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girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 9 months

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tuesdaypost year in review

this year brought to you by viewers like you. thank you! i still do not know how to thank everyone for their incredible generosity during the Late July/Early August Moving Catastrophe Badtimes and im still feelin some kinda way about it. thank you.

took eight weeks completely off, more than any other year so far

overnight traveled for work for the first time

moved cross country with Mack to face dangers untold and hardships unnumbered

bought an actual for-real couch and not a futon

got Phil

(unrelated to Phil) i got spayed after almost ten years of begging and pleading various medical professionals, (also unrelated) got covid and RSV back to back

listening

fallow weeks: 8. i almost always have a tuesdaysong bc i am almost always listening to something. all of the tuesdaysongs are here:

particular favorites were Peel Me A Grape (Anita O’Day), top spotify song of the year Yeah Yeah Yeah (Blood Orchid), Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Wolf remixed by Sextile, Father Finlee (Spence Hood), A Minha Menina (Os Mutantes).

the very last tuesdaysong of the year is Sugar Rum Cherry by Duke Ellington, one of the few christmas songs i tolerate.

special shoutout to the austin underscore walker universe of podcasts, bc i mainlined A More Civilized Age (clone wars/star wars rewatch) while packing, and devoured P/alisade (the newest scifi season of F/riends at the Table) this month.

reading

fallow weeks: 11. pleased that i am killing the invisible rules in my head and including more articles instead of feeling guilty about Not Reading A Real Book!!! every week when i sit down to write the tuesdaypost. read a fuckton earlier this year bc i was procrastinating moving prep, have not read much since i moved.

article sources:

inoreader (the best free RSS feed/app imo)

The Markup (gold standard usage of data to show how various technologies are being used to harm the public good: you may have heard of the recent American bills to equalize internet service and fix organ donation grift. that was them)

Web 3 Is Going Just Great (crypto disasters)

404 Media (technology reporting, internet culture, also break a lot of data/legal/privacy scandals)

Remap (formerly Vice's video games division Waypoint, more active on podcasts and twitch but do have great personal essays about gaming longreads)

Retraction Watch (an important academic service but platformed a particularly virulent transphobe and let the comments devolve into a free for all. yes im still mad about this)

Krebs on Security (~once a month extremely long and thoughtful infosec writeups)

Data Colada (cover academic data whoopsies, currently being sued for their journalism)

the two authors i spent the most time with this year were Alexis Hall (romance novels and novellas) and Raymond Chandler's noir detective novels. i read 90% of Raymond Chandler's work in march and went insane about yet another sad bisexual man. Philip Marlowe the cat is named after his pet detective, the human Philip Marlowe.

march was kind of a banger for this category bc in one of what i consider the best tuesdayposts this year, i tried to break down why i fucking hated Frank Miller's Sin City comics so much.

other comics, but ones i loved: Spy X Family, Berserk, weird noir DC miniseries The Human Target.

watching

fallow weeks: 10

notable stuff i watched for the first time (according to letterboxd) that will stick in my head for a bit. some (The Night of the Hunter) i am so glad i watched once but do not feel the need to revist. some (Slipstream) fascinate me with how good they could have been. some (Twilight. all of them) were fun bc of the people i watched them with. the two i went particularly deranged over are The Big Sleep and Day of Anger. still feel very normal about them.

very heavy on crime and courtroom films this year!

television: very excited for s2 of Blue Eye Samurai, Interview With The Vampire, Spy X Family.

youtube

i should loop back and finish Black Lagoon, Adventure Time (completely forgot i rewatched most of that this spring), and The Big O. that last one is throwing me a little bc (since i last checked) there is no freely available version with subtitles (i cannot find subtitles Period) and i'll be damned if i have to import a dvd. i can find the dub with subtitles but! i want to hear spike spiegel as mecha-batman :(

sort of lukewarm eh-i'll-get-around-to-it about s/tar wars shows. i have not watched a/hsoka At All or wrapped up the animated Resistance show. i'll pay attention when ando/r is airing again.

playing

fallow weeks: 10. way fewer than i would have guessed!

the trouble with this category is that it is exceptionally hard to find new good games (either ones i already own or ones that are free). it is almost completely prohibitively exhausting to trawl through the free category on steam. there's simply a lot of cruft out there. a very good thing (but also incredibly timeconsuming thing) i started this year was throwing games into various folders so the eight bajillion libraries i have are less overwhelming. i can safely ignore 80% of my epic games library, for example. the itch.io library is a whole separate weekend project i think.

got back into genshin for good or for ill, which took up most of the back half of the year.

youtube

go play ABZU. i am no longer asking.

i would like to go back and finish the RPG Gamedec, un-softblock myself in the RPG Weird West, and finish the visual novel Dead Man's Rest. i think i stalled out in Call of Juarez: Gunslinger bc there was a mexican standoff that my reflexes are simply not fast enough for/too much to pay attention to. i am excited to pick up that spooky fishing simulator DREDGE when i have fun money again.

completely forgot i spent most of jan/feb/march being annoyed at fallou/t 4 but having some fun in Far Harbor, also forgot i spent an entire month playing through Wolfenstein: The New Order but i am not compelled to play through it again. it was fun! but like many games after one playthrough my time with it is done!

making

fallow weeks: 17 (unsurprising, pretty low energy year as a whole as i recovered from covid rounds 1 and 2 and the frankly insane stress of moving).

wrote exactly one fic: some matters at the heart of cowboy western snap shirts: why they are so and some of the implications of their being so, i would like to write more next year but i don't really have the brainpower. i hope this changes soon.

the baby blanket i started last year is still not done but the baby is still under a year so i have a very narrow window of time.

dyed some couch covers im still very pleased with

wrote an extremely long but very well received gallery wall guide

recipes: 12. sort of shocked by this? i am becoming an incrementally better cook and slowly finding recipes i both like and can successfully execute. found the fortitude to caramelize onions, for example. quick pickled red onions, for another thing. big year for protein or greens on top of beans and rice. faves included: cuban-style pork shoulder, hellofresh peruvian chicken, red lentil soup, white bean/kale/rice bowls

i would like to be less terrified about cooking fish. i would like to eat more fish.

and of course, the biggest project of all, acquired Phil. here is my very favorite photo ive ever taken of a cat

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem

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the-conversation-pod · 8 months

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The VIIB Awards 2024: Immortal Technique!

Continuing with Part 3 of 5 of the Very Important Internet BL Awards, we are handing out our awards for everyone behind the scenes!

We will be awarding our Best OST Song, Best Music, Best Production, Best Writing, and Best Direction.

Join us today and for the rest of the week as we continue tomorrow with Top Tings. Tell us your winners in the notes!

Timestamps

The timestamps will now correspond with chapters on Spotify for easier navigation.

00:00 - Welcome 01:23 - Introduction 02:34 - Interlude: Making a movie, Eddie Mannix style - Hail, Caesar! (2016) 03:57 - Best OST Song 10:03 - Best Music 16:35 - Best Production 22:13 - Best Writing 27:17 - Best Direction 34:19 - Outro

The Conversation Transcripts!

Thanks to the continued efforts of @ginnymoonbeam as transcriber, and @lurkingshan as an editor and proofreader, we are able to bring you transcripts of the episodes.

We will endeavor to make the transcripts available when the episodes launch, and it is our goal to make them available for past episodes (Coming soon thanks to @wen-kexing-apologist). When transcripts are available, we will attach them to the episode post (like this one) and put the transcript behind a Read More cut to cut down on scrolling.

Please send our volunteers your thanks!

