#Malaysia Importers List

[emmawilliams12]

In our interconnected world, the exchange of goods and services across borders is crucial for shaping the global economy. Malaysia, a key player in international trade, contributes significantly. Analyzing Malaysia's trade data, including the Importers List and Export Data, provides valuable insights into economic trends, market dynamics, and the global economy's overall health. Explore the article "The Impact of Malaysia Trade Data on the Global Economy" to gain more knowledge.

[sillystappen]

The Daniel Ricciardo Race Watchlist

Want to watch the best of Daniel Ricciardo on F1TV (or whatever 'totally legal site' you use), then here below the cut is a complete guide to the best most awesome races by Daniel Ricciardo! Please read the IMPORTANT before selecting races!

Daniel's Career Path

2011 - HRT

2012 -> 2013 - Toro Rosso

2014 -> 2018 - Red Bull Racing

2019 -> 2020 - Renault

2021 -> 2022 - McLaren

2023 - Alpha Tauri

2024 - Visa Cash App RB

IMPORTANT: Races in which he was on the podium with Max Verstappen are in blue. Races he was on the podium without Max are in pink. Races in which he did not podium are in red. Races that he won are in green.

2011 Season - 27th

Great Britain - this is Daniel's first ever F1 race!

2012 Season - 18th

Australia - Daniel scores his first ever points!

Japan - Daniel has said this is one the races he's most proud of.

2013 Season - 14th

China - one of the best results this season

Italy - one of the best results this season

2014 Season - 3rd

Australia - though this is listed as a podium race, Daniel was later disqualified due to fuel flow reasons.

Spain - this is Daniel's first podium!

Monaco

Canada - Daniel's first win!

Great Britain

Germany - this another race Daniel has said he's proud of

Hungary - this race got my friend into F1

Belgium

Italy - recommendation from reddit

Singapore

USA

Abu Dhabi - recommendation from reddit

2015 Season - 8th

Hungary

Singapore

USA - recommendation from reddit

2016 Season - 3rd

Australia - home race points!

Bahrain - recommendation from me

China - recommendation from reddit

Spain - recommendation from me

Monaco - while this is a podium, it is incredibly frustrating to watch so keep that in mind

Austria - recommendation from me

Hungary

Germany

Belgium

Singapore

Malaysia - this is also a win for Daniel as well as the first time he podiums with Max!

USA

Mexico

2017 Season - 5th

Spain

Monaco

Canada

Azerbaijan

Austria

Great Britain - big recommendation from me

Belgium

Italy - recommendation from @rickybaby

Singapore

Malaysia - maxiel podium with a p1 for Max

Japan - maxiel podium with a p2 and p3

2018 Season - 6th

China

Azerbaijan - well done, baku.

Spain - recommendation from me

Monaco - AND ITS REDEMPTION DAY FOR DANIEL RICCIARDO

Hungary - recommendation from me

Japan - recommendation from me

2019 Season - 9th

Italy - recommendation from me

Mexico - recommendation from me

USA - recommendation from me

Brazil - recommendation from me

2020 Season - 5th

Great Britain - recommendation from me

Belgium - recommendation from me

Tuscany - recommendation from reddit

Eifel - maxiel podium with a p2 and p3

Emilia-Romagna

Sakhir - recommendation from me

2021 Season - 8th

France - recommendation from me

Austria - recommendation from me

Great Britain - recommendation from me

Italy - Daniel's most recent win

Russia - recommendation from me

USA - recommendation from me

Saudi Arabia - recommendation from me

2022 Season - 11th

Australia - recommendation from me

Emilia-Romagna Sprint - recommendation from me

Azerbaijan - recommendation from me

Austria - recommendation from me

Singapore - recommendation from reddit

Mexico - recommendation from reddit

2023 Season - 17th

Hungary - recommendation from me

Mexico - recommendation from me

Abu Dhabi - recommendation from me

2024 Season - ?

Miami Sprint - recommendation from me

Canada - recommendation from me

Austria - recommendation from me

Belgium - recommendation from me

Singapore - you know why

If you have any race recommendations leave them in the comments or reblogs and I will add them! For now this is my DR3 Race Masterlist. I hope you find this useful!

[ofstardustanddreaming]

a.n. - i swear i'm getting to the poly hiromi and nanami series lol, but in the meantime, here's a small something. i'm currently in arizona celebrating a wedding, and it's making me think about miscellaneous marriage headcanons with some of the characters 😩😩i would also love some requests soon, i'm kind of dry on them :(

satoru, who's nervous about asking you to be his partner for life. he fiddles with the ring box in his pocket, lost in thought about asking you to marry him. he looks your across the table at the restaurant he reserved for the two of you, loving the way your eyes glitter when he finally kneels and gives you the most heart felt speech, loving how you throw yourself at him, nodding your yes into the crook of his neck.

suguru, who is as invested as you are in creating a picture perfect wedding, one that encapsulates what you both want in the ceremony. he loves planning, and you love savoring the early morning look of suguru, with his black rectangular reading glasses, and his hair pulled into a low bun, bringing his coffee to his lips as he glances over the list of music for the DJ to play.

kento, who takes you on a 2 week honeymoon to malaysia after the wedding, choosing to skip his mission to shibuya, valuing the little time he gets with you. he loves wants nothing more than to kick off married life other than to spend the most relaxing days at the beach, glad he doesn't have to deal with the overtime found in his line of work.

hiromi, who wants a more quiet reception, filled with very close friends and a handful of important family members. he's not one for flashy weddings, loving the intimacy of knowing who's at the wedding, loving your attire as you talk with your family members, not minding the slight teasing he was barely listening to as he watched your merry glow, feeling like he was going slightly dumb when you caught his eye and flashed a smile his way.

toji, who is much more of a spontaneous spirit when he proposes, opting to ask you when he looks at you helping megumi, and realizes how deeply in love with you he is. his heart is warm, seeing you double take, wondering if you heard him correctly, and seeing how megumi looked hopeful you'd say yes. (he loved how seemlessly you blend into his family life.)

shiu, who dotes on you anytime you're stressed about the wedding planning, offering to take you on some drives to help reduce your stress. it's these moments before the wedding that shiu revels in, the quietness in the early dawn or late dusk, the small talk you would both make, from talking about memories all the way to what you both want in your future.

choso, who tears up when he sees you walk down the aisle, overjoyed to finally have found his one. he wants to commit to memory the way you walk down the aisle, blurry vision be damned, loving how ethereal you manage to look in your dream wedding attire, and he's excited to venture forth into a stable future with you.

shoko, who chain smokes the night before the wedding, worried about the future and worried about being good enough to be with you. it's why she's glad that you go out to smoke with her, both of you talking your worries into the night sky, letting the dawn of your wedding break over the horizon as you both feel lighter, ready to commit to one another.

[lesbianchemicalplant]

But The Wind Rises declines to challenge mainstream Japanese society’s distortions and denials of its wartime atrocities. Worse, it echoes Japan’s morally dishonest stance that it was a victim, rather than a perpetrator, of a global war — a whitewashed version of history that the film now imports to every country where it plays. Consider the first scene. Jiro is a young boy; in his dreams, he heads for the skies in a wooden aircraft. A constellation of black dots appears above him, soon revealed to be a hangar’s worth of missiles and bombs. They dangle from a zeppelin embossed with the Iron Cross. The explosives fall on Jiro, reducing his plane to splinters. The rest of the film is suffused with this fear of German aggression, and it’s an ethically mendacious choice of a bogeyman on Miyazaki’s part. In The Wind Rises, the alliance between Germany and Japan — the original Axis of Evil — is conveniently forgotten, as scene after scene shows the Japanese bombarded by Teutonic suspicion, condescension, and hostility. Reframing the Japanese as the victims of Nazi racism deflects attention from the heinousness of the Japanese Imperial Army. But Miyazaki’s elevation of his own countrymen as morally loftier to the Nazis is only credible when the viewer forgets (or is unaware) that the Japanese military justified killing 30 million people across Asia with its own ideology of ethnic superiority. The Wind Rises continues this blame evasion throughout, evincing an ideal of pacifism while positioning Japan as the target of Chinese and American assault. We see Japanese planes downed by a Chinese foe in a mid-film reverie — a shockingly insensitive image given that Japan was invading China during this time, not the other way around. Later, an American bomber floats above a graveyard of burned-out aircraft over the defeated Japanese empire. In contrast, no Japanese pilot is ever seen shooting at an enemy, even though Jiro’s most famous invention, the Zero plane, was designed and used solely for military purposes. The consequences of his work — that is, corpses — are likewise absent. In the film, Jiro never expresses sympathy for the people his people killed. His grief is strictly reserved for the deaths of his planes. His preference to mourn his Zeros, rather than the planes’ victims, illustrates his soft-handed callousness. The bloodlessness of the film contributes to its whitewashing of an incredibly bloody history. No surprise, then, that The Wind Rises has already created an uproar among South Koreans (who haven't yet seen the film),  arguably the biggest recipients of Japan’s 40-year colonial cruelty (1905-1945). The Wind Rises’ specious pose of self-victimization will and should disgust the living survivors and their descendants in the myriad other countries Japan invaded during World War II: China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia; the list goes on. It’s hard to believe that, were The Wind Rises set in an interwar Germany and focused on an idealistic dreamer who just wanted to design the world’s most beautiful U-boat and didn’t care a whit about the concentration camps, it would receive a similarly adoring reception here in the U.S. (At the time of writing, the film enjoys a 82 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has appeared on several best-of-year lists.) One would hope that critics who aren’t suffering from Japan’s culture of mass delusion about its war crimes would take into consideration the warped version of history Miyazaki has to accommodate and, to a large extent, perpetuates.

