#JUST NEEDED SOME GOLDEN AGE HOLLYWOOD GAYS

[diogxnxs]

It's just a three feet mirror, but in those three feet we are free. Oh to be gay at the dawn of the 1940s while enduring the harsh working conditions of Golden Age Hollywood.

[9w1ft]

hey, can I ask how there's potentially contracts with "bearding"?

is it because both ppl involved need a beard or because Taylor needs cover?

i don't really understand how there could be something legally binding in a fake relationship. it kinda boggles my mind a bit

hi!

covering for closeted people can come in many forms.. both people could be closeted and bearding for one another, it could be just one person who needs a beard, etcetera.

it can be something people in everyday life do, like maybe in high school you might pretend to date a friend because they are worried about being outed. but when it comes to celebrities, it becomes a bit like work. and in such an arrangement, it’s important for both parties to have a shared agreement of what they will be getting into.

this is the purpose of any contract, really.. in one sense, it’s a way for both parties to remember what they agreed to (it’s hard to keep it in your head, right?), and in a business sense, it incentivizes both sides to keep their end of the deal or face the consequences outlined by the contract. usually these consequences are monetary penalties, or both parties are at risk of being sued for not fulfilling their side of the agreement.

like if i contracted someone to make a website and design materials for me, they might want to include in the contract when they will be paid and by which dates, and i might want to put in dates for deliverables, and they might want to outline that they hold the copyright on certain images or code and i might want to outline where i will be permitted to use their designs, and they might want to write how if there’s a natural disaster that occurs on the date of delivery that they are not liable to deliver me my website on that date, and i might want to say that my team reserves the right to request minor revisions after delivery without extra charge etc etc

bearding can be similar when you are doing it for the purpose of business, because it’s a little bit like a job. i’m sure you could imagine how a contract might look. but i think i want to stress that it’s not necessarily a scary thing.. it’s just a way to ensure to the highest probably that things go to plan and both parties benefit, because as public figures they have many stakeholders that are counting on them to uphold a certain image. though i can imagine in a higher stakes situation, the content agreed upon is done in a way that more highly incentivizes both sides to not back out.

i think it’s important to mention that, both sides need to agree upon and sign a contract for it to be binding, so the penalties wouldn’t really be scary things no reasonable person would agree to (there’s no ‘under penalty of death!’ for example) and there would have to be benefits enough for both sides to rationalize agreeing to doing things. you negotiate back and forth and revise the contract until both parties are satisfied or both parties decide not to work with one another after all.

in terms of the mind-boggling aspect that your stuck on, here’s a little blurb about the history of fake marrying in hollywood, to give you some context

also this is sort of silly but i might recommend an episode of the show The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, season 4 episode 10 called “Kimmy Finds A Liar” (it’s on Netflix) which i think just showcases how for hollywood writers, the concept of bearding is so commonplace that it becomes something you would think to satirize. they actually mention Hiddleswift in a joke in the episode!

[karlie-what-you-want]

With so many artists out these days, why on earth do Karlie and Taylor have to be like ‘golden age stars’ and closet and hide? Lil Nas X for example is an insanely popular out artist. There’s no reason to hide like it’s the 50s anymore. That part about lavender marriages that’s the common argument around here is something I’ll never understand. Especially when said lavender marriages now involve young children.

This is such a strange thing to say. By that logic, why does any queer person feel the need to be closeted?

It’s great that some artists feel safe coming out, but that doesn’t mean that everyone does or has to. Taylor got her start in the very conservative genre of country music more than 15 years ago—when the world was not so kind to gay people, not at all. Perhaps the world has progressed somewhat since then, but that doesn’t mean Taylor wouldn’t still feel the pain of homophobia and fear the consequences of coming out.

Imagine that you’re a young girl trying to make it as an artist, and all of the adults in charge are telling you that if you ever came out—if anyone every discovered that you like girls—your career would be over. That everyone would hate you. Taylor “pathological people pleaser” Swift fears nothing in the world more than that, even as a woman of 32. It’s insensitive to expect that she could just move on from all of that.

Do you really think that there are no closeted celebrities in Hollywood? Do you really think that closeted people in 2023 are not valid in their fears of coming out?

As a side note: Lavender marriages have always involved children. That’s not a new concept.

[msfbgraves]

Since Hollywood also is churning out nothing but sequels, reboots and remakes, what now?

This makes me think of my fourth year in Berlin. The first two years I was on a theatre frenzy. I can't hold much booze or dance for very long, so since I wasn't drinking my money, I went to the theatre. I mean the tickets were €8!

Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Hänsel und Gretel, Entführung aus dem Serail, Threepenny Opera, Cats, Oscar Wilde, Norma, some Schiller I didn't care for, all the Hollywood flicks for 4 euros on Tuesdays. I found the Philharmonie a bother to get to, spoiled brat that I was. European films from the Berlinale it was, yet more ballet.

And then I started to notice that a lot of the big things I'd already seen?

This is how you get to the experimental things.

Hollywood's crap, new TV is bad fanfic, mostly.

So, after burning off some of the good, as I of course haven't seen everything yet -

Time to get experimental again.

Now, I've seen some bad plays in my later Berlin years. Just, y'know, godawful. But some things have stayed with me, if only through a lingering sense of bewilderment. I can't even really name one specific play they were often so strange. But it did wet my appetite for simply going and seeing what happened.

It seems that tv is forcing us, together with Hollywood, to do the same thing. Ghibli may not appeal to me much, aesthetically, but if there's nothing new to be had I might discover something. Maybe I'll watch Jupiter Ascending for the extreme weirdness of it.

Honestly, this is how this happens, Hollywood. It's simply people with a ferocious appetite for story not finding anything. Weird story is better than bad story, ok? You're driving people like me, who would have been perfectly happy paying €8 a pop to see a 90 minute medium budget Matt Damon movie for years on end, right underground, because there are none around anymore. I am not the target audience for Quentin Tarentino or Brian De Palma, dafuq are you doing making me watch Scarface instead? If you don't want Venom to be a love story, you need to give teenage girls something else to watch. I thought you had some indoctrinating to do, too, huh? You are not helping the capitalist US military agenda by driving me into the arms of a gay junkie NYC playwright of Russian descent, man. That's what you get for limiting people's options. Ralph Macchio could have been a perfectly fine 80's and 90's leading man, but no, you had to drive him to the weird stuff, didn't you? And if you don't want a feminist critique of Heat, I guess you're outta luck because I've watched it now, and The Aviator's next. O, and Everybody's Fine is one of De Niro's best films even if it isn't award cinema and a total cash grab. I would have never found that movie if you'd put something decent on, but nooooooo.

Because I know it's bad. If you're unironically enjoying The Karate Kid part III more than, well, anything else on, it is bad.

But boy. If you thought we were weird now...

[asm5129]

It is frankly absurd to me that people think Iger is a lesser evil than Chapek

Let’s talk about this cuz folks need to know the score

People think of Chapek as the bigoted one, but remember Iger ran Disney from *2005* to *2019*

That means years upon years of diversity crushing was done under his watch

Every complaint Alex Hirsch ever had about his time at Disney? That was under Iger’s reign

He was no hero of diversity, in fact he kept it back, either through the Disney culture he created or through inaction to remove bigots like Ike Perlmutter (at least until golden goose Feige threatened to walk). He did do some shit, but so half-assed and most real progress was at the very end of his run

Most of Disneys “first gay character” bullshit happened under him

There was that completely fucked up shit with that 4 year olds grave

He single-handedly brought on the age of excessive reboots, sequels and general franchise and nostalgia we all suffer from today (we might have always gotten here, but he was the one who showed Hollywood just how profitable it could be to completely abandon creativity)

Under him, theaters were bullied into using their most and their best screens for Disney produced films like Star Wars, marvel and the remakes, making it even harder for any other mid-budget films to break through than it already was

Speaking of the remakes, Mulan 2020 did its filming during 2018, firmly under Iger’s reign, meaning he must have okayed filming in a part of china where genocide was actively being committed

The MCU became the most financially successful franchise of all time, while the people who wrote the comics it was based on got scraps (if that) from their work being utilized

He bought Pixar, lucasfilm, marvel and 21st century fox and subsequently robbed most of them from what made them worth buying, including of course laying off thousands to reduce the massive debt

he got a package in 2018 of 2000 TIMES that of a custodian worker (meaning they’d have to work for 2000 years just to make the same amount of money he made during that one year)

Meanwhile, 1 out of every 10 full time workers at the Disney parks was homeless in the two years prior, and 2/3s didn’t have the money to pay for food

There was a movement a few years back when apparently, the royalties for movie novelizations stopped coming for authors—specifically authors who’d novelizations were written for fox films such as Alien

Apparently Disney wasn’t honoring their contracts after purchasing fox

This was known as the #disneymustpay movement

Iger also directly set up the Disney+ model that caused Chapek to lose money on it.

Because the model was not his idea, it was just the Netflix model of spend, spend, spend.

I’m not interested in cutting a man like Chapek any slack, but it *must* be said that while he did a terrible job leading Disney, Iger handed him a no-win scenario with the newly launched Disney+ and so, so much money being poured into it; billions upon billions in debt thanks to the M&As, (*especially* the 71 billion dollar merger with Fox) a network of Iger loyalists, a board full of Iger’s friends, and simply a Disney so huge it’s practically impossible to successfully govern effectively.

[whatiwillsay]

just came here to rant bc i absolutely hate the brand of gaylors and larries who hate the “beards” with a passion. i don’t get the point at all in hating them if they actually think the person is a beard. if I actually believe that larry and kaylor are married and they simply don’t want the world to find out, then I’d go “hey good for them they get to be together and have a baby in private”. like bro, your fave chooses to “beard” why are y’all putting them on pedestals and treating the “beards” as a spawn of satan or something (although we can qualify josh as an actual spawn of satan, no reason to be homophobic and antisemitic). and even if they believe that their faves are being forced by management to beard, it’s not like these people aren’t earning millions by playing the homophobic hollywood game?? homophobia happens irl and it fucking sucks but these famous white multimillionaires/billionaires are the last gay people i’d ever feel bad about. i feel bad about my bisexual chinese friend who was instantly arranged for marriage with a man she doesn’t know when her mom found out she dates women and my gay coworker who got beat up a lot by his dad growing up. these rich white famous folks though?? nahh i aint harassing anyone on their behalf

mmm yeah a few things here- i wanna say ofc i don't think anyone involved in kaylor or larry is bearding right now and your inclusion of quotes around "beards" makes me think you feel that way too but just to be clear for anyone else reading i don't think any of them are in fake rs at the moment

anyway 1. i don't think many celebs marry their beards anymore. it definitely used to happen a lot with gay celebs back in the golden age of hollywood (i'm reading up on cary grant lately it's fascinating!) and i'm sure from time to time it still can happen if that's what they want and private citizens certainly still marry beards to escape homophobia and live their lives in peace particularly in places where it's less socially acceptable to be gay but as far as our favs go if any of them get married i think generally those are real connections. i'm sure there's some exceptions to this but i think most bearding relationships these days are shorter and used to promote something as well as obfuscate a queer sexuality. at least the people i talk about frequently like taylor are like that imo. if someone i'm just so sure is queer marries someone of the opposite gender i'm inclined to believe they're fluid/pan/bi/unlabeled or something of that nature (and it doesn't mean they haven't done a pr relationship before!)

but 2. yeah i mean listen if some internet hobby of someone's makes them publicly wish harm on someone they've never met before just over who they appear to be dating i'm sorry that's just too much for me. the way larries speak about Eleanor for example saying they want louis to BEAT HER as if there isn't an absolute epidemic of violence against women by intimate partners going on truly disgusts me. kaylors devolving into antisemitism is unacceptable as well. but go to every fandom space and you'll find evil people it's not just shipper fandoms.

i'm all for being a gay weirdo online and having fun with your friends but the second you call for violence or stoop into bigotry like... you might need psychological help and that goes for all people.

