#also an important note is that they’re all cute and queer

[doggogills]

i am back with more npc art. how surprising and out of character!

[lmskitty]

The JJk fandom has some INCREDIBLE writers and artists and I just felt like showing a bit of love so here are some of my fave Satosugu fics!!!

Audience by @c-valentino

"Three years after the KFC breakup, Satoru caves and visits his old friend late at night with a problem. They are far from what they used to be, but when he hopes they might get a second chance after all, assassins show up to hunt down Suguru."

As you like it by planetarypedxng

"Ieiri Shoko has laid down the law: the three of them will hereafter hang out only at Geto’s place, because Geto is the perfect host, and because Shoko refuses to clean up after anyone, least of all men, and because Gojo’s room always disgustingly reeks of sex.

Gojo had laughed at that, a little too loudly, perhaps, and curiously did not have a single comment about it. What can he say? The truth? That he was still a virgin?"

Falling in love is easy. Admitting it is not. By @ellionwrites

"At 20 years old - sharing an apartment and joint Jujutsu missions - Geto and Gojo are inseparable. But it takes Geto going on a first date for them to start to figure out their feelings."

Two sorcerers chillin' in a hot tub (five feet apart cause they’re not gay) by @hollow-lime-green

"Geto Suguru has almost two decades of practice pretending not to see things that are clearly there, and Gojo Satoru has a well-documented history of being the most socially-stunted motherfucker alive.

That’s how they got here.

Love is in the hands by @thequeenofsarcaasm

That’s also why neither of them know where the hell they’re going with this."

To be a woman by @sadgreekboys

"After getting kicked from his home for being queer, Geto Suguru comes across his old best friend/first love, in a gay bar. He finds a new home in him."

close your eyes (nothing changed at all) by themoonisdead

"Satoru is the strongest. She is a woman. She is not meant to be those two things at the same time.

VIRGIN GETS WRECKED BY BEST FRIEND [FREE PORN VIDS] (18++) WATCH NOW!!!!! By Daisy__dupes

"That day in xx village, suguru makes a call" -what if Suguru had called Satoru for help that day?

Over the Threshold by @fushiglow

(Satoru gets hit with a sex curse and asks Suguru to help him!!!)

4AM by damiselart

"Larger than life K-pop idol, Satoru, approaches introverted record producer, Getō Suguru, to collaborate on his debut Japanese-language studio album. They both get more out of the experience than expected — for better and for worse."

(Tattoo artist Geto and model Gojo. Hot as fuck.)

Post-It Notes by monochromevelyn

"Shoko was sick of watching her two best friends pining for each other. Don't worry, she had a plan to move things in the right direction."

The Two-Headed Calf by malneiro

"Gojo gets a knock on his door late at night: Getou is sick and Mimiko and Nanako don't know who else to turn to."

Vows to Amida Butsu -

" Gojo has a great idea. Geto thinks his classmate should at least ask him cutely instead of just announcing his intent. Consent is important, after all."

and Long Bitter Autumn - both by Daphnerunning and Galiko

"Five years after his best friend left Jujutsu High to become an evil overlord, Gojo Satoru can't sleep. And there's not THAT much difference between a butt dial and a booty call, semantically speaking."

There are so many amazing satosugu fics and most of the writers listed here have multiple incredible fics but these are just some of my absolute faves!!!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[impromptu-sketches]

Buddy Daddies, final thoughts.

I had such a fun time watching this show one episode at a time every Friday morning. I haven’t been this tuned in to an anime in a long time but I was so excited about this one from the beginning!

It’s so weird thinking back to everyone saying “it’s like Spy x Family with two guys” because that became inaccurate so fast haha we really thought it was going to be a light-hearted comedy... they really got us.

I loved the Wednesday previews, the music (especially the lofi remix!), the instagram posts, the notes, and whoever started the bingo, bless you! ♡

♡❤♡❤♡❤♡❤♡

Overall Buddy Daddies was a rollercoaster (not ferris wheel thank goodness)! I really could not guess where it was going from episode to episode, it could have gone in a million different directions, but I am so happy that this is the story we got.

The way Miri burst into everyone’s hearts from episode one ♡ and for a four/five year old, was shown to be such a great kid who wants to be accepted, wants to make friends, who sticks up for others, and who tells people when they’re doing something wrong.

Rei starting out as a stereotypical quiet mysterious dark haired character but becoming SO MUCH MORE. Sure it took him a minute but he was the one who FOUGHT for their family the most - he became the GLUE. We all thought it was going to be Kazuki, but it was Rei. He said ‘I want to be a family’ and then they DID.

Kazuki on the other hand, the overprotective mama hen, he created their family. He CHOSE Rei, chose to move in, chose to take care of him, to buy him a couch, cook for him, and stay with him. He took one look at Miri, smiled and chose to run after her - he didn’t have to do that during their mission. He chose to risk the mission to save her, to call himself her papa, to take her home. This means so much more knowing he’s an orphan who never had a family - he went and created one.

♡❤♡❤♡❤♡❤♡

About the queerness specifically ~

From what I saw -from the show- if I knew nothing about it and just hit play and watched all the way through...

Rei seemed ace/aro to me. He’s not shown to have any romantic or sexual relationships past, present, or time skip. This guy grew up with ZERO affection so it’s either he doesn’t know how, can’t, or isn’t interested. But there’s no attempt or interest, so aro/ace it is! Even with Kazuki, we see him accepting help, them clearly forming a bond to be living together for three+ years and be partners doing dangerous work together - that requires a lot of trust and we finally see that trust and teamwork in episode 12 - but it’s unspoken between them. They’re not affectionate with each other, not physically close, etc. (that we see anyway).

Kazuki definitely seems bi or pan. He’s obviously into women, but he also does this thing where he’s kind of flirty with guys in a joking way? (see images below) To me that’s nervous bisexual energy. That’s just the overall vibe I get from him too. Also that look he had on his face when he first saw Rei... suspicious.

Would I have liked it if they showed each other more affection? Yes! Especially in the later episodes. If their relationship was canon? Hell yes! Because I like BL and I think it would’ve been cute and also made sense and added to their character development. 

There’s ~plenty~ of room to read into queerness in this show... I actually think it would be an even better story if they were in a relationship for a few reasons.

For Rei, finally being free to be his true self, being with someone for love and not for the family bloodline, to accept love and affection. And Kazuki, forgiving himself, letting himself be happy again, finding love again. I think that’s an amazing story for the both of them!

But they didn’t make it that way. This show isn’t (technically) a BL and that’s okay. They still both found happiness and family - and that’s what’s most important.

♡❤♡❤♡❤♡❤♡

Buddy Daddies was FUN and that could have been it but it was deeper than that, watching all of them grow and change together. The ending made me cry tears of joy and relief that they’re all happy and safe.

I have a few tiny things I didn’t like or would have changed, but they’re so minor looking back at the show as a whole.

I do wish they spread out the story, either with more episodes, longer episodes, or both. I wanted to see more small moments, more fluff, more day-to-day family activities, more Rei & Kazuki being friends and having regular conversations, and more assassin scenes with them working together like in the beginning of ep. 1 and in ep. 12. We mostly saw them mess up their work... I wanted to see more action!!

But the show did SO MUCH more than expected with this story. 

The ending episode was AMAZING!! We got to see them fight together for themselves and their family, we saw them being there for Miri, and the time skip!!!! I CRIED EVERY TIME I WATCHED THE TIME SKIP SCENE!!! Miri growing up to be a lovely happy healthy girl. Rei & Kazuki owning a diner at the beach. A simple life full of love and acceptance.

From episode 1, did I think Buddy Daddies would make me cry? NO

Did I think I would post this much about this show? NO I wasn’t planning on posting about it at all!

But here we are crying and spending all day/night on tumblr sharing our thoughts, reading the thoughts of others. It’s been a blast!

♡❤♡❤♡❤♡❤♡

*Update ~

I wrote all that ^ the weekend after ep. 12 came out and now it’s almost a month later.

I’m so happy to see everyone still posting about them ♡♡♡

Lily is still posting drawings - we’ve gotten so many great ones, official images from the DVDs are coming out, and I’ve seen so much fanart and fanfiction going around! Amazing!! Thank you to all of the creators out there!!

Shoutout to some fanarts on twitter I’m loving!

@KMRbd5118 ^

@tamsekai​ | twitter

@toroandpoko11

@NasuNattou

@dailykazurei

@incorrectbudds

♡❤♡❤♡❤♡❤♡

[nosolaceofastraightanswer]

happy pride month!!!! anyway tua pride headcanons cus i want to lol :P *note- i do not identity with all of these labels. i cannot give you a personal experience or defense for these. if i include any harmful stereotypes, lmk. it’s pride month and queer people are valid*

quick overview, analysis below the readmore

luther- he/him cishet

diego- he/him cis and bicurious

allison- she/her cishet

klaus- he/she (they sometimes) genderqueer/enby, pansexual

five- they/he gay and ace. agender.

ben- he/him cishet

viktor- he/they transmasc lesbian

for some i used the canonical pronouns as to not confuse before i get the explanation. <33333

luther- to me he’s like a cishet guy honestly. i still love the pride hc’s other people have, bc most of the time they’re really good. i just prefer this reading, espec. with sloane (QUEEN!!!!). i also don’t like the s1 era fics where everyone hated luther (almost entirely unjustified) so they would make him be a dick to klaus and stuff. like did he drink reggie’s kool aid? yes. but is he homophobic? no. i think a better example in a canonical kid fic of him saying mean things to klaus for plot would be like,, making fun of him for being a druggie or lazy, because that’s stuff that reginald would actually encourage him to say. rant over lmao that just has always bothered me.

diego- honestly this one is back and forth for me, between bisexual and straight. like him and lila being bi4bi is just too fucking amazing, but he does give off straight guy energy sometimes so i’ll put it at a bi-curious. he’s def an ally though, and i can imagine he would do his best to get over his fear of needles to help v with his t shots, or defend klaus from homophobic assholes. although i personally hc him as cis, the transmasc diego people have their fucking shit together because that HITS DIFFERENT. i think done right, it adds so much to his character in AU’s and stuff and it’s just rly cute!! but bisexual diego is a very fanon thing that i like to see.

allison- i think probably straight and cis once again. she seems very comfy and happy in her femininity and gender, and her with ray??? (sidenote almond as a ship name makes me lose it ITS SO CUTE). i think she’s always been a big ally to klaus. i can also see her as pan or bi, but pressured to appear as straight by the constant eyes on her since she was like ten. i mean not only was she the only girl, but also a black girl? she was 100% so insecure during her childhood because people were constantly critiquing her. so honestly i don’t think it would be too out of the ordinary to hc her as queer.