(2013)

[sprachgefuehle]

While it's funny to make fun of this very specific US-type of ignorance towards other countries and it's important to discuss how it's tied to cultural hegemony, I don't like the implication that sometimes comes up in these types of posts that people from other countries are never ignorant about the world (this is especially but not exclusively grinding my gears when it comes from other western europeans).

My classmates in Spain once asked me if we had internet in Germany. A friend of mine got asked by someone (can't remember which nationality) if Hitler was still our president. I have another friend from Uruguay who went to school in many different countries around the world who often got asked why she didn't look African if she was born in an African country (Uruguay). One time I was playing a game with some German friends where you have to list as many things in a category as you can think of and one of my friends couldn't think of a single country in Africa except "Malaysia...maybe?". We tried to help her out by saying "Isn't there a country in the SOUTH of AFRICA that you know?" but that didn't work and afterwards she told us that "South Africa sounds like a made up country". We were all in our mid-twenties at this point. She already had a bachelor's degree.

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: I Told Sunset About You (ITSAY) Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, in a long post, I work my way through Nadao Bangkok’s cinematic motherlode: ITSAY. Thanks to everyone for your patience with this post: I did major due diligence with it, with the absolutely TREMENDOUS help of @telomeke, @lurkingshan​, @wen-kexing-apologist​, and @bengiyo​ to ensure I had facts and analysis correct. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to these dear friends for holding me down and offering your sharp eyes.]

To dive into a topic as complicated, as beautiful, as reflective, as impactful as a macro-analysis of I Told Sunset About You is to take on...a lot. As I’ve discussed with @lurkingshan, from a filmmaking perspective, as so many of us who have watched ITSAY know -- it occupies the top spot of Thai BLs by way of pure cinematic quality. (If you follow my late-night liveblogs, you’ll know that this was the first show -- not even Bad Buddy did this to me -- where I needed to stop multitasking, to just sit and watch the episodes. No drama has done that for me in the years since I became a multitasking mom.)

As with 2gether and Still 2gether last week, this watch of ITSAY is a definite milestone on the OGMMTVC list, and I really thank @shortpplfedup, @bengiyo, @wen-kexing-apologist, @lurkingshan, @telomeke, and others in advance for what we’ve talked about in direct conversation regarding ITSAY, its many influential tentacles, and the influences that the show itself may have come from.

I’d like to touch upon a couple of frames to structure this piece, but the caveat here is that by no way will I consider myself an ITSAY expert, because there’s a tremendous fandom that knows much more about the Nadao Bangkok studio, about PP Krit and Billkin Putthipong, about the director and screenwriter, Boss Naruebet, and much more. I will have a substantial postscript to capture loose notes and learnings that didn’t make it into the main analysis. 

Inspired in part by direct conversations with @telomeke and @lurkingshan, I’d like to dive into the following: 

1) From a question that @lurkingshan posed to me: what shows from the start of the OGMMTVC watchlist -- and, more broadly, what art out there -- do I think spoke to ITSAY and its development, 2) The important story of Chinese migration to locations like Phuket, Penang (in Malaysia), and other locations on the Malay Peninsula, and how Chinese and Thai-Malay-Chinese-Peranakan cultures flavored ITSAY’s storytelling, 3) A discussion of internal and external homophobia on Teh’s experience, and how his conversation with Hoon encapsulated our understanding of homophobia, filial piety, and socioeconomic pressures in Teh’s particular life, timeline, and culture,

and more, I’m sure. Let’s boogie.

I warned some folks prior to this review that my thoughts on what may have spoken to ITSAY may turn some people off, so I offer this as a flare to y’all in advance. Acknowledging that episodes three and four of ITSAY were as emotional as anything I had ever seen in Asian BLs, Teh was just such a PERFECTLY written character. (The ITSAY supporting documentary episodes state that the show was in part inspired by Billkin’s and PP’s personal lives, and I know there’s fanon that the show was meant to deeply depict their personal stories with each other. I don’t have primary source material to point to regarding this, so I’ll leave it alone, with the understanding that there are interpretations of the show that read between the lines to bring that lens in. I acknowledge the existence of the theories, but will not dive into that here.)

So, in regards to Teh, as I chatted with @lurkingshan as I was watching the series, I just kept thinking to myself... hello, Fuse. 

CHAOS BOYS! (Fire Boys? No, no, chaos boys, ha.) 

This is where I think my analytical read might get a little controversial with folks, because to compare Make It Right to ITSAY -- from a LOOKS perspective, CERTAINLY from a storyline and narrative structure perspective -- no, it’s not there, not by a long shot.

But when I wonder about what ENERGIES and inspirations opened the door for Boss Narubet to WRITE the way that he wrote, and to DIRECT the way that he directed, Teh’s ENTIRE EMOTIONAL PROCESS AND BREAKDOWNS, his back-and-forth, his hesitations -- I saw chaos, and when I think of chaos, I think of Fuse.

I think of Fuse, and how Fuse was held back, particularly in Make It Right 2, regarding Fuse’s CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ASSUMPTION that he couldn’t break up with his girlfriend, all while being in a nascent give-and-take, back-and-forth relationship with Tee. And how that ASSUMPTION held BACK the full expression of commitment, honesty, and trust that Fuse and Tee ended up having at the end of MIR2. Fuse was being rather unsophisticated while he was struggling with this, and he was bringing Tee along, frustratingly, for that ride.  

Something that you said to me also really resonated, @bengiyo, in conversation with @lurkingshan, about comparing TeeFuse and TehOh, in that Fuse and Teh weren’t necessarily SPARKLING or GIFTED presences. As you two both pointed out to me: Teh had to work much, much harder than Oh-aew for the talents that Teh achieved, and somehow, chaotically, he managed to lose his grip on those talents and achievements as he gave up his hard-earned opportunities for the sake of the overall-better-off Oh-aew. MESSY, BRO.

Besides MIR/MIR2, there’s somewhere else where I saw chaos. @bengiyo, you pointed out to me that you felt that you saw more of Thai queer cinema in ITSAY than in BL. I don’t think ITSAY *doesn’t* speak to BL and vice versa (I don’t think there’s anyone who thinks that, considering what Nadao Bangkok achieved with this show), but when I think of chaos -- and of the structures of storytelling that allowed us to get such an in-depth experience of Teh -- I also think of 2019′s Dew the Movie, and to a different extent, the before-its-time show in 2019′s He’s Coming To Me. 

ITSAY, Dew, and HCTM have:

a) multiple chaotic leads (including actual ghosts and dudes who see ghosts),  b) overarching cultural backgrounds rooted in extremely specific Asian cultures and/or practices and/or time periods, and c) interplays of emotional revelations vis à vis those specific cultural backgrounds.

 - Fuse introduced to us, way back in 2016 and 2017, an internal holding back of an emotional engagement with Tee that was rooted in internal homophobia by way of his negotiation with what Fuse’s girlfriend expected of him, and what HE expected of HIMSELF regarding HAVING a girlfriend, while falling in love with a young man. 

- Dew featured two young men in chaos, in 1990s rural Thailand, one of whom (Dew) who had previously lived in a different city where, likely, his sexual orientation would not have been met with such dystopic scrutiny as it did in the movie. The movie made clear that Dew wanted a solid relationship with Phop, but with both Dew’s and Phop’s families and cultural expectations holding them back, they both met untimely and unfortunate ends that hammered, in extremes, the perils, in cinema, of being gay and out in an incredibly restrictive and old-fashioned Asian society.

- HCTM featured a young man (Thun) who could see ghosts, along with the ghost that he ends up falling in love with (Med). The revelation of Thun’s being able to see Med is deeply connected to Thun’s Thai-Chinese Buddhist practices, and how his family has engaged with spirituality over the course of his life. While the structure of the show has often been described as having a happy ending, I argue the opposite -- that the ending is left open-ended, as it so often is in some of P’Aof Noppharnach’s shows, with the assumed understanding on behalf of an Asian audience that Med will one day be reborn and will leave Thun’s side (unless he’s reborn into another person that knows Thun) (hello, Until We Meet Again). 

So what do all of these shows/movies -- ITSAY, Make It Right/MIR2, Dew, and HCTM -- have in common?