[365days365movies]

Historical July I: Spartacus (1960): Part I

I GET IT I GET IT YOU ALL LOVE THE TV SHOW

I mean, yeah, it looks neat, and I’ve heard good things about it. Maybe one of these centuries I’ll check it out. But seriously: there are NO GIFS of the actual 1960 film on this website! Seriously! It’s one of the most referenced movies ever made, and helped to define the careers to two major players on the film stage! I mean, first off, there’s fucking Kirk Douglas!

The man’s a goddamn cinema legend, who died only last year at the age of ONE HUNDRED AND FUCKING THREE! One of the last members of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Dude was well-known before this film, but this and Paths of Glory made him famous, as well as being responsible for helping end the dumbass blacklist happening in Hollywood at the time. He’s also, of course, the father of Michael Douglas, and one of the greatest actors ever to grace the theatre.

And then, of course, there’s the director of this and Paths of Glory: Stanley. Fucking. Kubrick. Now, Kubrick, of course, wa

aaaaaAAAAAH

...Yeah, I know. I really do need to watch that movie. Sorry I never got to it back in May. As you may have been able to tell by my complete absence recently, this has not been an easy project to maintain. But I’m working on it! Anyway, yeah, it’s Kubrick again. One of the best and most influential directors in the world, so he’s obviously a big deal. And yeah, this movie is his! Seriously, this movie is a huge deal. So why can’t I find any GIFS of it on here, huh? Why does the TV series garner so much attention on this site?

...OH. Wait, holy shit, really?

So, apparently, there’s a canon gay couple in there. Which, granted, makes sense. I mean...it’s Rome, after all. That kinda shit DEFINITELY happened, and a lot. Not sure if the real people involved actually did that, but it’s definitely possible.

Oh, yeah, y’all know that Spartacus is based on a true story, right? He was an actual Thracian slave and gladiator that led a slave uprising against Rome during the Third Servile War in 73 BC. But did it work? Was the uprising successful? Well, my assumption is no, but that’s probably just the Les Miserables fan within me talking.

Still, I’ll read up on the outcome of the actual war and the actual man AFTER the movie! Hell, I might make a post about it in the Review, similar to what I did with the Danish Girl. We shall see, people, we shall see. In the meantime, let’s get to this...three hour long movie, dear Christ. OK then, let’s get this done.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) is a rebellious slave in ancient Rome. Born to a poor mother and nobleman father in Thrace, he’s not a big fan of the whole “slave labor” thing, which he’s been in or his entire life. He fights against some of the slavers in a mining pit, biting one dude in the leg like a goddamn champion. And in response, they give him the Prometheus treatment, chaining him to a rock to serve as an example. Whoof.

Just then, the businessman, recruiter, and slave master Batiatus (Peter Ustinov) comes to inspect the slaves, doing the whole “check the teeth” thing that you always see. Dentists: the ancient world’s greatest enemy to slaves. Anyway, Spartacus biting that one guy backfires, because it means he has good teeth, and the buyer takes him.

Looks like he’s there to fight in the gladiatorial pits. And it seems pretty accurate, actually. The gladiators are to be pampered, oiled, educated in battle, etc. That’s actually what they used to do, as they were thought of in a similar way to our professional athletes today. If you told me that Michael Jordan’s never gotten an oil bath before a basketball game, I’d call you a filthy goddamn liar.

Anyway, he’s put under the purview of former-gladiator-now-trainer, Marcellus (Charles McGraw), who plans to break the rebellious Thracian. He tries to make him fight him first thing, but Spartacus doesn’t give in to the taunts, earning him some grudging respect from a couple of the other guys. But you don’t make friends as a gladiator, according to one of them. Fair point, since it’s a fight-and-die sort of deal.

Soon after, for doing good work in the pits, Batiatus and Marcellus give everybody a gift in the form of women. Because, y’know, women are objects meant only for sex, said Ancient Rome and modern day misogynistic assholes. Seriously, guys, get with the times. That shit’s old. Anyway, this is how Spartacus meets Varinia (Jean Simmons), the woman meant to end his virginity and turn him into a real chad. But Marcellus and Batiatus are keen to watch him, and Spartacus ain’t into it. He refuses, saying that he isn’t an animal. Varinia responds in kind, not realizing that women aren’t supposed to talk or have feelings.

The gladiator lessons continue, as to the flirtations at a distance between Varinia and Spartacus. However, Marcellus notices that connection, his is definitely gonna be good in the long run for sure. Sure enough, when the women are handed out again, Varinia is given to somebody else, and Spartacus is left alone to listen. I mean, Varinia probably isn’t happy about it either, but I mean, who cares about her, huh? Women, amiriOK, look. The joke is worn out. You get it, yeah? Move on? Move on.

Training continues, and the connection between Varinia and Spartacus also continues. However, this is interrupted by the arrival of Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence MFing Olivier), major Roman senator, and one of the richest people in the history of Rome. So, yeah, kind of a big deal. With him are Marcus and Helena Glabrus (John Dall and Nina Foch), and Marcus’ betrothed Clauia Marius (Joanna Barnes). And they’re here to see a fucking FIGHT. TO THE DEATH!

They choose a few gladiators to fight, including Crixus (John Ireland), and Draba (Woody Strode) (AKA “the big black one”...guuuuuuuh). Oh, and obviously Spartacus, duh. Where else are we gonna get that drama? And as the fight begins, even more drama happens when Crassus buys Varinia, because OF COURSE he does!

The fights happen, Crixus wins his, and then Spartacus is sent up against Draba. Draba, being a BIG fuckin’ dude, pretty easily defeats Spartacus, and is ordered to kill him. But, realizing that this whole situation is bullshit, Draba spares him, throws his trident at Crassus and crew, and heads up there to kick their asses! But, a guard stabs him, and Crassus finishes the job, killing him. Whoof. The defiant Draba’s body is left to hang and rot in the chambers, as an example to the rest. But that flicker of defiance causes tensions to rise. The next day, Marcellus tells Spartacus that Varinia was sold, to his surprise. And Marcellus whips him in the face in the most dickish way possible! And Spartacus just...he just fuckin’ SNAPS.

Yeah, this causes a fight in the kitchen, as the rest of the slaves rebel against the guards. And SPartcus, royally fucking pissed, drowns Marcellus IN SOUP! Like, HOLY SHIT! That’s an intensely shitty way to go, but it’s also kinda badass on Spartacus’ side! Damn!

Batiatus escapes with Varinia, and the gladiators officially riot, overthrowing the guards and destroying the fuckin’ place. This rules, can I just say? This fucking RULES. They take the fuck OFF, escaping into the countryside. They run riot in their escape, burning estates and gathering more slaves along the way. And eventually, of course, word of the chaos makes its way to the Roman Senate!

The Senate, led by Gracchus (Charles Laughton), decides to send some of their army to engage the slave rebellion, with Glabrus at the head of the garrison. As he goes out, Gracchus puts a new man in temporary command of the garrison in the city. It’s some nobody named Gaius (John Gavin). Whoever that is. Gaius doesn’t really want the job, but he takes it with the urging of his mentor, Gracchus, who’s also trying to separate Crassus from Glabrus, and from the power he craves.

Crassus, speaking of, is now welcoming a new slave, entertainer Antoninus (Tony Curtis). Glabrus arrives to tell him the news, which he thinks is good. However, the intelligent Crassus realizes the issue with Glabrus leaving the city with the garrison, and the loss of control of the city itself. Frustrated, he tells Glabrus that he will take his time, and eventually make Rome great again. A reference, yeah, but also something he basically says.

Spartacus, now leader of the band of self-freed slaves hiding out in Vesuvius, now pledges to stop the barbaric tradition of watching two men to fight to the death. As his fellows attempt to get drunk and force Romans to fight to the death, he tells them to rise above, and form a liberation army to free slaves throughout Italy, and flee the country by sea. To do so, they plot to hire pirates of Cilicia, enemies of Rome as they are.

As they do so, they free more slaves, including...Varinia? She escaped Batiatus, who was apparently SO FUCKING FAT that she just...fucking jumped off the cart and ran away! That’s embarrassing, goddamn. The reunion between the two is heartfelt, and you can tell that they do have a legit emotional connection. Although, they talk about how they’re free from slavery, only for her to say “TELL ME THAT I CAN NEVER LEAVE YOU”, which is meant to be sweet, but is kinda weird, given the context.

Gracchus and Batianus, meanwhile, have a discussion about how fat people are the best. I mean, we’re all about body positivity here at the 365. But in the conversation, Gracchus is shown to be a horndog, but also a pretty good senator. Batianus rightfully blames Crassus and his posse for the uprising, and wants revenge for his ruination. Gracchus clearly doesn’t love Crassus either, and agrees to help.

Meanwhile, Crassus is getting a bath from Antoninus, which is as homoerotic as it sounds. Also, Crassus asks whether or not Antoninus likes escargot. But also...confirming that he’s bisexual? Correct me it I’m wrong, but he’s DEFINITELY TALKING ABOUT SEXUALITY HERE. It’s interesting, and to see this in a film from 1960 is...wow, yeah. Pretty interesting, considering the Tumblr fandom built up around the TV series. Give this movie more attention, guys. Oysters and snails. Huh.

But right after that, Antoninus takes advantage of his soliloquizing and just...TAKES THE FUCK OFF, and runs RIGHT to Spartacus and the slave army! Damn. I mean, it’s rude, but I respect the LITERAL HUSTLE. Meanwhile, Spartacus continues to gather his slave army, with Varinia and Crixus at his side. He’s also a feminist? Like, he doesn’t forbid women from joining the war effort, which is pretty fucking progressive for the time period.

The Roman garrisons and slave army readies for the conflict, with the rebellion training hard to fight the approaching Romans. At nights, Antoninus performs Vegas-style stage magic around a campfire, entertaining the masses. After that, Spartacus and Varinia muse on war and freedom, and the future that they face together. Dude even loses his virginity! Man, this seems like a great time! Surely nothing’s going to go wrong at all at any point!

Halfway point achieved! Let’s meet up in the second part, huh?