klaus- i mean, we all know this one. as far as i know he has been canonically (though not mentioned in show, more like an interview or something) pansexual and non-binary. if not then it’s VERY FANON. directly through the show, we see his attraction to men through dave and also his enjoyment of more feminine clothes and makeup and things like that. i hc him as genderqueer and just generally chilling out and not really caring too much about labels. like a “i’ll fuck you if you’re hot” kind of attitude.

five- now this one might get me some weirdness, but i don’t see five as a cishet man for my hc’ing purposes. a common fanon opinion is that he’s asexual, which i totally like. i also think he’s gay. i guess that would be homoromantic? and also agender. he said no. no. MEN. i think that any romantic hc that does not acknowledge delores is not doing it right, bc holy shit delores is so fucking important to the understanding of his character!!!!! i believe in the interpretation that delores is himself, but a separated part that he forced himself to view as a separate entity to survive the apocalypse. he kind of fucking tricked himself into loving himself, though unfortunately as many people have pointed out, he doesn’t see himself as capable of good. he doesn’t see that delores is him- he can’t. he was down bad though for his mannequin apocalypse wife okay??? they were in love fuck you???? idk sexuality is fluid. let this old man live his life. he’s so tired. also agender, i think they don’t like being called a boy (possibly childhood trauma, possibly gender) but still is okay with “old man”.

ben- he is the token cishet of the upper numbers trio ( 567 icons real and true ). the jennifer incident was heavily implied if not directly and canonically stated to be a romantic issue, and also him and jill!!!! yes it was weird but it was so cute. bring back umbrella ben istg idc about the themes you messed them up in s3 anyway. i would talk more about him BUT HE NEVER GOT ENOUGH FUCKING SCREENTIME EVER AND THE THEMES THE THEMES HIS CHARACTER THEY DIDN- gets shot

viktor- canonically transmasc, canonically a woman enjoyer, ten out of ten character. i love looking at s1 era fics where people would be like. there is no way this guy doesn’t like women. *lesbian headcanons*. and elliot page just slaying with the queer rep season after season. i think he/they pronouns for viktor is really good and i like it :)). also some people hc them as bi because of harold (or for weird reasons but we don’t talk about that-) but i think it’s more of a lesbian thing personally. now. don’t come after me i’m not looking for he/him lesbian discourse on my pride month fandom post. AND FURTHERMORE elliot page is a king and he doesn’t deserve in any way the crazy hate he gets for being trans. trans men are men, trans ppl are valid etc. that being said, i hc him as a he/they lesbian. RESPECTFULLY. i imagine there were a lot of complicated factors while he was coming out and realizing things about themself. i think the harold thing was wanting to be wanted and loved more that actually wanting or loving, and you know we all gotta have that spicy *heteronormativity* woohoo.

bonus LILA (queen)- bisexual!! also she/they hc’s are valid asf for that. we love a queen who can do both. not sure if this is partial or full canon, or just heavy fandom but idc.

okay byyeeee happy pride month and also have a good juneteenth. black lives matter!!!!!

[anglaoshi]

Red Rapture - Algger - Hello Dance

It’s time to discuss Red Rapture. When I reach for words to describe this piece, I keep coming back to magisterial. It’s not quite an appropriate descriptor in a literal sense, but this choreography feels overwhelmingly authoritative and complete nonetheless. Certainly, the emotional center of this piece is Algger’s leading energy as he lords over the ensemble with a sense of expertise or mastery. So too is there a feeling of historical fiction, anachronism, or place-out-of-time-ness. 

On the subject of Algger as magister, this work opens with a bit of expert insight in the form of a title card, which reads:

In order to be despicable, prey upon other people You can escape the people of the world, but you can’t escape the customs of the world <<--Red Rapture>>

Some notes on the language here: The first character, 以, indicates instruction. And the phrase we have translated as “prey upon” is also used as “rapture” in “red rapture.” From what we can gather, this is Algger’s original aphorism (please chime in if you know a different source!). I appreciate his flair for the fictional here. Highly produced, narrative, or cinematic dance videos usually aren’t my favorite, but I appreciate the plotting effort nonetheless. Many thanks, as always, to our illustrious translator and all-around legionfairy, @briochebread.

The lighting design is an important component of the mood here, with Algger being emphasized by warm white key light in an otherwise dark red scene. Even at the midpoint, where Lancer receives narrative focus, she doesn’t receive the same lighting treatment. This video is more heavily produced than most of Algger’s or Hello Dance’s other works. Even though they are performing in their usual venue, the space still feels unfamiliar and much more self-contained or isolated than this stage usually feels because of the way the light drops off around the edges. The music for this piece is a remix of Mop Head by glitch hop icon edIT, an interesting transformation from its brooding, emotional roots into an impactful and dark sound. I like the costume design too– I believe the 昂 icon skirts are from his Tokyo Gegegay fashion collab. 

Of course, the most notable element of the costume design is the red blindfold Algger wears. The design of the blindfold fabric itself is a bit subdued, and it fades into the red light that washes the set in a way that produces dissolution or ghostliness. Blindfolds are not so uncommon as props in dance, but they’re always a cute little flex. Dancing while blindfolded is quite difficult, since dancers can’t coordinate visually with other dancers or visually monitor their own performance. Moreover, a blindfold changes your balance and proprioperception (the sense of where your body is within space, and how it’s moving). In this case, Algger’s blindfold serves to raise the stakes regarding precision of movements among the ensemble. Thematically, it’s a binding whose removal (at the midpoint of the performance) signals a shift in power. 

The piece opens with a scene in which Lancer, the narrative antagonist, places the blindfold over Algger’s eyes. I think it’s appropriate to read an eroticism into this scene. Algger’s aesthetic sensibilities in this era were heavily influenced by his beloved Tokyo Gegegay, whose work venerates queer eroticism. (Note: The linked music video isn’t explicit but it’s slightly NSFW anyway. ダンスが僕の恋人 is my favorite fetching fever dream of theirs. Mikey is so gender that it makes my eyes feel like they’re melting a little.) Tokyo Gegegay’s eros manages to be hamfisted and bijou at the same time, to a charming effect. Red Rapture’s emulation of the same is underdeveloped by comparison, but one can appreciate the aspiration.

Symbolically, the thick red band of the blindfold ties Algger’s costume design to Lancer’s thin red headband, emphasizing Lancer’s role as the secondary character/antagonist of the piece. When the blindfold comes off, it signals a shift in the balance of power for both the characters of Algger and Lancer, as well as the choreography itself. The first part of this piece is highly detailed, precise, and intricate. The second part carries the ideas of the first into larger, more cinematic designs. As is expected of Algger in this era, the dense and finely detailed hand designs are much better embodied than the fullbody designs. But, being not-that-great is an important stage of growth, and the latter half of the performance still has its share of enjoyable moments. 

The thing about Algger dancing extremely Algger’s Shit in an ensemble is, he really is peerless when it comes to his characteristic techniques. The ensemble has made a really admirable attempt, and when you let the performance wash over you, it’s not too noticeable. Given the plot and the overall vibe of this piece, which relies on creepily mechanical, synchronized, rapid movements, this work is better for the presence of the ensemble. Still, Algger’s hand designs have an inimitable depth of ornamentation, and the incredibly clean margins on their execution are part of his signature style. Frame after frame, beat after beat, image after image, Algger dance is dark time wizardry, and no one else comes close. 

This open-palmed descending zigzag is the first moment with big impact, an unusual and arresting design. This choreography is built on two major geometric foundations, right angles and half-circles, fractally combined and recombined. We’ll see a descending zigzag like this again in the midpoint of the piece, in a full-body echo by Lancer.

We see the two-shape motif in this little moment, where the right angle and the arc occur together. This move is almost cutesy. There’s something demonically charming about it. 

I love these twisting hand circles, a signature feature of Algger’s hand performance through the eras. In this choreography, circles evoke themes of containment and reversal. In this design, digits crawl in a way that foreshadows my favorite design in this piece: 

This little monster is so creepy! It’s a very strong isolation as well. You can really feel the scramble of the hand-creatures against the immobile landscape of bodies.

While the first half of this piece is mainly characterized by intricate hand motions, it isn’t completely devoid of big designs: Here’s a baphomet! I appreciate the restraint employed in the execution of this design, which flits scarily through the choreography without stifling the momentum.

After a long period of heavy synchronization, we get this striking little break. The backup dancers sweep their arms in a hemicircle, and there’s a eerie deceleration to the arc. Meanwhile, Algger has a mini-solo with highly graphical imagery. The designs seem to evoke some kind of magic, perhaps a summoning. The slow motion of the ensemble is juxtaposed with Algger’s quick, precise designs, creating a dreamy effect like swirling haze.

I quite enjoy this over-the-head hand wave. It’s cute, smoky, and a bit whimsical. Unfortunately, it’s rather lacking in fluidity, especially in the left hand, resulting in an odd effect where the move is half-fluttery, half-fluid. Ambidexterity is hard, and anyway, I do always appreciate a nod to classic voguing sensibilities, with whirling hands set close to the face like this. 

This first part is so great, thickly layered with cute little monster designs in between each of the concept-moments I’ve highlighted here. It’s a 45-second torrent of visual delectables.

The second half of this piece increases in scale, with both the movements themselves becoming larger and the choreographic phrases becoming longer. Here we see the results of the summoning, the unbound forces flowing from precise incantations performed in the first half. 

In the middle of the piece, Lancer gets the spotlight for a moment, with a series of isolations expressing the motifs of hemicircles and zigzags. In the background, Algger perches grandiosely on a seat-as-throne, removing his blindfold as Lancer dips low with a wavering body.

When the camera turns its attention back to Algger, minus the blindfold, performing a threatening and triumphant return, exerting physical-magical control over the ensemble (minus Lancer). This second part utilizes a much larger sphere of motion, but it’s still the hand designs that are the most arresting.

For example, we see the delightful return of hand-creature, another moment of reversal. This movement feels avian, contrasting its previously monstrous connotation. Instead of descending toward the elbow, here it seems to be released from a hip pouch, leaping into the air over the shoulder before fluttering back toward the dancers’ faces, melting into the next moment. This design makes my heart race, so graphic and sharp.

This big design is the major motif of the second half. Full of rampaging power and malevolence, the monstrous energy assaults cinematic reality itself. This is a bigger and wilder permutation of the circles and right angles we've been seeing throughout the piece.

There’s a bit of plot in the middle of the second part that I struggle to fully narrativize here. Among the intercut images, there is a shot of the blindfolding scene, then a powerful pose by Algger. At the end of this temporally unmoored sequence (another consequence of the performance’s reality warping power) we see the blindfolding image once more, then Lancer opposes the rest of the group for a mini-solo. At first it looks like they’re going to have a dance/magical battle, the ensemble riffing on Lancer’s moves. But that idea is pretty immediately dropped, and instead, Lancer performs a series of moves that culminate in a force wave that staggers the ensemble, who regroup and move on. I’m not entirely sure what to make of this section from a story standpoint. It’s useful for pacing, however, drawing out some tension with relatively sparse motion, to contrast the energetic and direct finale. 