ITSAY, Dew, and HCTM have the common background of an old-fashioned culture serving as a MAJOR anchor to their stories. Their stories are leveraged by the micro-level, individual-level interplay between their main characters and old-fashioned worlds, complete with old-fashioned notions, assumptions, and expectations. ITSAY, Dew, and HCTM negotiate boundaries with these cultural guardrails, and we see -- Teh at the end of episode 4, Thun on the rooftop in episode 5, Dew talking to his mother -- what those expectations and boundaries have done internally to our dear young men. 

Make It Right’s Fuse, way back in 2016, internalized this slightly differently, without us seeing as deeply the WORLD in which he grew up. The directors and screenwriters New Siwaj and Cheewin Thanamin gave us a guy in school with a girlfriend. FUSE’S world, that we see, is a school world, so apropos for that time of Thai BLs, complete with very heterosexual expectations for a young man WITH a girlfriend. And Fuse struggles with his push-and-pull throughout the two seasons.

What I love about the OGMMTVC project is that by having watched these projects before ITSAY, I can somewhat predict what the journey of chaos, by way of internal revelation, will be for these characters. 

However.

What ITSAY DESTROYED for me, as compared to these dramas and movies, was the high level of acting that Billkin leveraged to get Teh to the emotional levels that he reached. Teh, episode 4, and Thun, episode 5 = handshakes. 

This is where ITSAY’s structure just brings ITSAY to the top of the cinematic list and runs away from everything else. I posted in my liveblogging that the ending of episode 3 blew me away with a subversion of the four-act structure of screenwriting. @bengiyo corrected me to say that it was, instead, a rare example of Thai BLs achieving a successful five-act structure. 

Just -- fuck. 

You combine this UTTERLY FUCKING BRILLIANT STORYTELLING STRUCTURE, NARRATIVE STRUCTURING PAR FUCKING EXCELLENCE, ALONG WITH BILLKIN’S PORTRAYAL OF TEH IN HEAT AND CHAOS, and I’m eating, fam. Five-star Michelin tasting menu-level. 

But before I start that meal, there’s even more that ITSAY did to really hammer in what I’m referencing by way of the anchors of old-fashioned culture to this story, which, clearly, Boss and Nadao Bangkok value, in the show’s indirect commentary on Chinese culture and migration in Thailand, and what it meant for Teh and Oh-aew to grow up in Phuket and prepare to leave for Bangkok. (If you haven’t watched ITSAY, I highly recommend that you plan on watching the supplementary documentary material, because those docs give a ton of insight into the Thai-Malay-Chinese background of the show. As a SE Asian homey, those revelations gave me the wonderful warm and familiar vibes.)

Dear @telomeke (I don’t know what I’d do without you, friend!) helped me to understand, back in my HCTM days, that I inherently know more about Chinese migration, immigration, and culture into Southeast Asia than I previously gave myself credit for as a part-Malaysian, because many of the migratory patterns and cultural assimilations are similar between Thailand and Malaysia. I appreciated that confirmation, and had my inspector’s hat on during my watch and rewatch of ITSAY. 

I’ve spoken with @lurkingshan and @neuroticbookworm about the impact of migration and diasporic existence, in that, I think, oftentimes, immigrants to another country often hold a more conservative view of the cultures they bring with them -- in order to hold onto the tenets of those cultures, and to keep those tenets from getting influenced or maybe even watered down by the new environment in which immigrants are living. (My example to Shan and NBW was that I find that South Asian immigrants are often MORE conservative than my relatives in my homelands -- so as to keep a tight grip on assimilation, or, say, moral/ethical weakening by way of Western culture.)

I think the background of Phuket and EVERYTHING it lent to the show...

- Teh’s mom selling Hokkien mee at a stall storefront and the boys eating it in Teh’s old-fashioned house, - The old-fashioned o-aew dessert shop, selling a Hokkien Chinese dessert, which is often preceded by a shot of the “Phuket Old Town” sign, - Teh’s mom’s traditional Chinese-Peranakan outfits, particularly when she’s celebrating Teh and Hoon’s successes, - The tight streets and alleys,

...all of it, visually and culturally, reminded us that the boys live in a world that was DEEPLY INFLUENCED by the way back when. I posit that Teh’s mom is the encapsulation of this kind of old-fashioned culture, from the architectural style of her Hokkien mee stall, to the clothes she wears, to the heavy decorations and rugs and furniture of her old-fashioned house -- to her old-fashioned notions of filial piety that both her sons will be successful and will help to take care of her as she ages. I posit that this old-fashioned mindset also likely led Teh to believe that Teh’s mom would not accept him for liking men, which I will delve into more in a bit.

I mentioned cultural assimilation earlier: I brought up Penang, Malaysia, earlier, because I’ve spent time in Penang -- and Penang was referenced by Boss in the ITSAY documentaries as being similar to Phuket by way of cultural structure. @telomeke educated me on the tin-trade-influenced links from Phuket to the Malaysian towns of Penang and Kuala Lumpur, all towns that experienced heavy immigration from China and feature the strong presence of Chinese-Malay-Peranakan cultures in their social fabrics. The Peranakan population developed when the first Chinese immigrants to these regions began marrying the local ethnic Thai and Malay residents, creating a brand-new culture, complete with unique foods, clothing, architecture, and much more. 

Having not been to Phuket yet, I believe Boss. As well, I want to note -- very important to me as a part-Malaysian -- that Boss referenced Teh’s nickname as the Malay word for tea. @telomeke​ noted for me this distinction as one that’s notable for how ITSAY differentiates the culture within the show -- again, a culture that’s influenced by Chinese and Malay migratory history -- against the backdrop of Bangkok, where tea is not “teh,” but rather is called “cha,” the Thai word for tea. [The most famous “teh” drink of Malaysia is teh tarik, a sweet, creamy, and strong tea drink that you see everywhere in Malaysia. While o-aew is a distinctly Chinese-style dessert, teh tarik comes from Indian immigrants to Malaysia (and is usually drunk with roti canai, another Indian import to Malaysia)]. 

In other words: we are talking a TREMENDOUS, a TREMENDOUS amount of references to cultural mixing, development, and assimilation here, all INTENTIONALLY placed by Boss Narubet and his screenwriting team -- and all of this serving as a reflection against what Teh and Oh-aew will experience as being “different” in their futures in Bangkok, where this Thai-Chinese-Malay cultural differential will make them different when they get to college. (Not having seen I Promised You The Moon yet, I wonder if IPYTM sets up Teh and Oh-aew as potential country mice, à la Ji Hyun and Joon Pyo in The Eighth Sense.)

One more pertinent note of cultural intermixing by way of the historical Thai-Chinese-Malay linkages. @bengiyo was surprised that I didn’t initially exclaim at the presence of hijab- and songkok-clad Muslim women and men eating at Teh’s mom’s Hokkien mee stall; Teh and Oh-aew’s friend, Phillip, is also shown with his Muslim parents. It’s funny, @bengiyo, as I said to you: because I was watching ITSAY with such a trained eye towards spotting the Thai-Chinese-Malay cultural mixing, seeing Muslims on screen did NOT ring a bell of differentials because -- I expect to see them there, in those kinds of spaces, anyway. (In fact, seeing Muslims on Thai television is rare, which I will get into more in the postscript.)

So we have: MANY CULTURES MIXING OVER MANY GENERATIONS. Migratory patterns intertwining. Indications of physical and emotional movement. And even though, and even DESPITE, these cultures mixing, we ALSO HAVE an OVERARCHING message of old-fashioned customs and ways of living that dominate the lives of the children in the show -- ESPECIALLY Teh. Teh and Oh-aew -- literally, their NAMES reference places ELSEWHERE than Phuket and Thailand. Phuket’s old-fashioned roots. Teh’s mom SELLS a dish that comes from somewhere else (the Hokkien Chinese population mostly hails from Fujian, China, as its origin).  

What happens with migration and immigration? Cultures collide and combine -- social mores and expectations change -- one’s standards of HOW TO LIVE ONE’S LIFE changes. 

Teh and Oh-aew, during the entire series, are facing a moment in time where THEIR lives, THEIR cultures, THEIR micro-interactions WITH THEIR cultures, ARE GOING TO CHANGE, definitively, by way of their burgeoning same-sex relationship. Teh and Oh-aew are already different in Thailand by way of their cultural backgrounds, as I’ve established -- and now, with a potential public revelation of their relationship, will they be even more different. And their families -- especially Teh’s mom, but Oh-aew’s family as well -- are going to collide with the very PRESENT present vis à vis their boys and their love. 

As this happens with migration and immigration, CHANGE WILL HAPPEN vis à vis Teh and Oh-aew’s queer revelations as well. 

Boss focused on the aspects of Phuket that were anchors to the culture that Teh and Oh-aew were raised in -- an immigrant culture, a migrant culture from China, that has had a long hold over many, many towns and societies in Thailand. We didn’t see the modern 7-11s that we know are there in Phuket, serving the tourists of these towns. 