00:00 - Welcome

NiNi

Welcome to The Conversation About BL, aka The Brown Liquor Podcast.

Ben

And there it is. I’m Ben.

NiNi

I’m NiNi.

Ben

And we’re you’re drunk Caribbean uncle and auntie here sitting on the porch in the rocking chairs.

NiNi

Four times a year we pop in to talk about what’s going on in the BL world.

Ben

We shoot the shit about stories and all the drama going into them. I review from a queer media lens.

NiNi

And I review from a romance and drama lens.

Ben

So if you like cracked-out takes and really intense emotional analysis…

NiNi

If you like talking about artistry, industry, and the discourse…

Ben

And if you generally just love simping…

NiNi

There is a lot of simping on this podcast…

Ben

We are the show for you!

[fanfare sound]

01:23 - Introduction

Ben

And we're back.

Today on part three of the VIIB Awards we will be awarding Immortal Technique, focusing on all of the production and other support roles that are not the people who are crying, or laughing, or screaming on our screens all the time.

NiNi, please review for the audience the categories we have and our processes.

NiNi

This is usually our favorite episode all year because we get to talk about all the behind the scenes stuff and all the behind the scenes people that make the shows truly great that just give them that extra dazzle and pizzazz that really sells us on the stories.

This is where we talk about, as Ben said, different aspects of production, we talk a little bit about writing and direction. We usually start out talking about music, and then we move into the rest of production, and we swing by writing—one of my favorite things, and then we usually end up on direction. So I think that's the trajectory we're gonna take.

02:34 - Interlude: Making a movie, Eddie Mannix style - Hail, Caesar! (2016)

Baird Whitlock

“…I mean, we may tell ourselves that we're creating something of artistic value or there's some sort of spiritual dimension to the picture business. But, what it really is, is this fat cat, Nick Skank, out in New York, running this factory, serving up these lollipops to the—what they used to call the bread and circuses for the…”

Eddie Mannix

[grabs Baird and slaps him] “Now, you listen to me, buster. Nick Skank and the Studio have been good to you and to everyone else who works here. If I ever hear you bad mouthing Mr. Skank again, it'll be the last thing you say before I have you tossed in jail for colluding in your own abduction.”

Baird Whitlock

“Eddie, I wouldn't, I would never do that!”

Eddie Mannix

[slaps Baird some more] “Shut up! You're gonna go out there and you're going to finish "Hail Caesar!" You're gonna give that speech at the feet of the penitent thief and you're gonna believe every word you say.”

[slaps Baird some more]

Eddie Mannix

“You're going to do it because you're an actor and that's what you do. Just like the director does what he does and the writer and the script girl and the guy who claps the slate. You're gonna do it because the picture has worth! And you have worth if you serve the picture and you're never gonna forget that again.”

Baird Whitlock

“I won't forget, Eddie.”

Eddie Mannix

“Damn right, you won't. Not as long as I run this dump.”

[Baird walks away]

“There, go out there and be a star.”

03:57 - Best OST Song

NiNi

We always start with music ‘cause as Ben reminded me in our little warm up, I care a lot more about this than he does. [laugh]

Ben

I would just award Boy Sompob every year like, “ooh, did Boy make a song? An award for my favorite boy!” [NiNi laughs] And he did this year. Twice!

NiNi

It wasn't even on my radar, bestie. I'm so sorry.

Ben

And he produced Nunew Chawarin, who we awarded last year.

NiNi

Boy Sompob is a staple and a legend. Unfortunately, he is not on our list this year.

Ben

He's on my list always. Don't worry, bestie.

NiNi

So Ben and I have very different musical tastes and as Ben would have mentioned to you guys, I think last year, I am very sensitive to music because I can hear pretty much close to perfect pitch. And it is physically painful for me when music is not good. So when I tell you that a song is good or that the music in a show is good, know that it is being filtered through that particular lens.

Our first award of the night is going to go to Best OST Song. This award is given for the song as recorded, so how the song is composed, how it's produced, and how it's performed. Whether the style of the song matches the show, how the song is used within the show, and honestly whether I will listen to the song every time or whether I'm going to fast forward it.

I will let Ben kick us off with the runner up for Best OST Song. Ben, what did you have on the list here?

Ben

The runner up for Best Original Soundtrack is ‘Plumeria’ from I Feel You Linger In The Air. [applause sound] performed by Cocktail, music by Thitiwat Rongthong and Ohm Cocktail, lyrics by Sichen Li, arranged by Korn Mahadamrongkul, Thitiwat Rongthong, and Cocktail.

‘Plumeria’ in I Feel You Linger In The Air has this really beautiful string component to it that I really enjoy. Of all of the songs we heard this year, it was the one I felt put me in the right mood as I was going into the show every week and I think about the song sometimes more than I do a lot of the songs that we've heard this year.

NiNi

It's a beautiful song, the orchestration is incredibly impressive. I am a person who loves to hear real instruments. I also love some electronic music, but there's something about real instruments and deep orchestration that puts me in a certain mental and emotional place and ‘Plumeria’ is a really beautiful song. Just thinking about it now I'm visualizing the elements within the story of I Feel You Linger In The Air. It's a very effective song for setting mood, like Ben said. So ‘Plumeria’ is our runner up.

The winner for Best OST Song is actually going to Japan this year, to ‘Futatabi’ from The End of the World With You [fanfare sound] performed by HIROBA and Otsuka Ai, music and lyrics by Otsuka Ai and Mizuno Yoshiki, arranged by Tsutaya Koichi.

I love the Immortal Technique episode because we just get to read out lists and lists of names of people who you have probably never heard of, but are really running shit.

Ben

If any of them or their friends or family hear this episode, I apologize if we butchered your names.

NiNi

I am doing my very best with Japanese pronunciation. I am trying extremely hard. I want to get it right. ‘Futatabi’ is the song that plays at the end of every episode of The End of the World With You. It penetrated my consciousness from the very beginning, but the episode where it really, really connected is the episode that ends with all of our heroes screaming at the meteor to go away. They want to live. There is something about it playing over that scene that just sends it into the stratosphere for me, and ever since that moment, every time I hear that song, it just makes me think of that sentiment, that “I want to live” sentiment. It has so much hope to it, so much desperate hope, so much absolute refusal to give up, and it's just a beautiful song.

So, Best OST Song goes to ‘Futatabi’ from The End of the World With You.

Ben

I'm really glad you talked about how you felt emotionally about that song because I just finished showing a friend the Pornographer series, which was made by a lot of the same people who made The End of the World With You. And I feel kind of the same way about the OST for that show as I do about The End of the World With You. There is a similar emotional component to it where the weight pressing down on you is so heavy, but you really don't want to give up and I feel like that team is really good at capturing that.

NiNi

The End of the World With You is a great, fantastic show and if you guys haven't watched it, you can go back to, I believe our spring series, listen to us talk about. Catch the show. We think it's incredible, and you'll get to hear ‘Futatabi’ in context and hopefully you'll agree with me.

10:03 - Best Music

NiNi

We're moving on from Best OST Song to Best Music. The Best Music award covers all the music that is used in a show, so the scoring, the music supervision, music editing, and use of music in the show.

Ben's going to come again here with the runner up for Best Music.

Ben

Ohh it's I Feel You Linger In The Air again. [applause sound] Congratulations to the team at Banana Sound Studio. You all were fantastic. I often feel like the mixing on Thai shows is too loud and I often feel like the musical choices can be really distracting. Even in this show, it's a little too loud for my taste, but there's a fullness and a richness to the way all of the sounds and music are really used that I don't find it distracting. I think it fits the overall tonality of the show, because this is the big swoony romance show of the year, and it's okay for things to be a little bit bigger.