This penultimate moment is my favorite in the second half. The little twirl is so bewitching! There’s an exuberance to the execution that makes the character a bit cute. I like the arm wave too, it seems to evoke tentacles, or perhaps tendrils. In many ways, the dance itself, the ensemble, represents an eldritch being. Revealing these unexpected facets at the end here, showing the audience its personality and physicality, is a surprising turn. Where before we saw wickedness and drive, now there’s a hint of sweetness, the charm that is the true source of this being’s power.

Red Rapture has one of Algger’s strongest endings ever. In the finale, we see a reversal of the introduction. Instead of passively submitting to the restraint of a blindfold, Algger dominates the ensemble, bending them to his will, before degrading us, the viewers, spitting in our faces. I’m a professional, so I won’t say, “yes, daddy,” but also… I wouldn’t not say that. This type of ending is emblematic of Algger’s choreography in this era: kinky, transgressive, and alienating. Choices like this are weird and they make you feel off-balance, the sensation of transitioning suddenly between realms.

Unlike most of Algger’s choreographic work, which is typically set up to document a dance performance without elaborating much utilizing the film medium, this video is heavily produced, with artistic editing, cinematography, and explicitly narrative elements. I certainly don’t prefer this approach to dance performance videos in general. There’s such a gulf between the artistic foundations of dance and film that it’s difficult to synthesize the genres, even for individuals who are expert in both fields. This attempt is serviceable, even pretty good, though– the cinematic elements serve their purpose, creating a depth of story and atmosphere that envelops you. 

Overall, this piece is an excellent specimen of mid-era Algger. Dark, dense, imaginative, and esoteric, it draws you in even as it strands threateningly apart. I cannot understate the appeal of this type of visually lush, thematically occult, narratively opaque work. No matter how many times I watch it, or how carefully I look, there is always more mystery, fear, and surprise that keeps me in its thrall. 

Thanks to @kamicelll for the request! And thanks for your patience- I find that sitting with a work for a while really deepens its criticism. 

Next installment: Worth It, Algger’s charming and lyrical take on the electro-soul masterpiece by Moses Sumney.

Post-script

I struggled with whether to include these, but I have Opinions regarding Algger’s body in this video. So, if that’s not your jam, thanks for reading, and I’ll catch you next time. Otherwise, put on your “let him cook” goggles and let’s dive in. 

In general, I think fatter dancers are usually more interesting to watch. Thin dancers are terribly common, and there’s something grating about the dance industry’s tendency to cast the exact same body type in every role. Fat bodies are, artistically and aesthetically, highly valuable. They create variety in momentum, friction, and volume far beyond what can be expressed by thin bodies alone. Given the world we live in and the culture of professional dance especially, fat dancers carry a disarming pathos and emotional valence. Dance is infested with a trite devotion to its endless deluge of too-similar bodies, and I resent the constraint. There’s no true artistic reason to choke the human bounds of an art form so viciously. This obsession with thin dancers is art subordinated to mere (fascist) aesthetic. I hate it.

Regarding Algger specifically, he’s gotten so thin lately! Obviously, it’s his body and he can do whatever he likes with it. But a devotee worries. I’ve been spending a bunch of time on Algger’s new videos recently, and it’s quite a different appearance than in the era in which this video came out. He’s got such a normal look right now! His edges are flatter now, clothes drape differently across him, and it’s just so dreadfully ordinary. Ah, maybe I’m pouting too much.

In Red Rapture, the signature features of Algger’s choreography produce a sublime, elegant impact from upon this softer body. There’s a lovely contrast between the sharpness of the motions and the sweeps of Algger’s physicality. At the same time, his body, contrasting the waifish ensemble, emphasizes his role of otherworldly power and dominance. 

I don’t mean to be prescriptive or nosey about Algger’s body size. As I said, I wasn’t sure whether to even mention it here. It’s not really my business. Furthermore, I’m aware that I’m out of step with mainstream opinion on these issues, and I’m not interested in tedious internet bickering. But it’s such an essential part of my experience of Red Rapture. As a piece of embodied performance art, the soul of this work can’t be compartmentalized or dissected apart from Algger’s body (and the bodies of the other dancers, but those are both less interesting and less emphasized by the production itself). Ultimately, my criticism would be incomplete if I didn’t address it. 

[lonelier-version-of-you]

I’ve just watched the second episode of the Casualty double-bill: S37E18 “Running on Empty” by Claire Miller. It was fantastic. Really, really good stuff. I definitely thought it was the better of the two episodes, probably because this one didn’t have Faith in it. (The Rash stuff in the previous episode was really good, but the Stevie stuff fell flat to me due to Faith’s involvement.)

The Jacob stuff was great. It’s nice to see him getting more focus lately, he really felt like a background character for a while. Also - wow, I really see what people meant about this episode, Sunil’s injuries were nasty. It was a bit hard to watch even for me, even as someone who’s usually not bothered by the medical stuff in Casualty/Holby.

Charles Venn was great, as usual, and so was the actor playing Sunil. (And, of course, the dog was cute too.)

The Dylan stuff was really interesting. I noted that, within two episodes, both Stevie and Dylan barked up the wrong tree and accused a patient’s visitor of abuse that they hadn’t actually committed - I wonder if that was deliberate, because it really does show how similar Stevie and Dylan are.

I do appreciate it when we get a good “Dylan’s not a saint” storyline. I don’t think the show or the fandom fall into the “Dylan is perfect and can do no wrong” attitude anywhere near as much as with Henrik on Holby, but it does get a bit close to that sometimes, so a healthy reminder that Dylan is well-intentioned but deeply flawed is nice every now and again.

I think Dylan was strongly projecting his own history in this episode, to be honest. He’s been projecting a bit during this storyline in general (understandably, and he’s obviously doing all this for a noble and important cause), but now he’s taken it too far, and it’s causing him to lose focus and see things that aren’t there (metaphorically). I wonder if the choice to name the patient Brian was deliberate, like on Holby when Oliver was struggling with his PTSD (from taking a bullet for Roxanna Macmillan) and he ended up lashing out at Henrik while treating a patient named Roxanne.

Speaking of Henrik, I can’t help but feel annoyed that the one-off elderly patient Brian got more focus on his internalised homophobia and the level of trauma he had from growing up queer back then than Henrik ever did during Henruss, but I’ll try not to start ranting about that because it’s not really relevant to this post.

Anyway, Dylan’s got demoted, which is an easy way to make the fans hate Marcus even more than we already do. Having said that, I find it very amusing that Marcus’s idea of punishing Dylan is... demoting him from a job that he hates anyway.

Nice one, Marcus, Dylan will really suffer for that. /sarcasm

Paige was really, really great in this episode. Shalisha James-Davis’ performance was excellent, too. The scene where Paige and her patient Lloyd went out to see the stars was just lovely. I think this is my favourite episode for Paige so far, actually. It gave her a lot of development as a character. I also like how they’re showing how everything with Ashok is affecting Paige as well as Rash.

I hope she doesn’t have an affair with Teddy like some of the spoiler articles have been teasing, though. I think that would just be piling unnecessary drama into the storyline. Teddy having an unrequited crush, or even Paige maybe being tempted, I wouldn’t mind as much, but I really don’t want a full-blown affair.

There was a great variety of patients in this episode, as well. I’m glad we’re back to having so many patient stories, because I felt the previous two episodes were lacking in them.

So, yeah, that’s me all caught up and ready to review the next episode later this week. :)

[ashsreads]

live reaction: check, please! (webcomic by ngozi ukazu)

(as a figure skater, i just had to make my first post about an ice sports webcomic :) so here we go!!) (also, to clarify: these are notes i take in real-time while i read whatever i'm reading. i take the notes in my notion bookshelf, then copy/paste them over to here once i'm done!)

i’ve never enjoyed reading about hockey players before

they’re all such himbos, i love them

the way they talk about substance abuse in this is actually?? very nice?? like it’s not romanticized, they call it like it is, and it’s shown to have real consequences on the characters and their lives

i also enjoy that the Haus is shown to have baggies of condoms on their message board alsdkdjl safe sex ed at its finest

hockey shit with ransom and holster works better than my zoloft

the way the teams foster environments of inclusivity is so important to me; many queer athletes really worry about what their teams are going to say, and seeing these fictional teams be so warm and accepting makes me so so so happy :,)

only con: i would’ve liked a more developed ending! it felt very sudden, and a lot of strings left untied.

like what happened with bitty’s parents? how’d the press conference go? how was bitty’s senior year? i have QUESTIONS

edit NEVERMIND I SKIPPED 20 CHAPTERS ON ACCIDENT ALKSDJFLS BRB

edit edit: the ending is incredibly well developed when you actually finish it!! it’s such a sweet, adorable, happy ending that celebrates queer joy.

i would also like a copy of bitty's cookbook please, his pie recipes must be phenomenal

just found out the author doesn’t skate herself??!! i’m ASTOUNDED, her research must have been insanely extensive. i will say the figure skating knowledge isn’t quite up to par with the hockey knowledge, but overall bravo!! bravo indeed

i do wish this story had was some trans/nonbinary rep. we get approximately zero of that in ice sports.

however, when considering that this comic launched in 2013, the representation for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people in hockey (and ice sports overall) was absolutely a step in the right direction.

like is this another piece of queer media focused on two cis white men?? yeah. is it also a webcomic that includes representation for many marginalized groups, was created by a black woman, and started when gay people couldn't even get married in the US, much less be out in pro sports?? YEAH! this comic tackled so many topics that were seen as fairly radical/controversial in the early 2010s, and i've gotta give kudos for that.

also would've loved to see some more exploration into the figure skating part of bitty’s past!! like how that helped in his journey w/ hockey, why he switched, etc.

i will also say that at some points the panels were kind of hard to read in webcomic format. especially some of the ones that take up like longer/narrower rectangles(??), the text gets super tiny and hard to read. most of it's perfectly readable though!

overall an incredibly enjoyable read!! it's cute, it's hilarious, and took my mind off all the horrible things in the world for a moment.

and if we could possibly get a live action tv show of this one day... the world would know peace 😌😌

[dungeonbf]

AWWW THATS SO CUTE!!! qui leaves notes and is generally unhinged but it genuinely brightens anti centrisms day.. bc like, obvi, everyone appreciates him as a leader but i doubt many ideologies interact with him like as a person u know? like wanting to know his hobbies & his likes & dislikes and whatnot. no one dislikes him rlly outside of like obvi enemies but they don’t interact with him like friends do.

he appreciates an-acc sooooo much idk he’s a lot more lowkey abt it tho to me.. vibes

also chris lib & auth right do debate every now & then but it usually ends with auth right sleeping on the couch lmaooo i think auth right is so stuck up his own ass that debating with him is nearly impossible to do civilly. he changes up like RLLY fast too as soon as he figures out something applies to him so he cld hate gay ppl today and then tomorrow be like “now that i’m gay i’ve realized that straight ppl are a stain to our society! all straight couples can do is make babies & even then us queer ppl have found scientific ways to have babies without straight sex.” and chris lib is like “please shut up.. shut the fuck up please..”