And, just like the physical dystopia of Dew, and even vis à vis the spiritual practices built into He’s Coming To Me, the slice of Old Town Phuket that we SAW as that anchor was a HEAVY PRESENCE in Teh’s life -- it was PERFECTLY matched with the old-fashioned, conservative ANGER and DISAPPOINTMENT that we saw in Teh’s mom in episode 4, when Teh shares that he dropped out of university for Oh-aew. That anchor, to me, was meant to SMASH into, FEED into Teh’s overwhelming emotionality at his queer revelation, and at the revelation that serving his mother via filial piety would be automatically made more difficult, thus maximizing the impact of his internalized homophobia and his fear of recognizing his love and attraction for Oh-aew.

COUPLE THAT with the previous hints -- and then the SMASHING WRECKING BALL -- of the visual depths of Oh-aew’s own realizations earlier in episode 4, his own internally different place, the way he reveals himself to the world vis à vis the fast Instagram post of him wearing the red bra. And how Teh reacts to it. And how it sets off such an unreal chain of emotional unraveling for Teh, the SECOND of that episode, even before he goes to Bangkok to drop out. 

WHOA.

THIS, TO ME WAS FUCKING STUNNING

and very important to me to see as a South/Southeast Asian. WHEW.

And, good lord. How Hoon comes in at the end for Teh. Hoon, the eldest son, the one who has very quietly borne the financial responsibility that his mom, Teh’s mom, too, has placed on Hoon’s shoulders, naturally, through generations of family custom. (Super duper thanks to @lurkingshan for talking me through this in detail with me.)

And Hoon gives his family, his little bro, Teh, comfort. How Hoon says, listen. Mom’s gonna be mad if and when you tell her about Oh-aew and your feelings for me. But guess what? She’s gonna come around. You’re a crybaby, Teh, but I’m here for you.

Hoon knows that Teh’s mom will come around -- because Hoon is also a part of the next generation of change, much like his Thai-Malay-Chinese-Peranakan community before him -- as he brings his Japanese girlfriend home to his mother and brother. (THANK YOU, @wen-kexing-apologist, for pointing this out!)

Teh’s mom, too, will move. She will move from her old-fashioned mindset, to migrate to a new mindset, where she will accept her son. Teh needed to hear that, to know that that movement would be possible.

Just like the movement of the many swirling cultures around Teh and Oh-aew, the hustle of Bangkok before them, nipping at their lives like the ocean to the beach. 

What ITSAY captured for me was a cinematic moment of movement on so many levels. It was a pulsating reflection of change. It was meant and designed to insidiously shock viewers out of complacency. Like a beanstalk climbing from the ground, the movement begot movement to these two young men beginning to address and empty themselves of the homophobia that kept them back, Teh especially. 

GAH, THEIR MOVING PHYSICALITY, IT NEVER STOPPED -- the end of episode 2 on the boat, the end of episode 3 in Teh’s room, GAWD -- Teh’s ABSOLUTE HORMONAL DRUNKENNESS, Oh-aew’s STARE AFTER STARE AFTER STARE, Oh-aew’s SILENT DEVASTATION AT THE END OF EPISODE 3, the way Teh would nod and FLOP his head uncontrollably in desire, the nuzzles, the sniffs, the uncontrolled reaches -- GAH. It gives me the shivers. 

It was a lot.

ITSAY was just -- y’all know it. It was fantastic. While HCTM was before its time, I feel that ITSAY was RIGHT ON TIME. It brought so many elements of this GORGEOUS, HISTORIC, culturally Southeast Asian experience into the intersection of the queer lens, as well as the *migratory* lens of the Southeast Asian region specifically. It showed us, from a micro-perspective, the very tremendous macro-level implications and pressures of filial piety, of internalized homophobia, of the huge socioeconomic expectations that families have on Asian students to succeed in education, and so much more. IT WAS *DEFINITIVELY INTERSECTIONAL*, MORE SO THAN ANY BL BEFORE ITS TIME.

Yet again, for me, just like Bad Buddy, just like Until We Meet Again, I have another show in my arsenal that makes me proud to be an Asian watching these shows -- and in ITSAY, I feel particularly proud that a slice of my own personal culture, as an Malaysian, made it in there, intentionally. I will FOREVER, and ever, be grateful to ITSAY for that.

-------

I’d like to offer this postscript as a means of making some quick points that @telomeke, @bengiyo, @lurkingshan, and @wen-kexing-apologist shared with me as I was writing this review -- and I thank them all deeply for reading drafts of this post before publication. 

1) I was previously unaware of the history and current state of Islamic culture in Thailand until ITSAY and Be My Favorite included women wearing hijabs in their shows. This is an important slice of culture for me to know about, as I’m part-Malaysian, where Islam is the dominant religion. @telomeke shared with me that the majority Muslim population in Thailand is in southern Thailand (although, of course, Muslims live across Thailand), and that there have historically been separatist efforts in those southern provinces that have often led to violence. 

There are many reasons why discrimination of Muslims exist in Thailand, as it does around the world, including references to the separatist efforts in the southern provinces. As well, ethnic Thais can trace their heritage back to various towns and communities within China, thus possibly making northern Thailand, with its proximity to China, potentially more lauded in Thai culture, and contributing even more to a perception that southern Thailand, with its Muslim population, as potentially “less desirable.” (And I want to take a second to note @telomeke​‘s excellent point to me that “Chinese” as a catch-all word is often incomplete, as Han Chinese make up a sizable portion of Thailand’s population, but as we see in ITSAY, the Hokkien Chinese population also flourishes in certain parts of the country, and there are populations of Teochew and Hakka Chinese as well, as there are in Malaysia.)

All of this combined -- the geographic proximities to China, the places where various populations have settled, from the places that various populations of Thais track their heritages, plus global and/or popular misconceptions and stereotypes of “other” communities -- can contribute to discrimination of Muslims in Thailand. Of course, that is not a universal statement, as we do see Muslims beginning to show up in Thai drama art, which is heartening. To me, it strikes me as more realistic for the region to see Muslims on screen, but I don’t know Thailand well enough to say that for sure (that’s my Malaysian-side talking). I really want to thank @telomeke for taking me on SUCH a deep dive with insight into this part of Thai culture that I think is very necessary and fascinating. (Politics in Thailand is quite complicated at the moment, but at this very second, Thailand’s current Parliament speaker, from the Move Forward party, is Thai Muslim, with a Malay Muslim name -- Wan Muhamed Noor Matha. Very cool, but this is going to change soon, as Move Forward will make way for another political party to take control of the government.)

2) If you know me well enough, I cannot leave food well enough alone in our wonderful dramas (exhibit A: Moonlight Chicken and khao man gai, exhibit B: coffee/kopi in The Promise, lol), and I want to make sure that we were all aware back in 2020, and/or make you aware now, that Hokkien mee is a VERY regional dish, with styles unique to each town in which it is famous. @telomeke, I know you feel differently, but Hokkien mee from Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia is my.... it’s my heaven, my soul, my heart, HA!

Here’s some linkies to get you educated. And also! Oh-aew prefers his Hokkien mee with rice vermicelli noodles, instead of the usual, thicker egg noodles. You know what I like to do if I see that a stall has the two styles of noodles available: I like to get them mixed together. Hokkien mee, Hokkien prawn mee noodle soup, curry laksa -- I like the best of both worlds of noodles in my bowl. YUM.

Phuket Hokkien mee KL Hokkien mee Penang Hokkien mee (this one is the prawn noodle soup, not the fried noodles -- omfg so good) Singapore Hokkien mee (note the lighter color -- and the m’fing mix of thick and thin noodles, hell yeah!)

(If you made it this far in the ITSAY review, I have an easter egg for you. Guess what the Malay name is for rice vermicelli noodles? Bee hoon or mee hoon. 

Hoon and Teh, two Malay names: thin noodles and tea. What Teh’s mom serves at her stall, and what Teh and Oh-aew represent, symbolically, by names and their noodle preferences, as a pairing. AND! @telomeke​ gave me one more easter egg! Teh O is a popular way to order tea in Malaysia and Singapore. It’s black tea with sugar, no milk. Another pairing reference. ITSAY never stopped with all the layered references!)

[WHEW! What a ride. Thanks to all y’all who held me down during my losing-it liveblogging of ITSAY. More to come when I get to Last Twilight in Phuket and I Promised You The Moon.

Next week, I’ll release my review of YYY into the wild -- listen, honestly. Yes, chaos, confusion, all of it. But I am not writing this show totally off. There was definitely stuff in it to chew on. And: POPPY RATCHAPONG. And Pee Peerawich. The acting was actually stacked on this show. There’s stuff! More soon.

And I also finished Manner of Death, so that review will drop in two weeks. I LOVE MAXTUL. UNABASHEDLY. Yes, I know I’m years late, yes, I know Tul is retired, sobs. Let me live my 2021 dreams! These guys are so good together, and MoD was fuckin’ great.