[letteredlettered]

hi! ive been following your writing for a few years now and i drop by periodically to check if you have anything new posted, and im really surprised that you seem to be enjoying the untamed? im curious what you think about the show - its story and characters, the acting, the production, etc. idk if you know, but the untamed is the most successful example of a current trend in chinese entertainment, where popular online novels centered around a gay romance is adapted into a 'safe' drama.

continued:

due to the many explicit and implicit restrictions imposed on creative media in china, many crucial plot points have to be changed (often badly) or removed, including the nature of the relationship between the main characters. the untamed is considered the most loyal adaptation so far, but like all other works in the genre, it received criticism for weak acting and queerbaiting. that's why im really curious about what you think of the show as it is, as itself, free from its context.

if you're interested, you could also check out guardian! it features much better performance and chemistry by the leads imo, but the story was heavily botched bc the original incorporates and reinvents a lot of classic chinese folklore beautifully and stuff like that is considered disrespectful and not-pc. i think it's really sad how so many great pieces of writing with complex world-building and plotlines are simplified into... idek what to call them, but just, less than what they are.

im sorry this turned into a rant. as a mainland chinese person with oh so many frustrations about our current society, it's hard to comprehensively describe my feelings about the untamed's popularity. it's the first mainland chinese show/movie to gain this much organic interest abroad so i should be glad? but, but. anyway, yes, im sorry.

There’s no need to apologize for ranting, but I admit to some confusion as to whether you want your question addressed or the rant. Because I’m me and tend to be thorough, I’ll address everything, in reverse order.

First of all, I’m sorry that this show is sad to you. I’m sorry that the popularity of it is difficult. I’m also deeply sympathetic to your frustrations about your society, as I too am deeply frustrated by my own.

Secondly, yes, I’m aware of the context of The Untamed. I’m aware that the book it’s based on is a BL novel, and that, in order to align with Chinese politics, overt queerness was erased from the adaptation. I’m aware of the censure laws of gay media in China. I’m also aware that some aspects of necromancy and morality were adjusted to make the show more palatable for general audiences, but I’m fuzzier on those details. Lastly, I’m aware that the popularity of the show calls attention to certain things, such as fanfic, and that attention results in more censorship,

The fact of this erasure and this censure provokes a lot of questions: by consuming this product, which contains erasure and censure, do we engage in the erasure and censure? By posting gifs and writing fanfic and talking about this product, do we increase its popularity, thereby encouraging additional erasure and censure? By increasing the popularity of this product, do we diminish the popularity of the original gay morally gray canon, thereby decreasing representation? Do we discourage other authors in China from writing explicitly gay morally gray material? In short, are we allowed to enjoy this media?

I don’t know the answer to these questions. However, I do know that boycott is a very effective tool when it can inflict economic pain on the producer, or when it can exert pressure on an entity to change. That said, I feel like a lot of the calls to boycott certain media these days are a lot like telling people to stop driving their cars to stop climate change: it’s suggesting that individuals can solve the problem, which presupposes individuals are the problem, and therefore fails to address the scope of the problem, or present the possibility of a real solution. Not watching The Untamed isn’t going to change laws about portrayals of homosexuality onscreen in China, partly because the laws in China are a much bigger problem.

The other part of it is that The Untamed is coded queer, so if you run a successful boycott against it, you end up with . . . less queer TV. I know a whole lot less about China than I do about the Hays Code, but if you had told gay people during the Golden Age of Hollywood that they couldn’t enjoy movies that were coded queer because they weren’t explicitly queer, they’d have said you were crazy. In fact, many people will tell you that media that was coded queer was a big reason we got more explicit queer stuff later. And as I’m sure you’re aware, the US is still fighting that battle . . . partly because it wants to sell movies to China.

So then there’s a question about whether me, an American in the US, liking something coded queer from China but not explicitly queer--does that encourage Chinese censorship? Should I only support texts that are explicitly queer? But the answer is the same--it’s not addressing the scope of the problem, and by supporting texts that are coded queer, you could be paving the way in the future for something brighter.

But you weren’t talking about boycott! You were talking about your discomfort with the popularity with this show, which I accept. I understand feeling uncomfortable. I can only hope it makes you a bit more comfortable to know that plenty of fans are deeply aware of the context and do wrestle with the question of what liking this show means in the context of a society that would never allow aspects of the original to be portrayed onscreen.

Thirdly, I’m not against trying Guardian at some point, but by comparing the acting and chemistry of the leads to The Untamed, I feel like you prove our tastes are very different in these regards. I love the acting of the leads in The Untamed; I found their chemistry off the charts. It’s okay you don’t feel the same.

Lastly, you asked my opinion of The Untamed: its story and characters, the acting, the production, sans context of the canon upon which its based and censorship laws in China.

a. I love the overall story, but the plot has deep plot holes. Quite a few segments do not actually make sense to me, because the plot is so haywire. However, I’ve never cared that much about plot, except when it gets in the way of characters and themes, and for the most part, this plot serves its characters and themes, except when the parts they leave out are so confusing that I cannot follow the story. As for the story, it feels like it’s built for me, because ultimately it’s about moral decisions and how to make them; it’s about guilt and paying for mistakes; it’s about learning, changing your mind, and remaking yourself. Really, I’m not sure there are many stories I love more--except they killed my favorite character, and I almost quit. So, that certainly put a damper on things.

b. I love the characters most of all, although the villains are really two-dimensional. However, large parts of the plot are not Hero vs Villain, they’re Hero vs Society, and then some Hero vs Himself in a way that suggests the Hero is no longer a hero. I could talk about the characters forever, but suffice it to say I think they’re really strong. Also, the relationships are really exquisite, particularly when it comes to family dynamics. Unfortunately, they killed my favorite character off. Also unfortunately, there are six women in this show, only two of them are main characters, and every single one of them dies. It disgusts me.

c. I think the two leads are exceptional, in particular Xiao Zhan . . . when he’s not being too broad, which he is quite a bit. However, I do wonder how much of this is direction and production style, because in many instances, he’s quite subtle, and the choices he makes are astounding. Then there are times where it’s like they needed more footage, or wanted to drive home a point, and he turns on the extra, and it’s awful. It could just be him, but I actually feel it’s the case with most of the actors, which does make me think it’s a directing issue. Meng Ziyi never really has that problem though, because she is the most perfect of all. But then take He Peng, who I actually thought could be incredible, but every scene was just SO BROAD that I began to feel sorry for the poor dude having to act that part. But there is nothing to be said for Wang Zhuo Cheng, who really is just terrible, which is sad, because it’s a great part.

d. Production-wise, it’s really hit and miss. So much of the locations are truly beautiful. A lot of the costumes are too, unless the shot is too close. I actually don’t mind the wigs; I love the long hair. The CGI is terrible. And then while a lot of the shots are beautiful, some of them are awkward, and the pacing is really difficult, imo. It really seems like they wanted to drag it out, and there are so, so many scenes where I’m sort of embarrassed that we’re in the same scene or that we’re still looking at someone’s face, or that everyone is just standing there waiting for the shot to finally end.

I will say that film is a language that does differ from culture to culture. It could be that both the broadness of the acting and the awkwardness of the editing are my cultural lens based on American and a lot of western film. When I watched older Hollywood films, the acting is a lot more broad and maybe a little less “true” feeling, but I understand that it’s not the case everyone in the past was a bad actor. It was just a different style, so I’m not sure I’m equipped with the cultural knowledge of Chinese acting, cinematography, and editing to be able to really judge the value of these things.

I do know how I feel, which is that the editing is the biggest hurdle for me while watching the show. However, I feel that the beauty of it makes up for a lot, and the strength of the characters and themes really carries it.

I hope I addressed your points adequately, and I wish you well.

[avelera]

A few fun notes I’ve picked up on the Crusades, as would be relevant to Nicky and Joe, courtesy of leaving Great Courses lectures on in the background while doing other stuff (meaning if you’re a huge fan of the history of the Crusades you definitely know more than me):

- Nicolò di Genova could have been one of several, not necessarily mutually exclusive things before embarking on the Crusade - the second son of a wealthy/noble family (it would explain how he could afford the journey and weapons/armor), a poor brigand (one reason the Pope called the Crusades was to redirect European infighting and banditry) and/or a devout Christian who was spiritually moved by Pope Urban II’s call to arms. The devout option does not necessarily preclude either of the previous two possibilities, because the Pope promised total forgiveness of ALL sins (before and during) committed in one’s life and during the Crusades, so those who may have turned to banditry out of desperation but felt guilty for their immortal souls could have also been lured by the promise of spiritual reward, not just material reward.

- I’m going to go out on a limb and say Nicky was part of the Princes’ Crusade in 1096, the official one that Pope Urban wanted and I distinguish because there was a thing called the Peasants Crusade before of people who rose to the call but were, unfortunately, all non-fighting men, peasants, kids, fanatics, etc. and it went... badly. Very badly. The “crusaders” themselves (which means “cross bearers” btw) were pretty awful and killed a lot of innocent people on their way to the Holy land, and then they were wiped out when they got to Turkey anyway, and likely Nicky would be aware of these events (or even saw the piled bodies on his way to Jerusalem, if you want to go for a dramatic scene). 

I’m guessing Nicky was with the Princes’ Crusade because he actually got to the Holy Land AND again, because he’s got armor (according to the comic flashbacks) which was pretty damn expensive. (A Watsonian rationale, the Doylist one is that Rucka was going for the image of foreign knights fighting in full plate and may not have thought out all the class and wealth implications of them having that armor). Oh, and Nicky if he traveled with the Princes’ Crusade in 1096 would have spent some time in Constantinople (November-April) while on his way there. 

- The Crusaders captured Antioch before they made it to Jerusalem. I’m not sure The Old Guard clarifies which battle he and Joe first encountered each other in, it might have been Antioch, but I’m going to say it wasn’t, for several reasons. One, because of the credits that lists 1099, the year after, when Jerusalem fell, which was the last year of the First Crusade. (The other famous crusade, the Second Third Crusade of Orlando Bloom’s “Kingdom of Heaven” fame isn’t for almost 50 years after that.) And further, while it’s possible that Nicky fought Joe in Antioch before the Crusaders even made it to Jerusalem, but the push-pin in the map is also in Jerusalem and it’s where the most famous events of the First Crusade happened (and I’m not sure Rucka would be able to resist), so just from a dramatic standpoint too I think they probably fought in Jerusalem. 

- To just couch it in a scene for a second, the Crusaders seeing Jerusalem for the first time was, by all accounts, breathtaking. It was a profoundly spiritual moment for these people who had taken up arms to fight for their God and traveled for years across strange lands and lost many of their compatriots to the fighting in Antioch as well as starvation/thirst/exhaustion/disease along the way, to reach this holiest of holy sites in the Christian canon. 

- Unfortunately, the sight of Jerusalem might be the last moment of beauty we can expect from the European Crusaders. The accounts of the sack of Jerusalem are horrifying. The Crusaders laid siege to Jerusalem for just over a month, and once inside the gates, they massacred every single person in the city, until blood flowed through the streets.

- (Side note: if Nicky didn’t arrive with the main Crusader force coming over land through Turkey, he probably arrived instead with Genoese merchants who also brought the supplies needed to make the siege engines that broke through the walls, so it is possible Nicky was with them and came by boat, in which case he may feel a different kind of guilt for the atrocities that followed.)

- Having claimed the city, the Crusaders established the Kingdom of Jerusalem which would endure just barely over a hundred years. There would be constant fighting between Seljuks and the Crusaders throughout that century, complicated alliances between the Crusaders and the Seljuk’s rivals, the Fatimid Caliphate. Basically, you’d need to be a scholar or read something by a scholar who understands this much better than me to unwind it all. 

