#~SUPERLATIVE~

[mermaidsirennikita]

If you have the time and inclination I would absolutely love a list of the best sex scenes you’ve read this year!

For sure!

Managed by Kristen Callihan. I actually just read this one and this scene... lives rent free in my head, as they say. The hero and heroine are platonic friends but staying together while the band he manages is on tour, and he finds her dirty underwear in their shared bathroom... Inhales it... and uses it to jack off. She later finds this underwear (handwashed) underneath his mattress. What makes this scene especially good is that a) he's so uptight and snappish and this is truly deranged behavior b) she starts knocking on the door mid-masturbation which *REALLY* does it for him. If that doesn't seem like ~sex to y'all, there's also a scene where he's fingerfucking her after he comes inside her and starts pushing his cum back in there. That was also nice. (THIS. HERO.)

The Bride Goes Rogue by Joanna Shupe. Obviously, the guided masturbation carriage scene. What makes this scene really really good is that he does not touch himself at all during, and just stares at her like a hungry dog.

Lothaire by Kresley Cole. Like, every sex scene in this book is an absolute banger... The dry humping on the couch when he bites her lip to scare her, is shocked when she grabs the back of his head to kiss him even harder, and completely loses his mind; the scene that goes from him biting and sucking on her finger in a trance like it's his pacifier to like.... straight tittyfucking and light d/s; the "let me give you boundless pleasure because I'm probably gonna have to kill you next week" scene, after which Ellie bursts into tears and he stares at the ceiling trying to convince himself that he doesn't love her; the "Ellie loses her virginity on the couch and it's actually very sweet because he's so nervous about accidentally murdering her" scene, which begins with his knee bouncing with anxiety because he wants her first fucking to be superlative; the blood blowjob/69 -> rough "TELL ME YOU LOVE ME" sex (she does not tell him), which is also, despite being written on the page, somehow the loudest sex scene ever, RIP for his neighbors.

Lead by Kylie Scott. I really love the "let's fuck on my kitchen table to get it out of our systems" scene, but I really really love the scene where Jimmy and Lena have SUPER INTIMATE MISSIONARY KISSING SEX and he's never had that kind of sex before and it's verrrrrrry intense.

Of Visions and Secrets by Kathryn Ann Kingsley. The hero is possessed by an evil monster thing that takes over him and kills when people scream, so he's very specifically like "I am going to fuck you on my desk now, DO NOT SCREAM" and when she does start to scream, he gags her with his bowtie. Great choice.

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid. The scene where Ilya wins MVP or whatever so he makes Shane edge himself in front of him while Ilya sits there, fully clothed, drinking vodka, super cool, calm, and collected, UNTIL HE ISN'T and he has to go over there and fuck him IMMEDIATELY. And they're in a penthouse where nobody can hear them so they're finally able to be as loud and wild as they've always wanted to be.

The Long Game by Rachel Reid. This is the sequel to Heated Rivalry but I'm doing it anywaaaay because the scene where Ilya fucks Shane in his trophy room??? To hype him up about all his accomplishments??? And afterwards they're like "that got weird"? It was so soft and couple-y????

MacRieve by Kresley Cole. The "pump her full of cum with positive vibes or she'll LITERALLY DIE" scene. The heroine is a succubus, and has to receive semen to live, that's just the facts. The hero has a lot of succubus-related trauma and so while they had enjoyable sex (eventually) his feelings of self-loathing and resentment basically affected the... product quality. So she got SICK. And was DYING. And he took her to her succubus relatives and they were like she needs POSITIVE VIBES CUM and YOU CAN'T GIVE HER THAT so don't worry, we have TRAINED HEALERS who CAN. And, being a Kresley Cole werewolf (whose primary drive is to Guard and Protect the Pussy and Satisfy It), he basically short circuited and was like OH I'M GONNA GIVE HER ALL THE POSITIVE VIBES. Glorious. Chef's kiss. So glad I read this novel.

Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage by Jennifer Ashley. Hero and heroine are separated marrieds having breakfast together, and they basically start teasing each other. I think he's all "haha I have food on my thumb bet you won't lick it off" and she's like "oh put it on your dick and see what I'll do then asshole" and he is SHAKEN. Anyway, devolves into a lot of oral sex at the breakfast table.

