#and by supernatural I don't mean the show

[avelera]

It makes me sad when I see posts by people who are enjoying the Interview with the Vampire show but say they've decided not to even try to read the books.

To be clear, it's fine to just not want to read the books, there's plenty of reasons the books might not be everyone's bag, and one reason is that people might just want to enjoy the show without spoilers or the source material muddling the experience.

But I just want to clarify a few points that people might be hung up on with regards to reading the books in case they've decided not to on false premises:

Anne Rice was not homophobic or otherwise anti-sex or against queer relationships for her characters - those are lies, lies, and damned lies. Anne Rice was a queer writer before being queer-- much less writing about it--was cool (to say the least). She more or less defined herself as nonbinary before there was terminology for it, her son is gay, and she left the Catholic Church the second time because they wouldn't accept him (even though the Catholic Church had basically become her life at that point after her husband died, which is a long complicated story). She also wrote tons of erotica, specifically bdsm erotica, which was also very queer. She would not be horrified by the queerness of the show.

Anne Rice was anti-fanfic - Yes, she was. Yes, she was one of the most aggressive authors against fanfic (though she softened later). But just to be clear, she had a legal reason for it. I was one of the people most heartbroken in the early '00s by her aggressive take down of fanfic over the years but even then, I always understood why she did it, she reasonably believed she had to be aggressive in order to defend her copyright. You can dislike her for it but she wasn't just hating on fanfic for the sake of it, the early internet was extremely muddy when it came to the legality around fanfic and copyright and as an early adopter of the internet, she was very concerned on that front specifically.

The books are not poorly written/not fun to read - Look, your mileage may obviously vary, and many have found flaws in her writing (IWTV in particular is probably the slowest read of the bunch) but Anne Rice wasn't a NYT Bestseller on basically every single one of her books for no reason. Her style is easy to read, fun, engaging, and often darkly beautiful and deeply empathetic. She basically defined the modern vampire genre and modern supernatural gothic romance for the last 50 years, I mean she dominated the genre. Don't take an out of context excerpt of the opening of The Vampire Lestat sounding like "My Immortal" as an indication of anything. (The whole point of that intro is that Lestat is supposed to sound like a self-obsessed drama queen in the opening pages, that's the conceit of the book and introduces him as a self-centered unreliable narrator, which she then plays with to great effect. It's actually rather deftly handled how she introduced Lestat as a POV character with that introduction. As a writer, I will defend that introduction as actually genius.)

Anne Rice wasn't perfect, to say the least. And the books might not be everyone's cup of tea, she was often dealing with transgressive topics and probably held many ideas or presented many concepts decades ago that would be side-eyed today.

But they're bestsellers for a reason and she's an era-defining author for a reason. The show is doing some interesting stuff with modernizing and deconstructing the books but the rich material they have to do it with comes from the books.

At the very least, I suggest trying out "The Vampire Lestat" and then "Queen of the Damned" which I think are two of her best and will go a long way to informing how audiences view the show and what's coming next.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Thailand is back in charge

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

June 2024 Week 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

Wandee Goodday (Sat YT) ep 7 of 12 - There is so much to love about this pair. But one of the things I truly adore is what great communicators they are about what they want & need as friends & as lovers. As boyfriends? Not so much. But the way they can (and do and did) communicate speaks well to their ability to communicate in the future, once they have resolved the inevitable doom the BL gods will reign down upon us over the next 3-4 eps. I guess what I am say is... these two are gonna be awesome husbands.

The break up was sad but inevitable.

Yay for a crying kiss. I do so love a crying kiss! 

Can we talk about the fact that all that tension was worth it?

Excellent kiss all round from GreatInn. Possibly one of the best of the year. Their only issue in winning this category in 2024 is that they're up against OffGun, TayNew, and JimmySea, not to mention BillyBabe... and MosBank coming soon. But I gotta say, for a new pair? Fantastic work boys.

My Stand-In (Fri iQIYI) ep 8 of 12 - I literally spent this whole show saying “Oh, Poor Joe!” Which is now the actual name of his character: Poor Joe. He's like the country music sad sack. How much is this narrative gonna keep kicking him while he's down?  

Sunset X Vibes (Sat iQIYI) ep 1 of 12 - Star Hunter + MosBank + a beloved familiar face? You ready? Let's go. I got a lot to say.

Unexpected supernatural historical paranormal mythological Sign-esk elements happening in our dream sequence opening. I’m not mad about it. But I do think it’s going to be mishandled in the dubious hands of Star Hunter. My BLabies, no matter what else, with Star Hunter we can rest assured there will be chaos and narrative mess. And now, lucky us, there will be a supernatural mess. But at least it will be sexy and high heat.