so like they debate but it typically devolves into spats & then they take time apart and then they’re like “yea, sorry. shouldn’t have insulted your ideology bc that’s basically insulting you.” eventually they’d get to a point where they cld debate without getting so heated but they’re both passionate ppl when it counts.

alsooo.. that image was sooo funny omg it literally is us. me and my man ❤️ — @boykujou

@boykujou THIS MADE ME GIGGLE THIS IS SO REAL i know i say “this is so real” but all your thoughts and ideas have never been wrong. my most based friend fr.

and you’re so right cuz no one in canon really interacts with anti-centrism outside of general leadership stuff and it’s so sad :( like i’ll listen to your thoughts. one of my personal headcanons is that he runs a moderately successful xenogender blog where he coins different gender identities and such… i think anti-centrism uses “extremistgender” as his xenogender (a gender influenced by the extremes of the political compass; feels “extreme” at all times, although fluid and can be pulled in many different directions — i came up with it myself!)

also, that is literally so canon and real — it’s like authright’s jewish fascism arc except with identity. he wants a gay people only ethnostate (identitystate?) — also, i’m curious, what’s your guys’ favorite thing to do together? i know authright’s a big gamer, do you guys play cod together? i think that’d be cute, chrislib definitely beats his ass easily.

i think being a passionate couple is both (a) so cute and (b) so important! that’s the whole anti-centrist mission is to open the door for extremes of all sections to interact… love is love, basically, extremism brings people together /j

I’m also super curious if you have any specific headcanons about Authright??

[mishafletcher]

Are you a Gold Star lesbian? (Just in case you don't know what it means, a Gold Star lesbian is a lesbian that has never had the sex with a guy and would never have any intentions of ever doing so)

So I got this ask a while ago, and I've been lowkey thinking about it ever since.

First: No. I am a queer, cranky dyke who is too old for this sort of bullshit gatekeeping. 

Second: What an unbelievable question to ask someone you don't even know! What an incomprehensibly rude thing to ask, as if you're somehow owed information about my sexual history. You're not! No one—and I can't reiterate this enough, but no one—owes you the details of their sex lives, of their trauma, or of anything about themselves that they don't feel like sharing with you.

The clickbait mills of the internet and the purity police of social media would like nothing more than to convince everyone that you owe these things to everyone. They would like you to believe that you have to prove that you're traumatized enough to identify with this character, that you can't sell this article about campus rape without relating it to your own sexual assault, that you can't talk about queer issues without offering up a comprehensive history of your own experiences, and none of those things are true. You owe people, and especially random strangers on the internet, nothing, least of all citations to somehow prove to them that you have the right to talk about your own life.

This makes some people uncomfortable, and to be clear, I think that that's good: people who feel entitled to demand this information should be uncomfortable. Refusing to justify yourself takes power away from people who would very much like to have it, people who would like to gatekeep and dictate who is permitted to speak about what topics or like what things. You don't have to justify yourself. You don't have to explain that you like this ship because this one character reminds you a bit of yourself because you were traumatized in a vaguely similar way and now— You don't have to justify your queerness by telling people about the best friend you had when you were twelve, and how you kissed, and she laughed and said it was good practice for when she would kiss boys and your stomach twisted and your mouth tasted like bile and she was the first and last girl you kissed, but— 

You don't owe anyone these pieces of yourself. They're yours, and you can share them or not, but if someone demands that you share, they're probably not someone you should trust.

Third: The idea of gold star lesbians is a profoundly bi- and trans- phobic idea, often reducing gender to genitals and the long, shared history of queer women of all identities to a stark, artificial divide where some identities are seen as purer or more valuable than others. This is bullshit on all counts.

There's a weird and largely artificial division between bisexuals and lesbians that seems to be intensifying on tumblr, and I have to say: I hate it. Bisexual women aren't failed lesbians. They're not somehow less good or less valid because they're attracted to [checks notes] people. Do you think that having sex with a man somehow changes them? What are you so worried about it for? I've checked, and having sex with a man does not, in fact, make your vagina grow teeth or tentacles. Does that make you feel better? Why is what other people are doing so threatening to you?

Discussions of gold star lesbians are often filled with tittering about hehe penises, which is unfortunate, since I know a fair few lesbians who have penises, and even more lesbians who've had sex with people, men and women alike, who have penises. I'm sorry to report that "I'm disgusted by a standard-issue human body part" is neither a personality nor anything to be proud of. I'm a dyke and I don't especially like men, but dicks are just dicks. You don't have to be interested in them, but a lot of people have them, and it doesn't make you less of a lesbian to have sex with someone who has a dick.

There's so much garbage happening in the world—maybe you haven't noticed, but things are kind of Not Great in a lot of places, and there's a whole pandemic thing that's been sort of a major buzzkill? How is this something that you're worried about? Make a tea, remind yourself that other people's genitalia and sexual history are none of your business, maybe go watch a video about a cute animal or something. 

Fourth: The idea of gold star lesbians is a shitty premise that argues that sexuality is better if it's always been clear-cut and straightforward—but it rarely is. We live in a very, very heterosexist culture. I didn’t have a word for lesbian until many years after I knew that I was one. How can you say that you are something when your mouth can’t even make the shape of it? The person you are at 24 is different to the person you are at 14, and 34, and 74. You change. You get braver. The world gets wider. You learn to see possibilities in the shadows you used to overlook. Of course people learn more about themselves as they age.

Also, many of us, especially those of us who grew up in smaller towns, or who are over the age of, say, 25, grew up in times and places where our sexuality was literally criminal.

Shortly after I graduated high school, a gay man in my state was sentenced to six months in jail. Why? Well, he’d hit on someone, and it was a misdemeanor to "solicit homosexual or lesbian activity", which included expressing romantic or sexual interest in someone who didn’t reciprocate. You might think, then, that I am in fact quite old, but you would be mistaken. The conviction was in 1999; it was overturned in 2002.

I grew up knowing this: the wrong thing said to the wrong person would be sufficient reason to charge me with a crime.

In the United States, the Defense of Marriage Act was passed in 1996, clarifying that according to the federal government, marriage could only ever be between one man and one woman. It also promised that even if a state were to legalize same-sex unions, other states wouldn't have to recognize them if they didn't want to. And wow, they super did not want to, because between 1998 and 2012, a whopping thirty states had approved some sort of amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Every queer person who's older than about 25 watched this, knowing that this was aimed at people like them. Knowing that these votes were cast by their friends and their families and their teachers and their employers. 

Some states were worse than others. Ohio passed their bill in 2004 with 62% approval. Mississippi passed theirs the same year with 86% approval. Imagine sitting in a classroom, or at work, or in a church, or at a family dinner, and knowing that statistically, at least two out of every three people in that room felt you shouldn't be allowed to marry someone you loved.

Matthew Shepard was tortured to death in October of 1998. For being gay, for (maybe) hitting on one of the men who had planned to merely rob him. Instead, he was tortured and left to die, tied to a barbed wire fence. His murderers were both sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison. This was controversial, because a nonzero number of people felt that Shepard had brought it upon himself.

Many of us sat at dinner tables and listened to this discussion, one that told us, over and over, that we were fundamentally wrong, fundamentally undeserving of love or sympathy or of life itself.

This is a tiny, tiny sliver of history—a staggeringly incomplete overview of what happened in the US over about ten years. Even if this tiny sliver is all that there were, looking at this, how could you blame someone for wanting to try being not Like This? How can you fault someone who had sex, maybe even had a bunch of sex, hoping desperately that maybe they could be normal enough to be loved if they just tried harder? How can you say that someone who found themself an uninteresting but inoffensive boyfriend and went on dates and had sex and said that it was fine is somehow less valuable or less queer or less of a lesbian for doing so? For many people, even now, passing as straight, as problematic as that term is, is a survival skill. How dare you imply that the things that someone did to protect themself make them worth less? They survived, and that's worth literally everything.

Fifth, finally: What is a gold star, anyhow? You've capitalized it, like it's Weighty and Important, but it's not. Gold stars were what your most generous grade school teacher put on spelling tests that you did really well on. But ultimately, gold stars are just shiny scraps of paper. They don't have any inherent value: I can buy a thousand of them for five bucks and have them at my door tomorrow. They have only the meaning that we give them, only the importance that we give them. We’re not children desperately scrabbling for a teacher’s approval anymore, though. We understand that good and bad are more of a spectrum than a binary, and that a gold star is a simplification. We understand that no number of gold stars will make us feel like we’re special enough or good enough or important enough, or fix the broken places we can still feel inside ourselves. Only we can do that.

The stars are only shiny scraps of paper. They offer us nothing; we don’t need them. I hope that someday, you see that, too. 

[wolfstarlibrarian]

HELLO I was jw what were your favourite fics featuring POC Marauders without the shitty stereotyping 💜

Also thank you librarian for your content. Honestly this is the top tier rec blog in the fandom due to your amazing taste.

Well THIS is a great ask! It’s nice to see fans looking for authentic diversity in fics as opposed to tokenism. Just about all of these fics have been listed on various library lists, but hopefully people enjoying seeing them listed somewhere convenient. Also, this is just a VERY SMALL selection of fics featuring Remus or Sirius as POC, so if you’re looking for more of a certain representation, just send an ask!

Also, a note to authors looking to include representation (other than their own ethnicity) in their next fic: make sure that you read first hand experiences from multiple sources, research with advocacy groups, and THEN try reach out to a peer who can potentially beta/do a sensitivity read for you. It's important that we all try and learn as much as possible on our own before asking our peers to work as our educators. ❤️

POC Wolfstar

Black James & Cuban Sirius

Be My Baby by @remus-john-lupin It’s the summer of 1963, and 18 year old Remus Lupin discovers dance, love, and even himself. (A very romantic and very gay Dirty Dancing AU.)

Latino Remus

Forget-Me-Not by @halictus-writer

For someone who just woke up with amnesia and a bad concussion, Remus Lupin isn't too dispirited. He'll get through it with the help of his friends, taking it one day at a time, as Sirius says. The only (other) problem? There's something important that he's forgetting.

Retrial by phoenixgal

Remus Lupin, host of the popular podcast Retrial, decides to focus on the case of Sirius Black, a man convicted of murdering his high school best friend, for his upcoming season. Remus has gotten too close to his subjects in the past, so he promises himself that won't happen this time.

Desi Sirius

Young Hearts Intertwined by @goodboylupin

There’s a special kind of magic to a wartime wedding.

Latino Remus & Desi Sirius

A Lucky Mishap by softiejace Of course this would be just Remus’ luck - the library printer breaking when the deadline for his term paper is coming up. And to top it off, the pretty boy he’s been running into all week is there to witness his moment of misery… but maybe he can turn things around?