When the Duke Was Wicked by Lorraine Heath. Hero licks rum off the heroine's pussy in his office, I've discussed this one a lot and I still love it. I think my favorite part is when they're in the carriage on the way home after and he's thinking to himself like "well that escalated quickly; that got really out of hand".

Preferential Treatment by Heather Guerre. It's a tie between when the heroine reverse cowgirl'd the hero in his chair while they played chess and he had to keep from coming until she said he could (they're in a femdom relationship)... or the scene where the heroine spanks the hero for being bad before they have super passionate sex on the floor. Or the scene where they're Facetiming and he has a vibrating cock ring on and she quizzes him on facts about her and every time he gets a question wrong she takes the vibration up a level?

Run, Run Rabbit by C.M. Nascosta. I really enjoy .... all the sex in this book? Though I think the sexiest scene actually isn't a sex scene--it's when the hero, who is a werewolf, can smell that the heroine (also a werewolf) is aroused and leans in and is like "You smell like prey". But there's also a scene later on where she's riding his face and is like "maybe I can smother this asshole with my vagina" and that was great.

Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole. The scene where Rydstrom tied Sabine to a tree and ate her out all night, never letting her come (as revenge for his own edging imprisonment lmao). Made funnier when she has a meltdown the next day and is like "AND MY BOOBS ARE ALL RED AND SCRATCHY BECAUSE YOU JUST WENT TO TOWN ON THEM ALL LAST NIGHT" and he's like ".... my bad".

When the Earl Met His Match by Stacy Reid. Hero and heroine have really passionate sex after their marriage hits the rocks re: many issues, and she says I love you for the first time when she comes and it's like.... oops.

The Hawk by Monica McCarty. Hero and heroine are on a raft that's getting rocked by a storm, and in order to distract her he naturally starts having sex with her, and the waves literally enhance his stroke game. Iconic.

Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole. Conrad and Neomi's first time was so good--in part because he was like, a 300+ year old virgin, and in part because there was such a great buildup to them being able to touch, let alone have sex. Also, like, every sex scene with this pairing is him being on the brink of mindless madness and Neomi being like "WHOOOOAAAA BESSIE" and I love that. So much.

A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera. The fingerbanging scene on the Eiffel Tower. It's LIT!

The Duke I Tempted by Scarlett Peckham. The big femdom sex scene in the book is so good. Not only because we rarely see femdom in historicals, but because it's such a beautiful moment wherein the hero is finally truly himself with the heroine, and she unlocks an aspect of herself she hadn't really been able to access before. Also, bondage.

Forbidden by Elizabeth Lowell. There's a scene (hint o' femdom, I'd say) where the hero and heroine have really fallen out, and he's being such a cold dick to her, and refuses to touch her. So she starts touching him all over while he tries not to react (and fails). It's again, a surprisingly femdom-coded scene for a 90s historical, and I really loved his gradual caving to her.... ministrations.

How to Steal A Scoundrel's Heart by Vivienne Lorret. Hero and heroine both think she's not a virgin, so during their first time he sticks it in kinda abruptly. They both immediately realize that she was wrong and she just didn't understand what losing your virginity constitutes lmao. So he pulls out and slowly starts over, beginning by eating her out. And he licks the virgin's blood~ (which also occurs in Lothaire, as I realized a few weeks ago).

A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare. Everyone loves the dry humping through a sheet scene, and they love it for a reason.

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall. The (trans) heroine tops the hero in their first sex scene, and I believe it's the first time she's had sex ever--certainly since she transitioned. It's a really lovely, vulnerable scene, and I found it to be super well done.

Heartbreaker by Sarah MacLean. The first time Clayborn goes down on Adelaide and realizes that she has a praise kink... So he proceeds to praise her super hard.

Fuck! Forgot these:

Bound to the Battle God by Ruby Dixon. Heroine eats this super juicy piece of fruit while the hero eats her out. Very much a memory maker.

Sworn to the Shadow God by Ruby Dixon. Heroine and hero start making out but she pumps the breaks and tells him she’s on her period. He’s like “I am the god of death, blood doesn’t concern me” and fingers her anyway.