I have so much good stuff on the way: I’m fully in my ATOTS rewatch, and I’ve added 55:15 Never Too Late, very specifically its BL storyline. I may not give 55:15 a full review because I’ll fast-watch the rest of it, but: Khao, come to me, boo-boo! I have an INSANE August ahead of me as I’ll be moving in a month (GAH), but hopefully this schedule won’t fall back too much.

Status of the listy! Hit me up if you have feedback!

1) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 2) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 3) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 4) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 5) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 6) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 7) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 8) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 9) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 10) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 11) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 12) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 13) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 14) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (not a BL or an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 15) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 16) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) 17) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 18) I Told Sunset About You (2020)  19) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review coming) 20) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) (review coming) 21) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 22) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (watching) 23) Lovely Writer (2021) 24) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) 25) I Promised You the Moon (2021) 26) Not Me (2021-2022) 27) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 28) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) 29) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch 30) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 31) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 32) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist 33) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 34) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 35) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 36) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 37) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults)]

[supermaks]

Top 10 essential Verstappen races list please!

I habe been watching since I was a literal infant but I kinda took a break from 2014 until 2018 so I missed a lot of teenage Max lore. Now I treated myself to some f1tv for Christmas and want to rewatch a couple old races!!!

Malaysia 2015 Baby boys first points on his 2nd ever f1 start. Drags that lil toro rosso to q3 and then beats both red bulls. Also very funny to listen to the sky commentary because they dont take him seriously at all but he keeps doing things with that car he shouldnt be able to do so they have to keep talking about him and they're so annoyed about itnklfdjgkfdj

Singapore, 2015 classic max race. car d1es at the start. somehow makes it back on track 1 lap down, waits for his main character moment. gets it on lap 13. breezes past the field. gets told to swap positions. literally yells 'NO' and does not do it. U thought brazil 2022 was shocking, well. Educate yourself

USA, 2015 first of all there was a whole hurricane happening bro like a literal hurricane everything about thsi race is like .. what is going on. Hello. Is that Elton John???? Mind you, its Max's rookie season. Austin with wet conditions is the race track equivalent of a fucking minefield I think like half the grid retired. And still, u will witness that lil boy bring the fight to Merc and Ferrari. He actually fought Lewis and Seb Vettel for a podium. In a toro rosso. yeah

Spain, 2016 anime protagonist race. lil babby makes the jump to the big sister team amid much mockery and controversy, and wins on his debut. I can't say this enough. Max has made a career out of owning up to bitches. Every single time. Mercs take each other out, Danny ric gets inexplicably put on a 3 stopper ((lmfao)), and Max holds off fucking RAIKKONEN on DRS!!!! for like a billion years. Not a wheel out of place. And not even his defining moment of the year. For that, u gotta go with--

Brazil, 2016 He became MOTHER age 19 in Interlagos. Nothing else to say. if ur a verstappie u gotta watch Brazil 2016 like twice a year for ur troubles

China, 2017 just a super underrated race imo. Imma go on a tangent for a bit sorry but one of most insane aspects of Max's move to f1 is that he did so with 1 year of experience in f3. Like f3 had been the strongest engine he'd driven up to that point. f3 cars are fast but they're not f1 fast. So Max was supposed to be like a lil squid in a bowl of sharks. To anybody else it wouldve been extremely intimidating and scary to make that jump and its likely they would've sacrificed speed just because they didn't have that confidence in the car yet. And there'd be nothing wrong with that, thats just normal. Well Max never did normal. Seb put it perfectly and Im pretty sure he's not the first driver to comment on this, but Max goes for moves that nobody in their right mind would even dream of attempting. Shit that takes a special type of instinct, but more than that, a complete lack of fear. And with that comes the other side of the sword, which is the recklessness. Max was a reckless driver. A lot of drivers can be reckless, especially if the car doesn't allow them to just cruise to podiums, but Max was a child. This race is so important in his curriculum because it solidifies that his recklessness is not foolishness, but necessity. Bro passed 9 cars in one lap and held off danny ric with older tires. This after a disaster quali where he finished second to last because of an engine problem. To come back from that and get a podium the way he did, its a character drive. It showed who he was and Max was the future

Mexico, 2017 here. Yeah

Austria, 2018 quali is a must watch for this one. Listening to Max educate his engineers on 'discipline' for even DARING to ask him to pass danny ric prolly makes that move to Renault less confusing. Like u cant fight that. That is not a mf who will ever let u win a world title. But he didnt show it just during quali. This race is important because u can compare it some of his most dominant 2022 victories, in a car that would literally spit out its own tires and explode if Max idk farted or something.

USA, 2018 ok I'm biased but max has never come to the US and not served. Idk why its kind of funny but every time he steps foot in here he stunts and gets super wet and looks amazing. He's also absurdly good in US circuits for no reason. Like Max says, u gotta know how to defend not just attack. Prolly one of the most impressive defensive performances from him here, against none other than sir hammer herself. Lew had fresher tires and a championship winning merc and still couldnt crack lil bro with his renault engine, cap and a dream. Also they literally installed a whole new curb on the track specifically to make drivers stick to track limits and called it the verstopper and that. literal tears in my eyes yk look at this shit

Look at her . anyway

Enjoy thjs humble selection of our fav boy genius/fbi most wanted best hits. Next up

✨😤 Part 2 😤✨ Part 3 🧨🧨🧨🧨🧨

[manusuchus]

World Tomistoma Day 2023

Although I find the concept of a "World Day of" generally stupid, I believe that on the matter of endangered species, it can be a very meaningful speaker.

Tomsen, a female T. schlegelii at BioParc Fuengirola (Spain)

Today, August 5th, an initiative of the Crocodile Specialist Group (CSG) together with the "Tomistoma Task Force" is trying to draw attention to this poorly known and misunderstood species.

For those of you who don't know this animal, Tomistoma schlegelii, commonly known as Malayan false gharial is a longirostrine crocodilian that inhabits forested freshwater lakes, slow-moving rivers and swamps of Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra and possibly Java, feeding on diverse prey (From invertebrates to monkeys, small deer, birds and reptiles, with fish constituting the bulk of its diet), and although it is not a particularly aggressive species, there are several records of attacks on humans, with at least one fatal confirmed.

Tomistoma schlegelii devouring a female proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus). Inspired by Galdikas et al. 1985 (Illustration made in 2022)

 It is characterized by a long narrow snout which blends gradually with the base of the head/skull. Two rows of very small, barely distinct post-occipital scutes. Nuchal scales continuous with dorsal scutes and are almost indistinguishable. They are generally brown in color, with dark bands, including blotches and bands on snout and jaws.

But what makes this species really interesting are two particularities : Its enormous size and its ínteresting taxonomic affinities:

a) Size: It is not uncommon for Tomistoma males to reach lengths of 4 m today, but skeletal remains (Mainly skulls) indicate that we could be (Although improbably) in the presence of one of the candidates for the largest crocodylian species in the world . 

In their 2008 study, R. & N. Whitaker noted that the longest skulls in the world belonged to Tomistoma (One at Munich Museum at 81.5 cm; another at the AMNH at 76.5 cm ...) with the British Museum specimen taking the lead with an incredible 84 cm (Leaving all other species behind).

However, observations made on Tomistomas in captivity at the Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm (Bangkok) and on some wild specimens, determined that the HL:TL ratio was 1:6.4 for the species; and therefore, the British Museum specimen would have measured about 5.38 m in life, certainly a giant but far from the monstrous sizes of some salties (Crocodylus porosus). 

The British Museum specimen. George Craig © (In the second photo, you can compare the size with C. porosus and G. gangeticus large specimens)

b) Uncertain affinities: Tomistoma is the last survivor of an old lineage that originated about 40-50 mya ago. This has made many authors wonder: where does this species fit in the evolutionary tree of crocodylia? And well... it's complicated.

T. schlegelii has long been considered to be a member of the Crocodylidae ( Brochu 2003). Much of the analysis has focussed on skeletal attributes, often constrained that way to allow comparison with fossil material, but there is supporting evidence from soft anatomy as well (Frey et al. (1989) , Endo et al.(2002)...) 

But now begins the tricky part : Molecular analyses place Tomistoma as a Gavialid.

( White and Densmore 2001; Janke et al. 2005;McAliley et al. 2006, Roos et al. 2007; Man et al. 2011...) Although some of these studies have been criticized for their methodology, it is clear that it cannot be ignored that they all reach the same conclusion.

 Likewise, there are important discrepancies about the times and periods in which both families appear/diverge, so the debate is not yet definitely closed.

Tomistoma are considered vulnerable by the IUCN Red List, nonetheless, it remains possible that T. schlegelii may qualify as Endangered in the future due to ongoing habitat loss and degradation, particularly Malaysia, so this day is still important to spread the word about the species.

I have only been able to enjoy these animals live once, at the BioParc in Fuengirola, Málaga (Spain) where they keep a trio of three adult specimens: Two females (Montse and Tomsen) and a huge male (René, affectionately nicknamed "Pinocho"). This Zoo is the only one in Spain that houses Tomistomas and has achieved the titanic task of their reproduction in captivity.