Sephardic Jewish Remus

Candles in the Darkness by @miraxb

In the winter of seventh year, James, Sirius, and Remus are all carrying their own burdens and fears for the growing darkness in their world. Together, they find comfort and light at the Hanukkah celebration in the Lupin household.

Half Syrian Remus

I Tried Writing Your Name In The Rain, But It Never Came, So I Used The Sun Instead by @prefectmoony

Don’t get Remus wrong. He loves his friends, he does! Loves them to the moon and back in fact. They’re his people, his favorite part of everyday, his found family. He’d do anything for them. But the thing is that doesn’t take away from the very simple fact that his friends are fucking ridiculous. Remus knows this, has known it for five years now. But it doesn’t stop him from startling awake on the morning of his sixteenth birthday surprised by the sound of fireworks exploding in their dormitory and a raucous chorus of “Happy birthday Moony!” being shouted into his ear with jaunty gusto.

Chinese Sirius

got a fascination (with your presentation) by @alifeincoffeespoons

When Remus thought of Oxford as a child, he envisioned turrets, laughter, and an unnameable, unforgettable magic. He did not envision vomiting his breakfast all over himself while standing in the halls of St. Catherine’s College.

Cut Your Bangs by @notmycatsname

"There’s something about him that catches Sirius’s eye. His voice is a little whiny, almost off-key. Sirius has heard it time and time again in the bands that Lily plays through their speakers at their apartment but it sounds more genuine, almost heart breaking, through his voice. Remus’s voice."

Black Remus, Desi Sirius & James

Palo Alto by NachoDiablo

Modern AU set in Silicon Valley. It's easy for Sirius to ignore his mixed-up feelings while he's got Remus all to himself, but when Remus starts dating again, Sirius is forced to figure things out before Remus moves on for good. Or before James and Peter strangle them both.

Japanese Remus and Taiwanese Sirius

kavaluan (means white lily here) by @claudiafekete 1926, Taiwan. Japanese empire's prized colony. Remus needed an interpreter. Sirius volunteered.

Philippino Sirius

Problems with Narrative Structure and the Rules of Manly Engagement [+Podfic] by @xinasvoice

"There were easily six hundred people living in the Paramount building in downtown San Francisco. That was a lot of neighbors to get to know, but it only took a single day of living there for Sirius to notice Remus."

Latino Remus & Japanese-American!Sirius

Discards by @picascribit​ When 21-year-old assistant librarian Sirius spots a cute hipster college student at the Seattle Public Library, he just needs to figure out a subtle way of determining whether he’s into guys. But Remus’s life is more complicated than Sirius knows.

Native American Sirius

Grimsfall by @remus-john-lupin

There is a legend in the old city of Grimsfall that a large, black creature used to emerge from the forest at night, and anyone who met its gaze would be driven to madness before the thing dragged them into the depths of hell.

Mexican Remus & Sirius

A Whole Queer County Fair by @bigblackdogfic Two queer Mexican kids talking, having sex, and feeling their feelings in Arizona.

Indigenous Australian Remus

Among The Gumtrees by WolfstarGarden Sirius inherits his uncle's farm, but finding the right farmhand isn't as simple as he'd hoped: Sirius just couldn’t help but wonder if fantasising about his straight farm assistant was maybe one boundary breach too far. On the other hand, perhaps Remus shouldn’t suck on the end of his pen while lost in thought.

South American Remus

The Delegate by @wanderingbandurria

It’s 1921, and Sirius Black is a sailor that wants to prove himself as a political agitator. He sets foot in a lost, forgotten port in South America, where he’s supposed to help with the local organization of syndicalists. He’s not expecting to meet a brown-eyed man who is there to help put his words into Spanish. A man that’s really not interested in anything but doing his job. Nothing more.

Thai Sirius

Whatever Words I Say -orphaned fic

When Remus Lupin is hired to control the antics of famous lead singer of the Marauders, Sirius Black, he knows he has his work cut out for him. Sirius is contrary and has absolutely no chill, and loves pissing off the press. Remus feels up to the challenge, but he certainly does not expect to fall head over heels in love from the moment he meets the charismatic singer.

Something Beautiful -orphaned fic When Remus Lupin’s ex talks him into a drunken tattoo mistake, he goes to his friend and co-worker Lily for help. Luckily her husand’s best mate is a tattoo artist who can help with the cover up. Unfortunately for Remus, the tattoo in in a rather compromising area, and he’ll have to get over his embarrassment. Luckily for him, Sirius Black is just the man for the job.

So many fics and yet so many more to go! As always, feel free to reblog with your own recs!

[canary3d-obsessed]

Anti-Gay Censorship in CDrama and US Drama: A Comparison

Chinese Censorship: As long as you can plausibly tell any children in the room that your characters are not fucking and are not literally gay married, go ahead and let your characters be their best gay selves. 

If characters love each other deeply and want to express it through words and actions, that’s cool, just find a word that isn’t, like, “husband” or “wife” for their relationship.  知己  is a good one!  But “like a true sister/true brother” is also acceptable. Obvious tenderness and joy in each others’ presence? Totally great! 

Men, in particular, should have and express a full range of feelings; if they are very emotionally repressed, they need a good friend to help them overcome that strange, unhealthy way of being.

Adopting kids together? Sure! The kids can call both parents some variant of Aunt or Uncle but it’s also cute if they just add “Dad” to each parent’s surname.

Again, as long as you can plausibly say that their two dads aren’t fucking each other--even if they are no women in sight for decades at a time and they take every meal together and give each other backrubs--it’s all good, and in fact is a lovely way to tell a story about a family. 

(more behind the cut)

As for happy endings - well, unless it’s a comedy, *someone* has to die tragically so they can be reunited in their next life, right? Because otherwise is it even a story? 

Beautiful mourning and funeral scenes are such a great way to show how deeply characters care for each other, as well as being an opportunity for craploads of exposition, as characters explain the plot to their deceased loved ones.

But when deciding who to kill, it’s ok if the hetero characters take the hit. (If you can kill them within minutes of their wedding that’s optimal, but it’s also fine to kill them at another important occasion). Please make sure that anyone (gay or straight) who can’t have a happy ending in the current story promises to meet their true love in the next life. We don’t exactly encourage spiritual stuff, but we’re not made of stone. 

If you insist on having your queers stay alive and end up clearly together, make sure you can prove you’re doing it to extract extra money from the audience. (Again, though: can you even call it a romance if nobody dies? isn’t it weird if nobody dies? *wistful sigh.*) If audiences want to pay extra for the novelty of queer characters not dying, that’s awesome and you should milk them for every yuan.  

American Censorship

As long as the evangelical Christians who keep our advertisers on speed dial can be 100% convinced that a hero isn’t gay, we’re good. So if the hero cares deeply about their best friend, they should separate at the end of the story.  Also they should punch things or people whenever they have a feeling about anything, to prove they are masculine and therefore not gay. And they should randomly make out with opposite-sex hotties if any are available.  

Bonus points if the hottie has also made out with the other point of the definitely-not-love triangle at some point, because that means neither dude is gay. 

Women who are friendly with other women, or who have, like, practical hairstyles, should talk about wanting babies. Our advertisers know that all women want babies and the only way to have one is by being heterosexually married to a dude.

If your heroine has a bestie who actually has a child already, the child should call your heroine “Auntie” because that’s what straight ladies like to be called. 

If you want to have obvious gay people in your show, you need to either make it for a subscription channel like Netflix, that doesn’t need ad revenue, or put them in a scene that can be completely cut out when the homophobes notice it.  

For bonus points, blame Chinese censors when you refuse to have gay main characters in your franchise! Even though your films flop so hard in China that they barely cover the cost of marketing. 

Even on a subscription service, if you want your queer character to openly declare their love for their partner, it’s best to have them do it in response to harassment or death or feeling upset about something, not because they’re, like, happy.  

When a gay character dies - which they should, because otherwise is it even a story? - some other characters can have a brief conversation to indicate that they were gay and somebody noticed that they died. 

If the character was super important, their friends should have an informal gathering to celebrate their memory, rather than a proper funeral. 

Proper funerals are for proper people. 

References: 1. Guardian 2. Ultimate Note 3. Go Ahead 4. Story of Yanxi Palace 5. Nirvana in Fire 6. Nirvana in Fire 7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 8. A Marvel Comic 9. Avengers: Age of Ultron 10: Captain Marvel 11. Star Wars: Ehhhh 12. The Old Guard 13. Babylon 5 14. The Magicians

[hakasims]

The Most Important Review of Every Single Marwan Kenzari Film

If you’ve seen this one about Luca, you know the drill.

Now, Marwan’s brand is a little less defined than Luca’s but I managed to find similar tropes in a lot of his films. Also, rather than copy myself and give you a redundant Marwanmeter, I decided instead to recommend which Luca character best pairs with each Marwan character for your crossover pleasure. Let’s see if we ship the same things! Some of them are crack. You’re welcome.

(all gifs again by the awesomely amazing @weardes​ who did not ask to be my gif factory but life’s a bitch)

Het zusje van Katia (2008)

Will you miss him if you blink? Kinda. They talk about him a lot but his actual screen time is like 43.7 seconds. Also can I just say... he’s supposed to be from Italy?? The boy says literally one (1) Italian word, and you’ll never guess what it is. (Obviously, it’s “bella” like there’s a chance he could’ve said anything else.)

Is he hot? Painfully hot.

Is he naked? There’s this one scene where he’s wearing the sluttiest pair of speedos I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

Does his hair look great? Actually, yes. Perfect hair, perfect beard, he looks amazing.

Does he fuck? Yes, a lot - off screen, including an M/M/F threesome he presumably, probably, most definitely initiated.

Best paired with? From what I’ve gathered, this hoe ain’t loyal, so the best course of action is to find him a Luca that would benefit from a one night stand with no strings attached and wouldn’t fall in love with him. The obvious choice here is Valerio from Slam - Tutto per una ragazza. They meet, they fuck, then Giac makes his 4-hour drive back to Pisa, and they don’t see each other again until the next time he’s in Rome. Everybody’s happy, especially the two sluts in question.

De laatste dagen van Emma Blank (2009)

Will you miss him if you blink? Yes, absolutely.

Is he hot? Very.

Is he naked? Almost constantly.

Does his hair look great? He’s got those cute short curls, he looks so good.

Does he fuck? That’s literally why he’s there: to fuck and to die.

Best paired with? Man, I wish I had something to work with here. The only thing we know about him besides his sexual prowess is his affinity for white suits and toy helicopters. And as far as I know, those might be the exact things Fabrizio from Nina finds hot in guys. So like, why not?

Loft (2010)

Will you miss him if you blink? He’s the fifth most important character.

Is he hot? Yeah, sure.

Is he naked? There’s a scene where he’s wearing underwear and a tank top but it somehow makes him look like a kindergartener.