Wed to the Wild God by Ruby Dixon. Heroine pegs the god of the wild and he comes so hard that a giant acorn falls from the tree above and hits her in the head mid-stroke.

[lewkwoodnco]

L&C x high school yearbook superlatives

LOCKWOOD & CO. (2023)

[hychlorions]

when i say apollo is the most normal person in the aa cast i need you all to know i mean that in a relative sense. he's nowhere near normal, but he is the most normal if you put him next to the other people. probably because he rps being normal as a hobby idk i'm pretty sure checking his emails is his version of social media. here's a scale for the visual learners out there

[nemfrog]

Kodiak Bear. Alaska [pictorial map]. 1949.

Rumsey

[unproduciblesmackdown]

Lackadaisy Enrichment

[chickenstrangers]

Favorite Drama of 2023: Moonlight Chicken

repetitions // ep. 3 // ep. 7 // ep. 8

beginnings & endings & endings & beginnings

[lurkingshan]

Random BL Superlatives: 2023 Edition

It's the end of the year and I'm feeling the need to give out some awards! We talk a lot about best show, best actors, best writing, best directing, blah blah but I gotta be honest, these are the categories that really spoke to me this year. In no particular order:

Best supporting garment: Porsche’s sweater, A Boss and A Babe

Did I create this entire list just to have an excuse to post about this sweater one more time? Maybe so.

Best performance despite a terrible wig: Daou, Love in Translation

This man managed to perform one of the hottest scenes of the year with that bowl cut monstrosity on his head. Respect must be paid.

Best new terminology: BGP, Bump Up Business

BUB gave us so many gifts, but I will always be most thankful for the business gay performance concept (BGP), a term that is highly relevant in discussions of the bl industry.

Best advice: "Unfuck it," Tien in La Pluie

It's not only the succinct phrasing, but also the delivery method.

Best ex who deserved better: Alan, Moonlight Chicken

Yes, I will be staying on the Alan apologist beat in 2024, thank you for asking.

Best unexpected needle drop: Wetter, The Eighth Sense

The moment this show captured my full attention.

Best WTF ending: The End of the World With You

You can probably still hear my scream of "WHAT" echoing in the hills. (Actual ending not pictured in case y'all decide to watch).

Best gut punch line: "Have you been well? Without me?", Our Dating Sim

Sure Shin Gi Tae, Lee Wan deserved it, but did I??

Best adorable child: Tane, Our Dining Table

Need I say more??

Best weapon: sparkle murder dust, Khun Chai

Truly the MVP of this show. I can't find an actual gif of the dust in action (too violent to be depicted) so enjoy these pretty men instead.

Best great character trapped in a bad show: Boston, Only Friends

My beloved, I will seek vengeance in your name.

Best use of music to fuck me up: Plumeria, I Feel You Linger in the Air

Cocktail and Tee Bundit, you know what you did!

Best meal: Chicken curry and cheese naan, What Did You Eat Yesterday?

Yes, this category is kind of a cheat so I can mention WDYEY on this list. And what about it!

Best unhinged energy: Nawin, Laws of Attraction

He may not have succeeded at stealing back his man but he certainly stole the show.

Best bl horror: Grand Guignol

I just need to make sure all you jbl fans know that this movie exists and that Issei fucked Mr Unlucky!!! IYKYK.

Best character comeback: Phupha, Our Skyy 2

From boring stoic love interest to actually compelling and kinda funny leading man! See what a little flirting with Pat Jindapat can do for you?!

[iwillrememberyoumarathon]

countdown to iwry 2024 — iwry2023 most angsty fic: being known by kean

[xiaq]

If you're wondering what being in your 30's looks like, today I spent my lunch break eating on the porch, watching my husband pull weeds and giving him occasional, completely unironic, supportive commentary like, "oohh that's a big one, nice job," and making impressed noises while he showed off his new stand up weed-puller tool.

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Random BL Superlatives: 2023

Well @lurkingshan did it, so I must do it. So here are some random, WKA themed superlatives for the 2023 BL selection.

Best Hands: Mhok and Day, Last Twilight

gif by @singularities

Listen. I know. I KNOW. There are so many incredible options, and I have written at length about a number of them. I mean come on, La Pluie is right there, I Feel You Linger in the Air is right there, Sing My Crush, Moonlight Chicken etc. etc. etc. But

But, Last Twilight came in with the steel chair right at the end of the year here with that FUCKING HANDSING SCENE. Can you blame me? The handsing scene is shrimply too powerful.