René, the huge male at BioParc Fuengirola. Video by me.

[xtruss]

A Male Saiga Antelope in Russia's Black Land National Park. These highly social antelope live in herds. Photograph By Valeriy Malee/Nature Picture Library

This Floppy-Nosed Antelope Was Nearly Gone. 20 Years Later, It’s Thriving.

Less than a decade ago, more than half of the world’s saiga antelope were lost to a mysterious disease. Its comeback is a rare and phenomenal conservation success.

— By Jason Bittel | December 14, 2023

Just two decades ago, it seemed as if we might need to write a eulogy for the saiga antelope.

Cut down by widespread poaching and waves of disease, by 2003, just 6 percent of the floppy-nosed ungulates remained in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, and Uzbekistan.

But today, scientists are rejoicing at the saiga’s unlikely rebound.

There are now 1.9 million saiga antelope across Eurasia, according to the most recent estimates released this week. So many saiga, in fact, that the International Union for Conservation of Nature is upgrading the Red List status for the species from critically endangered to near threatened.

“There's a lot of conservation doom and gloom, and there isn't very much attention paid to conservation successes,” says E.J. Milner-Gulland, a conservation scientist at the University of Oxford and co-founder of the U.K-based Saiga Conservation Alliance. “It’s quite a vindication of 20 years of hard work by lots of people.”

To get a sense of just how far this species has come, in 2015, more than half of the worldwide population of saiga antelope were lost to a mysterious blood disease.

“This is phenomenal news,” says Joel Berger, an ecologist at Colorado State University and a senior scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, in an email.

“At a time when so many species and populations are in deep swan dives, to witness the recovery of saiga—a species deserving of more recognition in its own right—is something we all need to celebrate,” he says.

Male Saiga Antelope Battle in Black Lands National Park. Males and their horns are a specific target of poachers. Photograph By Valeriy Malee/Nature Picture Library

The Saiga’s Downward Spiral

Those who have been paying attention to the saiga’s saga know that it’s been a wild ride.

“Twenty years ago, it had the fastest increase in threat status of any mammal,” says Milner-Gulland. “The population had plummeted by more than 90 percent over a really short time of a few years, so it went straight in at critically endangered.”

As for what happened, Milner-Gulland explains that the saiga’s downfall can be attributed to several factors. For starters, saiga horn has great value in China, Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia as a component in traditional medicine. And this demand, coupled with the breakup of the Soviet Union, led to a dramatic rise in hunting.

It’s a Symbol of the Wild Steppe, of Independence and Freedom.

— E.J. Milner-Gulland, Conservation Scientist at the University of Oxford

“The economies of these countries basically collapsed,” she says. “And they were living in very harsh conditions on the steppe. So they turned to poaching.”

Fencing along the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan also put a barrier in the middle of the saiga’s migratory route, while infrastructure development cut into saiga habitat. Finally, an unknown trigger turned a naturally occurring microbe in the saiga’s characteristic nose into a virulent pathogen, leading to the mass die-offs.

It’s for all these reasons that the IUCN has chosen not to de-list the saiga completely.

“The near threatened category is right for the saiga, because we know that at any time, we could just get large numbers of them dropping dead again,” says Milner-Gulland. “They are very vulnerable.”

A Path to Recovery

Just as the threats to the saiga were multi-faceted, so too have been the efforts to protect the species, which are important seed dispersers and grazers that contribute to plant biodiversity.

For instance, an international collaboration between countries where saigas roam, countries that traditionally consume saiga products, and other stakeholder nations, including the United States, led to a memorandum of understanding in 2006 to conserve the species, restore its habitat, and restrict harvest to a sustainable level.

For its part, Kazakhstan’s government focused on stronger anti-poaching measures, including law enforcement to prevent saiga hunting. The Saiga Conservation Alliance supplied financing for gasoline, uniforms, motorbikes, and shelters for those rangers, who live in the harsh, windswept grasslands. Customs agents also improved detection of saiga products leaving the country as part of the illicit wildlife trade. Lastly, the country designated multiple protected areas totaling more than 12 million acres of saiga antelope habitat.

Now that economic conditions have leveled out and local people don’t have to choose between their own survival and saving saiga, there has also been a dramatic shift in support for the species.

“The thing about saiga is the local people really love it,” says Milner-Gulland. “It’s a symbol of the wild steppe, of independence and freedom.”

Saiga (Drinking on Southern Russia's Astrakhan Steppe) can migrate up to 600 miles over summer and winter. Photograph By Valeriy Malee/Nature Picture Library

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hi so I have a question, but how do you write a monarchy, specifically one in a fantasy setting?

Monarchy in a Fantasy Setting

How you research and write a monarchy in a fantasy setting depends on the type of monarchy you want to have:

-- Constitutional Monarchy: the monarch is a ceremonial head of state with limited power, with political power being in the hands of a constitutional government such as a parliament. (Example: the UK)

-- Federal Monarchy: the monarch serves as the collective and mostly ceremonial figurehead of a federation of states, each with their own monarch or government. This is a rare type of monarchy. (Example: Malaysia)

-- Absolute Monarchy: the monarch has absolute political power, giving them the ability to create and amend laws, appoint political leaders, and conduct geopolitical affairs. (Example: Saudi Arabia, England prior to 1215)

-- Mixed Monarchy: combines elements of aristocracy (rule by a small privileged class), monarchy, and democracy. (Example: Liechtenstein)

*** Since the British monarchy is perhaps the most familiar monarchy for most people, it's important to note that it didn't go straight from an absolute monarchy to what they have today. After 1215, when the Magna Carta acknowledged limits to the monarch's powers in England and established a council of feudal lords (which would eventually evolve into parliament), the monarch still held the bulk of power. Between the 1600s and 1800s, parliament evolved into the representational government we have today, with the monarch evolving in parallel to a ceremonial figurehead.

*** It's also important to note that monarchy looks different the world over, and throughout different eras.

Once you've decided on the type of monarchy you want your story to have, you can do research on that specific type of monarchy to learn how it is structured and how they typically work. You can also research specific monarchies of that type, whether modern monarchies or past monarchies, to get examples and inspiration for what you can do with your story's monarchy.

Here are some general posts about writing royals and monarchy, though they are mostly geared toward European monarchy, particularly historical European monarchy. Make sure to research the specific elements to make sure they fit with the type of monarchy you want to portray:

Guide: Writing Fictional Royals “King” Doesn’t Mean “Husband of the Queen” Forms of Address for Royals and Nobility Creating a Fictional Kingdom

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

Learn more about WQA

Visit my Master List of Top Posts

Go to ko-fi.com/wqa to buy me coffee or see my commissions

[tamapalace]

Tamagotchi Uni Will be Available in 38 Countries

She truly is global! When Bandai globally announced the Tamagotchi Uni, they were serious, this is the most global Tamagotchi to date! You’ve been asking us which countries the Tamagotchi Uni will be in, and we’ve asked Bandai directly to get the list. First and foremost, it is important to note that Tamagotchi Uni may not be launching in every country/territory on July 15th, 2023, but there are plans for each country listed.

So here we go, here are all the 38 countries/territories Tamagotchi Uni will be available in:

Japan

U.S.A.

Canada

Australia

Poland

Chile

Peru

Brazil

Panama

Mexico

United Kingdom

France

Spain

Italy

Germany

Jordan

Greece

South Korea

Hong Kong SAR

Taiwan Area

Thailand

Singapore

Indonesia

The Philippines

Malaysia

Colombia

South Africa

United Arab Emirates

Denmark

Sweden

Norway

Finland

Austria

Switzerland

Belgium

The Netherland

Luxembourg

Saudi Arabia

[emmawilliams12]

Embarking on Malaysia's import journey? Navigate the intricacies of the country's import landscape with confidence using our "10 Tips for Navigating Malaysia’s Importers List." From understanding regulatory nuances to leveraging online directories and attending trade shows, these insights are your key to forging successful trade relations. Whether you're a seasoned importer or a newcomer, these tips will empower you to make informed decisions and establish fruitful partnerships in Malaysia's dynamic market.