Honestly, I'm not worried about MosBank and I know what to expect from Star Hunter,. So we're all on the same page.

Meanwhile, enter a cute side couple (normal for this studio). WAIT a second I know that face! That's Tenon of PitchBank fame (side couple, and only good thing about, Golden Blood). I’m sad to see his pair busted, but delighted to see him pop up again in a BL.

Tenon appreciation time: He kisses beautifully everyone, and he is a killer eye-emoter. We are in for a real treat with this actor. (Especially if we get to a place in the narrative where he pines. OH PLEASE MAKE HIM PINE.)

Okay back to the show. I love Tenon but I also LOVE his infiltrating, wicked smart, younger brother character. This role is great for him. I adore an industrial spy. I enjoy a rich boy pretending to be an intern in his family's company (yes it's a trope, just not common in BL). Excellent work Thailand. No notes.

In conclusion?

It’s a cheesy silly office BL and I am enjoying it immensely because I have no expectations. So don't burst my bubble. Star Hunter is bound to do that on its own without tumblr's help.

We Are Cute (Weds iQIYI) ep 11 of 16 - Oh my God they are all so cute! I love the beginning bit when Peem was feeling down and Phum tried to cheer him up. Ridiculously charming. All the sides were super adorbs too. The actual name of this show is "We Are Cute". Meanwhile, Kluen = the only boy in a BL ever to take his unfinished drink with him? I like him even more now. 

My Love Mix-Up Th (Fri YT) ep 2 of 12 - New take on the umbrella trope to be trapped under a parasol together. NO SINGING. Honestly? I am not loving this as much as I really wanted to love it. It's the middle of the rankings for good reason. I do like the idea of historical Cinderfella BL though. Why isn't that what I'm watching? The play with in a play is a dangerous trope to deploy, it only distracts my with attractive possibilities. 

Love Sea (Sun iQIYI) ep 2 of 10 - I'm gonna try to cycle back to ending this rap-up week on Saturdays, which means the recap for this episode will be in next week's weekly (so to speak). Meanwhile, I am doing a Trash watch on this show. Hopefully that will get updated tomorrow.

Knock Knock Boys (Thurs Gaga) ep 4 of 12 - It’s fun enough. Kind of a pulpy lark. Best + Seng = a surprisingly good match.

Only Boo! (Sun YT) ep 10 of 12 - Good kiss from the sides. No surprises there. The main’s kissing was fine too, I guess. I like that they had a genuine struggle with being an idol and not being able to date. It’s nice to see that depicted on screen in a BL. I wish we had a bit more of a montage around the rise & success of Moo's boy group. But I understand the money in play for this kind of show prohibits that. All in all? It’s fine. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

At 25:00 in Akasaka AKA 25 Ji Akasaka de (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 9 of 10 - Oof. This ep was painful. So much awkward desperation and confusion. Oh Japan, must you?

Crazy to be in a place and time where there is no other noted non-Thai BLs airing. Not even from Korea. What is going on? Are we in 2020 all over again? Please no.

It's airing but...

The Last Time (Thai Fri YT?) - Convoluted story of loss and possible reincarnation or something. Can't find it.

OMG Vampire (Thai Sun ???) 10 eps - I can't find it. Comments from last week suggest this is not my thing anyway, but Lee Long Shi very much IS my thing. I've put the search on hold for a bit and y'all can let me know if it's worth tracking down. Also, who knew Frank & Big could kiss like that? Not me.

ARGH could Monster Next Door please just start airing. I am SO tired of waiting for Big to lead out a BL. It should have happened years ago. *grumbles in chronic second lead syndrome*

In case you missed it

Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru 2 AKA Aki wa Haru to Gohan wo Tabetai 2 Haime! (Japan movie) - Continues the (frankly) lackadaisical story from part 1 ans was meant to drop yesterday. We thought maybe Gaga, but nothing so far.

The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer released to Korean theaters 5/25. HoTae & DongHee, side couple from Unintentional Love Story are back! Same actors, same character names. I love them. Devastated this hasn't had international distribution.