I think I Feel You Linger In The Air is an excellent example of Thai music used really well in a very Thai production and I really wanna note how much I really enjoyed the use of traditional Thai music in a Thai historical show.

NiNi

I have to concur, the music all over I Feel You Linger In The Air and the way it was used were really fantastic, really helped sell the emotional weight of the story and particularly the decisions of where to use music and where to use silence, which I think is equally important. Great runner up.

The winner—and Ben’s going to shade me about this, because last year I told him that just because something's a musical, it doesn't automatically win Best Music—and I will maintain that. The winner of Best Music doesn't just win it this year because it's a musical, but because of how they use the music.

And the winner of Best Music this year is My School President. [fanfare sound] Composer Tong Atthaphol Rujiraprawat and Okomo P, music supervisor. The way that the music is used inMy School President, the way that it's constructed, where they use originals, where they use covers, where they use diegetic music, where they use non-diegetic music. For those who are not familiar with these terms, diegetic music is music that is occurring within the context of the story. So this is music that can be heard by the characters, basically, while non-diegetic music is not heard by the characters, so that's usually musical overlays, soundtracks, things like that.

My School President uses both. It uses original songs, it uses covers. It has very interesting scoring, I thought, aside from the jukebox musical feel of it and the jukebox musical elements themselves were also phenomenally used, I think. Basically somebody put a lot of effort into making the musical make sense as a story emotionally and through the characters. More than just making the music entertaining, it turned the music itself into a story. ‘Cause if you go through the songs in order of when they appear in the show, that trajectory, that path is also telling a story. I think that this was so well done. That is why it wins the Best Music of the year.

Ben

And now, audience, if you can imagine NiNi sitting in a brightly lit room. And suddenly the lights dim. [NiNi laughs] A moment of shade.

How dare you? [laughs] You shat on my favorite little musical from last year. You didn't even watch it!

NiNi

I did not. I started watching it—

Ben

You scoffed!

NiNi

—and I still intend to finish. I never scoffed. How dare you? [Ben laughs] I even said, I even said that the episodes that I did watch it I thoroughly enjoyed the music. I just haven't finished it yet.

Ben

I love that show.

NiNi

I'm not accepting that shade because I have never shaded Rainbow Prince. I liked Rainbow Prince. I just have not had time to finish it. I loved the music that I heard so far from Rainbow Prince. I did not shade it.

Ben

All right, back to the serious. I really enjoyed the music of My School President. I had a lot of fun with it. NiNi and I ended up selecting different songs that really stuck with us, but I really liked Let Me Tell You, that was still my favorite one. That one gets me, I think the most of all of the songs they did in that little show, a lot of fun.

NiNi

For me, my favorite song is the Palmy cover. It's the first song that they sing.

Ben

Unfortunately for them, I am a fan of Palmy, and while it was very cute to see these teenagers sing Palmy, they are not Palmy.

NiNi

Of course they're not Palmy. But that's the point. It's a cover.

Ben

It was fun. It was an okay cover.

NiNi

I especially like that when they do do the covers, so the Chinzhilla band in My School President, they call themselves a Brit pop band, which, mmm, debatable. However, all of the cover songs sound exactly like a high school band that thinks they're singing Brit Pop would sound, which I thought was really clever arranging and composing of the songs. I was definitely impressed that the song sounded like a high school garage band.

Ben

When I did relent to awarding My School President, it was because the music felt properly tuned to the characters themselves, and I thought that that was clever.

NiNi

It's well done, man. It really is well done. I don't think I've seen a use of music like that in BL, and hopefully it's not the last time we see a use of music like that, whether it's in a musical or not.

16:35 - Best Production

NiNi

Moving on from music, we're now moving into the rest of production. The Best Production award. This is the award for basically all the world building stuff. So this is production design and art direction, set design, costuming, hair, makeup, sound design, coloring—the aesthetic specificity. Basically all the things that contribute to what I like to call the vibe of the story.

The runner up for Best Production is If It's With You [applause sound] from Japan, the production house is MBS, the production designer is Sasuke Yamamoto, and the art director is Satoshi Nonogaki.

I love Japanese production and what I love about Japanese production is particularly Japanese set design. Japanese locations and sets I think are so well done, and they tell you so much about the characters and the environment that it's happening in. I always talk about how I love on screen, looking at a Japanese apartment, because a Japanese apartment is so specific, not just to Japan, but also to the characters. You learn so much about characters in a Japanese production just by looking at the environments they're being placed in.

When it comes to If It's With You, you get a sense from Amane's house what his life is like. You get a sense from Ryuji's house, ‘cause Ryuji lost his dad and he is working a lot to help his family. There's a little bit of a chaos to his house, but then there's the corner where his dad's shrine is, and that is perfectly maintained. It is clean and organized and everything. I love the production design on If It's With You.

Ben

If you're coming from American television and you primarily watch Thai BL, you're going to be paying way too much attention to faces when you watch Japanese media. And if you are only watching the faces of Japanese actors, you are likely missing 60% of the show. Space itself is such an important component in the way the Japanese construct their stories.

I talked about this in other episodes about how they very much believe in the foreground, middle ground, background, all having different elements of active storytelling. If It's With You is probably one of the better examples of this phenomenon this year, primarily because it's so short. MBS was able to spend their money in a really effective way. There's so much to observe in the way their hair is styled, the clothing, the lighting in the scene. Someone wrote about the way the light is used in the confession scene Amani has when he runs away.

You have to pay attention to more than just dialogue and the expression of strong emotion on an actor's face when you're going to watch Japanese media, or generally any media from a country other than your own, because you have to start learning that culture's film language. If It's With You it's a great one to go watch again if you've already watched it to look at these other elements: what the set design, what the costuming, what the hair and makeup, what the lighting, is trying to communicate to you along the way.

NiNi

We didn't really talk about the hair and makeup, particularly on Amane. I thought it was incredibly clever because Amane is kind of portraying this happy go lucky free spirit, and everything about the way his hair is styled, the way he dresses, it's all in service of him putting that face out to the outside. But he is masking. He is a sad boy masking as happy.

Ben

Ha! My favorite type of gay!

NiNi

Let's move on to the winner of the Best Production category.

Ben

Best Production this year again goes to a Thai team. It goes to Dee Hup House, production designer Takanta Kultrakarn and art director Le Phong Phu On for I Feel You Linger in the Air.

[fanfare sound]

I Feel You Linger in the Air, in totality, creates this beautiful vision of what Thailand looked like outside of Bangkok a century ago, and tries to imagine how those people might have used the spaces they existed in and moved around them. And there are a lot of really beautiful details, down to the type of cutlery that's used, the way they use the plates. Obviously, the costuming they wear, but even how they have people sit and move around, the way they create the illusion of space with their locations.

It's a really excellent piece on every level. It's so rich, and you can feel so much environmental storytelling going on with the location itself. And then there's interesting interplay with the house and the past and the present. It is just so excellently done. It is probably the most visceral show that we got to watch this year. The world that they create feels so believable that you almost feel like you could touch it.

It's really hard to do that. It is not easy. Congratulations to Dee Hup House, because goddamn.

NiNi

They put their foot in that, no lie.

22:13 - Best Writing

NiNi

Moving on to my main bitch: Best Writing. [laughs] When we're talking about the writing in the story, we're talking about the idea behind the story and setting up the characters; the story itself – that's the structure and the plot and character development. We're talking about screenplay, and then we're talking about script, dialogue, cadence, character voice. All these elements come into the best writing.