[gothhabiba]

I've been on a bit of a curry powder kick with my recipes lately I think. curry powder is sooo interesting as a subject of study because of how much potential for localisation there is; the process of creating recipes for different regional blends of curry powder is really making me think about my philosophy with adapting dishes.

like, plenty of home cooks in China & Hong Kong will actually use imported curry powder from India or Malaysia to make Chinese curry, because they're "aiming at" a "foreign" flavor profile that was originally inspired by Indian cuisine (with this image of Indian cuisine being itself a result of colonisation, an innovation aimed at making the ~flavours of India~ more accessible to the English home cook in the 18th and 19th centuries—but Indian companies to-day do export "curry powder" blends to other English-speaking regions that they label "authentic" &c. &c.).

but this wouldn't be very interesting to me! I'm interested in and "aiming at" a specifically Hong Kongese adaptation of curry powder, and therefore I'm going to want to include as many Chinese ingredients as I can find 'attested' in Hong Kongese curry powder recipes (in my research into the spices used in commercial curry powder blends made and packaged in Hong Kong; home cook YouTube videos and interviews with restaurant owners based in Hong Kong; &c.). I'm never ad-libbing (i.e., adding in spices or aromatics that I don't see 'attested' in whatever local blends that I can find a trace of online), and I try to make the proportion of spices that I include in a blend basically adhere to the average of what I see in the recipes I consult (& the commercial blends, which don't list out proportions but do at least have some ingredients listed and organised in order of weight)—

but I still have my own tendencies that I'm interested in indulging (e.g., localised over generic; more over less; pungent over mild), and I'm able to fiddle around with all of those variables to produce a blend that is itself attested nowhere else, though each of its component ingredients can be traced back. so my recipe for Xinjiapo gali fen jumps at all of the 'Chinese' ingredients that Koon Yick Wah Kee includes (Sichuan peppercorns, Chinese black cardamom), but also includes more 'Indian' spices that other recipes include, but their's doesn't (e.g. green cardamom, fenugreek).

(as a side note for anyone who speaks French—on peut constater que the list of ingredients has been machine-translated from Chinese to English and thence to French, based on the fact that "star anise" has been rendered "tenez le primier rôle l'anis". other translation issues: what is listed as "dried parsley" in English [芫茜] is probably actually coriander seeds.)

[thailandimmigration]

Thailand Visa Exemptions

Thailand, a popular tourist destination in Southeast Asia, offers visa-free entry for citizens of many countries. This makes it easier for travelers to plan their trips and enjoy the country's stunning beaches, vibrant culture, and delicious cuisine.

Countries Eligible for Visa-Free Entry

The list of countries eligible for visa-free entry to Thailand changes periodically. However, as of 2023, many nationalities can visit for a certain period without a visa. Some of the countries that typically qualify include:

Asia: Most Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Europe: Most European countries, such as the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

North America: The United States and Canada.

Oceania: Australia and New Zealand.

Please note that visa requirements can change. It's always recommended to check with the Thai Embassy or Consulate in your country for the most up-to-date information.

Duration of Stay

The duration of visa-free stay varies depending on the nationality. Most travelers can stay in Thailand for 30 days without a visa. However, some nationalities may be eligible for longer stays.

Important Considerations

Passport Validity: Your passport must be valid for at least six months from the date of your arrival in Thailand.

Purpose of Visit: Your visit should be for tourism, business, or a short-term stay.

Departure Ticket: You may be required to present a return or onward ticket.

Visa Extensions

If you wish to stay in Thailand for longer than the visa-free period, you can apply for a visa extension within the country. The process typically involves submitting your passport and required documents to the Immigration Office.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Elizabeth II liked to drink a Martini before meeting guests when she was flying and always requested a particular type of mint sweet during take-off, it has emerged.

The late Queen also enjoyed following the route map while travelling.

Her flying habits are revealed in a treasure trove of memorabilia kept for decades by an air hostess who worked for British Airways for 28 years from 1970.

Elizabeth Evans, from Birmingham, served many famous travellers during her long career, among them the late Queen and Prince Philip during their 1989 tour of Singapore and Malaysia.

A collection of mementoes found in Mrs Evans’ study following her death contains confidential instructions on how to look after the royal couple.

The points of etiquette reveal that the late Queen liked a bowl of sugar-free Velamints beside her on take-off and that she should be left to doze if she was sleeping prior to landing.

She also preferred to use her own pillows, with her personal dresser advising on how to make up her bed.

Any guests joining the royals for dinner would be told what time cocktails were to be served in the royal compartment and the Queen would later be asked which wine she would like served with dinner.

“Her Majesty tends to like a Martini before her guests arrive,” the notes state.

Canapes were served with cocktails before the guests took their seats and staff were reminded that the late Queen must be served first.

One section of the notes is titled “Tips for Royal Compartment,” under which is listed: “Route map – Her Majesty enjoys looking at these.”

Members of the flight crew were told not to pass through the cabin and to restrict all noise.

The memorabilia, inherited by Mrs Evans’ niece, Jo Smallwood, is expected to fetch between £400-£600 when it goes under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers on August 20.

Charles Hanson, owner of the auctioneers, said:

“Elizabeth must have been extremely highly regarded by BA because she served some of the most important people in the world. Take that 1989 British Airways royal flight.

Her memorabilia includes confidential instructions on how to care for our late Queen and Prince Philip – right down to the sweets Her Majesty preferred on take-off.”

Velamints were launched in the US in 1977 and are said to have become president Ronald Reagan’s favourite mint.

They were dubbed “the Official Air Force 1 mint.”

Meanwhile, both the late Queen and her husband were known to be fond of a Martini, which they would typically enjoy before dinner.

In late 2021, a year before her death, it emerged that she had given up drinking on doctors’ orders.

She was said to favour a gin and Dubonnet at lunchtime, and a gin and vermouth cocktail before dinner.

Mrs Evans also crewed Concorde, the world’s first commercial supersonic airliner, which would fly at twice the speed of sound, during the 1980s and 1990s.

She kept signed menu cards and other paraphernalia relating to many of her VIP passengers, including Rod Stewart, Cliff Richard, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the late Patrick Swayze.

Mr Hanson noted that although the late Queen had flown to Singapore and Malaysia on BA, she had closely followed Concorde’s development.

“Elizabeth’s archive sweeps us back in time to the 1970s, 80s and 90s when flying on Concorde was a luxurious privilege enjoyed by the wealthy jet-set,” he added.

“Celebrities flocked to use its services and carrying royalty was the norm. Service had to be first class.”

He said of the late Queen:

“She enjoyed her first supersonic flight in 1977 and used the aircraft for state visits.

The Queen of the Skies was seen as fitting transport for the Queen of the realm."

“In 1991, Charles and Diana, then the Prince and Princess of Wales, flew supersonic during a trip to Oman and Pakistan."

“Elizabeth gathered mementoes throughout her career. Her memorabilia captures the life and times of Concorde at its height and the detail that went into luxury travel with British Airways.

No VIP wish was too small to be accommodated. Even smoking was permitted on board back then.”

Ms Smallword, 53, a retired police officer, from Solihull, West Midlands, said:

“I was aware of some of the things Elizabeth had kept from her career with BA but nothing on this scale.

She married late in life, moving to Devon and finally Hermanus, in South Africa.

The objects were found there in her study following her death at the age of 70 in 2017.

I came across them when I travelled to South Africa to arrange the funeral.

Having found this treasure trove relating to my aunt’s career and experiences with BA, especially the fantastic trips on Concorde and serving the Queen, I found it sad that none of it had seen the light of day.

I believe this collection is a little piece of history that should be shared and enjoyed by somebody.”

Mrs Evans was awarded a certificate to commemorate the time she served the royals on British Airways flights.

She also amassed signatures from the likes of Warren Beatty, Virginia Wade and Billie Jean King, which will also be sold by Hansons.

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: Dew the Movie Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I’ll cover Dew the Movie, screenwritten and directed by the seminal Thai BL artist, Ma-Deaw Chookiat, and starring Ohm Pawat and Nont Sadanont.]

Before I get started, I want to note that I’m publishing this review out of chronological order from the list: I owe you all a review of 3 Will Be Free, which will drop next week, but I just watched Dew the Movie this week, and felt the strong urge to get out my thoughts sooner rather than later.

Why? 

I have had a number of quick conversations about Dew the Movie with some of the around-the-block mentors on Tumblr, particularly with @absolutebl Sensei, who very kindly answered my question last week about where Dew stands by way of the trajectory of BL in Thailand (and just to note, as ABL Sensei says in their answer: Dew is most definitely NOT a BL, but an important piece of queer media to consider for the BL-driven OGMMTVC). 

The (small sample size) majority of people I’ve spoken to about Dew have actually not seen it, which is utterly understandable from the perspective of the tragic circumstances of the film. 

When I first planned on watching it, I put a caveat note on the OGMMTVC list on my blog’s pinned post that Dew wasn’t an official part of the Challenge. I change my tune on this: I would argue, at least from my perspective, that it was a *must for me* to watch.

Again, why? 

As ABL Sensei writes, Dew fits into a stage-checklist mold of queer cinema, where, at the time of its release, it potentially NEEDED to check off certain boxes in order to get produced. It very well may have NEEDED a tragic end (arguably, multiple tragic ends) to get made. It may have NEEDED to kill off a gay character (arguably, multiple gay characters) to be ripe for consumption by a wider audience. It may have NEEDED some amount of equivocating about those deaths within the art itself.

I was aware of this when I was watching Dew, aware of watching Brokeback Mountain again, aware of death and disappearance and erasure.

What I didn’t expect from Dew, possibly as strong a punch in the gut as the impact of the death(s) themselves, was how Asian the movie was.