When did Joe and Nicky meet in all of this? Is the Siege of Jerusalem the setting of their first mutual murder of one another? Or did they meet at a later battle? A lot of that is up to the writer, because based on the line about how they’d been taught to hate one another, one could take away that they’d been on either side of the conflict for a while, at least long enough to build up some animosity towards the other side, before they encountered each other. Or, one could take the line to mean that Nicky and Joe met early in the conflict, and had only the hatred they’d been taught driving them to fight. 

Certainly the clash of the Franks, as the Seljuks called them (a word that is still found as a root for “foreigner” in Arabic to this day) or the Saracens, as the Christians called them, was a moment that was not, shall we say, hampered by sympathy on either side. The men of the other army must have been foreign and terrifying to both sides, both saw the other as infidels to the true faith, both had more or less a free pass by their religion and circumstances to not even see the other side as human (but, let’s remember, the Europeans were the invaders and the atrocities they committed are too lengthy and horrifying to go into here). 

If Nicky and Joe had stayed in the Levant throughout the events of the following centuries of Crusades (perhaps together now? perhaps still on opposite sides for some time?) they could have been caught up in a rich and complicated world of the clash of civilizations between Europe and the Middle East, Christianity and Islam, met major historical figures like Richard the Lionheart and Saladin (or, An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub if we’re being accurate) the latter of which is one of the greatest examples of chivalry the world has ever known, to an extent that was hailed even by Europeans (seriously, it’s some Hollywood-level stuff, Saladin is amazing and would be the obvious hero in any historical fiction set during the Second or Third Crusade, I could see Yusuf sticking around just to serve him and Nicky even switching sides to do so, especially compared to the leadership on the European side and bastards like Raynald of Châtillon, but again, for a fun intro to these events watch “Kingdom of Heaven” with a heavy grain of salt). 

A few final notes, before this becomes its own lecture on the Crusades. With regards to homophobia, it might not have been quite as present as many modern readers would assume. And you might be surprised by who would have been more OK with it. 

- On the European side, homosexuality was a sin, sure, but pretty much all non-procreative sexual practices were a sin and it wasn’t as fiercely persecuted in the early 11th century as it would come to be later. This is not to say homosexuality was celebrated, but the punishment you’d receive was basically a civil punishment for being caught, needing to do penance for a few months to a year, not execution or torture or anything like that. 

- And let’s remember throughout history, men have had few limitations enforced on their sex lives as long as they also fulfilled their duties to their families and the Church and that going on Crusade meant all of your sins were wiped away, before, during, and after (which is probably what led to the uninhibited nature of the atrocities committed by the Crusaders and I mean seriously, even the Pope who ordered the Crusades was horrified when he heard what happened). 

So what I’m saying is, even if someone like Nicky was worried about going to Hell for having sex with men (and really, it would not be the #1 sin to be concerned about by any means in those times) he wouldn’t have to worry specifically while on Crusade. He’s in the clear at least as far as his immortal soul goes, though social censure could be another matter (assuming everyone else even cared about social censure too). Actually, it would be funny if Nicky’s generally relaxed demeanor in the modern era around murders and stuff is because as far as he’s concerned, he’s still got that Papal order saying all his sins are cleared because he joined the Crusades, lol. 

- Meanwhile, on Joe’s side, we’re still in a time period that’s called the Islamic Golden Age where social strictures are relatively relaxed compared to what they’ll be at other points in Islamic history (sweeping generalization! please take it as such!) but it’s worth noting that Abu Nuwas, one of the most famous and acclaimed Islamic poets, wrote a ton of love poetry in the 700s and a not inconsiderable portion of that love poetry was devoted to homosexual love. Meaning, yeah, Yusuf wouldn’t just be able to quote poetry at Nicolò, he could quote specifically gay poetry at Nicolò, from one of his culture’s most renowned poets. 

Similar to Europe, if my research is correct, homosexuality was pretty accepted, at least it’s not a high-priority punishable crime for men of privilege during this era the way it would be in some later eras. I don’t want to expound much more on Joe’s side because it’s definitely the one I have less knowledge of and authority to speak about but I will leave you, if you’ve made it this far, with the fact that being two men in love with each other when they met was much less of a serious issue than being two infidels (to the other’s religion) would have been, from a social standpoint.

[d-criss-news]

What would have happened if diversity was introduced in the Golden Age of Hollywood? While we will never actually know, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan attempt to answer the question in their Netflix limited series, Hollywood, which is like a What If…? comic book about Hollywood in the 1940s. The series takes real people like Rock Hudson, Anna May Wong, and Vivian Leigh and combines them with fictionalized aspiring actors and filmmakers who are willing to do whatever it takes to make Hollywood look at every person as equal, no matter their race or sexual orientation. Also, unlike some of Murphy’s previous projects like American Horror Storyor American Crime Story, Hollywood has an upbeat and optimistic tone which works really well with the time period and material.

With the series arriving next week, I recently landed an extended interview with Murphy and he revealed why he wanted to tell this version of the Golden Age of Hollywood. He explained:

“I was not interested in making a biopic. I was not interested in doing a Wikipedia of Rock Hudson about, who did he know? How did he know them? Did he know Vivian Leigh? Was he aware of who Vivian Leigh was? Did he know who Tallulah Bankhead was? What I wanted to do is sort of an alternative universe look at it. In my universe, looking at these people, some things are the same and some things are very different. I want to make it clear to people that it is not a biopic approach to people’s lives. There are some things we kept very true, obviously, and there are some things that we changed.”

When I asked about where the idea came from, he revealed:

“It’s just something I’ve been working on for years, but it started because I was sort of raised by my grandmother and she was very much an old movie buff. The Golden Era Age was her obsession because she was born in 1913. And so I grew up with her and she would expose me to a lot of movies, but more so she would expose me to a lot of books about movies.

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with three people and they were Rock Hudson and Anna May Wong and Hattie McDaniel. And I never really understood why I think until I was older. I think I just saw a lot of sadness in them. They weren’t able to be who they wanted to be and express who they wanted to express. And they were really a sad part of Hollywood history and a cautionary tale.

I was always kind of thinking, even after Feud, ‘Well, what can I do with these three people?’ And I didn’t really have the right… I didn’t know. After Versace, I had a dinner with Darren Criss and we were talking about that Hollywood gas station and how interesting it was. And I was never interested in the sexuality of it really, or the sordidness of it. What I was interested in was the rather sad, upsetting idea that people had to go there to be who they were and to be able to express who they were.

Suddenly, I was like, ‘Oh, this makes sense. I can put all of these interests, this buried history idea into one thing.’ But as I told Darren… Darren and I had just finished doing Versace and I had pretty much finished the writing, I think, of Ratched, so I was interested in doing something upbeat and optimistic that sort of had a happy ending quality to it, which I’ve done not very often in my career.

Then everything just took off. Once I sort of figured out, okay, how do I put all of these things that I’ve been interested in in a while? But that’s common for me. I was doing American Horror Story. It took me five years to figure out that first season, and I like it when things come to you slowly.”

While the entertainment business is attempting to do better about representation and diversity, everyone in town could learn from Ryan Murphy. If you’re not aware, Murphy created the Half Foundation, which works very hard to create equal opportunities for women and minorities behind the camera. In addition, Murphy created the Half Director Mentorship Program which pairs directors on every Murphy television production with “emerging women and minority directors through pre-production and post-production.”

This is an incredible achievement and one of the reasons I’m such a fan of Murphy’s work.

When I spoke to him about what he’s done to champion minority voices and diversity, I was pretty effusive with my praise and asked him to talk about how it happened. He went on to say:

“Well, thank you for saying that. I mean, it’s just from… what happened to me was everything in my life collided, literally, and that I had had enough success and enough really big hits. By the way, all of them, I was told, every single time I had a hit, I was told it would not be a hit. For example, nobody thought Glee would work except for a few of us. Nobody thought American Horror Story would work. Nobody thought The Normal Heart would work. Nobody thought OJ would work. I was used to, ‘No, I believe in this.’ And I had a lot of lovely people who controlled the purse strings in my life who said, ‘Okay, well you’ve had enough successful, we’ll bet on you.’

With that came, green light power and final edit power, but I realized that I had failed miserably. I remember, around this time of 2015, when I started directing, I remember that feeling of I was the only gay person in a set of 400 people, and it was my television show. Everybody was white, male and in their 50s. I just sort of decided, you know what, I’m going to change my own company and I’m just going to have very strict hiring rules.

I created something called the Half Foundation, where I demand that 50% of all of our shows are directed by women. I love championing people like Janet Mock, and helping her move through the system and helping her make her dreams come true. And asking her, she worked on Hollywood, ‘What do you think?’ And she had a lot to say, and she had a lot to say about how the writing should be changed, that we should do this with the Camille character, and think about this.

Once I got to a place where I was empowered, I’ve tried to empower other people. I think that more than even the things that I’m making is the legacy that I’m the most proud of. And I’m very, very aware of it because I look around town and I’m like, ‘Where are the projects that are… ‘ We still don’t have enough of them. We still don’t have enough. We don’t have enough Ava Duvernays and we don’t have enough Steven Canals. We need to have more people like that, who are pushing their stories through the system. More Janet Mocks. Whenever I can step in and help, that’s what I’m the most excited about now.”

Again, everyone in Hollywood should be looking at what Ryan Murphy has done and asking themselves how they can contribute.

Hollywood debuts on May 1st on Netflix and stars David Corenswet as Jack, Darren Crissas Raymond, Jeremy Pope as Archie, Laura Harrier as Camille, Samara Weaving as Claire, Dylan McDermott as Ernie, Holland Taylor as Ellen Kincaid, Patti LuPone as Avis, Jim Parsons as Henry Willson, Jake Picking as Rock Hudson, Joe Mantello as Dick, and Maude Apatow as Henrietta.

[wildeoaths]

LGBTQ Book & Film Recommendations

Hello! As someone who tries to read widely, it can sometimes be frustrating to find good (well-written, well-made) LGBTQ+ works of literature and film, and mainstream recommendations only go so far. This is my shortlist. 

Some caveats: 1) I have only watched/seen some of these, though they have all been well-received.

2) The literature list is primarily focused on adult literary and genre fiction, since that is what I mostly read, and I feel like it’s easier to find queer YA fiction. Cece over at ProblemsOfABookNerd (YT) covers a lot of newer releases and has a YA focus, so you can check her out for more recommendations.

3) There are a ton of good films and good books that either reference or discuss queer theory, LGBTQ history and literary theory. These tend to be more esoteric and academic, and I’m not too familiar with queer theory, so they’ve largely been left off the list. I do agree that they’re important, and reading into LGBTQ-coding is a major practice, but they’re less accessible and I don’t want to make the list too intimidating.

4) I linked to Goodreads and Letterboxd because that’s what I use and I happen to really enjoy the reviews.

Any works that are bolded are popular, or they’re acclaimed and I think they deserve some attention. I’ve done my best to flag potential objections and triggers, but you should definitely do a search of the reviews. DoesTheDogDie is also a good resource. Not all of these will be suitable for younger teenagers; please use your common sense and judgement.