Ben

We actually had, like, a little spat [laughs] over awarding this category.

NiNi

Just a little one, not a big one. We ultimately agreed on who the top two were, but we couldn't agree on who was going to be the runner up and who was going to be the winner.

Ben

[laughs] I'll let you talk about the runner up.

NiNi

The runner up for Best Writing is La Pluie [applause sound] written by Fluke Teerapat Lohanan and Tanachot Prapasri. La Pluie is one of the best two, obviously, written stories of the entire year. There is no flab to that story. That story is written intensely. The way that they build out the world and the characters, the way that they set up the premise, the words that are put in the characters’ mouths, the way that the characters are developed, the fact that it allows characters to be wrong without being villains.

In terms of not just fiction, but genre fiction, which is incredibly hard to write, it is incredibly difficult to write genre fiction that does not feel…made-up. Of course, all fiction is made-up, but genre fiction there has to be an element of believability to it. You have to sell the idea in such a way that it feels real. It feels like something that could happen. The way that La Pluie sets up its world in the writing, the concept of this rain deafness phenomenon feels like a real thing that could happen in the world.

So you've set up the genre fiction side of it, and then onto that you add basically a retooling of the entire idea of romantic fiction. It's so cleverly done. It's like they looked at—and this is very clear, I mean it's even in the show—it's like they looked at Nora Roberts romance and said, “We're gonna take this to the next level. We're gonna show you what this would play out like if we did it in the real world, and then we're going to subvert that. We're going to twist it. We're going to turn it on its head. But it's still gonna be recognizable as romance.” It is some of the cleanest, deftest writing that I've seen in a while.

Ben

La Pluie is one of the best written shows of the year because you can refer to specific episodes, start talking about a couple of details, and the audience will be right back there. La Pluie has less than 15 seconds of recap going into each of their episodes. That's how strong the writing is in that show. Each episode is covering specific ground that they don't really need to do much other than remind you with a couple of shots where we left off, and you can go, “Oh, okay, yeah,” and we're right back in it.

I don't want to gush about La Pluie too much. I have much to say about La Pluie. I will not go on at length here.

The winner for Best Writing of this year goes to MAME, May Orawan Vichayawannakul for Wedding Plan. [fanfare sound] I was not expecting to be awarding MAME this year.

NiNi

Nobody was, bestie.

Ben

But I wanted to award Wedding Plan because I think MAME did a good job deconstructing and playing around with the types of dynamics she likes to put with her characters, and then telling a genuinely queer story within the structures of BL. I think that that is an incredibly impressive feat. It can't be overstated how complete Wedding Plan feels as a work. I have no lingering questions about the cast of characters in the show. This show was not being greedy with the audience's attention and hoping to milk us for more after the fact. They just sat down and told a really compelling story about what it means to try and work your way out of the closet in the least destructive way possible. Excellent job.

27:17 - Best Direction

NiNi

This is the Best Direction award. This is awarded for overall vision, filmmaking style, and visual impact, so photography, cinematography, shot selection, editing, directing, actor movement and expressions. These are all the elements that go into the best direction criteria.

Our runner up goes to Ishibashi Yuho, who directed Our Dining Table and Tokyo in April is…

[applause sound]

So the directing team here is Ishibashi Yuho, who is the main director on Our Dining Table. They directed along with Iizuka Kashou and Kamimura Naho, the DP or cinematographer is Hayasaka Shin. The editor is Takahashi Masakazu. On Tokyo in April is… Ishibashi Yuho, directed with Honda Daisuke and Kishida Masayoshi. The DP is Kato Taishi. The editor is Ohashi Masakazu.

Japanese direction is so specific. It comes from a very theatrical tradition, and sometimes I find that a little hard to digest depending on the strength of the actors, but generally I tend to like it. The theatricality to the direction, the fact that the set is seen sort of as a stage, and the actors enter and exit and move around in the space. It requires an understanding and awareness of space, both on the part of the actors and definitely on the part of the director because what you then put in front of the camera, because the camera, it moves, yes. But when you're talking about Japanese direction, camera is largely static, and everything else is moving within the frame.

Ben

You’re not really watching Japanese media until you start noticing that they're slowly zooming in on a character and that as a character is slowly excluded from the frame, they are not part of the current emotional beat that we're on.

NiNi

You're right, when the camera does move, it doesn't tend to be moving across the shot, but sort of in and out. So maybe the camera is zooming, or maybe there's some kind of dolly movement happening, but the dolly movement is going for depth into the scene rather than moving across the scene.

It is so fascinating, and I think that Ishibashi Yuho is sort of a master of it. Thinking about the direction at Our Dining Table, the way that she shoots the Ueda house. How you get an understanding of the space inside the Ueda house without the camera moving around very much, but where the camera is placed becomes important, and what the camera focuses in on becomes important. And then how those shots are pulled together become important.

Ben

I really hope we get to see her doing some more stuff in genre because I like where her priorities are. Not only is she really good at running a set and creating projects that are really easy to grok and connect to, she seems to care about the way gay men are presented in her work, and I really appreciate that.

NiNi

Congratulations to our runner up.

Ben, why don't you tell us who our winner is?

Ben

The winner for Best Direction this year goes to Baek Inu and Werner DuPlessis for The Eighth Sense. [fanfare sound] Director of Photography Yang Gyunsang, edited by Werner DuPlessis.

This project was a Korean and German team up, and it was unlike much of what we had watched from Korean BL in the last couple of years. They very much leaned into, like a—what’s the German term for their coming of age films?

NiNi

Bildungsroman.

Ben

It feels a whole lot like that, but it also feels like a moody Park Chan-wook film [laughs] the whole time, too. It was really fascinating watching these guys blend their styles together, and bring out these really strong performances and a lot of unknowns. There's a lot—like, I'm just sitting here. I'm thinking about the frenetic filming of episode 6. I'm thinking about the way they filmed Jae Won losing it and running to sock Tae Hyung, the way they used the framing of perspective when Ji Hyun sees whatever that nasty girl’s name was [laughs] kissing Jae Won in front of the bar. It's really good.

NiNi

I concur, it is really good, and the filmmaking...I mean, some of the things that they were able to do. I think there was an entire second unit that just handled the surfing scenes. And those scenes are truly impressive, the way that the water work was shot, it mimicked the sense of being on the waves—that feeling of never being entirely stable and occasionally getting knocked over. And it still captured the beauty of being in the sea.

And then, like you said, some of the frenetic filmmaking around Jae Won's mental state, and how that episode that you got so pissed [laughs] with everybody else about, about them saying that it wasn't real, but it felt dreamlike for a reason because Jae Won was probably, like, tits up out his mind on some kind of drugs, maybe, so it feels surreal. The way that the episode after the accident, when they come back to school and you don't know what exactly happened, and the whole thing is sort of tinged in this subdued, almost monochrome coloring until you find out what happens. And then the color slowly starts coming back to the show.

It's very, very well executed from a direction perspective, the way that the camera moves, the way that the actors are directed, the way that the show is edited together, just every aspect of the visual filmmaking. The overall vision for the show is coherent, it's cohesive, it's comprehensive, and it's damn good.

Best Direction 2023 VIIB award goes to The Eighth Sense. Baek Inu and Werner DuPlessis.

34:19 - Outro

NiNi

We have come to the end of our Immortal Technique VIIB Award segment. Next up tomorrow, if I have edited this correctly—always the caveat—we will be looking at our Top Tings. All of the top tops, the highest highs, of the BL for 2023.

So until then, we out. Say “bye” to the people, Ben.

Ben

Peace.

