Ray And Mew Communicating Properly Is The Best Thing. I Am Glad Mew Is Seeing Things Better.

exhuma is a bisexual movie for the bisexuals by the way. if you even care

Preach!!!!!!^

I JUST WANNA TALK ABOUT NIE HUAISANG FOR A HOT MINUTE.

Ok. The Untamed / Mo Dao Zu Shi has a lot of awesome characters. Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan? Epic. Love ‘em. Wen Ning? Precious. And I would die for the Juniors.

One character I was absolutely sleeping on was Nie Huaisang.

Now, one of my favorite tropes is Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, except Nie Huaisang isn’t any sort of secret kung-fu master. He’s legitimately bad in a fight, and would rather other people do it for him anyway. And he’s not a schemer, not really - he stays in his lane, minds his own business. He just wants to sit here and feed his birds.

Except he’s always paying attention. He’s absolutely an airhead, but he’s listening. And watching. And asking the questions that sound dumb but make another character realize something important.

This ambush predator’s strength is being underestimated by literally everyone.

And he could have so easily been evil. He and Jin Guangyao have this in common: they are polite, and subserviant, and people don’t think much of them. But while JGY seeks recognition, power, and retribution, Nie Huaisang be minding his own business.

Until he isn’t. (Aw now you fucked up!) Then he’s gonna end this man’s whole career - with minimal effort and personal risk, of course. 

Just, wouldn’t it be a shame if the one guy with the power and motive to end you came back to life? And almost immediately met up with his soulmate “good friend” who would both kill and die for him? Wouldn’t it be a shame if the people who knew your darkest secrets were empowered and allowed to tell their story? Aw, nuts. Rough for you, man.

But my favorite part is how he absolutely wants no recognition. When JGY gets the chance, he monologues for two episodes. Nie Huaisang doesn’t say shit, and he would appreciate it if you’d stop bringing it up, actually.

I just - I might have to rewatch the show just for him, because during those last few episodes, every time he turned up just to say how he didn’t know anything about this or that, I almost died. 

Dude took a nap face-first on a dirt floor for hours just to avoid confrontation. Fucking legend.

in shadow, yoongi was overwhelmed by the masses and his fame alter ego. in agust d2, he rises above the crowd and shoots his own emperor self dead. the normal yoongi from the streets prevails, the haughty and cruel king and master beheader falls. justice is installed at last. yoongi has cleaned out his larger-than-life aspect’s closet. that. is. one. fucking. message. 

YinWar will be switching in Jack & Joker, and we all cheered!

I'm not even exaggerating when I say these two have been going against industry standards since the very beggining, when they took the piss out of fanservice so hard that they became known for capsizing their own ship, and now they'll further deviate from the BL fixed pair norm and reverse roles as a way to tackle certain queer topics. Just last year @poetry-protest-pornography and I were talking about YinWar having both the willingness and the range to pull off something like this since they weren't held back by any company, and of course these men will deliver given that they have the luxury of doing whatever the hell they want as independent artists and producers of their own series. Dreams do come true!

[Eng trans.] Yin: I mean, people, let's say fans, will focus on "YinWar". By definition, "Yin" is the top in terms of roles, right? Y: So, I listened to the writers' ideas. They said that they intentionally reflected this issue, and that, in reality, it's not something fixed that way. Yin/Seoul: It switches. Y: Right. S: So it can be WarYin or YinWar. Y: Right. War: They wanted to convey that it's a matter of preference, and that it's much broader than that. It's broader than we think. The fact that two men should have fixed [sex] roles, only that way, or that people can only have one specific preference, it's not true. It's very flexible. It's something normal. Y: If people intend to be open-minded, we really have to be open-minded in the sense that they wanted to convey. After listening to it, it's brilliant. It's right. It feels like how it should be.

Listening to Nirvana and it reminds me of Batman (thanks Patterson) and I just got a thought. Is I just me or would Tim drake have the best Kurt Cobain voice?

Like Tim can’t sing at all until nirvana comes on and it just fits his voice. Jason would both love and hate it. Dick would pray for Tim to stop quoting random lyrics at him (it sounds like gibberish until they recognise the song). Damien doesn’t get it. And Bruce is a proud dad.