Does his hair look great? It looks quite nice.

Does he fuck? Yes, though I wish he didn’t.

Best paired with? Tom is a very violent person and a drug addict. He does messed up stuff to his sexual partners I’d rather he didn’t do to any of Luca’s characters. Feel free to use him for your sadistic fantasies or as a villain or whatever.

Rabat (2011)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, he’s one of the three leads.

Is he hot? Oh yes! And cute!

Is he naked? He’s at the beach wearing nothing but boxer shorts.

Does his hair look great? He’s got this extreme undercut thing that would look ridiculous on anyone less pretty, so like no, he doesn’t have great hair, but also like it’s Marwan, you know what I mean?

Does he fuck? Before he embarks on a road trip with his friends, he has an offscreen threesome with two girls he picked up at a wedding. Slut.

Best paired with? Gabriele from Waves. They’re both sweet guys who could meet in some Tunisian port and decide to sail the Mediterranean Sea together.

Black Out (2012)

Will you miss him if you blink? Not unless your blinking is very deliberate.

Is he hot? Not really. He’s a dirty cop with a shitty moustache and oral fixation.

Is he naked? No, but I wish he was: his clothes are awful. Marwan is 29 in this movie and he looks 50!

Does his hair look great? Nope. They took Marwan’s usual short hair and made it not work somehow.

Does he fuck? No.

Best paired with? The one thing Luca’s characters all have in common is that none of them come off as bootlickers. All of them are either too soft for such a relationship or wouldn’t waste their spit on a cop.

Wolf (2013)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, he’s the protagonist.

Is he hot? *gestures wildly at the gif*

Is he naked? He’s got quite a few shirtless scenes.

Does his hair look great? It’s nothing special but suits his character well.

Does he fuck? Oh yes.

Best paired with? Hear me out. I know that some people ship him with Fabio, but in my opinion that pair, while hot, doesn’t work. Here’s my pitch: Cesare from Non essere cattivo. The drug connection is still there, but in this case Majid’s problem-solving skills won’t fall on deaf ears. Cesare needs a daddy, ok? Majid can be a daddy when he needs to, especially when he has a soft boyfriend to care for. And Majid needs soft, not psycho.

Hartenstraat (2014)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, he’s the protagonist once again.

Is he hot? Painfully.

Is he naked? There’s that iconic scene where he’s wearing nothing but black boxer briefs and boots while carrying a tray...

Does his hair look great? He’s got Joe-like curls and looks like what every male romantic lead should aspire to look like and then cry because they all fail.

Does he fuck? There’s one very unfortunate sex scene played for laughs. I’m pretty sure he’ll need therapy afterwards. I certainly do.

Best paired with? Paolo from Il padre d’Italia. Paolo deserves the best boyfriend, and who’s better than Daan, an extremely hot man who cooks? They both have daughters, so they can talk about that, I guess, and Paolo can finally have a family. Honestly, this is so wholesome I just made myself cry.

Lucia de B. (2014)

Will you miss him if you blink? For sure.

Is he hot? He’s a cop. Again. But he looks good.

Is he naked? Fully dressed, but man are his clothes ugly. Is that a cop thing?

Does his hair look great? He has slightly longer curls, which is fine and the best thing about this character.

Does he fuck? ACAB. (I know this doesn’t answer the question, I just wanted to make it clear.)

Best paired with? See my bootlicker comment from earlier. While Detective *checks notes* Ron Leeflang isn’t explicitly corrupt, he’s obviously a dick, so the best I can do here is recommend any Luca character that has ever been in trouble with the law for any fics about power imbalance you want to write but aren’t comfortable with a nice Marwan playing the villain.

Bloedlink (2014)

Will you miss him if you blink? Oh no, he’s there the entire time.

Is he hot? In a weird way, yes.

Is he naked? So, so, so naked. Like, leave nothing to the imagination naked.

Does his hair look great? I’d say that little rat tail is the exact opposite of great.

Does he fuck? Probably more than is good for him. I should also add that he’s canonically queer in this.

Best paired with? Rico is a pathetic loser in need of someone who’s got his life together and has a lot of experience dealing with fuckups. Enter Loris from Il mondo fino in fondo. He has a stable job and a savior complex, and with his little bro gaying it up in Chile and not needing him anymore, all he wants right now is someone to fix. I should be a fucking matchmaker in real life, for real.

Pak van mijn hart (2014)

Will you miss him if you blink? Undoubtedly.

Is he hot? No. The whole point of his character is to be the lesser choice compared to a guy who looks like a completely ordinary bland white dude...

Is he naked? ...so of course he isn’t naked! What, are they gonna take this poor woman, show her Marwan Kenzari’s post-Wolf body and expect her to choose her deeply mediocre ex? Please! They’re gonna dress him in the dorkiest clothes possible...

Does his hair look great? ...and make him wear the most awful wig that was clearly run over by a truck.

Does he fuck? No. As you can observe, they tried really hard to make him unfuckable, but honestly, he seems like a perfectly nice guy.

Best paired with? You know what? Mattia from La solitudine dei numeri primi is in desperate need of some sweetness and normalcy. I’m sure Richard will treat him with kindness and respect.

Collide (2016)

Will you miss him if you blink? He’s the fifth most important character. Out of five.

Is he hot? Very hot.

Is he naked? Not for a second! What’s up with American movies where people aren’t just casually walking around naked without any plot necessity???

Does his hair look great? His curls are so cute you guys! Look at them!

Does he fuck? Not explicitly.

Best paired with? Fabio from Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot. Again, the drug connection is there, but Matthias is soft enough not to butt heads with Fabio and, by the end of the movie, rich enough to satisfy his cravings for good living and fame. Also look at how good their color coordination is with those dark wine red clothes! Sometimes planets just align, okay?

Ben-Hur (2016)

Will you miss him if you blink? Yes, especially if you aren’t watching the background.

Is he hot? Your usual Marwan hot.

Is he naked? No.

Does his hair look great? His typical short curls with a twist. I think the forehead area is supposed to invoke the Caesar cut? I don’t know. It looks fine when not hidden under that dumb helmet.

Does he fuck? No.

Best paired with? A better script and a much better director. (Seriously, what is this blocking?)

The Promise (2016)

Will you miss him if you blink? He’s there a decent amount in the first half of the movie and then almost completely disappears in the second half.

Is he hot? Very much, yes.

Is he naked? Unfortunately, no.

Does his hair look great? He’s got short curls again, but this time they’re fashionably styled, it’s magnificent.

Does he fuck? Oh yeah! And there’s no way he isn’t bi or pan in this. No way.

Best paired with? Roberta from L’ultimo terrestre. Listen, Emre Ogan may be a slut but he’s a gentleman, okay? He’d treat Roberta right and he’s got daddy’s cash to spare on hundreds of gorgeous white dresses for her.

The Mummy (2017)

Will you miss him if you blink? He’s there, but barely.

Is he hot? Dangerously hot.

Is he naked? Not once! Instead we get a naked Tom Cruise literally no one asked for.

Does his hair look great? It’s your basic professional short hairdo.

Does he fuck? No.

Best paired with? Malik is a member of an organization tracking and destroying various monsters and historical artefacts related to them. Guido from Tutti i santi giorni speaks four languages, including Latin, and is a literature and ancient history nerd which makes him a valuable asset. Malik can fight and protect; Guido is bumbling and in need of saving. Guys, this writes itself.

What Happened to Monday (2017)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, especially not in the third act.

Is he hot? He’s okay.

Is he naked? Very naked.

Does his hair look great? They shouldn’t have greased his curls back. He looks like another victim of Fabio Cannizzaro’s stylist. Also I wish he’d either shaved or finished growing out that beard.

Does he fuck? He fucks and he fucks good. He’ll go down on you, he’ll deflower you slowly and gently, he’ll choke you if you want him to, he’ll spoon you all night, he’ll give you emotional support, he’ll murder people for you - he’s down for whatever.

Best paired with? There’s one Luca character who needs a lot of sex and even more emotional support. Alright, most of them do, but I’m thinking of Ettore from Lasciate andare. He needs it, okay? Good dicking, good spooning, a good ear, a fine piece of ass to cry into - you get the gist. Most importantly: someone who’d love him for who he is and with whom he could relax and be himself. (Also, I see you, people comparing him to Fabio. Shame on you for sleeping on this soft boy and judging him based on his appearance.)

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Will you miss him if you blink? He’s kinda always present, being very French.

Is he hot? Very hot.

Is he naked? No, but I’m willing to forgive that because he looks so good in his conductor uniform.

Does his hair look great? He never takes off his hat.

Does he fuck? No.

Best paired with? Mickey Miranda. They’re both murderers morally dubious characters who would look hot together. What else do you need? (Again, I see you, people who want Pierre for Roberta because he’s a “nice guy”, and I know for a fact you didn’t watch the movie. Spoilers, I guess.)

The Angel (2018)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, he’s the protagonist.

Is he hot? Oh yes.

Is he naked? Not once, but you won’t regret it because he’s wearing excellently stylish 1970s clothes.

Does his hair look great? It looks fantastic. The sideburns (not yet seen here) are a good touch.

Does he fuck? He can definitely get it, but he’s loyal to his wife.

Best paired with? As the most aesthetically coherent and fashionably hot pair in this post, Ashraf and Primo are a no-brainer. Can you imagine Primo calling him “Angel” in different contexts? When he’s being intimidating, not realizing how palpable the sexual tension between them is, and later not even hiding his arousal? Sometimes things just work because they’re hot. That’s all, folks.

Aladdin (2019)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, he’s the main villain.

Is he hot? It’s not like he went viral for being the “hot Jafar” or anything.

Is he naked? No! Fucking thanks a lot, Disney.

Does his hair look great? He has a buzz cut under that turban but he looks good in the turban, so that’s something.

Does he fuck? It’s a Disney movie, so he doesn’t fuck - explicitly or otherwise - but he still comes off as a thirsty bitch.

Best paired with? Jafar ends the movie as a genie who’s obligated to grant his master three wishes but is enough of a petty bitch to exploit the hell out of the “gray area” and screw them over Wishmaster style. My unconventional pair for him is Lui from Ricordi? So many scenarios with distorted memories and magic-induced mindfuck. So many possibilities for awesome and messed up crossover gifsets! Don’t say I never give you guys anything.

Instinct (2019)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, he’s very prominent.

Is he hot? I hate myself for finding him hot but I do.

Is he naked? He’s playing basketball shirtless in one scene, shaking his sweaty boobs everywhere.

Does his hair look great? His weird mohawk-like thing is honestly terrible, but if anything can make it work, it’s Marwan’s bone structure.

Does he fuck? Um, I’m pleading the Fifth on this one for the sake of good taste.

Best paired with? Prison. A very lonely, Luca-less prison.

The Old Guard (2020)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, unless blinking in your case means sleeping through the gloriousness that is the first ever canonically gay couple in an American action film.