#podcast #lgbtq #the viib awards #thai bl #bl series #winter series #japanese bl #korean bl #the conversation #ben and nini's conversations #Spotify

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skippyv20 · 1 year

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have had a trademark application for their podcast name rejected, records show.

The couple had their application for exclusive rights to 'Archetypes' - the name chosen by Meghan for their podcast - refused by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office because of the 'likelihood of confusion' with an existing brand.

They sought exclusive use of the name in categories like 'downloadable audio recordings and podcasts' for anything concerning the 'cultural treatment of women and stereotypes facing women'.

But it was refused due to an existing trademark by Arizonian firm Archetypes LLC, which sought exclusive use in 2015 for a series of books and articles about 'nutrition, fitness, sexuality, psychological self-improvement' and more.

The couple's lawyer, Marjorie Witter Norman, of Los Angeles firm Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, has applied for another three months in which to finesse the Archetypes application.

They also both failed to sign their own application to the regulatory body, records show.

Meghan made the same mistake last year when she applied to reactivate 'The Tig' trademark — the name she favoured for the lifestyle blog she wrote before marrying Harry.

It comes after it was announced the Spotify podcast Archetypes would not be renewed for a second season as as the audio company begins to make changes and revamp its output.

The streaming giant and the Sussexes's audio production company Archewell Audio released a joint statement this month saying they have 'mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together'.

Meghan and Harry reportedly signed a £15million ($20million) deal with Spotify for the project in late 2020 but insiders close to the audio giant claim the royal couple did not meet the productivity benchmark required to receive the full payout, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The move to ditch the Duchess of Sussex's show, which explores the 'labels that try to hold women back', follows discussions months ago about renewing it for a second series.

The axing of the show came after sources close to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex claimed the pair would stop making tell-all Netflix documentaries, publishing memoirs and sitting down for interviews that bash the Royal Family, as they have 'nothing left to say'.

Spotify was said to have carried out conversations for a second series of Archetypes last year following the end of the first season, but talks later stalled.

The talent agency that recently signed Meghan, WME, told the Wall Street Journal: 'The team behind Archetypes remain proud of the podcast they created at Spotify. Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform.'

The podcast reached the top of Spotify's charts in the week it premiered.

😂😂😂😂😂😂

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thepodcasthoard · 8 months

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The Ultimate Guide to Starting A Podcast [Checklist]

Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4 l Part 5 l Part 6 l Part 7 l Part 8 l Part 9 l Part 10

The eleventh article Sydney gave me is an actionable list. The writer- Lestraundra Alfred- said she started a podcast in ten days by following it.

Determine your niche.

I know. Some of you who have been reading all the posts in this series are probably groaning right now at the repetition. I admit, as I was reading through them I was starting to almost be able to say the words in my head before I read them, like how I can quote movies I've seen a bunch of times.

But this is important- I mentioned before that it's better to be in the top ten of a smaller niche than top twenty of a broader one. But it's more than that- sites like spotify and apple podcasts use the niches you provide to categorize your show, and that categorization brings your podcast to those who are actually looking for similar things.

The article lists popular categories- comedy, news, TV shows and movies, and sports among them- so you can find inspiration in them and narrow your focus.

2. Identify your ideal listener

The article talks about going super specific with your listener avatar- age, job, education, income, other interests, hobbies, and where they live. This will let you think about what your perfect listener will think about your ideas and help you refine them.

3. Name your podcast and make a launch date

For the name, make sure you look it up a few times with variations so you don't accidentally use the same name as some other brand.

For the launch date, make sure to give yourself some time to do your preparations and recording, but not too much time that it's just procrastinating.

4. Format and schedule

There's a variety of formats, each with their own pros and cons. Interviews, co-hosts, and solo shows are just three.

The most common frequencies of publishing according to this article are weekly, bi-weekly (which I assume in this case means once every two weeks, not twice a week), and monthly. But the article also says consistency is key- don't do weekly for three weeks, and then not upload for two months.

5. Podcast host

Again, this is necessary because of internet jargon. An RSS feed is needed to upload to the actual directories where people can listen. The article lists a few via links which- as you all can probably guess by now- I won't add because I want to preserve their commissions. Plus, you'll probably want to read the article in its entirety to get all the details because I'm glossing over them to keep the big picture in sight.

6. Artwork

This article is linked, and it has a more in-depth guide on how to make artwork with examples. But this article recommends just browsing through your podcast listening site of choice and just looking at artwork, thinking about how yours will fit in.

7. Equipment

This article goes into the topic more in-depth, with specifics about what they personally recommend, but really a microphone, a computer, headphones, and recording and editing software are all you really need.

8. Create a trailer

Ah, finally, I can hear some of you think. A new step.

A trailer gives a new listener a chance to find out what your podcast is all about. So be sure to make it engaging and interesting.

9. Submit to directories

You'll be able to do this through your hosting site.

10. Start with three episodes

Another new step, yay! Not only does this give more content for listeners to really see if your podcast is a good fit for them, but it'll let your podcast get listens and other statistics more quickly. That means that the directory will read that and go 'oh! People really like this show. Let me move it to the front so more people can like it.' Your trailer shouldn't count in those three episodes.

11. Show notes

Yet another new step! Hooray! Show notes are basically really short blog posts that are under each episode and tailored to that specific episode. They're a good place for SEO (search engine optimization), and a way for avid listeners to follow the podcast on different sites, like your social media.

12. Get social media handles

Speaking of social media, you'll want these before you launch. This way you have them and can actually use them to promote yourself and the podcast. Domain names are included in this step.

13. Upload and schedule your three episodes

Once everything is edited and done, it's time to stick to your launch date you chose in step three and schedule through your hosting site to launch.

14. Market and celebrate

Now it's time to get the word out. You've worked so hard on this project, congratulations! An aside from me is to actually take time to celebrate. Don't rush right into more work, take the time to soak in your accomplishment, because it is an accomplishment.

#beginner podcaster #podcast help

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kaikamahine · 1 year

Text

@quensty did this meme and is v. v. good at making all her memes v. compelling, so I came onto Tumblr dot com and entered Text into the Text box like a person who does Posts on Tumblr.

Put your spotify ‘on repeat’ playlist on shuffle and list the first ten songs. I use spotify only under extreme duress, so you’re getting my all-purpose phone music library, bc i'm a caveman who still youtube-to-mp3s all her songs one-by-one.

🎙unholy (ft. kim petras) by sam smith. still waiting for someone to cover this song with the pronouns changed. i just think it’d be a more interesting song if it was daddy left at home with the kids while mommy got up to morally dubious alchemical shenanigans with kim petras in the body shop. the beat fucks too hard to be wasted on some man.

🎙watch me by the pom poms. there was a long stretch of 2022 when my phone playlist was nothing but jinx song after jinx song. a few have become True Loves with rent free residence. see also: headshot and she’s got a gun.

🎙vacation by vitamin c. maybe u just need to listen to vitamin c’s vacation from the critically acclaimed movie pokemon (the first movie) (1999) and then you’ll calm down.

🎙freaks (ft. savage) by timmy trumpet. complete and unironic banger. no i will not elaborate. yes you’ve heard it before.

🎙mafia by kelis. jilco rewrote my brain chemistry and now i’m a cooler, sexier person, that’s all ✌️

🎙undergang by heldom & danheim. while stuck doing warehousing a few years ago, i got SUPER into the shamanic proto-viking category on spotify, a love affair that came to a screeching halt when spotify’s next trick was to pull a neo-nazi podcast out of its algorithmical hat, but not before i got some good beats to take home like a boyfriend hoodie. yikes.

