyes. Kiram is a dark-skinned Haldiim youth with curly gold hair and light eyes. It took me three readings of this book to perceive Kiram properly, and it’s something that has shaken me for a long time. Kiram is brilliant, snarky, and too gay for his own good. He’s also not stupid. I love reading a smart gay character who generally cannot hide who he is doing the work to blend in to a homophobic setting. Ginn Hale also writes gay sex better than some gay male authors.

Kakei Shiro (What Did You Eat Yesterday?)

Honestly, when am I ever not thinking about this man? I love how, even if he can’t immediately give Kenji everything he might want, he gives Kenji all that he can. He couldn’t say he loved Kenji for a long time, but you could feel the love in his cooking. I’m so happy to have this man and his partner back on my screen again. It is just so hard to be gay. I am so relieved that many of the folks reading my posts didn’t suffer The Knowing, because I know that Shiro and I will never be able to get away from what it did to us.

Chiron (Moonlight)

The terrible intersection of poverty, race, and sexuality has never been better exemplified for me than in this film that has no white people in it. There are just so many fewer choices for us, especially if you can’t hide who you are. I love Chiron so much because we see so much of what he was forced to be pushed onto him. There’s something heartbreaking and beautiful that as an adult he resembles Juan, and that he never got over Kevin.  I find it hard to explain why Chiron means so much to me, but I’m black and gay so I don’t always feel like I have to.

Max (Black Sails)

I love Max because she consistently chose to not be cruel when so many others would have. She is not accumulating power for her own ego or to punish those who wronged her. She holds power as a facilitator. History doesn’t remember the facilitators who keep the lights on and make sure the bread gets made every day, but you notice their absence within two days when they’re gone. Max is also funny to me because she and Flint almost never encounter each other, but have caused the other so much grief.

Thank you for the ask!

[randomlonelymusician]

Hi......If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Hmm, let's see! I'm quite bad a ranking things, so here's a tentative list of my current faves:

10. MILGRAM Project

This one is a little more recent for me, as my sister got me into it. MILGRAM is an interactive music video project, and while I'm not the biggest fan of DECO*27's music, I love the idea that this project presents. You're able to vote if a character is forgiven or unforgiven based off of the information given through a music video. I quite like some of the representation it has, especially with it having a character with DID.

9. Monster (Naoki Urasawa)

It's just a manga (and anime!) I like a lot due to it's compelling storytelling and antagonist. It was also cool being able to point out actual locations from the series in Germany.

8. To Your Eternity

While I fell of a little bit from the manga, this series still holds a place in my heart. (The Previous Era, at least.) The manga especially is so heartfelt, emotional, and spiritual, with it's exploration of humanity as a concept. And it contains best boy Kahaku,

7. Cardcaptor Sakura

It may be the nostalgia talking, but I love this series so much. It's so sweet and adorable, and some very sweet LGBT representation. Anyways, Sakura is my icon.

6. Lacey Games Series

Lacey Games, being an indie horror series by creator Ghosttundra, holds a special place in my heart. Though short and still incomplete, it's exploration of abuse and trauma through a horror format is beautiful and compelling.

5. Bocchi the Rock!

I feel so represented by Bocchi. Never before has anything conveyed what it feels like to have social anxiety while being so hilarious and fun.

4. Monogatari Series

I have an insanely complicated relationship with this series. On one hand, it's problematic and has elements that I find horrific. But on the other hand, it contains so many stories of young women overcoming trauma and adversity, creating a very powerful narrative about the struggles of growing up. Also I love Senjougahara.

3. Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion is dear to me because of when I watched it. Without going into details, it really swooped in at one of the worst points in my life, and allowed me to feel. It's a capsule of loneliness.

2. Revolutionary Girl Utena

It's the ultimate queer girl revolution. Besides it's strange and unconventionalness that I love, Utena tells a story of escaping the cycle of abuse, and all the details that perpetuate it.

1. Oyasumi Punpun

I have no words besides it's the best thing I have ever read, and that I will never read again. Nothing will describe the feelings that it gives.

[the-trans-folk-witch]

The Green Devil of the Ozarks: The little green fairy of... moonshine?

It was 2005. I was with my grandfather in an old shop similar to "dick's 5 and 10" outside of Branson, Missouri. This is where The Green Devil caught my eye.

My grandfather frequented little old fashioned stores like this. He loved collecting all kinds of gadgets. Old movie posters, salt water taffy, and soda parlor paraphenalia. It was heaven on earth to him in this little corner of the world that was stuck in an older Ozark time. His house wasn't too dissimilar to a crackerbarrel gift shop. All kinds of wooden toys and dolls. He loved his little knickknacks. But on that day he found it. A copy of an old French absynthe poster with "the little green fairy" smirking at the viewer. He had to have it. It was being sold for $8! frame included! If only the seller knew the true value of it. Or how it's mere existence was breaking so many copyright laws.

Maurin Quina, as it's named, is a French apéritif advertisement painted by Leonetto Cappiello in 1906. The drink was made illegal soon after its creation. But this poster is now being reused today. It was not well known in the US at all back then. Not even in the 2000's. but my grandfather being a moonshiner, absynthe fan, and art history drop out, knew all about it.

My grandfather was not as religious as the rest of my family. But he sure prayed to God when he was trying to avoid the law. He was selling homemade moonshine without any sort of license or proper knowledge of sanitary practices. It was an arte form he learned from his father that I never had the pleasure of learning.

He decided to hang this new poster up in his storm cellar where he kept his aging bottles of various liquors. Over time it developed A life of its own. My grandfather would kiss his hand and place it on the poster of the little green fairy after every jar was sealed or sales were made. I Don't think he saw this as devil worship so much as just a simple good luck ritual. Not too disimilar to his high school basketball team kissing the image of their mascot before a game. He always practiced these superstitions even though he didn't seem to really believe in them.

Fast forward to today. I'm an Ozark trad witch. So of course I now work with this image as if it is the devil himself. He is a devil that rules spring and summer. Drunkenness, poison, lunacy, fairies, and nature. He is associated with law breaking, alcohol, healing, harming, and fertility. With Easter coming up He is on my mind heavily. A time I feed him red dyed eggs symbolizing the blood of christ and the blood of good Christians. I feed him this with intentions of causing those which share the eucharist to lust. Poisoning the church so to speak. I attend mass in spirit form and dip my blessed turkey wish bone down in the communion wine. The turkey is symbolic of love in the Ozarks. And the wishbone is horned like the stang, and my devil. Midnight mass on Easter is filled with drunkenness and sex. Those consuming this spiritually poisoned wine are consumed with lust for others in the church. An orgy ensues in the great house of God. Only for all members to awaken Easter morning with no memory of the incestuous rituals performed with their brothers and sisters in christ. To do such things in the house of God and not confess them (due to not remembering) is damanble. This is my goal as a witch. To bring the witches Sabbath to the church and to pervert the souls of good men.

By turkey wand and lustful stang I complete my work in the devils name.

A call to the Green Devil:

"Envy is his name. Drunkeness and poisoning are his arte. He is Lord of the little people and plants alike; come little green fairy and bring your lust and your lunacy. Green devil rise from the roots below like a serpent. Green devil come down from the tree tops like a booger in the night who takes its flight. Join me in this witching hour oh beast of the green and hear my call to the wild. By my witches flame may it be so."