Flash backing to the time I used a clip from Kinnporsche in an editing assignment during second year.

A graded assignment.

And when my lecturer asked what clip it was, I answered “oh, a mafia drama from Thailand”. All while my friend (who knew exactly what KP was) was trying not to die behind me.

I got a good grade on that assignment though.

Hands up! 2/2

Jack/ZhaoZi soulmate au

Everyone had soulmate words tattooed somewhere on their body. They were the first words that you would ever hear your soulmate say. Due to this, they were beheld with a certain degree of importance. Society loved the idea of soulmates, frowning on those who rejected or ignored their soulmate marks. Those who were born without marks were often outcasted, viewed as unloveable.

Zhao Zi always trusted his grandma. She had said that his soulmate would be someone who could care and provide for him. Because of this he paid no real attention to his words, preferring to judge his soulmate by their character than by their first words like the romantic he is. This was regarded as unusual. Words were so attached to emotion that Zhao Zi’s indifference often shocked people.

“Why should I pay so much attention to my words?” He had asked when one of his coworkers pointed to the neat letters across his collar bones. “I’m going to meet them wether I like it or not. It’s not like our first exchange is going to determine the whole relationship”. His wisdom made sense and after that people stopped asking.

It was perhaps lucky that he didn’t take his words seriously. Who would have the words “Can I have a bite?” tattooed on their person. Zhao Zi just assumed that his soulmate was a foodie like him. Besides, he could have gotten worse. His best friend, Shao Fei had the word “No” stamped on the back of his neck. It had been the warning of a bad relationship which had lasted for four years before Shaofei and Tangyi got their act together and confessed.

The whole thing had given Zhao Zi way too many heart attacks and emotions. And whilst their relationship was finally healthy with Tang Yi out of prison, they were so lovey dovey that even Zhao zi felt awkward. He genuinely considered himself a happy go lucky type of guy, trying not to let himself get down too often. When his parents left, he was okay because he had his wonderful grandmother. But when his grandmother died, it was Shao Fei who had kept him together. Although he was happy for his friend, he couldn’t help but feel an increasing sense of loneliness and disillusion with the world. His boss’s and AZi’s betrayal had been the icing on the cake.

More and more Zhao zi had found himself alone in his little house eating the type of unhealthy dinners that his grandmother would have hated. It seemed that with every passing day, his house only seemed to get bigger in its emptiness. Not that he let it show. At work he was as cheerful as ever, ignoring the new boss’s scoldings and the comments from the international division. No one noticed if he wasn’t eating as much as usual, or doing any more random acrobatics. He was fine.

So why was he stuck doing another weird undercover?

“Why do I have to be the stripper?” He complained, more like whined, to Shao Fei. They were back stage of the dingy strip club called the blue rose, the floor sticking to their shoes as they blinked in the terrible lighting. ZhaoZi was wearing knee length shorts with a see through white shirt and a stupid police hat. Shao Fei was dressed in a bright pink jacket on top of casual clothes. ZhaoZi had never wanted to swap clothes more.

“Because you’re the only one who can do anything acrobatic”, Shao Fei responded. “And the target likes boys like you anyway. We’ve been trying to get this guy for months Zhao Zi. Please? I’ll owe you”. Zhao zi sighed. He was too nice.

“You’re mean ah Fei”, he pouted, tugging the police cap lower over his hair. Shao Fei grinned, the cute act never worked on him anymore. “Yeah yeah”, he replied. “I’ll have Tang Yi make you some home cooked food. Now I’ve got to go, wait for your signal”. He patted Zhao Zi on the shoulder before disappearing out on to the club floor, leaving Zhao Zi alone backstage.

Trying to quell his nerves, Zhao Zi went over the case in his mind. They had several leads from a murder of a prostitute pointing towards the known gangster and sex trafficker John Smith. It was not his real name of course, but it was what he was known by. The guy had so far evaded them but a source had placed him in the club on routine occasions. Zhao zi just had to get him to lower his guard.