Is he hot? Painfully.

Is he naked? Shirtless in one scene.

Does his hair look great? Soft curls courtesy of Luca Marinelli’s tireless lobbying.

Does he fuck? Not on screen, but you can just tell by the way he looks at his husband and reads impromptu poetry right to his face. And everybody knows nothing kindles the fires of passion quite like murdering homophobes together.

Best paired with? If you have to ask, you’re clearly reading this by mistake. In which case, kudos for finishing such a long and confusing post, now go watch The Old Guard and cry at the beauty that is The Immortal Marriage.

[awsydawnarts]

It seems a few of us in the fandom have had the same idea after getting the release date lol. Here are some things I want to see in Camp Cretaceous season 4:

•More of Darius and Kenji’s conflict, them reconciling and ultimately growing as friends and individuals.

•Yasammy. More development, more cuteness, maybe making them official but at least taking steps in that direction.

•Ben and the group missing Bumpy. I know they resolved that plot point last season but that’s really not how losing a pet/friend works. You don’t just say goodbye and never think about them again. I’m not saying make it a huge deal, just a line here or there will do, but I hope they don’t just forget about her.

•More about Brooklynn. We literally do not know the girl’s last name. We know nothing about parents, siblings, friends…NOTHING. The general vague idea floating around the fandom is that Brooklynn’s parents are kinda sucky (they for sure are, anyone who lets their kid get internet famous at her age sucks major ass, I don’t care if the show decides to try a different angle) but it would be interesting to explore the degree of suckyness and if it’s just stupidity or them using her for money/fame.

•The other campers’ families. Ben and Yaz don’t need much I think, just some confirmations on what their parents or siblings if they have any are like to make them feel more fleshed out. Sammy’s already pretty good but could have more. I really want to know about Kenji’s mom but it’s also not super important, since his main parent that he struggles with is his dad. I think it IS kinda important to find out more about Darius’s mom, and also Brand. I want more emphasis on the fact that Darius is still very much a kid, and what better way to do that than exploring his older family members? On that note…

•Darius catching a break. Poor kid’s been running around taking care of people who are in Yaz and Kenji’s case three years older than he is. They touched on it in season one, but that was one scene and a lot has happened since then. I want a whole subplot about him being stressed and overwhelmed and not wanting to be in charge, especially since clearly their escape plan will go wrong somehow and he‘s fighting with Kenji, who’s been pretty much his biggest supporter

•More shippy stuff. Yasammy is about as on its way to being canon as a queer ship in a kids show can be (I stg if they change their minds at the last minute and say they were just friends the whole time…), but what about the other two? I think this next season is really going to be the deciding factor on whether or not they’re happening. I want to say they will, but Darius and Brooklynn are a bit young and Kenji and Ben got practically no focus as a potential couple in season three so idk. •Mantah Corp shenanigans. I don’t even know what to put here since we know so little about them and where that plot point could be headed. That should probably change.

•More dunking on Wu. He probably won’t be in this season, but Brooklynn can roast him behind his back a bit

•More Brooklynn being a sassy little shit to incompetent adults actually, that was fun

•Outfit changes!!! I don’t know where, I don’t know how, but I want Yaz to wear her original concept outfit right noooowwwww!!! Seriously, their old stuff has got to be DISGUSTING at this point, not to mention everyone should be growing out of theirs

•Sammy processing her trauma from the whole getting poisoned thing

•Ben properly processing his trauma from literally everything in the last few months

•Actually all of them have a lot to deal with. Group therapy!

•I liked that Yaz’s ankle started acting up again in season three, that’s realistic for sprains, more of that please!!! Maybe not Yaz specifically, I don’t just want her to suffer, but Ben probably has a few injuries that never got treated properly and Sammy just got stabbed. The poison was obviously the big problem but she did very much get mildly stabbed and hasn’t had any treatment for it

•Another injury of some kind on the same level as Yaz. Someone else messes up an ankle, someone falls on a wrist, maybe a wound or something, idk, but I feel like if they want to keep up the stakes they should remind us that even though the kids can’t die, they‘re still not safe. Probably Brooklynn, Darius, or Kenji since the others have already been hurt in some way, and also any one of them getting injured would further develop Darius and Kenji’s argument

•Trouble finding food. Tiff and Mitch’s boat probably has some stuff, but sooner or later they’re going to run out and then it’s time for scavenging on an island that they’re unfamiliar with the vegetation on. That could go badly

•Darius and Yaz bonding. They’re literally the best friendship dynamic in the show. More of them PLEASE. Also a dynamic that has the benefit of letting Darius be a kid

•More Brooklynn and Darius being friends! Their friendship is so precious, I honestly don’t even care if they get together or not bcs I love them so much just the way they are

•More Ben being friends with the other campers. I might’ve simply forgotten, but has he ever even exchanged meaningful words with Brooklynn and Sammy? I still believe their friendship, so kudos to the show there, but just seeing them interacting would be nice

•Just…more bonding between people who aren’t a the gyrosphere pairs and Darius and Kenji/Darius and Ben! But also…

•More bonding between those exact people!!! I just want everyone to spend time together damn it!

•*chanting* Dave and Roxie! Dave and Roxie! Dave and Roxie!

[jaanusbooktalk]

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen - Review

9/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

TWs: Homophobia, a character being outed, fleeing war, death, cannibalism

(TWs are ranked in order of severity, please take them seriously!)

Full disclosure: I cried.

And not in a cute, oh there’s a single tear running down my face, way. I’m talking full on “ugly crying in a bathroom stall after a break up” crying. And it’s not even a very sad book! It just hit really hard for me (and at this point you’re free to skip to the actual review this is just an over share) because I had just come out as lesbian to my grandma the previous night - not intentionally, but I had been told by relatives that she already knew because I’d tried before, so I mentioned it in passing and ended up having to come out all over again. I cried a lot that night, and she said it was fine but she wouldn’t look at me.

My grandma is Catholic, and similar to Tiến Phong, the main character, I grew up religious and going to Christian preschool and high school. The book deals with themes of homophobia as Tiến struggles to come out to his parents, but because of the language barrier he’s not sure how. Being a child of immigrants means wanting to do your best by your parents - I’ve always been afraid of disappointing them, and coming out felt like that. I could relate a lot to Tiến and his fears, and I’m gonna stress again to take those trigger warnings seriously.

So yeah, I cried, but at the end of the book I felt more whole than I’d felt coming into it. It’s a love letter to queer BIPOC, especially those of us who are first gen, and it was definitely what I needed at that moment.

I don’t actually read a lot of graphic novels, but The Magic Fish has convinced me to start.

So on to representation 🌈

I loved the representation in this book, and I couldn’t understand why until I read the author’s note at the end. Trung Le Nguyen originally started off trying to write a “very small story”. He talks about how with immigrant stories, they’re written as if everything in the story is supposed to orbit around that one aspect - it eclipses everything else. He also writes that readers will often intellectualize the immigrant experience, and how they often “start and end with an exodus” seldom acknowledging ‘the before’ and ‘the after’ as more than that. Trung Le Nguyen said he wanted to decenter the gravity of marginalization and focus on one of the little pieces in its orbit - and that’s where it hit for me.

In my hands I finally had a story about immigration from Asia, and the queer Asian diaspora, and it wasn’t centered around our pain. It wasn’t created to be!

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s important to talk about the immigrant struggle, but in the process the stories of immigrants and their families sometimes get reduced into archetypes - I was tired of looking for representation only to end up reading more about our pain and I wanted to read about our joy for once. This is the book.

Tiến’s story isn’t all about his struggle as a first generation American or even about coming out, it’s about the stories that connect him with his family, it’s about languages and how they can mix together in beautiful ways, it’s about friends and accepting each other.

What I liked:

I think stories were a great metaphor in this book.

Tiến reads his mother traditional Western fairytales as a way of bonding and helping her learn English, and some of them are similar to traditional Vietnamese fairytales that she remembers from her own childhood. In this way, a story becomes something that can transplant across continents and change shape to its new environment, and that’s a beautiful thing.

In TMF, stories become a metaphor for immigration. Tiến’s relationship to his culture and his experiences of community will be different from his parents, and his parents will have a different experience as immigrants than their own siblings back in Vietnam. They still find ways to connect, despite having different experiences and ways of communication. It made me realize that I can still communicate with my family that doesn’t speak English, we just have a different way of talking unique to us. And it’s not always verbal. Sometimes it’s just spending time together.

Also, the art was AMAZING. Some of the panels were drawn traditionally, others digitally, but the detail is gorgeous. I feel bad for the artist’s wrist after all that stippling (a drawing technique where you add texture by making many many tiny dots). The amount of research and effort put into the outfits and dresses alone is insane. To produce an entire graphic novel like that, writing and drawing every scene, is a huge undertaking!! I’ll show one of the panels (no spoilers) below:

Isn’t this BEAUTIFUL? 😍😍

I loved how the artist blended traditional clothes with the stories depending on who reads them.

Side note: (minor spoilers?)another thing I loved was how this book approached queerness, and how falling for someone who doesn’t like you back doesn’t have to end your relationship with them. sometimes that’s just how sexuality goes!

So true Sebastian 😭

Why I couldn’t give it a 10:

Honestly, this came really close to being a ten. The main factors against it were just:

1. I’m not used to reading graphic novels, and I wanted to slow down and look at each page but also get on with the story? There was a lot happening at once, so it was slightly overwhelming.

2. It was a little hard for me to get into at the beginning because the wording was a little vague and I couldn’t tell where the story was going. I think in hindsight it’s because the story isn’t being told linearly, like in Western storytelling, but in a more slice-of-life way, where you’re seeing a lot of different stories and the whole picture is slowly revealed.

Again, these were mainly personal things that I struggled with, but I know some experienced comic readers who had no problems and thoroughly enjoyed TMF!

Edit: I just looked it up and realized that TMF is semi-autobiographical so now I feel bad for criticizing it 😂

I Sincerely Recommend to Fans of:

• Fairytales (very specific ik)

• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

• Anything gay (this is for LGBTQ+ ppl - straight ppl who like reading gay stories, you are seen and suspected)

Finally, this isn’t from the actual story but it was in the author’s note (always read the author’s note and acknowledgements people!!) and it was so beautiful I just had to share.

The detail, the colors, the dress itself is gorgeous. I’m absolutely in love. Officially going to read more comic books from here on out!

^The vibe TMF gives me

(Unrelated but why are there so many n@ked ppl every time I search for gifs 💀 it’s so awkward cause I’ll just keep scrolling like “oops” & they’re just THERE)

[kcrabb88]

Queer Movies/Books/TV Shows for Pride Month!

Happy Pride everyone!! For your viewing/reading pleasure I have made a (non-exhaustive) list of queer media that I have enjoyed! 