Look out for a post on the black and red devils later this year. Our horned one changes with the seasons

[accio-victuuri]

from this article by 1905.com which is a platform under CCTV6 “Infinite Possibilities Not Defined——Impression of Crossover Actor Wang Yibo”

This kind of persistence in love and the core of success through hard work are exactly the themes that the film wants to express, and the character of Chen Shuo fully expresses Wang Yibo's unique spiritual core. Rather than saying that Wang Yibo played Chen Shuo in his true colors, it is better to say that Chen Shuo reflected a certain side of Wang Yibo.

Recently, the movie "One and Only" starring Wang Yibo entered the 700 million club at the box office in just 10 days. Viewers in Tao Piao Piao and Maoyan rated it with an average score of 9.7. The difficult street dance moves he completed in the movie were praised by professional dancers again and again. "Wang Yibo's enthusiastic one-elbow throw is done by himself" became a hot search on the Internet, and the street dance movement suddenly became popular.

"Dancing in any corner of the world is not bad"

"One and Only" is the theme movie of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2022. It is exclusively planned by the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee. It uses the new competition event break dance as the carrier. A story that shines on the stage. Director Dapeng said in many interviews that choosing Wang Yibo to play Chen Shuo was the unanimous recommendation of the hip-hop industry.

It was recommended because of Wang Yibo's professionalism in hip-hop and his influence. In the "This Is Street Dance" series of variety shows, his infectious and aesthetic dancing attracted countless audiences and aroused a wave of hip-hop dance among the people. His influence was noticed by the Chinese Dancers Association and awarded him "Ambassador of China's Top Dancers Promotion" ", it can be said that he is expected to play Chen Shuo.

Dapeng said that the screenwriter wrote Chen Shuo according to Wang Yibo, first there was Wang Yibo, and then there was "One and Only". So we can see the shadow of Wang Yibo in Chen Shuo.

Wang Yibo started learning to dance because of his love in the sixth grade of elementary school, and this hobby has continued to this day. On August 3, he said during the Yueyang road show of the "One and Only" crew: "Dancing is my passion, and acting is also my passion. I don't feel tired doing two things I like at the same time."

In order to meet the needs of the plot, he did the dance that he gave up because of injuries when he was a child; for a dance move in the movie, he practiced repeatedly until his leg was injured; in order to achieve the best shooting effect, he repeated every time the filming is complete and danced it completely. He is making progress, and Chen Shuo is also making progress. Finally, in the final scene, Wang Yibo performed all types of hip-hop dance, which made hip-hop lovers feast.

Wang Yibo once said in an interview: "Dancing in any corner of the world is not bad." So we saw in "One and Only" that Chen Shuo danced in subway cars, shopping malls, restaurants, homes, vegetable farms, etc., dancing all the time. We arrived at the final scene of the National Hip-Hop Competition. This kind of persistence in love and the core of success through hard work are exactly the themes that the film wants to express, and the character of Chen Shuo fully expresses Wang Yibo's unique spiritual core. Rather than saying that Wang Yibo played Chen Shuo in his true colors, it is better to say that Chen Shuo reflected a certain side of Wang Yibo.

Huang Bo, who plays Chen Shuo's coach, said that his first impression of Wang Yibo was "handsome and hardworking". Screenwriter Su Biao even admitted that Wang Yibo gave him a lot of creative inspiration. It took Wang Yibo ten years to step by step to shine in front of the public. His own famous experience is an "exclamation mark" worthy of admiration.

“Just stay indifferent"

At the "Moon Rise in the Bay Area" gala jointly held by Hong Kong and mainland China, Wang Yibo sang the theme song of the same name of the movie "Hidden Blade" he starred in. Because he sang so well, some people questioned him for fake singing, and rumors spread. Later, some professionals pointed out that the song itself had overlapping choruses, and Wang Yibo's live singing was perfectly connected with the accompaniment chorus he had recorded in advance. Some people compared the live singing with his original MV, and found that a sound on the scene has been changed. This anti-rumor treatment is the same as he did in a concert in 2019. The rumors are self-defeating.

When questioned about lip-syncing, Wang Yibo himself did not come out to defend himself. Wang Yibo majored in music at Hanlin Art High School in South Korea. When he debuted in 2014, he was the team's rapper and dancer. He won the Best Newcomer of the Year Award at the Cool Music Asia Festival and the Annual Music Award at the Screaming iQiyi Night Awards Ceremony, which shows his singing skills and level. You can tell from watching his stage that he can breathe steadily while dancing and singing, not to mention singing while walking that night.

He has always chosen to respond to his doubts with his works. At the end of 2019, Wang Yibo released his third single "Wugan", which is his first attempt at lyrics creation. "Don't be a puppet that allows others to manipulate your emotions" "No feeling is the best way to fight back" "When the sun goes down and the lights are turned on at night, you can see that the world is not bad" "The road to adversity sees the future and stands up after falling Get up" "Finding the way, Follow the light that you see, be free". Every line of the lyrics expresses his attitude.

In 2021, he released a new song "Twenty". The lyrics read: "I want to re-ignite the fire, only ashes are left in front of my eyes again and again, I am looking for an exit with wounds all over my body, I have tightened the invisible rope again and again, my hands are empty and I have no strength to break free, the wind is so vast above three feet, but there are already bursts of waves in all directions." "stand up thousands of times, stand up to the skyline, stand up to the end, stand up to the infinite future". The song "Twenty" tells the story of pursuing the front again and again without fear of difficulties and finally finding the strength to stand up, as if it is a portrayal of his struggle against fate.

In 2023, at the concert in Macau, he used the song "Twenty" as the background music, and performed a dance called "Exclamation Point" with the original crew of the "E-Mark" dance troupe in the movie "One and Only". The same song, but with music without lyrics and a different dance, adding a new connotation. This brand-new way of expression makes people marvel at his stage again, and also makes people re-examine the song "Twenty" and re-examine the ups and downs Wang Yibo has experienced for so many years.

Recalling this song, he seems to be telling people: Not feeling is the biggest response to doubts, you can't beat me, I will go forward bravely and shine with my works.

"Stay true to yourself, don't please others"

Wang Yibo in 2023, in addition to the release of the three box-office and word-of-mouth films "Hidden Blade", "The King of the Sky" and "One and Only", there are still many occasions where he will be exposed to the public. Whether it is at the airport, on the red carpet, on the stage, watching a show, or in brand activities, his clothing and makeup often become hot topics that the public likes to talk about. Some people say that he is a "walking clothes rack", and some people say that he is a "fashion vane of internal entertainment".

Clothing and beauty brands are very partial to Wang Yibo. Chanel awarded him as a brand image ambassador, and filmed the movie "My Friend" for him to participate in world-class film festivals; Moncler praised him as "Moncler's most handsome spokesperson"; EVISU customized a special car for him; Special guest of the Shu Uemura Beauty Makeup Contest, signed on the same stage with world-class design masters; Pechoin is the exclusive title sponsor of the TV series he starred in; Anta specially designed his favorite color - green shoes and clothing for him...