Best Lighting: Playboyy

You know, it's funny cause I don't usually end up writing about lighting in shows, despite the fact that lighting design is absolutely one of my favorite things in film, stage, and television. Chains of Heart has really interesting lighting too, but Playboyy is an objectively better show, and it is doing some absolutely gorgeous lighting design.

Best Sex Scene: Olive Oil, I Feel You Linger in the Air

gif by @pharawee

THE OLIVE OIL SCENE, WHY ARE THERE NO GIFSETS OF THE OLIVE OIL SCENE? WHY IS TUMBLR SUCH A FUCKING HATER???? They didn't even fuck in that scene, but holy mother of GOD it was the best thing I've seen all year. I Feel You Linger in the Air has some of the most inventive and beautiful intimate moments, and spreading the olive oil as a stand in for arousal and masturbation was absolutely goddamn brilliant.

Best Faen (Non)Fatale: Porjai, Last Twilight

gif from @khaopybara

I know Last Twilight hasn't finished yet and will take us in to 2024, but Porjai and Mohk's relationship is absolutely my favorite lovers to friends dynamic I have seen this year. I was showering praise upon them all for this in the tags of a reblog today, so I have to give it to them. Massive shout out and extremely close call to Nara from La Pluie.

Best Emotional Roller Coaster: What Did You Eat Yesterday? Season 2

Ok there were quite a lot of shows that I think would have applied here, but man oh man this entire season has just run me through the wringer with how much Shiro has grown over the course of the last two seasons. Episode 11 had me laughing my ass off, and then absolutely sobbing by the end. So it's going to Kinou Nani Tabeta?

The Shirt I Want to Steal Most from Wardrobe: Blue and White Button Up, The Sign

gif from @ohshinytrinketsmine

I know this will be contentious when the Fart Proudly shirt is right there, but I really loved the blue and white button up shirt that Phaya wore I do not know what is in the water at IdolFactory, but they have hands down some of the best shirts I have ever seen. When I watched Secret Crush on You I wanted the entirety of Sky's wardrobe, now I am having shirt envy for this sexy little blue-with-white-lines-that-are-vaguely-rabbit-shaped (wka do not write a post about rabbits, do not write a post about rabbits-) button up.

The Character Who Most Changed my Opinion of Them: Phupa, OS2 x BBS x ATOTS

gif by @alexshenry (double PhupaPat whammy for @waitmyturtles)

Okay, so to tell you the truth, I made new superlatives cause if I took the superlatives from @lurkingshan's post it would have been at least half the same if not more (because as always, Shan is right about everything). But, I will put an overlap here because I absolutely could not let this year go by without applauding Aof, Earth, and Phupa for really putting in the work to help me understand this man better.

The Show That Most Surprised Me: Wedding Plan by MAME

gif by @wanderlust-in-my-soul

Okay not only was this show that I absolutely was not planning to watch or initially interested in actually one of the best of the year, but it was also a MAME show. And a lot of us have our critiques of MAME's writing, but this was so outside of her typical MO that I am shocked it came from the same writer. Love Sailom, love a Lavender Wedding, love Nuea, love it all.

The Trope This Year That Most Accounted for the Fact These Are Gay MEN: Boxing! Sing My Crush, Wedding Plan, The Sign

Sing My Crush did this the absolute best, but I really genuinely loved that multiple shows this year let men fight in controlled settings to get out some of their frustration and to process their feelings. Han Ba Ram crying in the gym? One of my favorite scenes of the entire year.

And yeah sure, Phaya and Tharn are fighting for the intricate rituals that allow men to touch the skin of men, we get the horny vibes, but fundamentally this fight does occur because Tharn is angsty and ignoring Phaya and that cannot stand. I like seeing Phaya sparring with the punching bag at the end of the most recent episode as well because he's fucking furious about Tharn telling the doctor about his dreams. I love it, I love it so much.