Please feel free to chime in in the replies (not the reblogs) with your recommendations, and I’ll eventually do a reblog with the additions!

BOOKS

> YOUNG ADULT

Don’t @ me asking why your favourite YA novel isn’t on this list. These just happen to be the picks I felt might also appeal to older teens/twentysomethings.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo - poetry.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender - trans male teen protagonist. 

Red, White & Royal Blue

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda

The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice And Virtue

The Raven Boys (and Raven Cycle)

> LITERATURE: GENERAL

This list does skew M/M; more NB, trans and WLW recommendations are welcomed!

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. One of the most acclaimed contemporary LGBTQ novels and you’ve probably heard of it. Will probably make you cry.

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. Portrait of a middle-aged gay man.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. M/M affair, British student high society; definitely nostalgic for the aristocracy so be aware of the context.

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman. It’s somewhat controversial, it’s gay, everyone knows the film at least.

Cronus’ Children / Le Jardin d'Acclimation by Yves Navarre. Winner of the Goncourt prize.

Dancer From The Dance by Andrew Holleran. A young man in the 1970s NYC gay scene. Warning for drugs and sexual references.

Dorian, An Imitation by Will Self. Adaptation of Orscar Wilde’s novel. Warning for sexual content.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. Two wlw in the 1980s. Also made into a film; see below.

Gemini by Michel Tournier. The link will tell you more; seems like a very complex read. TW for troubling twin dynamics.

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. Another iconic M/M work.

Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey. A queer punk reimagining of Peter Pan. Probably one of the more accessible works on this list!

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson. Two teenage boys in 1980s France.

Maurice by E. M. Forster. Landmark work written in 1914. Also made into a film; see below.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. An expansive (and long) novel about the story of Cal, a hermaphrodite, by the author of The Virgin Suicides.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf. Plays with gender, time and space. Virginia Woolf’s ode to her lover Vita Sackville-West. What more do you want? (also a great film; see below).

Oscar Wilde’s works - The Picture of Dorian Gray would be the place to start. Another member of the classical literary canon.

Saga, vol.1 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples. Graphic novel; warning for sexual content.

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinburg. An acclaimed work looking at working-class lesbian life and gender identity in pre-Stonewall America.

The Holy Innocents by Gilbert Adair. The basis for Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (2003). I am hesitant to recommend this because I have not read this, though I have watched the film; the M/M dynamic and LGBTQ themes do not seem to be the primary focus. Warning for sexual content and incestuous dynamics between the twins.

The Animals At Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey. Plays with gothic elements, set during WW2, F/F elements.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham. References Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. Probably a good idea to read Virginia Woolf first.

The Immoralist by André Gide. Translated from French.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline MIller. Drawing from the Iliad, focusing on Achilles and Patroclus. Contemporary fantasy that would be a good pick for younger readers.

The Swimming Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst. Gay life pre-AIDS crisis. Apparently contains a fair amount of sexual content.

What Belongs To You by Garth Greenwell. A gay man’s coming of age in the American South.

> LITERATURE: WORLD LITERATURE

American and Western experiences are more prominent in LGBTQ works, just due to the way history and the community have developed, and the difficulties of translation. These are English and translated works that specifically foreground the experiences of non-White people living in (often) non-Western societies. I’m not white or American myself and recommendations in this area are especially welcomed.

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson. The memoirs and essays of a queer black activist, exploring themes of black LGBTQ experiences and masculinity.

A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian. Female communities and queer female characters in a Bangalore slum. A very new release but already very well received.

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima. Coming-of-age in post-WW1 Japan. This one’s interesting, because it’s definitely at least somewhat autobiographical. Mishima can be a tough writer, and you should definitely look into his personality and his life when reading his work.

Disoriental by Négar Djavadi. A family saga told against the backdrop of Iranian history by a queer Iranian woman. Would recommend going into this knowing at least some of the political and historical context.

How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones. A coming-of-age story and memoir from a gay, black man in the American South.

In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. Another acclaimed contemporary work about the dynamics of abuse in LGBTQ relationships. Memoir.

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. Contemporary black British experience, told from the perspectives of 12 diverse narrators.

> POETRY

Crush by Richard Siken. Tumblr loves Richard Siken, worth a read.

Diving Into The Wreck by Adrienne Rich.

He’s So Masc by Chris Tse.

If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, trans. Anne Carson. The best presentation of Sappho we’re likely to get.

Lord Byron’s works - Selected Poems may be a good starting point. One of the Romantics and part of the classical literary canon.

Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire. The explicitly lesbian poems are apparently in the les fleurs du mal section.

> MEMOIR & NONFICTION

And The Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts. An expansive, comprehensive history and exposure of the failures of media and the Reagan administration, written by an investigative journalist. Will probably make you rightfully angry.

How to Survive A Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France. A reminder of the power of community and everyday activism, written by a gay reporter living in NYC during the epidemic.

Indecent Advances: The Hidden History of Murder and Masculinity Before Stonewall by James Polchin. True crime fans, this one’s for you. Sociocultural history constructed from readings of the news and media.

Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker. It’s illustrated, it’s written by an academic, it’s an easier introduction to queer theory. I still need to pick up a copy, but it seems like a great jumping-off point with an overview of the academic context.

Real Queer America by Samantha Allen. The stories of LGBTQ people and LGBTQ narratives in the conservative parts of America. A very well received contemporary read.

The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson. Gender, pregnancy and queer partnership. I’m not familiar with this but it is quite popular.

When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan. LGBTQ history of Brooklyn from the nineteenth century to pre-Stonewall.

FILMS

With films it’s difficult because characters are often queercoded and we’re only now seeing films with better rep. This is a shortlist of better-rated films with fairly explicit LGBTQ coding, LGBTQ characters, or made by LGBTQ persons. Bolded films are ones that I think are likely to be more accessible or with wider appeal.

A Single Man (2009) - Colin Firth plays a middle-aged widower.

Blue Is The Warmest Colour (2013) - A controversial one. Sexual content.

Booksmart (2019) - A pretty well made film about female friendship and being an LGBTQ teen.

Boy Erased (2018) - Warning for conversion therapy.

BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017) - Young AIDS activists in France.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Cowboy gays. This film is pretty famous, do you need more summary? Might make a good triple bill with Idaho and God’s Own Country.

Cabaret (1972) - Liza Minelli. Obvious plug to also look into Vincent Minelli.

Calamity Jane (1953) - There’s a lot that could be said about queer coding in Hollywood golden era studio films, but this is apparently a fun wlw-cowboy westerns-vibes watch. Read the reviews on this one!

Call Me By Your Name (2017) - Please don't debate this film in the notes.

Caravaggio (1986) - Sean Bean and Tilda Swinton are in it. Rather explicit.

Carol (2015) - Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are lesbians in 1950s America.

Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) - Hard to summarise, but one review calls it “lesbian birdman” and it has both Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart in it, so consider watching it.

Colette (2018) - About the bi/queer female writer Colette during the belle epoque era. This had Keira Knightley so by all rights Tumblr should love it.

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) - Lesbian love in 1920s/80s? America.

God’s Own Country (2017) - Gay and British.

Happy Together (1997) - By Wong Kar Wai. No further explanation needed.

Heartbeats (2010) - Bi comedy.

Heartstone (2016) - It’s a story about rural Icelandic teenagers.

Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (2015) -  Queer teens and religious themes.

Je, Tu, Il, Elle (1974) - Early Chantal Akerman. Warning for sexual scenes.

Kill Your Darlings (2013) - Ginsberg, Kerouac and the Beat poets.

Love, Simon (2018)

Lovesong (2016) - Lesbian and very soft. Korean-American characters.

Love Songs (2007) - French trio relationship. Louis Garrel continues to give off non-straight vibes.

Mädchen In Uniform (1931) - One of the earliest narrative films to explicitly portray homosexuality. A piece of LGBTQ cinematic history.

Maurice (1987) - Adaptation of the novel.

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - Heavy gay coding.

Milk (2008) - Biopic of Harvey Milk, openly gay politician. By the same director who made My Own Private Idaho.

Moonlight (2016) - It won the awards for a reason.

My Own Private Idaho (1991) - Another iconic LGBTQ film. River Phoenix.

Mysterious Skin (2004) - Go into this film aware, please. Young actors, themes of prostitution, child ab*se, r***, and a lot of trauma.

Orlando (1992) - An excellent adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel, and in my opinion far more accessible. Watch it for the queer sensibilities and fantastic period pieces.

Pariah (2011) - Excellent coming-of-age film about a black lesbian girl in Brooklyn.

Paris is Burning (1990) - LANDMARK DOCUMENTARY piece of LGBTQ history, documenting the African-American and Latine drag and ballroom roots of the NYC queer community.

Persona (1966) - It’s an Ingmar Bergman film so I would recommend knowing what you’re about to get into, but also I can’t describe it because it’s an Ingmar Bergman film.

Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975) - Cult classic queercoded boarding school girls.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) - By Celine Sciamma, who’s rapidly establishing herself in the mainstream as a LGBTQ film director. This is a wlw relationship and the queer themes are reflected in the cinematic techniques used. A crowd pleaser.

Pride (2014) - Pride parades with a British sensibility.

Rebel Without A Cause (1955) - Crowd-pleaser with bi coding and James Dean. The OG version of “you’re tearing me apart!”.

Rocketman (2019) - It’s Elton John.

Rent (2005) - Adaptation of the stage musical. Not the best film from a technical standpoint. I recommend the professionally recorded 2008 closing night performance instead.

Rope (1948) - Hitchcock film.

Sorry Angel (2018) - Loving portraits of gay French men.

Talk To Her (2002) - By Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar.

Tangerine (2015) - About trans sex workers. The actors apparently had a lot of input in the film, which was somehow shot on an iPhone by the same guy who went on to do The Florida Project. 

The Duke of Burgundy (2014) - Lesbians in an S&M relationship that’s going stale, sexual content obviously.

The Gay Deceivers (1969) - The reviews are better than me explaining.

The Handmaiden (2016) - Park Chan-wook makes a film about Korean lesbians and is criminally snubbed at the Oscars. Warning for sexual themes and kink.

The Favourite (2018) - Period movie, and lesbian.

Thelma And Louise (1991) - An iconic part of LGBTQ cinematic history. That is all.

The Celluloid Closet (1995) - A look into LGBTQ cinematic history, and the historical contexts we operated in when we’ve snuck our narratives into film.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) - Adaptation of the YA novel.

The Neon Demon (2016) - Apparently based on Elizabeth Bathory, the blood-drinking countess. Very polarising film and rated R.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower (2012) - Book adaptation. It has Ezra Miller in it I guess.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) - No explanation needed, queer and transgressive vibes all the way.

They (2017) - Gender identity, teenagers.

Those People (2015) - They’re gay and they’re artists in New York.

Tomboy (2011) - One of the few films I’ve seen dealing with gender identity in children (10 y/o). Celine Sciamma developing her directorial voice.

Tropical Malady (2004) - By Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul. His is a very particular style so don’t sweat it if you don’t enjoy it.

Vita and Virginia (2018) - Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West biopic

Water Lilies (2007) - Celine Sciamma again! Teenage lesbian coming-of-age. 