Movies/Documentaries

Pride (2014): An old tried and true favorite, which meets at the intersection of queer and workers’ rights. A group of queer activists support the 1985 miners’ strike in Wales (complete with a sing-through of Bread and Roses + Power in a Union)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire: On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman (or, two young lesbians fall in love by the sea, and you cry)

God’s Own Country: Young farmer Johnny Saxby numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker for lambing season ignites an intense relationship that sets Johnny on a new path (Seriously this movie is GREAT and doesn’t get enough love, watch it! It’s rough but ends happily)

The Half of It:  When smart but cash-strapped teen Ellie Chu agrees to write a love letter for a jock, she doesn't expect to become his friend - or fall for his crush (as in she falls for his crush who is another girl. This movie was so good, and really friendship focused!) 

Saving Face:  A Chinese-American lesbian and her traditionalist mother are reluctant to go public with secret loves that clash against cultural expectations (this is an oldie and a goodie, with a happy ending!)

Moonlight:  A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood (featuring gay men of color!)

Carol:  An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman in 1950s New York (everyone’s seen this I think, but I couldn’t not have it here)

Milk: The story of Harvey Milk and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official (the speech at the end of this made me cry. Warning, of course, for death, if you don’t know about Harvey Milk)

Pride (Hulu Documentary):  A six-part documentary series chronicling the fight for LGBTQ civil rights in America (they go by decade from the 50s-2000s, and there is a lot of great trans inclusion in this)

Paris is Burning (Documentary): A 1990s documentary about the African American and Latinx ballroom scene. Available on Youtube!

A New York Christmas Wedding:  As her Christmas Eve wedding draws near, Jennifer is visited by an angel and shown what could have been if she hadn't denied her true feelings for her childhood best friend (this movie is SO CUTE. It’s really only nominally a Christmas movie and easily watched anytime. Features an interracial sapphic couple!) 

TV Shows 

Love, Victor: Victor is a new student at Creekwood High School on his own journey of self-discovery, facing challenges at home, adjusting to a new city, and struggling with his sexual orientation (this is a spin-off of Love, Simon, and it’s very sweet and well done! Featuring a young gay man of color)

Sex Education:  A teenage boy with a sex therapist mother teams up with a high school classmate to set up an underground sex therapy clinic at school (this has multiple queer characters, including a featured young Black gay man and also in season 2 there is a side ace character!) 

Black Sails: I mean, do I even need to put a summary here? If you follow me you know that Black Sails is full of queer pirates, just queers everywhere.

Gentleman Jack:  A dramatization of the life of LGBTQ+ trailblazer, voracious learner and cryptic diarist Anne Lister, who returns to Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1832, determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home Shibden Hall (Period drama lesbians!!! A title sequence  that will make you gay just by watching!) 

Tales of the City (2019):  A middle-aged Mary Ann returns to San Francisco and reunites with the eccentric friends she left behind. "Tales of the City" focuses primarily on the people who live in a boardinghouse turned apartment complex owned by Anna Madrigal at 28 Barbary Lane, all of whom quickly become part of what Maupin coined a "logical family". It's no longer a secret that Mrs. Madrigal is transgender. Instead, she is haunted by something from her past that has long been too painful to share (this is based on a book series and it’s got lots of great inter-generational queer relationships!) 

The Haunting of Bly Manor:  After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry hires a young American nanny to care for his orphaned niece and nephew who reside at Bly Manor with the chef Owen, groundskeeper Jamie and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (sweet, tender, wonderful lesbians. A bittersweet ending but this show is so so wonderful)

Sense8: A group of people around the world are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world's order (queers just EVERYWHERE in this show, of all kinds)

Books

Loveless by Alice Oseman:  Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush – but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day. This wise, warm and witty story of identity and self-acceptance sees Alice Oseman on towering form as Georgia and her friends discover that true love isn’t limited to romance (don’t be turned off by this title, it’s tongue-in-cheek. This is a book about an aroace college girl discovering herself and centers the importance and power of platonic relationships! I have it on my TBR and have heard great things)

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters: Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn't hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.Ames isn't happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she's pregnant with his baby—and that she's not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he's been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel (again, don’t be thrown off by the title, it too, is tongue-in-cheek. This book was GREAT, and written by a trans women with a queer-and especially trans--audience in mind)

A Tip for the Hangman by Allison Epstein: A gay Christopher Marlowe, at Cambridge and trying to become England’s best new playwright, finds himself wrapped up in royal espionage schemes while also falling in love (this book is by a Twitter friend of mine, and it is a wonderful historical thriller with a gay man at the center).

Creatures of Will and Temper by Molly Tanzer: a very very queer remix of The Picture of Dorian Gray (which was already quite queer), featuring amazing female characters, a gay Basil, and a much happier ending than the original. 

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston: The gay prince of England and the bisexual, biracial first son of the president fall in love (think an AU of 2016 where a woman becomes president). Featuring a fantastic discovery of bisexuality, ruminations on grief, and just a truly astonishing book. One of my favorites!

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston:  For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures. But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train (This is Casey McQuiston’s brand new novel featuring time-travel, queer women, and I absolutely cannot WAIT to read it)

The Heiress by Molly Greely: Set in the Pride and Prejudice universe, this takes on Anne de Bourg (Lady Catherine’s daughter), and makes her queer! 

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters:  Nan King, an oyster girl, is captivated by the music hall phenomenon Kitty Butler, a male impersonator extraordinaire treading the boards in Canterbury. Through a friend at the box office, Nan manages to visit all her shows and finally meet her heroine. Soon after, she becomes Kitty's dresser and the two head for the bright lights of Leicester Square where they begin a glittering career as music-hall stars in an all-singing and dancing double act. At the same time, behind closed doors, they admit their attraction to each other and their affair begins (Sarah Waters is the queen of historical lesbians. All of her books are good, and they’re all gay! The Paying Guests is another great one)

(On a side note re: queer books, there are MANY, these are just ones I’ve read more recently. Also there are a lot of indie/self-published writers doing great work writing queer books, so definitely support your local indie authors!) 

[today-only-happens-once]

Oooh please expand on that last point, that's interesting

The headcanon that anon is referring to: C!Thomas being in the closet was the work of Janus, Patton, and Virgil against Logan and Roman. Janus was the first one to change his mind. Patton followed some time later. Virgil was the last one to come around and "let" Thomas come out.

The expansion/explanation (warnings for internalized homophobia, some discussion of religious trauma, and the ways that will manifest in the Sides based on the prior point listed. Disclaimer that all talk of Thomas in this post is regarding Character!Thomas unless otherwise noted)

I have this headcanon for a few reasons, based on what we know about the Sanders Sides characters and their function. This explanation is.... long. Heh. I'll put it under a cut. Also it reads as a weird mix of 1/3 fic, 1/3 analysis, and 1/3 headcanon.

Janus's function is "Deceit", and we've seen in videos that this seems to take on a nuanced role. At his introduction, Janus is described by Logan (in Can LYING be Good??) as getting his power from "things you want to believe. Things that you wish were true... and things that you wish weren't." However, we also see Janus making a concerted effort to get Thomas to stop lying to himself too, largely in Selfishness v. Selflessness and SvS:Redux. It seems to me that which way Janus leans depends largely on what he thinks is best for Thomas in a given moment.

Patton is Thomas's moral center. His original function name was "Morality", after all. Patton dictates, for the most part, what Thomas believes to be "good" versus "bad". And we've seen, from Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts, that much of Patton's understanding of morality is informed by Christianity (specifically Catholicism).

Virgil is, well. Anxiety.

The reason why I think Thomas being in the closet is the result of these three Sides is largely because of the ways I see Catholicism informing queer youth's understanding of their identity. I think Janus played a large role in Thomas's understanding of himself, first with a potential initial insistence that he's straight. Because straight is safe, and it's what Thomas wants to convince himself about himself. It's what he, for a while, wants to believe. It's what he wishes were true. And the fact that he is gay is something he wishes he wasn't.

And when Roman, the Romantic Side, starts to give Thomas butterfly feelings for the cute boy in his class, well. Janus convinces Roman that it's normal. It doesn't mean he's gay. The boy in his class is just a friend. And I think Patton probably reinforces that, because straight is okay and acceptable and good and right. And if Thomas isn't straight, then the teachings on which Patton has based his entire thought process behind tells him that Thomas is probably going to go to hell. And that's not good. Nobody wants that.

Straight is safe, Janus thinks. Straight is good, Patton insists. Anything else is terrifying, Virgil believes.

And Roman tries, y'know? Because he so badly wants to do right by Thomas and the others. But he can't stop the ways he wants to waltz with Norbert Leo Butz every time he hears "Dancing Through Life". And it's not made better when Remus chimes in at inopportune times with more... colorful.... imagery about the boys Thomas sees in movies and in the hallway at school. But Janus spins Roman's words to convince him otherwise, and Roman sees the look of relief on Patton's face when Janus does so, and it causes all kinds of uncomfortable twisting in Roman's chest.

Logan tries to come to Roman's defense. There's a name for what Roman experiences through Thomas. Not only a name, but an entire community of people--and Janus snatches the rest of his words from his mouth. Fine, but Thomas isn't part of them.

But Logan reaches this point where he just can't deal with seeing the ways the Sides punish each other and bend over backwards to rationalize it because he is the one to rationalize things and they're doing it all wrong. So eventually, Logan confronts Janus directly. ("You know as well as I do, Deceit, that Thomas is gay." "....it scares him, Logan. It's my job to protect him." "Is it? Or is it to get Thomas to understand that the truth isn't something he has to be afraid of?" "....")

It takes a while to talk to Patton about it, even after Janus stops hiding that particular truth from Thomas. It's Logan, actually, that sits down with Patton over time and talks to him. (A lot of "the Bible says is a sin, though." "Actually, that's a largely misunderstood translation. If you look at the text of the original Hebrew..." kinds of conversations. Also a lot of "Look, Patton. God made all people in his image, right?" "Of course!" "And sexuality is not a choice, right?" "Right." "And you believe that God is inherently good and right and loving, correct?" "You betcha." "So if God made Thomas gay, isn't that a part of him to be celebrated? As being created in the image and likeness of the divine, just as he is?" ".....I hadn't thought of it like that.")

Through Patton and Roman make up from the years of tension and strain, and Patton actually becomes really, really important for building Roman's confidence up regarding Thomas's sexuality. Patton's openness to it not only comes to be a very affirming part of Thomas for Roman, but also allows him to feel things more deeply and complexly about the people in his life (since Patton is deep emotions and empathy as well).

Virgil is the last to come around. He mostly just takes time and reassurance from all parties involved (minus Janus, who mostly melts back into the background on the matter after he stops hiding the fact from Thomas). The first time Thomas comes out to someone, Virgil has to clamp his own hand over his mouth stop himself from stopping Thomas. But it... kind of goes okay. And the euphoria Virgil sees in Roman and Patton as a result of it makes it a little easier to be a little quieter each time Thomas comes out of the closet.