Why do they love him so much? It may be because of his appearance, or his talent, but more likely because his image and core match the brand's values.

In May of this year, when Wang Yibo attended the Chanel show in Los Angeles, the United States, he talked about the biggest commonality between him and Chanel in an interview. He said bluntly: "Be loyal to yourself and don't please others." Reminiscent of his saying in an interview many years ago: "If you don't like me, just like others", it is similar.

So what is the self he insists on? To use the lines in the movie "One and Ou", it is "you will succeed if you keep working hard", and "if you have no distracting thoughts, you will have everything".

Wang Yibo's talent and intrinsic value are being recognized more and more. In addition to being the "China Top Dancer Promotion Ambassador", he is also officially awarded the "China Skateboard Application Promotion Ambassador" and "China Ice and Snow Sports Promotion Ambassador", etc. Departments and organizations such as public security, transportation, fire protection, tourism, and public welfare have also invited him. Spoke for anti-drug, civilized transportation, fire safety, etc.

He is like a treasure, opening infinite possibilities with a multifaceted life that cannot be defined.

[rickgrimesdoingrickthings]

3. Where does your muse’s libido fall on the scale? 10 being hyper-sexual, 1 being the opposite. 5. Is your muse a top, bottom, or a switch? Why? 8. Are they polite or do they have a dirty mouth?

Quick Rick Headcanon Pack

3) I would say Rick's libido is around 5, I feel like he's the total opposite of Negan (who's hyper-sexual and jokes about it all the time etc. and claims to have a high sex drive etc.) I've never seen Rick do that in the series; when he's sad and anxious or alone (no romantic link with anyone) he seems to be completely turned off. I mean, dude spent like 8 years at the CRM and apparently he didn't have sex with anyone, or even kiss or date anyone at all, all he does is have romantic cheesy dreams about Michonne and that's it. I just don't give him a score below 5 because when Rick is in love with someone he can be really passionate, and it seems he's quite demisexual so having sex seems to have a very strong emotional / personal / spiritual weight for him and he gets more active.

Let's say Rick's libido can be absolute zero when he's alone and anxious / sad - and then be 7 when he's happy with someone he loves. But in all honesty, I don't think Rick is a sexual guy at all- I would say he's more the cheesy, romantic type. He's just...such a dad. He doesn't look at people in any sexual way at all (unless he's already in a relationship with the person and is just playing around), and he also hates harassment, he doesn't like being flirted with (unless he already has a bond with the person). I think he's quite the opposite of the "cliche sexual macho womanizer" that's very common in movies. Rick's very complex and sentimental af.

5) I think Rick is a switch. I mean, in the scenes with Michonne from S8 he...seems to roll a lot lol. I think he would like to give and receive honestly, he's too love deprived to try and do all on his own lol. He wants to feel loved too.

8) Rick is very polite, will swear only when he's very very angry. He tends to respect other people's spaces a lot- physical spaces and mental spaces as well- I don't see Rick being uncomfortable to others, he also seems to contain himself to not speak whatever comes to mind and he's very reserved. And I guess he expects the same from others.

[6mayhem]

top ten men??

okay.....this is a long personal post BE PREPARED!!! to find me cringe after this

in no particular order and most are also gonna be fictional LOLOLOLOLOL starting with the real people tho

gerard way...what can i say..... just 10/10 who I'm trying to be. All my problems would be solved if I could 100% embody him body mind and soul circa mid 2000s because spiritually that's who i was born to be. also the music is good very good. does he even count as a man anymore everyone's a transgender nowadays. anyway i don't actually know anything abt him apart from the stage persona and that's the way I'm trying to keep it bc everything i learn about celebrities I learn against my will

manuel germanletsplay. god i was so obsessed with him as a teenager. for the americans: he was of the biggest german gaming/minecraft youtubers and national heartthrob among teen girls. everyone shipped him with his friends including me THE FANFICSSSS..... he inspired a lot of transgenderism in me due to his twinky nature and his piano talent and long hair and the fact he never (to this day) showed his face. his persona was like a real life creepypasta character when it comes to sex appeal

isak valtersen skam..... skam is like my longest running hyperfixations i first watched it circa 2017 and have been rewatching at LEAST twice a year since then. idc that it's a teen show.......... he contributed greatly to my transgenderism. I love manipulative teen guys who are just the absolute fucking worst when you look at it objectively. he was such a male manipulator the whole s1 arc rlly made him out to be such a mastermind supervillain it was so silly. and then he got rlly pathetic in s3 ❤️❤️❤️❤️ anyway awesome outfits also..And anger issues

mickey milkovich shameless.... don't feel like I need to explain. WHAT AN ARC !!! he's a terrible person but like somehow the most sympathetic character in the entire show. everything past s7 was such flanderization it made me mad as hell but before that waowwaow.....he deserved better. my meowmeow. would move mountains and literally kill people for the most average annoying guy ever (real mickey fans hate ian) (jk hes fine minus the last 2 seasons)

syd march antiviral. what a fucking freak. he's got everything. blood kink. appearance of a sickly victorian child. horrible daddy issues. bisexuality. a thinly veiled transgender subplot. he's just so slimy and greasy and you just wanna punch him the entire movie I love it. big fan. also a male manipulator..U never know how much of his weakness is real and how much is faked to gain people's trust. he's just like me when it comes to obsessing over random beautiful women!!

sven kretschmer from ich hasse liebeslieder. no one knows this book because it was posted in like 2015 on a german fanfiction website but it permanently changed my brain chemistry. wow. i love him so much. he's everything to me. eyeliner wearing bisexual emo with greasy black hair who canonically looks like gerard way and struggles with every mental issue under the sun. erectile dysfunction subplot. has an abusive father. my favorite band is only kj because that's HIS favorite band. you could trace back 90% of who I am as a person to sven. HE BECAME A TATTOO ARTIST ALSO THAT'S SO COOL!!! and he's the most loyal bastard ever just a kicked puppy kinda guy i love men who are really clingy in relationships. but at the same time he also has insane anger issues which I ALSO love in a man GRIN 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 ^^^^ see above faves this is a whole archetype of guy for me

jack as you are.... See profile pic!! you already knowwwww!!!!! he's just like me fr. sheltered/seen as weak and sensitive and longing to be rebellious and do things to impress other men (in a homosexual way). maybe transgender? maybe killed his best friend/brother/lover!! again...greasy long hair YAYYY!!! the whole movie could be a forcemasc fantasy

mirco from this sorta obscure book called landeplatz der engel....his mother rejected him. the woman who took him in is a prostitute.... he says ableist slurs but is the least ableist person in the whole book...he wears a ring with a jewel in the shape of a boar head how cool is that?? and he stole a car. and does illegal car races. and ditched his girlfriend for his new male best friend. and he's secretly really traumatized but never wants to be a victim and gets mad when you imply his past affected him 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 idk I just love how he never pretends to be a better person than he is, but the opposite of it. He never gives himself credit for how kind he is

will graham... What a fucking freak(2). proves that your life isn't over at 30 you can still find the love of your life and do really weird shit because you decided that the only thing you care about is what a freaky european cannibal thinks of you.

adam saw....what can i say. he's awesome. he's transgender. he's funny. he's tragic. he's in love with a man twice his age while his brain can't decide if it should see him as a father figure or romantic interest. relatable to me personally

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

my oc neph bell because he's awesome and basically me

steve harrington and eddie munson from stranger things bc i still ship it (there's zero canon moments but idgaf about canon its stupid anyway) bc 1. Tragic blond failson with daddy issues and 2. eddie gave me aesthetic aspirations fuel for like a full year before i figured out who i wanna be. so yeah. I'm only a little bit ashamed of this

tyler durden fight club because yeah. and by extension the narrator bc the moments where he acted like a proper weird fucker were so funny and also meeeeeeee x3

nezumi no.6 you edgy fucker

mo folchart inkheart bc i always wanted him to be my father

kurt cobain

my other oc cesar liehmann bc he embodies everything i like re: blond men with anger issues who have to compensate for their average height by acting more confident than they are

free space for whoever i might be forgetting rn. I always have a LOT of thoughts about fictional men....