When Marnie Was There (2014) - A Studio Ghibli film exploring youth, gender and sexuality.

Weekend (2011) - An indie film about young gay love.

Wilde (1997) - It’s a film about Oscar Wilde.

XXY (2007) - About an intersex teenager. Reviews on this are mixed.

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) - Wonder what Diego Luna was doing before Rogue One? This is one of the things. Warning for sexual content.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Are you sure the “demand for unambiguous queerness” is the straightest of straight reactions? It seems more like a demand to (often hopefully) celebrate that which has been silenced, undervalued & even prohibited for too long. In forgiving and tolerant spaces where such fandoms are embraced, such as Tumblr. I liked your points about the multi levels ways songs & artists work but this was quite a dismissive phrase, unexpectedly coming from you.

Thanks for your ask anon - the first is the difference between celebrating unambiguously queer culture, and insisting that the ambiguities in ambiguously queer culture don’t exist.  And the second is the specific phrase myself.

I think it’s really important to celebrate out and proud culture.  Pride, rainbows, drag queens, patches that say ‘not gay as in happy, but queer as in fuck you’, all of it.  And I completely understand seeking that out in mainstream pop culture.

It’s not loving and wanting to celebrate visible and unambiguous representations of that which has been silenced and prohibited that I was objecting to. It was demanding the ambiguous queer culture have all its ambiguities ignored so that people can pretend that it’s unambiguous queer culture.

Ambiguity and finding ways to be visible in plain sight are just as important a part of queer culture as rainbows.  There’s a history of queer culture that is deliberately ambiguous - Polari, the Golden Age of Hollywood, even something as basic as Oscar Wilde.  And to take those traditions and insist that they’re not ambiguous - that in fact that they cannot be understood as straight - is to destroy what they are in a way that erases the homophobic environment they were created them.  To take something ambiguous and insist that it is in fact only capable of being one thing is to totally devalue that whole thread of queer culture and treat queer culture that is out and proud as the only valid way to be clear.

To give some examples very close to my heart - ‘Black Tie’ by Grace Petrie and ‘Fast Car’ by Tracy Chapman are both lesbian songs.  Black Tie is incredibly explicit about lesbian culture - the whole point of the song is to celebrate butchness and she talks of fighting TERFS.  The chorus goes:

'Cause I'm in black tie tonight Get a postcard to my Year 11 self In a Year 11 hell Saying everything's gonna be alright No, you won't grow out of it You will find clothes that fit And the images that fucked ya Were a patriarchal structure And you never will surrender To a narrow view of gender And I swear there'll come a day When you won't worry what they say On the labels, on the doors You will figure out what's yours

Fast Car is very different.  It was a top 10 hit in 1988. The other person in the song is never named or gendered.  The audience can believe what they like.  It’s still a lesbian song.

I think it totally devalues what Tracy Chapman did and what is beautiful about the song to erase that ambiguity.  To say (as fandom might unforunately) ‘what straight person ever felt like they didn’t belong - all other interpretations are invalid’ - is to ignore what is beautiful about ‘Fast Car’ and insist that it must be something else in order to be valid.

Harry and Louis are not out, the art that they make is closeted art.  The ambiguity is deliberate, the straight interpretations are there deliberately. That doesn’t make them straight - that makes them part of a hugely important tradition of queer artists.  

As for my claim that the erasure of ambiguity is the straightest of straight reactions - it may be a little bit of an overstatement, but it is one born of genuine distress.  Because I do see so often in this fandom the demand that only unambiguously queer gestures matter and the erasure of everything that isn’t waving a rainbow.  And it seems to fit into a very straight vision of what it means to be LGTBTQ today - either you are or you aren’t and there is no ambiguity or need for it yet (it also does remind me of Graham Lineham declaring who is and isn’t gay on twitter).  The erasure of ambiguity promotes a straight vision of what it means to be queer and all the stress that it creates is place on LGBTQ people.

[finewalls]

10 music recommendations you've been listening to recently

got tagged by @halosboat and @onlyforthebravee (thank u bubs) to do some 10 music recs i have been listening lately

i gotta be honest tho i have only been listening to 5sos after CALM came out like i can only rec them but imma rec some i have listened before that album came out sdfghjjhg

5 Seconds of Summer - if u arent listening to their new album C A L M what are you doing????? that shit is the best album of the year and i will fight u to death about it. also re-listen to Youngblood while u are at it bc that shit is also iconic like legends only

Conan Gray - his album Kid Krow is painfully beautiful.. also that kid (lol we are the same age) has a fucking voice of an angel

Maisie Peters - classic indie girl vibes but she be making some BOPS!! found her through Birds of Pray soundtrack and got excited that she was gonna open for Niall but... go listen to her anyway bc she makes beautiful music

Birds of Pray soundtrack - NO BAD SONG FOUND! like beautiful incredible women just making powerful and encouraging bops?? sign me the fuck up. Like i am still obsessed with Boss Bitch, Smile and Joke’s on You! also that movie is fucking good food

Blossoms - if you are looking for some indie gay shit go listen to them.. like Your Girlfriend?? slapper. I actually think Foolish Loving Spaces is the perfect soundtrack to any indie film and it has inspired me a bit to be creative as well

gnash - i only started listening to this yesterday thanks to @matchingbees​ but so far i am LOVING what i am hearing!!!

Dave - u can say what u want but PSYCHODRAMA deserved that brit award.. like that man writes some killer lyrics like he never fails to give me the chills and i’m still not over his performance at the brits

Hollywood Undead - if u like rap and hard rock this is for u.. their new album is lyrically hitting me pretty hard.. they have their problematic parts but they still remind as my fave bc i am a whore for some depressing rock.. just listen to their song Nightmare if nothing else.. (their best album is Five tho)

Winterbourne - their album Echo of Youth is pretty great but i am obsessed with Take the Golden still after all this time ( @28princesspark​ gay)

One Direction / Solo - bc let’s be honest i don’t actually really listen to anything else

anyway here’s a playlist i have had a while now where i add the current songs i’m bopping to

i tag @matchingbees​ (bc her music taste >>>> so imma need all the recs) @haznlou​ @rosesau​ @28princesspark​ @pridesobright​ @proudlarents​ @goldenxhabit​ @ltyear​ @sweetcreaturehome​ @phoenixvinyl​ @louisandthedagger​ if u wanna share ur recs pleaseee

[maturemenoftvandfilms]

‘A Night with William Windom’

Featuring William Windom

Back in 1997, I was at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn in North Hollywood where many celebrities from TV’s “Golden Age” taking part in autograph meet-and-greets with fans. I first spotted William Windom sitting next to former Jackie Gleason Show regular Sheila MacRae, just down from Ken Berry and Larry Storch from F Troop. You got older stars at the Hollywood Show back then because, well, they were still around.

I had just purchased a still from Mr. Windom’s debut movie To Kill a Mockingbird and he seemed surprised by my choice as most people wanted stills from Star Trek or Murder, She Wrote.

“I’m a lawyer today in large part because of that movie.” I told him.

Mr. Windom proceeded to tell me a few anecdotes about lawyers and his time on the set To Kill a Mockingbird. Eccentric and fidgety, I noticed he kept messing around with an old navy telescope gizmo, a small brass thing he kept looking through when he wasn’t being bugged for his John Hancock.

“Check this out.” He finally said to me.

I looked through it and realized that it was a trick telescope with a mirror in it so you could look directly sideways from where it appeared you were looking. Windom, married five times in his life, was scoping out the Playboy bunnies signing at a nearby table. The man knew what to bring to the show.

I told him “If that what you like” and his response was “Well what do you like?”

“Someone like you,” I found myself saying, “And if I’m honest, I had a crush on you from watching the show called The Farmer’s Daughter.” I added flirtatiously.

“WELL, we’ll fix THAT!” He replied with devilish satisfaction.

I spent about an hour with Mr. Windom over the two days and on the final day of the convention, I had a private conversation with him in a back room during his break on Sunday for almost half an hour. He genuinely enjoyed my company. I think I embarrassed him with all my adulation, because I told him he was the sole reason I had made the trip. Which wasn’t exactly the truth, but he was funny and attentive, and told me many funny stories. And during that whole time, I continued to seriously flirt with Bill. Testing his comfort level, seeing if he would bite, as it were.

The idea of possibly fucking him drove me mad with lust, but sadly it seem like it was only going to be a dream.

“Well… its been a pleasure meeting you Mr. Windom.” I said as I was about to leave.

Bill stood up, smiled a half smile at me and said, “So…  you still want to suck an old man’s cock?”

And without waiting for my answer, he unzipped his fly and quickly pulled his dick out which greatly surprised me. First, because my flirting worked and second, we were alone in the room, but anyone could have walked in right then. Bill didn’t seem to care. But as I focused on his dick, all other thoughts quickly faded from my mind.

“Ain’t much now, but I’m sure you can make it hard.” Bill said, giving me a good look at his thick beautiful dick. It was pale, cut, thick and pinkish in color with a big head.  

Walking up to my chair, he shoved his soft dick close to my face. I naturally opened up to taste him and he tasted good. Sweet and manly. My hands quickly wrapped around his hips, pulling him closer to my face, shoving his cock deeper into my mouth.

“That feels damn right good. I haven’t had it sucked in months.” Bill said looking straight down into my eyes.

“Swallow it all the way. I know you can do it.” He urged me on as his dick quickly hardened.

Bill’s dick was thick and was a good seven inches when it was hard. But because it wasn’t overly fat, I was able to keep swallowing his suddenly lengthening dick until I had his entire dick buried down my throat. I closed my eyes to enjoyed the smell of his crotch and the wet sounds of my lips sucking his cock. And the sensation of that cock sliding in and out of my mouth was incredible.

Just then, the door opened and someone else came in. Bill quickly pulled his cock out of my mouth and slipped it back in his pants before anyone noticed what we were doing. Then he reached in his pocket and placed his hotel room card on the edge of the table right next to me. He gave me a wink and walked out, leaving the key behind. I looked around to see if anyone had noticed, but no one had. So I grabbed the key, waited a few minutes then headed out.

By the time I got to Bill’s room, I was afraid he’d think I wasn’t’ interested, but when I entered the room, he was ready and waiting. He was in a hotel bathrobe, sitting up in bed with his rock hard cock tenting underneath. Without hesitation, I jumped on the bed and opened up his robe, exposing his fully hard cock. Bill spread his legs, took my head in his hand and guided me to his cock. I opened my mouth wide and greedily started to suck it. I looked up to Bill, his eyes were closed and head tilted back moaning softly, “Oh, good son. Keep on doing it.”

Hearing those words, I started sucking wildly on it. His breathing became really heavy as well as his moaning when suddenly Bill lift my head off his cock. The next thing I knew, I was on my back with him between my legs lifting them high in the air. Kindly, Bill put some lube on my ass that he got out of his travel bag before I felt his two fingers massaging my ass, pushing in and out to loosen me up. He suddenly stopped and I watched him centering up the tip of his cock to my asshole.

“Fuck me, Bill. Give it to me.” I found myself saying as he began pushing for the best angle in.

And Bill did just that as he rammed half his dick deep in my hole so violently that I sucked in air to keep from crying out. Then he rammed the rest of it into me, stopping only when his low hanging balls slapped against my ass.