This sounds silly, coming from an Asian-American towards a Thai movie made in Thailand, about Thai young men, as based on an original story from South Korea. But having visited Malaysia, one of my home countries, a whole bunch in the 1990s, at the same time when half of this film was situated -- I was absolutely struck by how the film did not shy away from the Asian experience of discrimination and the destruction of Asian family systems by way of homophobia and other explicit biases throughout the film.

The depictions of homophobia and discrimination in Dew were so raw that I caught myself actually gasping-crying at certain points. Before I get there, let me offer a quick summary of the film, since I believe not very many people have seen this:

Dew and Phop are two high school classmates in the late 1990s, in an extremely rural town called Pang Noi, adjacent to Chiang Rai. As the wonderful @shortpplfedup kindly noted for me, the timing of Dew and Phop’s engagement took place right before the onset of the 1997 Asian financial crisis that first emanated out of Thailand, and was also set as military dictatorships had given way to democracy in Thailand. 

In their rural town, young men who are either out or presumed to be gay are sent to training camps. Accusations about the spread of AIDS are made vis à vis the LGBTQ+ population. Students who are out are rejected at school and in their homes. 

I’ve written previously about how certain BLs, mainly in the MAME realm (Love By Chance and TharnType), have touched upon a kind of bigotry and bias that I have described as being particularly Asian in nature, reflective, word-for-word, of the kind discriminatory language and ideas that I was exposed to as a kid from my Asian parents. 

To see that kind of discrimination and homophobia orchestrated on a community-based level -- in Dew and Phop’s school, when children are rounded up by teachers and soldiers to be sent to a training camp -- was brutal to watch.

It immediately introduced a level of dystopia to the entire film. And I ended up appreciating that the film went that far, so immediately at the beginning of the film, after we had seen an otherwise happy-go-lucky young man in Dew beginning to engage with Phop. 

We needed that element of dystopia to kick off the film, because: Dew faces rejection from his school and, potentially, from his single mother, to be an out and gay young man in Pang Noi.

More brutally, arguably, is the rejection of Phop from his EXTREMELY patriarchal Thai-Chinese family, led by an almost despotic father, who is ready to take down his son at a moment’s notice, with a helpless mother present as Phop is progressively rejected by his father, his brothers, and the patriarchal family system that keeps that family together. (@shortpplfedup, as I wrote to you, this was Double Savage x 10, maybe x 100.) 

The reason why I liked the juxtaposition of the community-level discrimination vs. the micro, family-level discrimination is that both experiences of this kind of discrimination are dystopic. As humans, as mammals: we crave community, family, and companionship. 

To be rejected by your community is unnatural. To be rejected by your FAMILY is unnatural.

This is not a message that’s limited to Asian media or Asian cultures -- this exact kind of discrimination flourishes in America and elsewhere, including conversion therapy (Dew reveals that his own mother sent him to behavioral therapy). In rural Thailand, this kind of existence... simply cannot exist. That’s dystopic to queerness, to the LGBTQ+ community.

I brought up Malaysia earlier to make a quick mindset comparison. Around the time of the setting of Dew and Phop’s high school days, I remember hearing on Malaysian radio, riding in a car with my family, that the singer Sting (STING, y’all -- vanilla STING) had been banned from performing in Malaysia for his music being “too rhythmic.” 

Malaysia, unlike Thailand, is an Islamic nation. But borders are only lines on a map, and as I’ve spoken at length with the amazing @telomeke about, the cultural flow between the countries is strong and present. It doesn’t surprise me, therefore, that rural Thai towns WOULD engage in this HIGH LEVEL of discrimination and exclusion, as unbelievable as it might seem to Westerns not familiar with either Asian or Western styles of dystopic discrimination, as I’m calling it here.

To try to survive: Phop runs away to Bangkok. And begs Dew to come with him. And Dew dies in the process.

Phop lives. He becomes an adult, a middling adult, with only middling success in his life. After a life in Bangkok, he moves back to Pang Noi, broke, married, reminiscing about Dew.

And he discovers, after becoming a homeroom teacher, that Dew has been reincarnated in the body of a young female student. (This is one of a few times that ideas of ghosts, spirits, the reborn, and the reincarnated are introduced in queer Thai media in 2019, along with Until We Meet Again and He’s Coming To Me.)

We then get the presence of an actual controversial filmmaking trope in age gap, between a young student and an older teacher. Age gap is certainly a present trope in BLs, past and present. 

In lightly peeping the MDL reviews for Dew, I saw quite a bit of consternation about this age gap, and honestly, as a mom, I certainly felt the wibbles as well. But I thought it was an interesting filmmaking device to use, in putting Dew’s spirit in the body of a young student.

Because -- of course -- this inclusion forces us viewers to confront OUR OWN BIASES. Besides the community-level and micro/family-level discrimination we see in the film, we’re also forced to truly dig into what we, as viewers, are biased against. AND, the film very much digs into the controversial nature of teacher-student relationships as well, and Phop is condemned for his closeness with the reincarnated Dew through the student, Liu, wonderfully acted by Pahn Riety of 10 Years Ticket. 

This film is fucking brutal. But the fact that it forces us to CONFRONT OUR BIASES, on so many levels -- it does a wonderful job at that. 

To the end. To the end of the loss of Phop and Liu, so that Phop and Dew can be together in the afterlife. 

The film leans on Thai-Chinese Buddhism in the second half, again, so reminiscent of He’s Coming To Me, leading to ANOTHER non-happy ending that brings two people together in unideal circumstances. Phop and Dew’s spirits will be together, not in this world, but where, exactly? Certainly not in the world of 1990s rural Thailand, a world that wanted them extinct. 

When I say that this film is rooted in its Asianness, I really mean it. I think one needs to have an appreciation for how these themes tie together -- the community-level discrimination, how general sexuality and queerness were treated with such a hands-off/ignoring approach in the SEA region in the 1990s, and why Thai-Chinese Buddhism was chosen as a means of bringing Phop and Dew back together, just like Thun and Med in HCTM. There is an acknowledgement by the Asian filmmakers of these pieces that queerness was brutally unacceptable during these times in Thailand and elsewhere, and these pieces do not shy away from that reality. 

I’m tremendously glad I watched this. I feel like crying right now while watching this, but I’m really glad, as someone with SEA roots, to have watched this, and to have seen discrimination at that level that I have seen previously, and to know it exists. If one takes up the OGMMTVC and feels like they can’t watch this, I can totally understand. But I think Dew the Movie is a tremendous gateway -- as He’s Coming To Me was -- to a very particular Asian mindset around collectivist living that does not jive with individual expressions of sexuality and queer acceptance. 

Those realities are brutal -- I hate thinking about them, I HATE IT. The acceptance gateway that I have discovered vis à vis Thai QLs is a salve to my soul that was subjected to HEINOUS discrimination against ANYONE deemed different from my Indian culture growing up. But that discrimination was also VERY REAL. I’ve broken out of being exposed to it, and I’ve tried to become the best ally I can be. But the acknowledgement, through art, that that level of discrimination can exist, in my Asian cultures, is also a reality that I have a responsibility, as an ally of Asian descent, to reckon with. 

(A quick side-note. Once more: Ohm Pawat shines. This man is a CIPHER of queer pain and queer joy. The acting, directing, and cinematography of this film was stunning. Two hours went by in a flash. If you avoid for the content, that makes sense, but if you’re a film buff, you may enjoy this film just for the devotion it pays to rural Thailand and the spectacular expanses that it captures.)

[Yow. My heart is aching, not just for Dew the Movie, but I’m also recovering from a crazy week of Step By Step, HA. 

But anyway: my review of 3 Will Be Free will be up early next week. WHAT A GODDAMN AMAZING SHOW! The OGMMTVC is definitely ruining me for great content, up against what I’m watching that’s airing now (....side-eyes to SBS, hmph). 

And: I’m digging into Until We Meet Again. IT’S FABULOUS SO FAR. Come AWN, Fluke and all of ‘em! I’m traveling for the holiday next week, but hopefully my watch schedule won’t get too messed up. But with this review of Dew and 3WBF next week, I’m holding all y’all down if you’re looking forward to these reviews!

Here’s the status of the watchlist. As ever, I’ll take any feedback ya got!

1) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 2) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 3) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 4) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 5) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 6) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 7) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 8) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 9) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 10) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 11) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 12) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (I’m watching this out of order just to get familiar with OffGun before Theory of Love -- will likely not review) 13) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 14) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (not a BL or an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review coming) 15) Dew the Movie (2019) 16) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (watching) 17) 2gether (2020) 18) Still 2gether (2020) 19) I Told Sunset About You (2020) 20) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) 21) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) 22) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 23) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS 24) Lovely Writer (2021) 25) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) 26) I Promised You the Moon (2021) 27) Not Me (2021-2022) 28) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 29) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch 30) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 31) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 32) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist 33) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 34) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 35) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 36) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 37) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults)]