SHIN TSUKIMI FROM YTTD LOL I REMEMBER BEING CRAZY ABT HIM

max zerophilia... just completely embraces his sexuality and status as a Z. shamelessly in love with both luke and luca. HOT!!!! kind of bad at flirting but it works for him. AND HE'S ALSO HOT AS MICHELLE AND I'M BISEXUAL SO THAT'S THAT

[the-conversation-pod]

The VIIB Awards 2024: Immortal Technique!

Continuing with Part 3 of 5 of the Very Important Internet BL Awards, we are handing out our awards for everyone behind the scenes!

We will be awarding our Best OST Song, Best Music, Best Production, Best Writing, and Best Direction.

Join us today and for the rest of the week as we continue tomorrow with Top Tings. Tell us your winners in the notes!

Timestamps

The timestamps will now correspond with chapters on Spotify for easier navigation.

00:00 - Welcome 01:23 - Introduction 02:34 - Interlude: Making a movie, Eddie Mannix style - Hail, Caesar! (2016) 03:57 - Best OST Song 10:03 - Best Music 16:35 - Best Production 22:13 - Best Writing 27:17 - Best Direction 34:19 - Outro

The Conversation Transcripts!

Thanks to the continued efforts of @ginnymoonbeam as transcriber, and @lurkingshan as an editor and proofreader, we are able to bring you transcripts of the episodes.

We will endeavor to make the transcripts available when the episodes launch, and it is our goal to make them available for past episodes (Coming soon thanks to @wen-kexing-apologist). When transcripts are available, we will attach them to the episode post (like this one) and put the transcript behind a Read More cut to cut down on scrolling.

Please send our volunteers your thanks!

00:00 - Welcome

NiNi

Welcome to The Conversation About BL, aka The Brown Liquor Podcast.

Ben

And there it is. I’m Ben.

NiNi

I’m NiNi.

Ben

And we’re you’re drunk Caribbean uncle and auntie here sitting on the porch in the rocking chairs.

NiNi

Four times a year we pop in to talk about what’s going on in the BL world.

Ben

We shoot the shit about stories and all the drama going into them. I review from a queer media lens.

NiNi

And I review from a romance and drama lens.

Ben

So if you like cracked-out takes and really intense emotional analysis…

NiNi

If you like talking about artistry, industry, and the discourse…

Ben

And if you generally just love simping…

NiNi

There is a lot of simping on this podcast…

Ben

We are the show for you!

[fanfare sound]

01:23 - Introduction

Ben

And we're back. 

Today on part three of the VIIB Awards we will be awarding Immortal Technique, focusing on all of the production and other support roles that are not the people who are crying, or laughing, or screaming on our screens all the time. 

NiNi, please review for the audience the categories we have and our processes.

NiNi

This is usually our favorite episode all year because we get to talk about all the behind the scenes stuff and all the behind the scenes people that make the shows truly great that just give them that extra dazzle and pizzazz that really sells us on the stories. 

This is where we talk about, as Ben said, different aspects of production, we talk a little bit about writing and direction. We usually start out talking about music, and then we move into the rest of production, and we swing by writing—one of my favorite things, and then we usually end up on direction. So I think that's the trajectory we're gonna take.

02:34 - Interlude: Making a movie, Eddie Mannix style - Hail, Caesar! (2016)

Baird Whitlock

“…I mean, we may tell ourselves that we're creating something of artistic value or there's some sort of spiritual dimension to the picture business. But, what it really is, is this fat cat, Nick Skank, out in New York, running this factory, serving up these lollipops to the—what they used to call the bread and circuses for the…”

Eddie Mannix

[grabs Baird and slaps him] “Now, you listen to me, buster. Nick Skank and the Studio have been good to you and to everyone else who works here. If I ever hear you bad mouthing Mr. Skank again, it'll be the last thing you say before I have you tossed in jail for colluding in your own abduction.”

Baird Whitlock

“Eddie, I wouldn't, I would never do that!”

Eddie Mannix

[slaps Baird some more] “Shut up! You're gonna go out there and you're going to finish "Hail Caesar!" You're gonna give that speech at the feet of the penitent thief and you're gonna believe every word you say.”

[slaps Baird some more]

Eddie Mannix

“You're going to do it because you're an actor and that's what you do. Just like the director does what he does and the writer and the script girl and the guy who claps the slate. You're gonna do it because the picture has worth! And you have worth if you serve the picture and you're never gonna forget that again.”

Baird Whitlock

“I won't forget, Eddie.”

Eddie Mannix

“Damn right, you won't. Not as long as I run this dump.”

[Baird walks away]

“There, go out there and be a star.”

03:57 - Best OST Song

NiNi

We always start with music ‘cause as Ben reminded me in our little warm up, I care a lot more about this than he does. [laugh]

Ben

I would just award Boy Sompob every year like, “ooh, did Boy make a song? An award for my favorite boy!” [NiNi laughs] And he did this year. Twice!

NiNi

It wasn't even on my radar, bestie. I'm so sorry.

Ben

And he produced Nunew Chawarin, who we awarded last year.

NiNi

Boy Sompob is a staple and a legend. Unfortunately, he is not on our list this year.

Ben

He's on my list always. Don't worry, bestie.

NiNi

So Ben and I have very different musical tastes and as Ben would have mentioned to you guys, I think last year, I am very sensitive to music because I can hear pretty much close to perfect pitch. And it is physically painful for me when music is not good. So when I tell you that a song is good or that the music in a show is good, know that it is being filtered through that particular lens. 

Our first award of the night is going to go to Best OST Song. This award is given for the song as recorded, so how the song is composed, how it's produced, and how it's performed. Whether the style of the song matches the show, how the song is used within the show, and honestly whether I will listen to the song every time or whether I'm going to fast forward it. 

I will let Ben kick us off with the runner up for Best OST Song. Ben, what did you have on the list here?

Ben

The runner up for Best Original Soundtrack is ‘Plumeria’ from I Feel You Linger In The Air. [applause sound] performed by Cocktail, music by Thitiwat Rongthong and Ohm Cocktail, lyrics by Sichen Li, arranged by Korn Mahadamrongkul, Thitiwat Rongthong, and Cocktail. 