“You like having my cock up your ass?” He suddenly asked with a hint of a smile on his face.

“Yes... Fuck me, Bill!” I told him shaking my head.

“Oh I’ll fuck you all right.” He said as he pulled his dick out of my ass until only its head remained inside. Then looking straight into my eyes, he rammed his dick back inside as far as it would go.

“Damn if you don’t have a hot ass.” He told me as he started pumping his dick in and out of me with powerful strokes that had me bucking and moaning.

Then right in the middle of  the fucking, he leaned forward and kissed me! I couldn’t believe it. William Windom, who I had always had a crush, was fucking me and kissing me as passionately as I had ever been kissed. Every time I saw him on TV, I had wanted to have sex with him. Now I was doing that. I could tell he was about to cum when I noticed the strained look on his face. And as if on cue, he shot off inside me!

Oh, how I hated for him to cum. But to my surprise he continued to kiss me as though nothing had happened. I wrapped my legs around his waist to hold his cock inside me as long as possible.

After we broke our embrace, I laid there with my eyes closed as I started stroking my cock. Then I felt Bill’s hand stop me from jerking my cock off. Looking me in the eyes, he smiled, then quickly went down on my cock. I couldn’t believe he was sucking my dick? Here’s a 5 time married man, sucking on my dick and looking like he was in heaven doing it. And from the way he was doing it, I could swear he had done it before.

A minute or two of this and I was getting close to cumming when Bill suddenly pulled away. At first I thought that he had enough, but he reached for a container of lube, rubbed some on my dick and smeared some on his asshole.

I knew he hadn’t been fucked before, so I figured I would have a hell of a time getting my cock into Bill’s asshole. But I wasn't about to stop him. I just hope I wouldn’t hurt him. Suddenly, he was kneeling up over me, guiding the tip of my dick to his ass and forcing himself down on me. Slowly, he opened up to accommodate my swollen head and I heard him gasp as it slipped all the way in. Moaning deliriously, Bill squatting down further and further, until all 8 inches of me was in him.

“Oh my god, your cock feels so fucking good in me.” He said out loud.

“Oh yeah, take my cock.” I said as I then began to thrust up slowly. I was ecstatic as I thought it was time to give him the first fucking of his life.

“Yes, oh my god yes! Take me. Fuck me hard.” Bill said in a demanding voice.

This was all the invitation I needed. I started pumping slow and methodical for a good 3 minutes or so until he grew accustomed to the size of my cock. It was fascinating to feel his large body tremble with each thrust. By now he was really gasping and moaning in pure pleasure. At this point, we kind of bouncing off each other as I slammed my cock in and out of him.

‘Oh that’s the way.’ Bill said looking straight down into my eyes.

The knowledge that I was giving this hot man so much pleasure filled me with pride. Bill was really enjoying himself at this point as he was rocking onto my cock. Most of the pleasure he was feeling now was coming from his ass, rather than his cock as he was moaning and babbling incoherently. By now his asshole spasming around my probing cock. And now all I wanted to do was cum as I couldn’t take anymore. I buried my cock deep into his hole and held it there as I pumped a full load of cum into him. Burst after burst of cum coated his insides as we held our positions, gasping for breath, but satisfied.

“That’s something I have wanted to do to you ever since I found out that you were gay.” Bill confessed as he  grimaced and pulled himself reluctantly up and off my still swollen dick.

“I guess both of us had fantasies fulfilled today.”

[THE END]

[migleefulmoments]

So... Abby responds to her family's intervention by obediently telling them she'll stop (ie. lying to them). She then immediately tries to find ways to keep the blog in secret, hiding behind various usernames, lurking on her coven's blogs, more time deleting posts from both blogs we know about. Meaning, instead of getting help, she spends even MORE time online engaging in more batshit crazy crap to cover her ass. Yeah, sure, that doesn't signal dire need for mental health intervention AT ALL.

It looks like that is what is happening.  We will have to see what the future holds. What does Abby do? 

So far the fandom is flailing. Cassie got a couple of anons- one that reads like those anons Abby used to send herself as it covers all the issues they are most upset about so perfectly well (My comments in parenthesis and italicized:: 

Anonymous asked: Even if I am unsure about CC itself, I don't buy M*arr*n. I just don't. And the other side is using doxing and the fact that you and others say things they don't like about M as an excuse to do so and as a way to detract from the fact that their couple goals have some pretty big, glaring plot holes in their love story. I've not seen anyone on this side of the fandom out or dox anyone publicly as a way of humiliation. M gave up her privacy by dating D, but Abby didn't and they were wrong. Period. 

cassie1022 answered: Nonnie, I swear every time they diagnose us as mentally ill or say we’re bitter hags, an LGBTQ angel gets his or her wings. We all know my beliefs, but there are MANY people that are like you and don’t know for sure about CC but sure as hell know Miarren isn’t a normal, healthy relationship. (Funny thing, I don’t remember anyone diagnosing Cassie as mentally ill. Cassie is alwasy the wallflower that nobody wants to dance with and she tries so hard to be part of the fun people. Last week she was sad because I hadn’t sent her a “hate” message (See comment in last post below) 

Even if I remove D from the situation, I would still think M is a lazy, spoiled toddler with no discernable work ethic coupled with a superiority complex that rivals the Cheeto in Command of the US.

You are absolutely correct. Our fandom just wants to be left alone. We don’t send hateful asks to the other side. We don’t have to. They feel they have the right to dox CCers because they don’t like what we say about M, a woman that would light a cigarette from the flames engulfing them and not call 911 to help them. I mean, honestly, it doesn’t get much lower than mocking someone’s death. Plus, as you correctly said, M put herself in the spotlight “dating” D. If she didn’t want that attention, she would have stayed in the background. There are plenty of celebrities married to non famous people and we don’t see them at every event like we do M. (It is BAFFLING to me that they can’t comprhend something as simple and obvious as the reasaon they “see Mia everywhere” is because they fucking stalk her and they hyperanalzye every photo Darren is in looking for her. If they started stalking Ben Feldman they would see his wife just as much as they see Mia).    

Bottom line is what they did to Abby was deplorable, but, just like their kween, they feel justified in doing whatever they want. This isn’t the first time they’ve crossed a line with regards to my friend, but it was the worst.

notes-from-nowhere Anon, they love to throw the guilt of their actions on our shoulders, it’s how they justify what they do to themselves. They need us to be the bad guys otherwise what is the only option left? (I never know what the hell Notes is trying to say- throw the guilt of our actions on their shoulders? I’d love an example of that. I can’t imagine what guilty action I put on their shoulder. As for needing them to be the bad guys or what do we have left? OMFG are you kidding me? We critcize the cc fandom for being misogynistic, homophobic, bullies who attack  Mia, Darren, Ricky and their own Nonnies. They have viscioulsy attacked people in their own fandom who dared to question them. But the biggest reason we push back is because THEY LIE. All the damn time. So what do we have left? Being on the right side, being correct, not lying, not needing to lie, and the joy of watching Darren live his best life)   

Leka got a couple of asks but her answers were weak, confusing and pointless. It’s clear she isn’t ready to take over as their leader. She repeated Abby’s main talking points, tried to use big words to sound smarter and basically ended up not making a lot of sense:

Anonymous asked: I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but I think the character on the HW poster holding the girl is D's character, it would fit if you look at the other guys on the poster, maybe this is already the first hint to show D's character is not gay and so technically not breaking the no more queer roles rule his team set for him. It won't make it any better because it's still a career on the bag of LGBTQ+ people with it's teams but it's technically not a broken rule. I just really need for things to change, I want them to so bad, it kills me seeing someone so kind in a situation like that, and I truly believe D is one of the kindest people in that horrible town. He deserves better than M, I wouldn’t even mind if he goes onto another beard but she and RR just need to go. I really think it’s crazy people still think everything HW is real and PR relationships don’t exist, I wished that place was just better and had a moral compass, people deserve more it kind of shows just how jaded this situation has made me, I can’t even enjoy amazing promo material without directly twisting it into something negative, I don’t want to be this way and if I feel like this I can’t even imagine how D must feel. He is stronger than I’ll ever be living through hell every day, even if he’s not ok he’s still here and holding on, I don’t know if I could in his position. Sorry for the long message and the unneeded negativity, I guess I just had to vent a little

*********************************

Leka answered: So let’s look at the way HW is described:

“Each character offers a unique glimpse behind the gilded curtain of Hollywood’s Golden Age, spotlighting the unfair systems and biases across race, gender and sexuality that continue to this day. Provocative and incisive, HOLLYWOOD exposes and examines decades-old power dynamics, and what the entertainment landscape might look like if they had been dismantled.”

I do consider this the very intriguing thing about the news. (And it just goes to show that believing everything you’re sold is being utterly and completely ignorant.) Let’s say you’re right because ofc it’s possible. How does R/aymond fit in here? Given the excessive way team shit has pushed that article, a technicality won’t be good enough. There has to be a better plan. This doesn’t match what’s been said in his name.

What I think is this doesn’t necessarily have to mean much. You know very well what you see doesn’t have to be the (full) truth. That doesn’t just apply to the real HW. Especially considering the time period of this show. And let’s not forget the pap pics we got at a gas station. This doesn’t rule out SB as an inspiration. I would advise anyone to read up on him. We don’t know at this point. As we keep saying, the best thing to do is to wait and see. I’m certainly interested in finding out more.

As time goes on, the danger of this situation keeps becoming even clearer to me. D deserves much, much better. He’s incredibly strong, but the most toxic person in his life needs to go and she’s more than welcome to take the jumping jackass with her. That’s definitely the most important thing right now. (I’m curious what the danger of Hollywood is?)

awesome-fanfictionada: @leka-1998I’m just wondering - it must have been D who got himself this job on HW, right? Couldn’t this have been done on purpose to counter that ridiculous statement - which wasn’t even accurate, if the source was that interview where he stated that he wouldn’t want to be a casting director? Could in this case RM be a friend?

leka-1998:  @awesome-fanfictionada Yes, he did that himself. Again. And he said the show’s been sold late in 2018. According to an article that came out later, it happened in February 2019. Not true.

HW has been a thing before that statement was made, which is indeed very different from the answer D himself gave during the interview. That’s what makes the article seem like sabotage by team shit. And standing in RM’s way is never a good idea. So while I will obviously never like him, I’m reserving judgment on his current role until we know more.

Anonymous asked: The underlying issue in general is really that social media has made it so people think they get an accurate glimpse into the lives of celebrities, when in reality social media, like everything else that is publicly released about them, is used as a marketing tool. People are actually more inauthentic than they've ever been because they feel pressure to maintain a certain image for social media at all times. So anyone who decides D is living honestly, it's because they want to believe he is.

Leka: True, nonnie. Just look at the text lines that are becoming more popular again. Not nearly as genuine as people want to believe. In D’s case, what has to be brought up? M. Oh Halloween and her amazing shopping skills praised on SM. The work fam honeymoon pic promoting the place they stayed at. Coa/chella for the H&M ad. Mardi Gras posted shortly after the mockery to promote the designer. I could obviously go on. Most of what we see on SM shows the person the 10 year crew wants him to be. And what looks like a split personality if you compare certain posts. Which brings me back to ‘they want to believe’, as what you’re saying clearly isn’t a secret. Anyone can choose to ignore it but at this point, if that’s the case even though you’re more or less paying attention, it’s really a conscious decision.