After a while, Shao Fei’s voice came across coms, alerting Zhao Zi of his cue. Gathering his courage, he ducked out on stage. He was glad of the lighting, obscuring most of the watchers from view. The target was visible in the corner, watching him. Zhao Zi shivered and bent forward into a front flip. Grasping the pole with his legs, he pulled himself upwards. Ignoring his surroundings, he concentrated on his dance, spinning around the pole with his body contorted in different ways.

When the que came for them to surround the target, Zhao Zi felt a flood of relief to be away from the blinding lights. He could feel his shirt sticking to him under the heat of the lamps and practically hopped off stage. Trying to keep up his cover, he strutted across the disgustingly stricken floor towards where the target was sat leering at him as the rest of his squad slowly surrounded him.

He didn’t notice the man on the table next to the target until he leant forwards and grabbed Zhao Zi’s wrist. Surprised, he turned to be greeted by dark red hair and a Cheshire Cat grin. The man’s eyes glittered at him as his lips stretched wider. “Can I have a bite?” He asked and instantly Zhao Zi could feel his words heat up across his collarbones. Deciding to deal with the target first, he shook off the hand and held out his badge. “Hands up! You’re under arrest!”

Luckily none of the men resisted and they had them out of the club and into the police van easily. Deciding to let Shao Fei and the others deal with the formalities, Zhao Zi hung back, now nicely wrapped up in his coat. Footsteps alerted him to an approach and he glanced up to face the red haired guy from the club. The lighting hadn’t done him justice. Now, in the light of a nearby street lamp, the guy was handsome and lean. Zhao zi couldn’t help Looking the guy over. Wow! His muscles!

The guy grinned and held out a gloved hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Jack”. Zhao Zi returned his grin and shook his hand. “Oh you’re my soulmate. Hi! I’m Zhao Li An But everyone calls me ZhaoZi”. The guy’s hand was nice and warm through the glove.

Jack’s grin morphed into a smirk as he looked Zhao Zi slowly over, from his head to his toes then back up to his eyes. “So, can I have a bite?” ZhaoZi frowned in confusion. “Are you hungry? I wasn’t able to grab lunch and I’m starving but all the shops are shut now”, he saddened at the thought of his pitifully empty stomach.

“You got any food at your place? I can cook for you if you want”, Jack offered. ZhaoZi beamed, grabbing Jack’s hand excitedly. His grandma was right! He couldn’t be more in love. “Really? Then I want egg, and ham, and noodles with chicken broth and orange juice...” listing off all the food he had been craving, ZhaoZi couldn’t help but bounce a little on his feet. “Well I’ll cook for you. Come on”, Jack said as they began walking down the street. Calling a quick bye to Shao Fei, Zhao Zi turned his attention to his soulmate.

“Grandma said you would be a good cook”, he remarked as they turned a corner. “She said that my soulmate would be able to cook and provide for me”. He watched Jack grin. “That I can do”, he stated.

““My grandma also said that you will stay”. Zhao Zi looked up at Jack, face anxious but hopeful. He didn’t want to lose anyone else. “Will you stay?”

He watched as Jack’s face lost its grin, becoming honest. “If shorty asks then I will stay”, he promised as he wrapped around Zhao Zi shoulders. Relaxing into Jack’s warmth, Zhao Zi felt a bit of his loneliness disapate. It would take time, but jack would stay. Maybe he wouldn’t feel lonely anymore.

Kintsugi sculptures by Billie Bond

I’ve read the All for the game trilogy but listening to it on audiobook is completely different.

The “thank you. You were amazing line” has made me tear up. Who gave Andreil the right to end me like this?? I mean, I knew what was coming but I was not ready. I’m crying. 😭

I love them so much.

Time of Fever VS Unintentional Love Story

The Issues I had with the Plot and Characterisation.

(Will include spoilers for both dramas).

While both dramas were written by the same person, they each have different directors and as such, they have very different feels.

With Time of Fever being the prequel drama to Unintentional Love Story’s second couple, Donghee and Hotae. The short series/movie has many things that differ from the second drama. Some of which make sense and some which don’t.

These are my thoughts on the similarities and differences.