[ratatatastic]

"you wanna cherish every single moment until they kick me out of florida for the summer" sweetheart this place is never gonna kick you out im afraid lmao theyll drag you kicking and screaming back here whether you want them to or not

this place has fallen such in love with you people out of town arrived at the canes from 6am, hotels near the parade area are fully booked out and some people are planning to camp for barricade the night before the parade... yeah...

CBS Sports | 6.27.24 (x)

[panlight]

First round of Twilight Superlative voting results! I decided to do the top two from each category. More to come!

[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!

[broadwaydivastournament]

BROADWAY DIVAS SUPERLATIVES: Wait...WHAT???

Elaine Stritch's first orgasm during "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?": Crazy cantankerous Elaine Stritch was never one to mince words. Perhaps a crowning achievement in her many instances of raw candor, Elaine revealed the story behind her first-ever orgasm in an interview with "30 Rock" co-star Alec Baldwin in 2013. Elaine starred in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway and during the national tour, 1963 and 1965, respectively. She would have been in her late thirties.

"But I wanted to tell something intimate about myself to John [Turturro] about when he was interviewing me. I told him that when I was doing Virginia Woolf and when George and Martha had their scene together and George said, 'Our son is dead.' You know, that big scene? 'Our son,' he yells in my face, 'is dead.' And I went 'No!' At the height of my force, I said no to him. And I had an orgasm for the first time in my life... So this is how important that moment was on stage to me. This is unbelievable, you don't know." -source

Gertrude Lawrence (almost) drops dead during "The King and I": On August 16th, 1952, one of the great stage divas of this world--and rumored lesbian--Gertrude Lawrence collapsed backstage after a Saturday matinee of The King and I. She was admitted to a hospital shortly thereafter, and by early September, the Tony-winning star was declared dead. She was buried in the iconic champagne "Shall We Dance?" gown, and became the first person for whom Broadway dimmed the marquee lights for. She was 54. And so began the long-standing King and I curse (I say tongue-in-cheek) where every subsequent Anna Leonowens has had some terrible tragedy befall them. -source

Julie Andrews declines her Tony nomination for "Victor/Victoria": We live in a cruel and unforgivable world where Julie Andrews does not have a Tony Award. The closest she came was in 1996 where she was nominated for Victor/Victoria. As the sole nomination for the show, Julie announced that she would withdraw her name for consideration in protest on behalf of her egregiously overlooked costars and creative team. She was thought to be a locked win at the time, and though her name did remain officially on the voting ballot, the award ultimately went to Donna Murphy for The King and I, making an awkward situation for everyone involved. -source

Marin Mazzie's "pussy on fire" incident during "Passion": Well, I'll let her tell you all about it.

Patti LuPone and the ALW Memorial Pool: Patti LuPone and the infamous lawsuit that cost ALW a million dollars for breaking her Sunset Boulevard contract. Patti had an iron-clad contract that stated she would be transferring with the production to Broadway, but news broke that she would be replaced by Glenn Close. Patti, who was at the theatre when she found out, went absolutely batshit and trashed her entire dressing room. Her feud persists to this day with several ups and downs, as is her right as a Diva-with-a-capital-D.

More Polls

Honorable mentions:

Stephen Sondheim sex dungeon

Bob Fosse's womanizing and finally him collapsing in separated wife Gwen Verdon's arms and dying shortly after.

The affairs of Broadway

Anti-vaxxer Laura Osnes tanking her promising Broadway career and now performing as a circus singer.

[wtfduolingo]

(ID: Latin Duolingo phrase which translates to "You throw very many fish onto the floor.")

[dribs-and-drabbles]

Most memorable items of clothing in bl series in 2023

In order of their airing/me watching them:

I'm thankful I've gotten into the habit of noting which shows I watch and when otherwise I wouldn’t be able to remember. As it is, first on my list is Bed Friend, which kind of sets the tone for this post since it features the best and the worst outfit choices for Uea. The waffle robes and cat ears vs the fake sleeves shirt.

Next is a quick shout out to Por in My School President, since the show started in 2022 but did finish in 2023, and basically all of his outfits. The man is a style icon. But this stripy polo shirt takes the biscuit for me. I need to have it.

On to Moonlight Chicken and this one is a combined effort between Heart and Li Ming. @telomeke prompted me to write a little about it, but essentially the two shirts together are saying 'you're my other half'. Urthe / Tomato sauce.