🎙run boy run by woodkid. yo! still!! fucking!!! slaps!!!!

🎙reload by m.i.a. not a break-up song but it’s a break-up song to ME, you feel. you got some nerve / talking shit about me! / well that’s okay / your shit’s tired anyway 👋

🎙what a man gotta do by the jonas brothers. what? sometimes a lesbian yearns. mind ur business.

🎙the blue whale by steven price. the single best piece of auditory artwork ever composed, and i do say this having listened to hans zimmer’s ‘coward.’ steven price did not have to put his whole ass prussy into a 2015 bbc nature documentary about predation tactics in wildlife, but he did it for me specifically, knowing i would listen to it and be transported five inches to the left of my body every time. wild.

You’re supposed to tag people, etc, etc, but those of you who like doing these memes know who you are and should consider yourselves tagged! go forth!! 💚💚

#look ma i did a post!#don't remember any of my tags tho so we just hurtle this into the void like men i guess

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kidestom · 2 years

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How to Create Intention Statements that are Magnetic

How you phrase your intention statements contributes to the level of magnetism you infuse your intention with.

The four categories of intention statements, as I explain in episode 022 of The Kidest OM Podcast, are Be (“I am” statements), Give (“I contribute” or “provide” statements), Do (active doing statements), and Have (I “get” statements).

When people want to create something, they usually frame it in one of these four categories:

Something they are being or becoming

Something they want to contribute or provide

Something they want to do or achieve, or

Something they want to get or receive

Each one of these angles of looking at and articulating the desire has a resonance, a vibration.

When you couple “be” and/or “give” statements with positive emotions like gratitude or love (e.g., “I love being a phenomenal baker”) and use them as your container for your intentions, the level of harmonic coherence you achieve is more orderly than in “have” based statements.

I go into a lot more detail on this in episode 022 of The Kidest OM Podcast, which you can stream on apple, spotify, google podcasts, amazon music, and many of the other podcast streaming platforms. This episode is now also up on my YouTube channel.

Enjoy!

Visit www.infinite-life.com for more tips, teachings, and resources from author & teacher Kidest OM!

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nickgerlich · 1 year

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Word For Word

I have always been a reader. It started when I was a kid, and my parents started buying Hardy Boys mystery books for me. They captivated me, and although I did not know it at the time, planted a seed that grew into a voracious appetite for the written word.

One look at my house, and you will see the results. My library runneth over.

But even heavy readers run up against the constraints imposed by the modern world, which means there is never quite enough time to read as much as we would like. Audiobooks addressed that problem, because we could listen to someone reading the book to us while on the morning commute, while working out, and on long auto or airplane trips. It may not be the same experience of turning pages, smelling the ink, and falling asleep on the sofa with the book on your chest, but it gets the job done.

Amazon saw that future when it bought Audible in 2008. While audiobooks are forecast to reach 10% of the global publishing market in 2027, an admittedly small share of the market, it is still lucrative enough for anyone willing to chase it.

And that is exactly what Spotify did last year when it announced it would add audiobooks to its music and podcast menu. The only problem is the Apple Tax. In order to listen to an audiobook, users must actually purchase it, which is completely unlike how we listen to streaming music (we basically rent it). Apple takes 30% of every item purchased in-app, and is not fond of workarounds whereby purchasers are redirected to another site to leave their money. With that kind of tax, it didn’t leave much money for Spotify.

That was a sucker punch for them. As it stands, Spotify users must leave the app, fumble around on the Spotify website to buy the book, and then listen to it in the app. But users had to know all this.

Not one to take things lying down, Spotify just announced it is going to start rolling out a limited audiobook listening feature to its premium customers. Choice will be limited to 150,000 titles, and 15 hours a month. The service already launched in the UK and Australia, and will be in the US by the end of the year. Basically, they are teasing premium subscribers with a sample, a lot like those samples given away at Costco and Sam’s on the weekends.

Fifteen hours is probably not enough time to listen to a long book, and I’m not sure if Spotify goes by calendar months, or billing cycles. If the former, you could start a book late one month, and finish it early the next. If the latter, you have to pony up some money.

I seriously doubt that Apple will budge on their tax either, especially in the case of Spotify, who happens to be its biggest foe in the music streaming business. Spotify is betting that once listeners taste and see, that they will be happy to fork over even more money.As for Amazon, they should be nervous, because the Spotify app is about as common on smartphones as the weather. There are more than 100 million users in the US alone. About 40% of Spotify’s listeners are in the premium category.

While Audible has enjoyed many years in the sun as the dominant player, Spotify is a formidable foe. Just ask Amazon about how well they are doing in the music business. Even if both play by Apple’s rules and share a sizable chunk of their audiobook revenues, there is probably still enough left in the margins to make their efforts worthwhile. For comparison, printed books typically have a 40% margin off list price, but big sellers can sometimes muscle in and get even better margins. The beauty of audiobooks is that they do not have to be inventoried, so every title sold is pure overhead-free profit.

This is a brilliant tactic by Spotify to keep users more engaged with the app. Their foray into podcasts keeps me on Spotify for a minimum of two hours each day on my workouts, and more when I am on long trips. Whether I increase my listening because of the audiobooks remains to be seen, but it will certainly make my experience all the richer.

I’m blaming my parents.

Dr “By The Word” Gerlich

Audio Blog

#marketing #audiobooks #Spotify #streaming

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taliesin-19 · 2 years

Note

Spotify Wrapped is out!!! How does it look like for each family member this year?

What an excellent question.

Harry uses Spotify mostly to listen to podcasts. Most of them are boring NPR type stuff, or economics and politics. Things that make everyone in the house yell at him to put headphones in when it's on. But on the music side of things, it's an eclectic mix of upbeat music that he listens to while working out. He's not in any artist's top percentage of listeners. He's got no loyalty. He probably couldn't name a single artist from the playlist he has (that Spotify generated for him).

Abby has a huge variation of genres in her results. From indie to pop to rock to r&b to classical to oldies to jazz. She has favorite songs in just about every category. She's also multiple classical composers top 1% of listeners.

James loves rap music and annoys everyone in the house when he tries to sing lyrics to his favorite songs, but he doesn't actually know all the lyrics so he just mumbles some verses and sings other verses and he's got no flow or rhythm whatsoever. He's obsessed with like the same 4 artists.

Al is all about the indie music. You wouldn't recognize a single band on his top 5 because they all have less than 150,000 followers. He's in the top 0.01% of listeners for every one of his top 5 bands.

And finally...Lily is a Swiftie. She just has to be. Her top 5 songs of the year are all Taylor Swift songs. She's had Midnights on repeat all month. Occasionally she'll listen to other artists, mostly pop. But it's Taylor Swift all day, every day.

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camplofi · 2 years

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Radio BSOTS show #177 - pause. (for Jason Mizell)

All comments, questions, and general feedback can be sent to [email protected]. Record a voice message and send it my way or leave one at the Speakpipe page!