‘Plumeria’ in I Feel You Linger In The Air has this really beautiful string component to it that I really enjoy. Of all of the songs we heard this year, it was the one I felt put me in the right mood as I was going into the show every week and I think about the song sometimes more than I do a lot of the songs that we've heard this year.

NiNi

It's a beautiful song, the orchestration is incredibly impressive. I am a person who loves to hear real instruments. I also love some electronic music, but there's something about real instruments and deep orchestration that puts me in a certain mental and emotional place and ‘Plumeria’ is a really beautiful song. Just thinking about it now I'm visualizing the elements within the story of I Feel You Linger In The Air. It's a very effective song for setting mood, like Ben said. So ‘Plumeria’ is our runner up. 

The winner for Best OST Song is actually going to Japan this year, to ‘Futatabi’ from The End of the World With You [fanfare sound] performed by HIROBA and Otsuka Ai, music and lyrics by Otsuka Ai and Mizuno Yoshiki, arranged by Tsutaya Koichi. 

I love the Immortal Technique episode because we just get to read out lists and lists of names of people who you have probably never heard of, but are really running shit.

Ben

If any of them or their friends or family hear this episode, I apologize if we butchered your names.

NiNi

I am doing my very best with Japanese pronunciation. I am trying extremely hard. I want to get it right. ‘Futatabi’ is the song that plays at the end of every episode of The End of the World With You. It penetrated my consciousness from the very beginning, but the episode where it really, really connected is the episode that ends with all of our heroes screaming at the meteor to go away. They want to live. There is something about it playing over that scene that just sends it into the stratosphere for me, and ever since that moment, every time I hear that song, it just makes me think of that sentiment, that “I want to live” sentiment. It has so much hope to it, so much desperate hope, so much absolute refusal to give up, and it's just a beautiful song. 

So, Best OST Song goes to ‘Futatabi’ from The End of the World With You.

Ben

I'm really glad you talked about how you felt emotionally about that song because I just finished showing a friend the Pornographer series, which was made by a lot of the same people who made The End of the World With You. And I feel kind of the same way about the OST for that show as I do about The End of the World With You. There is a similar emotional component to it where the weight pressing down on you is so heavy, but you really don't want to give up and I feel like that team is really good at capturing that.

NiNi

The End of the World With You is a great, fantastic show and if you guys haven't watched it, you can go back to, I believe our spring series, listen to us talk about. Catch the show. We think it's incredible, and you'll get to hear ‘Futatabi’ in context and hopefully you'll agree with me.

10:03 - Best Music

NiNi

We're moving on from Best OST Song to Best Music. The Best Music award covers all the music that is used in a show, so the scoring, the music supervision, music editing, and use of music in the show. 

Ben's going to come again here with the runner up for Best Music.

Ben

Ohh it's I Feel You Linger In The Air again. [applause sound] Congratulations to the team at Banana Sound Studio. You all were fantastic. I often feel like the mixing on Thai shows is too loud and I often feel like the musical choices can be really distracting. Even in this show, it's a little too loud for my taste, but there's a fullness and a richness to the way all of the sounds and music are really used that I don't find it distracting. I think it fits the overall tonality of the show, because this is the big swoony romance show of the year, and it's okay for things to be a little bit bigger. 

I think I Feel You Linger In The Air is an excellent example of Thai music used really well in a very Thai production and I really wanna note how much I really enjoyed the use of traditional Thai music in a Thai historical show.

NiNi

I have to concur, the music all over I Feel You Linger In The Air and the way it was used were really fantastic, really helped sell the emotional weight of the story and particularly the decisions of where to use music and where to use silence, which I think is equally important. Great runner up. 

The winner—and Ben’s going to shade me about this, because last year I told him that just because something's a musical, it doesn't automatically win Best Music—and I will maintain that. The winner of Best Music doesn't just win it this year because it's a musical, but because of how they use the music.

And the winner of Best Music this year is My School President. [fanfare sound] Composer Tong Atthaphol Rujiraprawat and Okomo P, music supervisor. The way that the music is used inMy School President, the way that it's constructed, where they use originals, where they use covers, where they use diegetic music, where they use non-diegetic music. For those who are not familiar with these terms, diegetic music is music that is occurring within the context of the story. So this is music that can be heard by the characters, basically, while non-diegetic music is not heard by the characters, so that's usually musical overlays, soundtracks, things like that. 

My School President uses both. It uses original songs, it uses covers. It has very interesting scoring, I thought, aside from the jukebox musical feel of it and the jukebox musical elements themselves were also phenomenally used, I think. Basically somebody put a lot of effort into making the musical make sense as a story emotionally and through the characters. More than just making the music entertaining, it turned the music itself into a story. ‘Cause if you go through the songs in order of when they appear in the show, that trajectory, that path is also telling a story. I think that this was so well done. That is why it wins the Best Music of the year.

Ben

And now, audience, if you can imagine NiNi sitting in a brightly lit room. And suddenly the lights dim. [NiNi laughs] A moment of shade. 

How dare you? [laughs] You shat on my favorite little musical from last year. You didn't even watch it!

NiNi

I did not. I started watching it—

Ben

You scoffed!

NiNi

—and I still intend to finish. I never scoffed. How dare you? [Ben laughs] I even said, I even said that the episodes that I did watch it I thoroughly enjoyed the music. I just haven't finished it yet.

Ben

I love that show.

NiNi

I'm not accepting that shade because I have never shaded Rainbow Prince. I liked Rainbow Prince. I just have not had time to finish it. I loved the music that I heard so far from Rainbow Prince. I did not shade it.

Ben

All right, back to the serious. I really enjoyed the music of My School President. I had a lot of fun with it. NiNi and I ended up selecting different songs that really stuck with us, but I really liked Let Me Tell You, that was still my favorite one. That one gets me, I think the most of all of the songs they did in that little show, a lot of fun.

NiNi

For me, my favorite song is the Palmy cover. It's the first song that they sing.

Ben

Unfortunately for them, I am a fan of Palmy, and while it was very cute to see these teenagers sing Palmy, they are not Palmy.

NiNi

Of course they're not Palmy. But that's the point. It's a cover.

Ben

It was fun. It was an okay cover.

NiNi

I especially like that when they do do the covers, so the Chinzhilla band in My School President, they call themselves a Brit pop band, which, mmm, debatable. However, all of the cover songs sound exactly like a high school band that thinks they're singing Brit Pop would sound, which I thought was really clever arranging and composing of the songs. I was definitely impressed that the song sounded like a high school garage band.

Ben

When I did relent to awarding My School President, it was because the music felt properly tuned to the characters themselves, and I thought that that was clever.

NiNi

It's well done, man. It really is well done. I don't think I've seen a use of music like that in BL, and hopefully it's not the last time we see a use of music like that, whether it's in a musical or not.

16:35 - Best Production

NiNi

Moving on from music, we're now moving into the rest of production. The Best Production award. This is the award for basically all the world building stuff. So this is production design and art direction, set design, costuming, hair, makeup, sound design, coloring—the aesthetic specificity. Basically all the things that contribute to what I like to call the vibe of the story. 

The runner up for Best Production is If It's With You [applause sound] from Japan, the production house is MBS, the production designer is Sasuke Yamamoto, and the art director is Satoshi Nonogaki. 