Plot line

While in Unintentional Love Story (which will be referred to from here on as ULS to save me typing too much) Donghee and Hotae are the second couple and therefore get much less screen time compared to the main couple, the viewers are still shown snapshots to their backstory that make their tangled and messy relationship have some sort of sense on screen.

In ULS we are introduced to Hotae by Donghee. It is clear from the get go that the pair have a tangled relationship.

As the show goes on we a granted glimpses of their past to explain why they have such a tangled relationship. It is show than Donghee was abused and kicked out of the house by his father. We are also informed that Hotae’s house is where he would go for refuge. His friendship with the slightly younger man having persisted through childhood. Donghee calls Hotae’s mother ‘Auntie’ in a way far more familiar than the other locals. Even without Time of Fever we know that they are closer than their first meeting would have us believe.

Yet despite the moments we are shown, it is unclear what happened between them to cause the rift between them. We know that something happened, probably something romantic that crossed the lines of their friendship, yet it is unclear in ULS and the pair do not have enough screen time to explore it further.

This is where Time Of Fever comes in, I assume.

Here Time Of Fever confuses the plot points we are already given.

The only way I can think of Time of Fever (TOF) matching the backstory scenes shown in ULS is if there is a time gap.

In the beginning of TOF Hotae is at his father’s funeral. The death of his father being the cause of his and his mother’s return to the sea side town they left two years before, and back to their old house. The same old house where Donghee seems to have been living in by himself for a while now. It is unclear precisely how long.

The fact that he is staying in Hotae’s childhood bedroom, with their belongings mixed together before Hotae has even moved back yet gives them a level of closeness beyond what was shown in their flashbacks in ULS.

The only way I can think of both shows fitting together is if the flashbacks in ULS were set when they were 15/16 and before Hotae moved to Seoul for two years. It would explain their closeness and also fit in Hotae’s absence and the affect is has on Donghee (which I will expand on later).

If Donghee was abused through most of his teen life for being gay and then kicked out of his home before Hotae moved away, then it must have been around his mid teens.

That means he was probably living in Hotae’s empty childhood bedroom for around two years by himself.

Which is just tragic to think about.

I can guess that Donghee had feelings for Hotae before he moved as well. Both shows mention them being childhood friends.

Then Hotae moves back and the events of TOF happen. Donghee’s feelings grow too much and he flees to Seoul, only to return years later. Hotae left behind with a broken heart and a bitterness at being abandoned. That would explain some of their troubles in ULS, especially if Donghee has only recently set up his coffee shop and Hotae was still adjusting to having him close. It would also explain the keepsakes of memories from their teens together that Donghee keeps in his cafe in ULS, which were not even mentioned or touched upon in TOF. (I wanted to see the part where Hotae wins him the watch again).

While both plots can fit together, they don’t fit together well. There are plot holes left unexplained and changes within the characters that do not make sense. That leads me onto the next section.

Characters

In the beginning of ULS Hotae is abrupt, almost angry with Donghee. We later discover that this is due to jealousy over Donghee’s friendship with Wonyoung. Once this is discovered he warms up and takes on almost a puppy-like devotion to Donghee, following him around like he is the light to his inner moth.

Hotae has this charming boyishness to him. He is impulsive, stubborn and a bit of a bad boy. He has tattoos and his relationships always seem to end with his girlfriends smacking him with their bags.

Between the two shows, his personality in fact does not change. He is the same in his twenties as he was in his teens. In fact, TOF portrays his start into serial dating very well. He dates out of a need to try and smother feelings for Donghee. He does not actively pursue these girls, in fact he drops them the second he has the chance to spend time with Donghee, but he goes along with their confessions and dates almost like a way to pass the time. He does not really care about them but more out of a need to conform. To maybe figure out within himself why he yearns for Donghee so bad.

TOF also explains why his character hasn’t changed. He felt abandoned by Donghee, someone he loved, less than a year since his dad died and he had to move again. While not as prevalent as the romantic main plot, TOF does a wonderful job of subtly building up this sense drowning within Hotae. Despite his cheerful persona he portrays to Donghee and his mother, the moments without Donghee are sullen and almost drained. He only smiles with Donghee.