You can subscribe to Radio BSOTS via the following options: RSS feed ||| Apple Podcasts ||| Spotify ||| Google Podcasts Amazon Music ||| Stitcher ||| TuneIn ||| iHeartRadio

Connect with Camp Lo-Fi via social media: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

this episode's track list (title / artist / source / license):

1. "Way Back When (Featuring Chuck D)" by Just Plain Ant [blocSonic] (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) 2. "30:5 / moonshine ft. chadah-hadassah" by Yashiyah [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) 3. "Larger Than Life" by Jazz One Beats [Dusted Wax Kingdom] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) 4. "Jazzweek" by Arze Kareem [Jamendo] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) 5. "Ignition" by Mute Speaker [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) 6. "91 NITES" by Tha Silent Partner [blocSonic] (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) 7. "Road Warriors" by The Impossebulls [blocSonic] (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) 8. "LoveSigns" by Makaih Beats [Free Music Archive] (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

For the past two decades, "pause" merely existed as long-form commentary on the BSOTS website. Roughly a week after Jam Master Jay's murder, the bile in my belly fueled a rant in my brain and it all came spilling out onto my computer keyboard. More emotional than logical, it wears my sarcasm and cynicism like spike-studded armor. I'm definitely in my "I said what I said" bag here, back when I had no problems taking an either/or approach when dividing music into rigid yet subjective categories like "commercial" vs. "alternative" and viewing hip-hop as if it were a sonic civil war with only two sides: "conscious" vs. "gangsta." I had one foot out the door of the culture and the music when I wrote this and it shows.

Creative Commons licensed tunes break up the commentary, featuring selections from netlabels like blocSonic and Dusted Wax Kingdom as well as cuts scattered across Bandcamp, Jamendo, and the Free Music Archive. The blocSonic cuts include guest verses from Chuck D of Public Enemy and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of Run-DMC. The sound of dusty vinyl underneath certain parts of the commentary comes directly from a project entitled This Is The End, Beautiful Friend by File Under Toner. The description of this project on the Free Music Archive begins with the following question: "Are the hiss, crackles, and pops on records protected by copyrights?" All of the featured sounds are from the locked grooves at the end of various records, which get messed with using delay, reverb and other audio techniques. I thought that these works added just the right amount of tension at certain times, more than traditional background music would. The locked grooves running into themselves in this circumstance just sound so stark, like it's occupying the space where Jam Master Jay's cutting and scratching used to reside.

I live with me all the time, enough to know that the longer I hold on to this episode, the more that my own doubts and anxieties will keep me from releasing it into the podosphere, so I have to let it go. It's going to do whatever it does. Here's hoping that you will give this one a shot and consider it time well spent.

ID drop courtesy of Kahlief Adams. Theme music by Cy Tru (edited by Macedonia).

Background music: Charlie Dreaming - Soft Hypnotic qpe - milk Ezekiel Honig - Plastic Rumblings Vanity (Instrumental) by BADLUCK (CC BY 4.0).

Other key info: Macedonia on Mixcloud BSOTS on Bondfire Radio Queue Points Episodes 77 and 78 Hip-Hop Can Save America: Parents Just Don't Understand

Another BSOTS podcast episode for the people...

#BSOTS #podcasts #music #hip-hop #soul #funk #jazz #electronic

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lingthusiasm · 9 months

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Lingthusiasm Episode 87: If I were an irrealis episode

Language lets us talk about things that aren't, strictly speaking, entirely real. Sometimes that's an imaginative object (is a toy sword a real sword? how about Excalibur?). Other times, it's a hypothetical situation (such as "if it rains, we'll cancel the picnic" - but neither the picnic nor the rain have happened yet. And they might never happen. But also they might!). Languages have lots of different ways of talking about different kinds of speculative events, and together they're called the irrealis.

In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about some of our favourite examples under the irrealis umbrella. We talk about various things that we can mean by "reality", such as how existing fictional concepts, like goblins playing Macbeth, differ from newly-constructed fictions, like our new creature the Frenumblinger. We also talk about hypothetical statements using "if" (including the delightfully-named "biscuit conditionals), and using the "if I were a rich man" (Fiddler on the Roof) to "if I was a rich girl" (Gwen Stefani) continuum to track the evolution of the English subjunctive. Finally, a few of our favourite additional types of irrealis categories: the hortative, used to urge or exhort (let's go!), the optative, to express wishes and hopes (if only...), the dubitative, for when you doubt something, and the desiderative (I wish...).

Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice or read the transcript here.

Announcements:

Thank you to everyone who shared Lingthusiasm with a friend or on social media for our seventh anniversary! It was great to see what you love about Lingthusiasm and which episodes you chose to share. We hope you enjoyed the warm fuzzies!

In this month’s bonus episode, Gretchen gets enthusiastic about swearing (including rude gestures) in fiction with science fiction and fantasy authors Jo Walton and Ada Palmer, authors of the Thessaly books and Terra Ignota series, both super interesting series we've ling-nerded out about before on the show. We talk about invented swear words like "frak" and "frell", sweary lexical gaps (why don't we swear with "toe jam!"), and interpreting the nuances of regional swear words like "bloody" in fiction.

Join us on Patreon now to get access to this and 80+ other bonus episodes! You’ll also get access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds.

Here are the links mentioned in the episode:

'Irrealis' entry on Wikipedia

'How do you get someone to care about Shakespeare? Two words: Goblin Macbeth' on CBC

xkcd comic 'Conditionals'

'Pedantic about biscuit conditionals' post on Language Log

'The pragmatics of biscuit conditionals' by Michael Franke

Lingthusiasm episode 'This time it gets tense - The grammar of time'

'Realis and Irrealis: Forms and concepts of the grammaticalisation of reality' by Jennifer R. Elliott

'If all the raindrops' on YouTube

'If I Were a Rich Man (song)' entry on Wikipedia

'Rich Girl (Gwen Stefani song)' entry on Wikipedia

'Louchie Lou & Michie One' entry on Wikipedia

'Louchie Lou & Michie One - Rich Girl' on YouTube

'Semi-Toned - Rich Girl (acapella)' on YouTube

'Subjunctive mood' entry on Wikipedia

'Céline Dion - Pour que tu m'aimes encore' on YouTube

WALS entry for 'Feature 73A: The Optative'

Lingthusiasm bonus episode 'How we make Lingthusiasm transcripts - Interview with Sarah Dopierala'

Lingthusiasm episode 'Listen to the imperatives episode'

'Dubitative' entry on Wikipedia

'A grammatical overview of Yolmo (Tibeto-Burman)' entry on WikiJournal of Humanities

You can listen to this episode via Lingthusiasm.com, Soundcloud, RSS, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download an mp3 via the Soundcloud page for offline listening.

To receive an email whenever a new episode drops, sign up for the Lingthusiasm mailing list.

You can help keep Lingthusiasm ad-free, get access to bonus content, and more perks by supporting us on Patreon.

Lingthusiasm is on Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Mastodon, and Tumblr. Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com

Gretchen is on Bluesky as @GretchenMcC and blogs at All Things Linguistic.

Lauren is on Bluesky as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

Lingthusiasm is created by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our senior producer is Claire Gawne, our production editor is Sarah Dopierala, our production assistant is Martha Tsutsui Billins, and our editorial assistant is Jon Kruk. Our music is ‘Ancient City’ by The Triangles.

This episode of Lingthusiasm is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license (CC 4.0 BY-NC-SA).

#language #linguistics #lingthusiasm #episode 87 #podcasts #episodes #irrealis #morphology #syntax #semantics #mood #if I was a rich girl #if I were a rich man #SoundCloud

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just-axolotl-thoughts · 2 years

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Comparing my Spotify Wrapped from this year and last year

So I barely used Spotify this year, that much u can tell from my minutes alone

Truly sad. I don’t:t have comparison for minutes, but I used it a lot more last year I think

Well, onto genres!

Yikes, that’s sad. Especially compared to last year

And the top 5?

Y do 3/5 have pop in the name. Wut happened.

And last year?