I love Japanese production and what I love about Japanese production is particularly Japanese set design. Japanese locations and sets I think are so well done, and they tell you so much about the characters and the environment that it's happening in. I always talk about how I love on screen, looking at a Japanese apartment, because a Japanese apartment is so specific, not just to Japan, but also to the characters. You learn so much about characters in a Japanese production just by looking at the environments they're being placed in. 

When it comes to If It's With You, you get a sense from Amane's house what his life is like. You get a sense from Ryuji's house, ‘cause Ryuji lost his dad and he is working a lot to help his family. There's a little bit of a chaos to his house, but then there's the corner where his dad's shrine is, and that is perfectly maintained. It is clean and organized and everything. I love the production design on If It's With You.

Ben

If you're coming from American television and you primarily watch Thai BL, you're going to be paying way too much attention to faces when you watch Japanese media. And if you are only watching the faces of Japanese actors, you are likely missing 60% of the show. Space itself is such an important component in the way the Japanese construct their stories. 

I talked about this in other episodes about how they very much believe in the foreground, middle ground, background, all having different elements of active storytelling. If It's With You is probably one of the better examples of this phenomenon this year, primarily because it's so short. MBS was able to spend their money in a really effective way. There's so much to observe in the way their hair is styled, the clothing, the lighting in the scene. Someone wrote about the way the light is used in the confession scene Amani has when he runs away. 

You have to pay attention to more than just dialogue and the expression of strong emotion on an actor's face when you're going to watch Japanese media, or generally any media from a country other than your own, because you have to start learning that culture's film language. If It's With You it's a great one to go watch again if you've already watched it to look at these other elements: what the set design, what the costuming, what the hair and makeup, what the lighting, is trying to communicate to you along the way.

NiNi

We didn't really talk about the hair and makeup, particularly on Amane. I thought it was incredibly clever because Amane is kind of portraying this happy go lucky free spirit, and everything about the way his hair is styled, the way he dresses, it's all in service of him putting that face out to the outside. But he is masking. He is a sad boy masking as happy.

Ben

Ha! My favorite type of gay!

NiNi

Let's move on to the winner of the Best Production category.

Ben

Best Production this year again goes to a Thai team. It goes to Dee Hup House, production designer Takanta Kultrakarn and art director Le Phong Phu On for I Feel You Linger in the Air.

[fanfare sound]

I Feel You Linger in the Air, in totality, creates this beautiful vision of what Thailand looked like outside of Bangkok a century ago, and tries to imagine how those people might have used the spaces they existed in and moved around them. And there are a lot of really beautiful details, down to the type of cutlery that's used, the way they use the plates. Obviously, the costuming they wear, but even how they have people sit and move around, the way they create the illusion of space with their locations. 

It's a really excellent piece on every level. It's so rich, and you can feel so much environmental storytelling going on with the location itself. And then there's interesting interplay with the house and the past and the present. It is just so excellently done. It is probably the most visceral show that we got to watch this year. The world that they create feels so believable that you almost feel like you could touch it. 

It's really hard to do that. It is not easy. Congratulations to Dee Hup House, because goddamn.

NiNi

They put their foot in that, no lie.

22:13 - Best Writing

NiNi

Moving on to my main bitch: Best Writing. [laughs] When we're talking about the writing in the story, we're talking about the idea behind the story and setting up the characters; the story itself – that's the structure and the plot and character development. We're talking about screenplay, and then we're talking about script, dialogue, cadence, character voice. All these elements come into the best writing.

Ben

We actually had, like, a little spat [laughs] over awarding this category.

NiNi

Just a little one, not a big one. We ultimately agreed on who the top two were, but we couldn't agree on who was going to be the runner up and who was going to be the winner.

Ben

[laughs] I'll let you talk about the runner up.

NiNi

The runner up for Best Writing is La Pluie [applause sound] written by Fluke Teerapat Lohanan and Tanachot Prapasri. La Pluie is one of the best two, obviously, written stories of the entire year. There is no flab to that story. That story is written intensely. The way that they build out the world and the characters, the way that they set up the premise, the words that are put in the characters’ mouths, the way that the characters are developed, the fact that it allows characters to be wrong without being villains. 

In terms of not just fiction, but genre fiction, which is incredibly hard to write, it is incredibly difficult to write genre fiction that does not feel…made-up. Of course, all fiction is made-up, but genre fiction there has to be an element of believability to it. You have to sell the idea in such a way that it feels real. It feels like something that could happen. The way that La Pluie sets up its world in the writing, the concept of this rain deafness phenomenon feels like a real thing that could happen in the world. 

So you've set up the genre fiction side of it, and then onto that you add basically a retooling of the entire idea of romantic fiction. It's so cleverly done. It's like they looked at—and this is very clear, I mean it's even in the show—it's like they looked at Nora Roberts romance and said, “We're gonna take this to the next level. We're gonna show you what this would play out like if we did it in the real world, and then we're going to subvert that. We're going to twist it. We're going to turn it on its head. But it's still gonna be recognizable as romance.” It is some of the cleanest, deftest writing that I've seen in a while.

Ben

La Pluie is one of the best written shows of the year because you can refer to specific episodes, start talking about a couple of details, and the audience will be right back there. La Pluie has less than 15 seconds of recap going into each of their episodes. That's how strong the writing is in that show. Each episode is covering specific ground that they don't really need to do much other than remind you with a couple of shots where we left off, and you can go, “Oh, okay, yeah,” and we're right back in it. 

I don't want to gush about La Pluie too much. I have much to say about La Pluie. I will not go on at length here. 

The winner for Best Writing of this year goes to MAME, May Orawan Vichayawannakul for Wedding Plan. [fanfare sound] I was not expecting to be awarding MAME this year.

NiNi

Nobody was, bestie.

Ben

But I wanted to award Wedding Plan because I think MAME did a good job deconstructing and playing around with the types of dynamics she likes to put with her characters, and then telling a genuinely queer story within the structures of BL. I think that that is an incredibly impressive feat. It can't be overstated how complete Wedding Plan feels as a work. I have no lingering questions about the cast of characters in the show. This show was not being greedy with the audience's attention and hoping to milk us for more after the fact. They just sat down and told a really compelling story about what it means to try and work your way out of the closet in the least destructive way possible. Excellent job.

27:17 - Best Direction

NiNi 

This is the Best Direction award. This is awarded for overall vision, filmmaking style, and visual impact, so photography, cinematography, shot selection, editing, directing, actor movement and expressions. These are all the elements that go into the best direction criteria. 

Our runner up goes to Ishibashi Yuho, who directed Our Dining Table and Tokyo in April is… 

[applause sound]

So the directing team here is Ishibashi Yuho, who is the main director on Our Dining Table. They directed along with Iizuka Kashou and Kamimura Naho, the DP or cinematographer is Hayasaka Shin. The editor is Takahashi Masakazu. On Tokyo in April is… Ishibashi Yuho, directed with Honda Daisuke and Kishida Masayoshi. The DP is Kato Taishi. The editor is Ohashi Masakazu.