He is a teenager, probably only around 17/18 who has had to deal with a lot of life changes very quickly. This is especially visible in the scene where he cries when he doesn’t win his first swimming match since he moved back. He is cheered up by Donghee and the plot moves on but his internal struggle with change is brought up again in episode 6. There he ruins the art room where he and Donghee would spend time. He destroys the room out of grief for being left behind and exclaims that he won’t change.

So he doesn’t and by the time we get to ULS he is still motor the same. With a few more tattoos and a motorbike, and a few part time jobs. Yet he didn’t go to college and he failed his last year of high school, which would have happened after Donghee left. He stays in the same seaside town and does what he has always done.

It is only with Donghee back in his life that we start to see him open up again. The more Donghee allows him back into his life, the more Hotae begins to change. He begins to learn Spanish and he grows to be friends with Wonyoung. This is a rather large change because in TOF it is clear that he has no close friends other than Donghee and in ULS it is unclear whether he had any friends prior to the start of the plot.

So when it comes to Hotae, TOF only expands on the character first portrayed in ULS. The viewers are given more of an understanding of his trauma and how much his love for Donghee drives him.

(It makes me want to give him a hug).

However, with Donghee TOF was not as clear.

In ULS Donghee is introduced as sassy, fiercely independent, stubborn and kindhearted. He seems to be the clingy, slightly annoying friend who would have your back in a heartbeat, judging by how he interacts with Taejoon. They have a banter that has a familiarity that must have taken years to achieve. (Especially with such a guarded introvert as Taejoon). It is truly a shame that we do not know the backstory of their friendship.

While Donghee is comedic yet a loveable friend character to the main couple in ULS, he is different with Hotae. He is also rude, bickering with him and pushing him away like a feral cat hissing and stretching at any sign of someone coming close. In ULS he avoids Hotae’s flirting and affection like it is the plague, actively cursing him out and telling him off.

So why in TOF is he so quiet?

That was the part that confused me the most. He went from apparently being a wallflower in TOF, who only studied and pined over Hotae, to an independent and confidant gay man in ULS. As a teen it seems he was filled with internalised homophobia and fear over his feelings for Hotae. So much so that he runs away to university in Seoul.

So what changed??

In the flashbacks in ULS, which I theorised earlier as happening before TOF canon, he is shown to be as confidant and verbally abrasive at any sign of affection as a teenager as he was as an adult. He talks back, he wrestles with Hotae and he plays around with him.

Yet in TOF he is quiet. He does nothing more than study and he barely touches Hotae first.

The only explanation I can guess to his abrupt character change would be due to the trauma of his abuse and the fear of his feelings for Hotae.

It would make sense if he retreated into himself when Hotae moved away. Two years can be a long time and that can explain why Hotae does not comment much on Donghee’s character change when he moves back. Other than a comment or two about how Donghee doesn’t smile anymore, he doesn’t seem to notice how Donghee seems to be too silent and submissive.

I can only theorise that his time at university allowed Donghee to connect with other lgbt people and deal with his internal homophobia and self hatred. That the years between TOF and ULS allowed him to grow up and return to the personality he had before.

Because if my plot theory is wrong then his characters in TOF and ULS seem more like two different people than the same person.

When Hotae kisses him in TOF Donghee avoids him for days and make him sleep on the couch. He barely says anything.

Yet when Hotae merely gets in his personal space in ULS, Donghee smacks his arm or pushes him away with a curse and a scolding.

It seems too much of an abrupt character change to me. I really hope my headcanon is right and that Donghee managed to regain some of his behaviours before he was abused. That would be happier, that he managed to rediscover himself despite the trauma.

Either way, I still love him.

I love both dramas and their dynamics in both.

If you have read this far then I apologise for rambling on for so long.

I love these dramas for both their differences and their similarities. I just wish the plots added up a bit more. Instead of answering my questions Time Of Fever only seemed to give me more.

I love Donghee and Hotae and I really need to see them have a happy ending. (Wishing for a third drama where they actually get together. ULS ended hopefully for them but I need more).

Feel free to comment if you agree with any other things I have noticed or theorised.