As others see us: NuNew's 'Awful' Performance in BABYMONSTER's 'SHEESH' Goes Viral - I don't like BL being noticed by Kpop stans. I flipping LOATHE this song and I'm not wild about Babym. This is all 'round uncomfortable making and I want it to stop.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

June Releases Still Coming

6/26 The Rebound (Thai Weds Gaga) - MeenPing are back in their 3rd BL together, a basketball based romance (Meen was a national basketball player, so yay for that). I like this pair better than most (I still do miss Meen with Est but Est has a fantastic looking new BL coming from GMMTV so yeah...) Anyway I'm up for a sports romance starring a man who, yah know, actually played that sport so... I'm game (pun intended).

6/26 I Hear the Sunspot AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan Weds Gaga) 10 eps - A new series adaptation of beloved yaoi I Hear the Sunspot (first adaptation was feature film Silhouette of Your Voice 2017).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Forget "boyfriends but they don't realize it." These two are married but they don't realize it.

Praise be, he didn't leave his full drink behind. BEST BOY.

It was a great make out sesh.

THAT LIP BITE.

All round excellent ep this week, We Are Cuties.

Top tier flirting banker from the fuck buddies though. Man, their innuendo is on point. And I do mean that point. (Wandee Goodday)

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity

@rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in it's infinite wisdom doesn't like too many tags.

There's these tricks, remember.

[suchawrathfullamb]

I don’t think Mads and Hugh’s are hannigrammars anymore, we suffered the same thing the supernatural fandom suffered . They took advantage of our love and devotion to the ship and I am fucking angry and sorry but I take that as my cue to leave this fandom too because fuck them and also Bryan because now I am sure if the show continued it would have followed the original storyline and I am done.

I know it's frustrating but that's honestly on us for expecting them to validate our own beliefs, when they're just random people and Hugh doesn't even seem to really put much thought into his work as Will, I mean he thought the foursome scene was, and I quote, "Will pining for Alana" ????? lmao. He makes bold claims about autism and he just basically went "oh lol sorry I was just reading lines" when someone asked his thought process during Mizumono ("I just wanted to get the job done") like damn okay lmao.

They seem very stereotypically gen x/boomer cis male vibes which...How much can one really expect from those? lmao. Mads seemed to be more into it back then, unsure what happened but again...They have almost zero relevance in what WE built as fans. Our community is amazing, creative, SO INTELLIGENT, our takes are much more in depth and thoughtful than theirs because they don't really care that much about the show. We do, so we spend time dissecting it and honestly maybe they're less complex people lol.

Anyway, fuck their weird ass nonsensical takes. Even Hugh said that we know more about his character than he does so that's that.

[halcyon-witness]

Not very much to say about Doctor Who this week. I don't think it was a bad episode at all, but all I really have on my mind are a bunch of little questions and quibbles and a broad sense that I would much rather be watching a monster-of-the-week adventure rather than wrapping up the season. Feels a bit like the Doctor just decided, without so much as a tease at the end of the previous episode, "I guess it's time to go do the finale now. Lets start." Weird how RTD just has Kate hire everyone who's had an adventure with the Doctor at UNIT now. Weird how the Fourteenth Doctor is still around, presumably in London, just hanging out, and despite there being no time travel complexities involved, no one sends him a text like, "Hey there's a lot going on can you come help out?" I mean obviously he shouldn't be involved because it would be really lame for him to show up and step on Ncuti's first big finale, but it's weird that this is something we have to consider in-universe now. Also not sold on Sutekh as being the thing that ties all the fantasy/supernatural stuff this season together. I get that there's a general connective tissue of "mythology" but my first reaction is that it's a weird pick that doesn't really seem to gel with the presence of like, goblins and faeries. But, you know, it's the first half. Next week could be great. I would love for it to be great. I would've also loved three to five more episodes in this season but we'd all like a lot of things that aren't going to happen (hahahaha lol)

[alicepao13]

I just want Hudson and Rex to have a Halloween episode so that I can make a supernatural style video, is that too much to ask?

[crackers4jenn]

spn is such a funny show, it'll be like:

Naomi tells Cas he has to choose "us, or them" and 'them' is meant to imply Sam and Dean both, but then

she makes Cas kill fake copies of Dean only

Or Metatron will speechify about how Cas is "in love... with humanity"

and then give Cas another lil speech about how it was all "to save Dean Winchester. That was your goal, right? I mean, you draped yourself in the flag of Heaven, but ultimately it was about saving one human, right?"