Japanese direction is so specific. It comes from a very theatrical tradition, and sometimes I find that a little hard to digest depending on the strength of the actors, but generally I tend to like it. The theatricality to the direction, the fact that the set is seen sort of as a stage, and the actors enter and exit and move around in the space. It requires an understanding and awareness of space, both on the part of the actors and definitely on the part of the director because what you then put in front of the camera, because the camera, it moves, yes. But when you're talking about Japanese direction, camera is largely static, and everything else is moving within the frame. 

Ben 

You’re not really watching Japanese media until you start noticing that they're slowly zooming in on a character and that as a character is slowly excluded from the frame, they are not part of the current emotional beat that we're on. 

NiNi 

You're right, when the camera does move, it doesn't tend to be moving across the shot, but sort of in and out. So maybe the camera is zooming, or maybe there's some kind of dolly movement happening, but the dolly movement is going for depth into the scene rather than moving across the scene. 

It is so fascinating, and I think that Ishibashi Yuho is sort of a master of it. Thinking about the direction at Our Dining Table, the way that she shoots the Ueda house. How you get an understanding of the space inside the Ueda house without the camera moving around very much, but where the camera is placed becomes important, and what the camera focuses in on becomes important. And then how those shots are pulled together become important. 

Ben 

I really hope we get to see her doing some more stuff in genre because I like where her priorities are. Not only is she really good at running a set and creating projects that are really easy to grok and connect to, she seems to care about the way gay men are presented in her work, and I really appreciate that. 

NiNi 

Congratulations to our runner up. 

Ben, why don't you tell us who our winner is? 

Ben 

The winner for Best Direction this year goes to Baek Inu and Werner DuPlessis for The Eighth Sense. [fanfare sound] Director of Photography Yang Gyunsang, edited by Werner DuPlessis. 

This project was a Korean and German team up, and it was unlike much of what we had watched from Korean BL in the last couple of years. They very much leaned into, like a—what’s the German term for their coming of age films? 

NiNi 

Bildungsroman.

Ben 

It feels a whole lot like that, but it also feels like a moody Park Chan-wook film [laughs] the whole time, too. It was really fascinating watching these guys blend their styles together, and bring out these really strong performances and a lot of unknowns. There's a lot—like, I'm just sitting here. I'm thinking about the frenetic filming of episode 6. I'm thinking about the way they filmed Jae Won losing it and running to sock Tae Hyung, the way they used the framing of perspective when Ji Hyun sees whatever that nasty girl’s name was [laughs] kissing Jae Won in front of the bar. It's really good. 

NiNi 

I concur, it is really good, and the filmmaking...I mean, some of the things that they were able to do. I think there was an entire second unit that just handled the surfing scenes. And those scenes are truly impressive, the way that the water work was shot, it mimicked the sense of being on the waves—that feeling of never being entirely stable and occasionally getting knocked over. And it still captured the beauty of being in the sea. 

And then, like you said, some of the frenetic filmmaking around Jae Won's mental state, and how that episode that you got so pissed [laughs] with everybody else about, about them saying that it wasn't real, but it felt dreamlike for a reason because Jae Won was probably, like, tits up out his mind on some kind of drugs, maybe, so it feels surreal. The way that the episode after the accident, when they come back to school and you don't know what exactly happened, and the whole thing is sort of tinged in this subdued, almost monochrome coloring until you find out what happens. And then the color slowly starts coming back to the show. 

It's very, very well executed from a direction perspective, the way that the camera moves, the way that the actors are directed, the way that the show is edited together, just every aspect of the visual filmmaking. The overall vision for the show is coherent, it's cohesive, it's comprehensive, and it's damn good. 

Best Direction 2023 VIIB award goes to The Eighth Sense. Baek Inu and Werner DuPlessis. 

34:19 - Outro

NiNi

We have come to the end of our Immortal Technique VIIB Award segment. Next up tomorrow, if I have edited this correctly—always the caveat—we will be looking at our Top Tings. All of the top tops, the highest highs, of the BL for 2023. 

So until then, we out. Say “bye” to the people, Ben.

Ben

Peace.

[2day-ago-kids]

Have you ever wondered if How long will this life have to travel?

This is an oracle that I designed for my inner journey. I have made it in two languages, Thai and English.

Available here

The Hippie Journey Oracle

Design and Writen By Sukwasa

[loisfreakinglane]

Your current top 10 movies of 2024 please and thank you!

WOW THIS IS SO HARD I HAVE LOVED SOOOOOOO MANY MOVIES FROM THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

in no particular order:

wicked, y'alllllllllll i loved it so much. never seen the stage play so i went in blind but god! i have always loved the world of oz and this just gave me even more facets to obsess over

blink twice, the ultimate gut punch

lisa frankenstein, campy horror romcom of dreams

your monster, romance! reclaiming your self worth!

the fall guy, just so funny and romantic and joyful

challengers, i love this throuple i love every side of this dynamic i love how they play with the timeline and the aggressive score UGH MY HEART

monkey man, i fucking love a revenge thriller and god dev imbued this with so much emotion, it hits my heart so deep

the book of clarence, this movie just covers the full gamut. comedy, hope, stoners, spirituality, belief, romance, god it messes me up more every time

trap, such a fun twisty spooky romp WITH MY BEST GIRLIE LADY RAVEN WOW SUCH AN ICON

will & harper, this doc fucked me up in a whole bunch of ways

AND MY HONORABLE MENTIONS: boy kills world, deadpool & wolverine, thelma, cuckoo, the crow, i saw the tv glow, hit man

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 10/10/2023

Kermit in the Ocean

Season 5 Featured on: Legends of the Western Sunset ~ The SiIvaGunner All​-​Star Summer Festival 2021 Collection

Ripped by MaxTrax

So...it's Ten-out-of-ten day, huh?

See, I thought of this bit, like a week or two ago, about having today be dedicated to a TRULY perfect rip, in commemoration of the date. But that obviously landed me in a bit of a dilemma...what IS a perfect rip? Can I even label just one SiIvaGunner rip as perfect without having that assessment be persuaded by my subjective feelings? Whichever rip I pick, will it not be criticized for its imperfections? One could say I was in a bit of a mental freeze...and just like that, it hit me. The one rip on SiIvaGunner that we can all agree upon is perfect. Kermit in the Ocean.

MaxTrax released this legend of a rip with a rather small backlog of prior-made rips, many of which released during Season 1. And while Season 1 was generally filled with a lot of repetitious content, it was simultaneously one of the most experimental times in SiIva's life, which brought us MaxTrax's first masterpiece - Main Theme - Yoda Stories. The rip features a somewhat-off-model Yoda hand puppet miming out performances of several mainstay SiIva jokes, all completely unedited in audio. I still have memories of seeing the rip premiere and being just as flabbergasted as everyone else - it was really just four minutes of watching a Yoda puppet make funny faces to the memes we all loved, and that alone made the rip strangely alluring. Akin to Sex - Steve Harvey, it was as if we'd been given a peek into just how stupid SiIvaGunner could get - it was a complete subversion of everything the channel stood for, yet it remained hilarious althesame.