The Gloves! Need I say more? (Alright, for those of you who don't know - how could you not?! - they're from Chains of Heart).

And now not strictly an item of clothing but an accessory, the most straight ankle bracelet you'll ever see in a thai series. Totally platonic, not gay AT ALL. In Midnight Museum.

In July the different Thai production companies took stock of three versions of the same stripy linin shirt – the cream long-sleeved, the brown short-sleeved, and the charcoal short-sleeved - and proceeded to clad every actor they could in one of them within a three and a half month period (six shows*, eight different characters). We had couple-shirts with both Kawi and Pisaeng and Mew and Top wearing them, and Namneua in Wedding Plan wore all three. (*Step by Step, Be My Favourite, Hidden Agenda, Wedding Plan, Love in Translation, and Only Friends).

Staying in July for a while, and speaking of weddings, Kawi rocked on up to Pearmai and Not's wedding in Be My Favourite in this brown houndstooth shirt and black pants outfit - an almost exact replica of Ray's outfit in the original pilot trailer for Only Friends. I waited with baited breath to see if Ray would still wear the outfit in the actual series...and he did! Not only that, I then realised Uea had already worn it in Bed Friend earlier in the year.

In a surprising turn of events, Be My Favourite – and Krist – turned out to actually be Quite Good. Perhaps distracted by Krist's puppy eyes, we weren't entirely ready for the first appearance of the Dudes shirt – itself a wonderful comment on the narrative since Kawi was figuring out his feelings for Pisaeng – but it was a delight to see it again on Nick in Only Friends, and offering a different narrative comment.

This next one may only be notable for me, but when I was doing my dedicated scan through of oh so many shows to collect items for the communal wardrobe, I noticed this sand and grey sweater amongst the many other items of shared clothing which appeared in The Warp Effect and then very briefly on Pisaeng in Be My Favourite. Not long after, the trailer for Last Twilight dropped and I spotted it again immediately. I've also since noticed it in a speed scan of The Shipper. Not only do I think it's a pretty neat sweater, but I loved the effect it gave in Last Twilight, which I wrote about at the end of this post.

This is getting long but I'm going to keep going (this might be the only 2023 wrap up I do so I'ma make it count).

If you've been following me for a while (or since the BBS days), you’ll know how rabid I go when I see a pair of the yellow-soled Mustard brand shoes in a show. The most recent being in Hidden Agenda worn by Zo…but they're not the ones on this list. Oh no, it's Joke's blue-soled shoes which made me sit up and scream this time...meaning even their shoes were colour-coded in this show. Oh how I wish I could buy a pair of each.

There were many fabulous outfits in Laws of Attraction (especially Charn's) but Tanthai's green rope shirt wins out for me. Green seemed to be used in the show to represent the lies and secrets Tanthai was forced to keep because of his father, and he was metaphorically bound and trapped in these lies and his life. Ah perfection!

I've mentioned a lot of brilliant items but there have also been many awful ones, and the one I can't seem to stop thinking about (or horrifying over) is the Droopy Tits shirt (or Nipple Protector, whichever way you want to call it) which first appeared in Dangerous Romance and then The Jungle just three days later. I'm surprised we haven't seen it again to be honest, but I imagine if we get more spoiled rich kids we probably will.

These next two aren't specific items but more of a shout out to the whole wardrobe design of the shows.

First, Only Friends, with Mew and Ray's transformation to Ray and Sand's (respective) wardrobe choices, as well as the inversion of colours to highlight differences in relationships, and the use of colour-groupings to separate characters (<- a post i have yet to write). I wish I could write more about it…but life is just too busy to give it the time it needs.

The second is, of course, Ai Di and Chen Yi in Kiseki: Dear to Me with how they always share a colour in their different outfits. @respectthepetty details this perfectly here, so I don't need to. I am however still feral about these two and can't wait to do a full re-watch of the show.

And lastly, much like Baseball Mom in Bad Buddy two years ago (and to be honest many of Pat's other shirts), Aof recently gifted us another absolutely ridiculous but brilliantly poignant t-shirt slogan in Mhok's Fart Proudly shirt in Last Twilight, which I went into detail about here. Just A+

Thanks for sticking with me through all that! Any others that stood out for you or that I missed?