Ishim shows up and tries to tell Cas how weak he is for befriending Sam and Dean

and then when he wants to "cure" Cas of his human weakness, that weakness is just Dean

AND THEN you'll have things like

Sam will say that Cas is family, that he'd die for him

but he also refers to Cas as an "it" just hanging around in a vessel strong enough to take on Lucifer (in season 11!! It's not like he said that in s4 or something, it was like 8 years after knowing the guy)

Or in "Regarding Dean," Dean will say to Sam "and our best friend's an angel!"

and then when he's by himself in the mirror, he'll say "and Cast--Cas is my best friend."

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

For $5 USD stop making everything about that goddamn show for five minutes.

[incesthemes]

"their relationship is romantic" "their relationship is familial" "their relationship is platonic" you're thinking too narrow. their relationship goes beyond labels. the family is inherently queer. their platonic love is romantic. the erotic is familial. each one is the other and the other is them

[bisaster-energy]

i am...falling, yeah

vampire empire, big thief // castiel

just because i understand you doesn't mean i understand what you want from me

@butch--dean @thepondstogether hey guys! i made another thing rq

[pastryjay]

At the end of S2ep4 when Stede and Ed are talking about going back to the ship, there is a brief moment where the sound of wings flapping is heard and Stede looks around, having heard it. Buttons doesn't finish the bird transformation ritual until just over a minute later, after Stede left. This moment had to have been intentional, a little clue to us that the bird transformation is not what we're told.

Ed (and the audience) don't see Buttons become a bird. He goes behind a tree, a bush rustles and a bird is by the tree when Ed looks behind it. This is the kind of show that wouldn't hold back on showing its audience something cool using practical or visual effects like a human to bird transformation. Especially considering the other things the crew brought to life like building the boats to scale, the practical mermaid tail e.c.t. i don't see why we wouldn't be shown the transformation unless it didn't happen.

Buttons must have disappeared off into the woods for reasons we may find out later and the bird was just the bird that flew in earlier. It's a funny coincidence. There's no actual magic going on but it is very on brand of these characters to just roll with it.

[maddy-ferguson]

when people who like seasons 1 and 2 better explain why it was better they always lose me when they say "the characters were what mattered the most the supernatural plot was basically not that important it was ALL about the characters" like...that's just what YOU were more interested in not what was happening in the show? like wdym the supernatural plotline wasn't that important in seasons 1 and 2. saying that it was more balanced or more subtle i get but saying that the supernatural plot wasn't THAT important and that it's not what made anyone love the show is a blatant lie

[avelera]

How the hell do people think that ANNE RICE is anti sex and homophobic?? TVC is weird sex stuff with queer people the book series??

I have no idea how people got that idea but I have seen posts floating around (mostly during S1) that seemed to be from people who thought that IWTV could "finally" show Lestat/Louis as canonically gay because Anne Rice had passed away or that she would be "rolling in her grave" if she saw Lestat and Louis kiss on screen which is... baffling nonsense of the highest degree. As you know, Lestat and Louis are canonically a couple in the books.

Here's what I think happened:

1)People conflated Anne Rice being anti-fanfic with her being anti-slash shipping. Since many authors of the era did have a problem with fanfic in part because of slash shipping, I can kind of see how this misunderstanding would happen. But no, her issues with fanfic were mostly legal and partially creative (she thought people's time would be better spent writing original works that they could one day publish rather than writing fanfic of her work, but I think that was more her misunderstanding the purpose of fanfic than being necessarily derogatory towards fanfic writers, even if her choice of words was somewhat dismissive, but I digress).

2) I saw one theory that Anne McCaffrey (of the Dragonriders of Pern novels) and Anne Rice might have been conflated, which again, kind of makes sense since they were popular during the same era? Supposedly (I can't confirm this) Anne McCaffrey was very against slash shipping of her characters so that might have got mixed in with the whole Anne 90s-Author is against slash fanfic game of telephone.

3) I only vaguely remember this, but I think a quote of Anne Rice's might have been taken out of context. Something to the effect of Lestat and Louis not needing to be shown kissing or having sex to be a couple. And I think people read it inversely from the meaning. She wasn't saying, "The vampires don't have gay sex." She has almost always said some variation of, "Sex is different for vampires. Blood drinking basically replaces and transcends it, as it replaces and transcends all physical pleasures. Louis and Lestat don't need to have sex in order to be a gay couple. Their existence and love as vampires transcends are our understanding of the physical, it is deeper and more all encompassing and and entirely strange to our understanding of sex and relationships on a physical and spiritual level.