Five years later in Season 5, we'd receive its spiritual successor - Kermit in the Ocean. I already discussed Astronaut in the Ocean in-depth on my post on Aquarium in the Ocean - the meme that rose to infamy during Season 5, only to gradually becoming accepted by the fanbase as the lesser, more chill of two evils. By the time this rip was uploaded, we had already begun coming to terms with the astronaut's permanent stay - and Kermit in the Ocean felt like the cherry on top to make that official. The rip covers Rainbow Connections, a song from The Muppets Movie sang by Kermit, with all the lyrics replaced to be those from Astronaut in the Ocean,. Althewhile, the singer sounds like he's having the absolute time of his life, and the off-model Kermit muppet accompanying it all looks as if its ready to shrivel up and die at any time. Its such a leap forward compared to Main Theme - Yoda Stories - the hysterical visual editing, the always present muppet and vocals, and of course the tonal dissonance between Astronaut in the Ocean's lyrical genius and the emotional resonance of Rainbow Connections.

It is, sincerely, a rip that lands on every front - perfect in every way it aims to be and one of the biggest laughs I've ever had in the channel's life. Season 5 felt like it was all about these celebrations, and I'm so happy to see MaxTrax finally achieve his magnum opus rip after five years time.

[makedonsgriva]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

Omg hi! First of all thanks for asking! I haven’t answered this question before and I absolutely do not mind answering this. This is a tough one though because I’ve consumed so much media and love so many characters it’s so difficult to choose but I will give it a shot nonetheless. Also these ten characters are not in any particular order.

Laurent Of Vere: Laurent is introduced as the frigid and dangerous prince of Vere in the book 1 of the captive prince trilogy. I HATED this man on my first reading but as the trilogy progressed, I just fell in love with him. He had an astounding amount of growth and character development. Not to mention his qualities and traits make him an all around admirable character. I may not be putting the characters in this list in order but Laurent is definitely my favourite character of all time.

Fleabag: Fleabag from Fleabag is another character I deeply love. She is funny, she is selfish, she is a tragedy of her own doing. It’s the way she is so deeply flawed yet so damn loveable at the same time that gets me. We are all fleabag at the end of the day aren’t we?

Baz: Baz from Carry On trilogy had to be here like the list won’t be complete without my poor little meow meow. He is one of those few characters who is very very close to my heart and it so hard to not love this dramatic gay vampire. Just love his snark and he is so funny??? I love it so much. Not to mention he truly is one of the kindest characters I’ve read.

Penelope Bunce: Another character from the Carry On trilogy. Penelope means the world to me because as a brown person, I don’t get to read a lot of books which feature brown characters. So seeing a character who is the best friend of the protagonist and has a major role in the series, it’s very refreshing and reassuring to me. Penelope is smart, stubborn, never admits she might be wrong but her growth over the three books is amazing. I will always love her.

Eren Yeager: literally one of the most tragic characters I’ve seen till date. As the protagonist (antagonist? anti hero? Idk anymore) of attack on titan, Eren is one of the most iconic characters I’ve come across till date. His unconditional devotion for his friends and his character arc from being the righteous hero to someone who becomes completely disillusioned by the end, it’s fucking amazing.

Geto Suguru: I have a beef with Jujutsu Kaisen and the reason is that Gege Akutami came up with absolutely amazing characters only to under-utilise and shit on their character arcs with his half assed plot. Surprisingly though, Geto’s character arc is amazing. I love it when heroes lose the sight of their goals and become the villains instead and Geto does that. His character development is really good and I love him for that. Incredibly realistic and refreshing to see.

Jiang Cheng: Jiang Cheng from MDZS remains one of the most relatable characters I’ve come across ever. Like I feel him on a spiritual level. The complexity and depth of his emotions, his actions, being so fucking good but never being good enough… good lord my heart straight up bleeds for him. I will always love Jiang Cheng.

Xue Yang: Hear me out okay. I know Xue Yang from MDZS is a psychopath. I’m not a Xue Yang apologist either. What he did to Xingchen was appalling to say the least. But Xue Yang is undoubtedly an incredibly well written character. He loved or should I say obsessed over XXC in such a sick and twisted way, it made for a very interesting read. The way he deluded even himself into believing that his extreme actions were all to torment XXC and not because he enjoyed his company and liked him… like girl be ffr right now who tf are you kidding. But yeah love me an insane psychotic gremlin.

Violet Evergarden: Violet from Violet Evergarden is one of the most heartbreaking characters I’ve come across and also one of the most unique. I’m a sucker for stories that tell the most human stories and Violet as a child soldier discovering these emotions, thoughts and vivid lives of people while coming to terms with her own trauma really gives her a special place in my heart.

Howl: Howl from Howls Moving Castle is one of my favorites because he is a hot babygirl. As simple as that.

Thanks so much for asking! Sorry it took me a while to get back to you but I hope you liked this list 💗💗💗

[mediamixs]

Top 10 Religious Terror Movies

Religious terror movies often explore the intersection of faith and fear, delving into themes of possession, cults, and the supernatural. Here are ten notable films in this genre:

1. The Exorcist (1973)

Considered a landmark in horror cinema, The Exorcist follows the demonic possession of a young girl, Regan, and the attempts of two priests to save her. The film is renowned for its intense atmosphere and chilling imagery, making it a classic in religious horror.

2. The Omen (1976)

This film tells the story of a couple who unknowingly adopt the Antichrist, Damien. As ominous events unfold, they discover the dark truth about their son. The Omen's exploration of parental fears and evil is both gripping and disturbing.

3. Rosemary's Baby (1968)

A psychological horror film about a pregnant woman who suspects that an evil cult wants to take her baby for sinister purposes. It examines themes of trust, manipulation, and the loss of autonomy within a religious context.

4. Carrie (1976)

Based on Stephen King's novel, Carrie portrays a bullied girl with telekinetic powers who exacts revenge on her tormentors. The film's religious undertones are highlighted through her fanatically religious mother, creating a chilling narrative about faith and vengeance.

5. The Wailing (2016)

Set in a rural South Korean village, this film combines horror with folklore and religion as a mysterious illness spreads, leading to violent outbreaks. The protagonist, a police officer, grapples with the supernatural and spiritual implications of the events.

6. The Sacrament (2013)

Inspired by the Jonestown Massacre, this found-footage film follows journalists who uncover the sinister reality of a cult led by a charismatic leader. It highlights the dangers of blind faith and the manipulation of religious beliefs.

7. The Devils (1971)

This controversial film explores the witch trials of the 17th century, focusing on a priest accused of witchcraft. It critiques religious hysteria and institutional power, making it a provocative entry in the genre.

8. The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

Loosely based on the true story of Anneliese Michel, this film dramatizes the trial of priests accused of negligence in the death of a possessed woman. It raises questions about faith, mental illness, and the nature of evil.

9. Apostle (2018)

Set in the early 1900s, this film follows a man who infiltrates a cult on a remote island to rescue his sister. It explores themes of sacrifice and the dark side of religious fanaticism, culminating in a violent confrontation.

10. Midsommar (2019)

While not strictly a horror film, Midsommar incorporates elements of religious terror within a pagan cult setting. It explores themes of grief, community, and the unsettling nature of blind devotion, culminating in shocking rituals.

These films collectively highlight the potent combination of religion and horror, exploring how faith can manifest in both protective and destructive ways.