Oh btw, there’s a HW IG account now and it already has a D follow. Imagine that. R/oyalties co-stars, anyone?

Flowers didn’t get any asks. Amazing since she has more followers than I do and she bragged about getting more “notes” than me.  She did answer azscc who posted an odd rant that baffles me.  Who the fuck is azscc and who is posting anything about her? I realize I am not the only person in this fandom posting about ccers But I just checked all the blogs that I know of and nobody is talking about her; 

azsc  its so weird how chillarrens call me a bully while i only say something rude towards them if they write bullshit towards me. and its just ironic how chillarrens go around calling people bullies while they are the reason why tons of cc accounts use their accounts private or don’t post their opinions and etc. the real threat to the fandom are people like you. so instead of going around throwing shit on people and calling them “mental, delusional...” get a life. no cc believer goes around hunting for chillarren pics and insult the account owner so why don’t you all grow up and realize no one has to agree with your opinions. every crisscolfer blog/twitter page/insta acc basically stan accs never asked for your opinions on their pages so why don’t you just let it go? no one cares about what you all say or do so why are you forcing it this much?

call me a bully i am pretty much okay with that. its obvious that people are unable to understand basic sarcasm and irony and i am not judging because to actually understand what people say you have to at least have an average IQ level. and if you don’t have it, it’s okay but that doesn’t mean you can twist people’s words and post them all over the internet. but its lowkey really funny that i only had my instagram acc for something like 4/5 months and i received over 300 hate/insult/blackmail/death wish messages and etc. and who are you people to call us bullies? (Nobody is a Chillarren. Darren and Mia are married and Chris and Will are in a long-term relationsihp,  Nobody has to “ship” them in order to believe they are together. In America, we accept that when someone introduces their wife or their boyfriend they are telling the truth. It is customary to address that person as their wife or boyfriend respectively. The crisscolfers on the other hand, must use a fandom ship name because they are shipping two people who are not in a relationship and never were. All evidence indicates Chris and Darren are no long friends; they are nothing more than former co-workers-friendly and polite when they see one another but no longer involved in one another’s lives. Chris and Darren both have denied (more than once) that the were ever in a relationship).  .   

flowersintheattic254 I have never in my whole time here posted an anon to a Miarren account. I have no desire to. I’m confident in my beliefs.

The interesting thing for me is that I’ve been here for about four years now and in that time I’ve seen the head of the fandom disappear, other people disappear because their families have been doxed, established long-term cc blogs with a wealth of history deleted without warning. I myself have had my daughters threatened.  This sort of stuff doesn’t happen anywhere in the fandom but here here. If we are a bunch of delusional crazy middle-aged women then this shouldn’t happen. (Who was doxed? Who dissappered? It’s all “liar liar” with everything ccers say. In the last 4 years Abby has been the only leader of the cc fandom. Michelle left between 4 and 5 years ago because her outrageious cc comments threatened her ability to raise money for her little Klaine-fanfic rip-off movie. I vaguely remember someone asking flowers how her daugther’s would feel if they read what she writes- hardly a threat. If there was something more she never posted any proof. As for blogs being deleted- so was D-Criss News.  It happens. The only cc blog that I know of that disappeared was DisneyPrincessModelWorld’s original blog which had was a hot mess of lies and catfishing. She visciously bullied Mia. Hardly someone to mourn their blog being deleted). 

It’s shocking that an actor may lgbt causes such drama. (HUH?)

Flower’s comment is so disingenuous. While it is technically true -she hasn’t sent me anons, she HAS instead publically ridiculed me and frankly, I can’t see how that is any different? I’d say it’s worse because they wanted their followers to see what they wrote and the only way to ensure that is to post it on their blogs. Flowers and Abby posted many public “Michy” posts.  Here is her most recent: 

flowersintheattic254Oh and I guess Michy sent us all some hate today.

I guess I have way more followers than you and only about 4 that send hate. You haven’t for ages.

I think I have over 70,000 hits currently to my blog. I must be saying something interesting.

He’s been married allegedly for a year and people still doubt. That’s gotta hurt you. Anyway......

✌️

ajw720 Michy told me today today that the outing couldn’t possibly be promo, because JS was only cast in September!  What a moron who clearly doesn’t know how HW works.  Sweetheart, it was ANNOUNCED in September;)

I was waiting for a few more months, but in 4 years, since i have been tracking, i have almost a million! (976,695 to be precise).

It is amazing that so many people care about what us bat shit crazy, irrelevant, psychologically unstable, threatening, hateful tin hats have to say!  And that does not include people reading on their dash or that hit you on the app!  So yep, Michy, clearly what we are saying is being monitored by someone.  And clearing making people think!! But you keep wasting your time writing for your audience of 4:)

cassie102 I feel left out, Michy didn't come at me today. Must hurt like hell knowing you're a joke that perpetuates a bigger joke.

leka-1998 Birds of a fake feather flock together. When the right person says tomorrow’s Christmas, tomorrow’s Christmas. Get ready, everyone.

If I narrow it down to the last six months, about 10,000 btw. Hm strange.

flowersintheattic254 @ajw720 the number of hits you have give me oxygen. If Michy thinks they are haters then she is delusional. People know when they are being sold something fake and they look for answers.

[thepropertylovers]

5 Shows We're Watching During Quarantine (and 2 We're Looking Forward To)

We’re all home for the foreseeable future, and it seems like everyone is consuming more content than ever before. We end almost every night on the couch with popcorn (and fur babies) in our laps watching something to take our minds off of everything going on right now. It’s been a nice respite and a relaxing way to wind down each day. Here’s what’s keeping us entertained as of late:

War of the Worlds

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If you’ve seen the Tom Cruise movie of the same name and are looking for something similar, this is definitely not it. Another retelling of H.G. Wells’ classic novel, this new series is a different and fresh take on a story we’ve all seen before, but it feels so much more humanized; even the machines that are invading earth seem to have a soul and a purpose, though the series keeps you guessing on why exactly they’re here in the first place. Without giving anything away, War of the Worlds is slow, thrilling, and sincere, and it had us hooked from the first episode.

Watch on Epix

Little Fires Everywhere

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Peanut butter and jelly. Oatmeal and bananas. Reese & Kerry. Some things just go together and that’s just the way it is, and these two dynamic women starring in the same show is the pairing we never knew we needed. Everything about this series is dramatic, almost to the point of extreme, but that’s kind of the point. It touches on issues of race, single mothers, privilege, sexuality, and really just the struggles of being a parent in general. It gets the point across that you can be a good person, a good parent, and sometimes still make bad decisions. It’s set in the mid to late 90’s, so it has a sense of nostalgia to it and almost makes you long for a simpler time (for some reason we have it in our minds that the 90’s were a simpler time. don’t judge.). Plus, there’s a mystery throughout that we can’t wait to figure out!

Watch on Hulu

Killing Eve

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This show is everything. Season 3 just came out and continues the twisting games of life and death between Sandra Oh’s Eve Polastri and Jodi Comer’s Villanelle. It’s been such a welcoming, comforting return to see this show back for another season, especially now when almost nothing feels comforting. From Fleabag producer Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Killing Eve is about the infatuation between these two very different (but somehow connected) women: Eve, who works for MI6, and Villanelle, an assassin being chased by Eve. But the tides turn and suddenly the chaser becomes the chased, and so begins the back and forth between these two sexy, complicated, and flawed women. It’s hilarious and thrilling and weird and everything you need. Just make sure to watch with a glass of wine and popcorn and you’re set.

Watch on AMC, YouTube TV

Schitt’s Creek

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Created by father-son duo Dan & Eugene Levy, this easy-to-watch comedy is one of the funniest shows we’ve ever seen. It’s so absurd and bonkers and absolutely hilarious. Each episode is only 22 minutes, and you don’t necessarily have to watch them in order to enjoy it. Moira, the mom, played by the amazing Catherine O’Hara, might be our favorite TV mom of all time. Here’s a quick synposis to catch you up on the gist of the entire show, via Wikipedia: 

“The wealthy Rose family—video store magnate Johnny (Eugene Levy), his wife and former soap opera actress Moira (Catherine O'Hara), and their adult children David and Alexis (Dan Levy and Annie Murphy)—lose their fortune after being defrauded by their business manager. They are forced to rebuild their lives with their sole remaining asset: a small town named Schitt's Creek, which Johnny had bought for David as a joke birthday gift in 1991. The Roses relocate to Schitt's Creek, moving into two adjacent rooms in a run-down motel. As the family adjusts to their new lives, their well-to-do attitudes come into conflict with the more provincial residents of Schitt's Creek, including mayor Roland Schitt (Chris Elliott), his wife Jocelyn (Jenn Robertson), and the motel's manager Stevie Budd (Emily Hampshire).”

Watch on Netflix.

Home Before Dark

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An Apple TV+ hidden gem! What originally drew us to this show was the trailer, which featured a small coastal town, a big old house, and an overlying mystery that needed to be solved. What more could you ask for in a show? Based on the real-life story of a 9 year old journalist named Hilde, this fun series at first seems like a children’s show, but after the first episode you’ll realize it’s anything but. After leaving New York City, Hilde (a 9 year old journalist who self-publishes her own newspaper) and her family move back to her father’s hometown to start their lives over after her dad loses his job. Little does she know when she moves there that she will soon be solving a decades-long murder and will stop at nothing to uncover the truth. She’s brave, relentless, and doesn’t care what she risks. A true icon. Definitely worth the watch!

Watch on Apple TV+

PLUS 2 shows we can’t wait for:

Hollywood

Ryan Murphy’s much anticipated Netflix Original series comes out next week and we’re SO EXCITED. Anything Ryan Murphy creates is always so addicting and top-notch, and we’ve been looking forward to this since we first heard about it. The series has a ton of actors you’ll recognize from the Murphy universe like Darren Criss, David Corenswet, and Dylan McDermott, and also prominently features a few gay storylines, so it’s basically a no-brainer to tune in. Here’s the synopsis via Wikipedia:

“The show follows a group of aspiring actors and filmmakers in post-World War II Hollywood as they try to make it in Tinseltown — no matter the cost. Each character offers a unique glimpse behind the gilded curtain of Hollywood's Golden Age, spotlighting the unfair systems and biases across race, gender and sexuality that continue to this day. ... Hollywood exposes and examines decades-old power dynamics, and what the entertainment landscape might look like if they had been dismantled.”

Watch on Netflix May 1

Defending Jacob

Another Apple TV+ show! When we first saw the trailer for this a few months ago, we were immediately hooked. Did Jacob do it? Will Chris Evans play a convincing father to a teenager? We had questions, and we wanted more. The miniseries tells the story of a family dealing with the accusations that their 14 year old son is a murderer, so naturally there’s already a mystery surrounding the show and, if this list is any indication, we’re drawn to mysteries that keep us guessing until the end. So excited for this one!

Watch on Apple TV+ April 24

What are you watching? We’d love to add to the list and start a new series to lose ourselves in each night! xx

P&T