Now, keep in mind, at the time when a creator said, "Oh, these two same-sex characters aren't gay their bond transcends sexuality." They were sidestepping and meant, "I'm uncomfortable with same sex relationships and only want to see them as friends." Anne Rice absolutely did not mean that ^ . Anne Rice wrote tons of queer erotica in addition to her queer supernatural novels. When Anne Rice said, "They transcend gender and their sexuality is completely untranslatable to ours." She wasn't being like "So they're not gay." She wasn't saying they were straight either like other creators meant! She was literally, as someone who spent a lot of time thinking and writing about alternate genders and sexualities outside the mainstream, exploring ideas like the fact that if you no longer had the biological imperative to eat, sleep, or reproduce as humans do, your understanding of intimacy and sexuality would change dramatically as well.

(FFS, as you know, Lestat has a relationship with his mother after he turns her because they basically are no longer related at that point, or they are related on completely different levels as fledgling and sire, the whole plotline is tied up in how becoming a vampire is about transcending human norms but also how Lestat is deliberately, gleefully fucking around with taboo and social structure and the forbidden as a matter of course so like... yeah this isn't a one off, the vampire novels are all about how being a vampire means you now naturally break every societal taboo with regards to sex and relationships because you're not human anymore, they become meaningless and therefore we as human readers can also explore the metaphors of gender and sexuality and taboo vicariously and ponder what matters and what doesn't.

I mean, one reason it was so offensive to me to see Anne Rice mistaken as homophobic is that she's basically the reason I'm not homophobic and even felt able to explore my own bisexuality and rejection of gender as a construct after growing up in a conservative household like all you had back then as a teen was Anne Rice and Mercedes Lackey. ANYWAY).

So yeah, this rant got away from me, but while I will say over and over that Anne Rice isn't perfect, there's a lot of things she did in her life that I disagreed with and people have no obligation to like her works or her view of the world, she was actively dabbling in the forbidden and in taboo in ways that might make people justifiably uncomfortable, one way she was doing that was by normalizing same sex relationships way way way before almost anyone else was doing so in genre fiction and that's while I will fight to the death anyone accusing her of homophobia.

[vaiyamagic]

Going through the Our Flag Means Death tag is a trip.

A good third of the posts are a detailed analysis of why Izzy's death was narratively good and meaningful and not 'bury your gays,' while another third are about how Izzy's death was pointless and cruel and a betrayal and absolutely 'bury your gays/disabled people.'

[goofominides]

No but imagine what Crowley coming back from a 4 years nap would look like:

He could wake up on the ceiling (maybe we will finally get a glorious sleeping on the wall scene?) and fall on the bed like a stranded fish, with rapunzelian hair flying everywhere. Imagine the potential for comedy: maybe Aziraphale is calling him, or some poor unfortunate salesman is trying to sell him something at the door and is greeted by a friggin’ Samara-ish red haired monstrosity that glares at him with big yellow snake eyes from the depths of the tangled mane. Poor sod would never try selling anything ever again, not even a pin. 

[altschmerzes]

Please tell me more about which frame of Supernatural broke you. For me I know it down to the scene, but down to the frame is impressive

OH BUDDY OH PAL OH FRIEND

at the end of season 9 episode 9 of supernatural, 'holy terror' the character kevin tran is killed by the angel gadreel possessing sam winchester. this on its own is uh Pretty Brutal because i loved kevin a LOT he was easily my fave on the show at the time, even though i was sort of pulling away from emotional investment in it already. i was getting caught up from falling behind and had grown quite disillusioned with it in many ways, even from my existing like. i never thought it was Life Altering or anything but the constant misogyny and racism and homophobia and Everything Else was really grating me down as well as the constant need to up the ante with the bad guys and the threats and the stakes and how like.... nothing ever seemed to mean anything and i could believe the characters loved each other but it didn't feel like they'd liked each other at all in a long time, so much of their interactions were just. bitter and mean spirited.

but then that happened, kevin died, and i was like Are You Fucking Kidding Me again but then the real kicker, the real ice water in the face, the real 'okay i am fucking DONE with this and i am never touching this show again' was the moment that the camera panned around and we see the note card on kevin's chest that named him as the target for gadreel to kill on orders from metatron, and his name is written in, i am not fucking with you, chinese takeout menu font. kevin tran is an asian character and the notecard with his name on it, marking him as a target for assassination basically, looks like THIS.

i don't know how well you can make it out, but it is uh. there's some other photos of it that are much clearer and it's like. i saw that and i said "oh fuck you" out loud and i never watched another minute after that. i didn't even finish the episode lmao.

[dylanconrique]

it'd be sick, but i can totally see lucy reassuring tim that her injury(s) aren't as severe as they look to parallel allison's death in tw.