Y is otacore in second place 2 years ina row

…

I looked it up, apparently CG5, Steven Universe, Derivakat, Set It Off, JT Music, and Ghost and Pals- all artists I listen to with some level of frequency r categorized as otacore by Spotify

I am still laughing at Dream SMP not only being a genre last year, but also 3rd on the list

Ok, well wut abt the top songs?

2022:

I don’t even kno wut to say abt this one actually…

2021:

So that’s how dsmp was such a high ranked genre

jk ik there was a lot more to it lol

Ok top 5 songs overall is probably the most consistently chaotic part of both years

2022:

Laughing screaming crying y is a Monster High song in 3rd place it’s a good song best one from that movie but y is it here y r the other 4 songs either depression or gay

2021:

Idek wut I had going on either here

Uhhhhh moving on! Artists! Top artist of this year:

I was apparently v gay this year

Yea that tracks

Last year:

Is this where the emo was coming from or was this counted toward the indie pop category oml

Shame it doesn’t say how long I spent listening to just them lmao

Transition!

Top five artists from this year:

If ur asking how Britney Spears got on there blame Quackity for inspiring people to make Las Nevadas playlists

I unfortunately don’t have a top 5 artists from last year, nor do I have a podcast section. I didn’t screenshot the podcast info from last year and didn’t listen to podcasts at all this year

Some people also apparently got some sort of musical mood section (one of my friends did) but I didn’t get that either

I do have this year’s listening personality:

My girlfriend got “The Nomad” and I think that would also fit but I do like to go to artist profiles and shuffle all their music

I also have a couple playlists that r just all of an artist’s music and i’ll shuffle those too

So “The Deep Diver” works too

That’s all I got, see u next year when I hopefully have smth far more chaotic to show off

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the-conversation-pod · 8 months

Text

The VIIB Awards 2024: Special Class

Finishing with Part 5 of 5 of the Very Important Internet BL Awards, we are handing out our awards for our special class dramas!

We will be awarding Honorable Mentions to shows that did something specifically notable, and we will be awarding awards for Best After School Special, Best Family Drama, and Best Slice-of-Life Drama.

Thank you for spending the last week with us! Please tag us with your own awards!

Timestamps

The timestamps will now correspond with chapters on Spotify for easier navigation.

00:00 - Welcome 01:23 - Introduction 03:03 - Interlude: The Beach - Moonlight (2016) 04:18 - Honorable Mention: The Day I Loved You 10:26 - Honorable Mention: Chen Yi and Ai Di 15:44 - Honorable Mention: Sasake and Miyano: Graduation 21:41 - Sixth Man: Mark Pakin Kuna-anuvit 31:33 - Standout Queer Narrative: Moonlight Chicken 38:02 - Standout Queer Narrative: The Warp Effect 41:30 - Standout Queer Narrative: What Did You Eat Yesterday? 2 46:54 - Outro

The Conversation Transcripts!

Thanks to the continued efforts of @ginnymoonbeam as transcriber, and @lurkingshan as an editor and proofreader, we are able to bring you transcripts of the episodes.

Please send our volunteers your thanks!

00:00 - Welcome

NiNi

Welcome to The Conversation About BL, aka The Brown Liquor Podcast.

Ben

And there it is. I’m Ben.

NiNi

I’m NiNi.

Ben

And we’re you’re drunk Caribbean uncle and auntie here sitting on the porch in the rocking chairs.

NiNi

Four times a year we pop in to talk about what’s going on in the BL world.

Ben

We shoot the shit about stories and all the drama going into them. I review from a queer media lens.

NiNi

And I review from a romance and drama lens.

Ben

So if you like cracked-out takes and really intense emotional analysis…

NiNi

If you like talking about artistry, industry, and the discourse…

Ben

And if you generally just love simping…

NiNi

There is a lot of simping on this podcast…

Ben

We are the show for you!

[fanfare sound]

01:23 - Introduction

Ben

And we're back. We have reviewed all of the shows under the more traditional frameworks. We've gone over which talents we were really fond of, which pairings we're really fond of, who we thought did a great job assembling a show, and what were the bangers of the year.

It's time to award the shows so good that they would have skewed the results, or in our estimation, are not primarily driven by romance in a way that makes them fit under the traditional BL criteria.

NiNi

Here in our Special Class Awards, we have three award categories, and each award category can have multiple awardees, which is why it's special. [laughs]

So our three categories are Honorable Mentions, the Sixth Man Award, and our Standout Queer Narratives Award. In Honorable Mentions, we're going to be acknowledging key contributions to the genre from various filming markets and traditions that are perhaps outside of the main and the ones that we discuss. In the Sixth Man Award, we want to acknowledge the most valuable and versatile supporting actor of the year. And under Standout Queer Narratives, we want to acknowledge queer works that are not primarily romances.

03:03 Interlude: The Beach - Moonlight (2016)

Kevin

“That breeze feel good as hell man.”

Chiron

“Yeah it do.”

Kevin

“Sometimes round the way, where we live, you can catch this same breeze. It come through the hood and it’s like everything stop for a second ‘cause everyone just wanna feel it. Everything just get quiet, you know?”

Chiron

“And it’s like all you can hear is your own heartbeat, right?”

Kevin

“Yeah…feel so good, man. “

Chiron

“So good…. “

Kevin

“Hell, shit make you want to cry, it feel so good.”

Chiron

“You cry?”

Kevin

“Nah. But it makes me want to… What you cry about?”

Chiron

“Shit, I cry so much sometimes I feel like I'ma just turn to drops.”

04:18 Honorable Mention: The Day I Loved You

NiNi

So let's start with our Honorable Mentions. And this year we have three. I'll let Ben take you through them.

Ben

The first one I want to acknowledge this year is a show from the Philippines called The Day I Loved You. [Applause sound] I don't think I ever actually managed to write about this show because you're reacting to a show that is fundamentally tragic. I remember watching it with Kyra, and we called it, like, the Nicholas Sparks BL of the year.

In this show, we have a femme boy who's kind of bullied at school but doesn't seem to care about it. He ends up developing a thing with the new hot guy at the school who's here from Singapore, and there's, like, a love triangle with his best friend. And we realize that the reason why he's been holding back romantically in this story is because he has a debilitating condition that is gonna involve him declining and losing control of his limbs and other mobility along the way. So he's leery of beginning something with someone.

The way this plays out is really beautiful. There's a richness to the way a lot of the Filipino storytelling is done that I really connect to all the time. Even when I'm not watching BL, I really like Filipino cinema when I have the opportunity to really engage with some of their work. And even though BL in the Philippines has been really struggling with the lack of investment right now.

This show is really well produced—it's available on YouTube—and takes the dynamics here very seriously. The best friend is not going to be the one who's chosen because he doesn't want his best friend, who he knows loves him, to also go through the ugliness of his decline. His suitor in this eventually pushes past some of these barriers, but the show never downplays the seriousness of Eli's condition. His condition worsens. It is not a pretty experience. But there is this beautiful amount of heart in it.

This show is the one that has stuck with me quietly all year long. I think about the show at least once a month or so, and have been trying to find a way to properly write about it. In a year where we didn't really have a lot to point to from the Philippines that we really thought a lot of folks should rally behind, this is one of the standouts that I think you all should go back and watch if you can handle a tragic romance, not unlike the experience you might have with a Nicholas Sparks movie or book.

NiNi

So, I have not seen The Day I Loved You because I feel like I am not emotionally capable of watching that right now. It's the same reason I haven't caught up on Eternal Yesterday. There are some things that I'm holding in reserve because I don't think that I have the emotional bandwidth or capacity to handle right now. But I was sort of following along while you and Kyra were doing your watch, and I am looking forward to getting around to it when I have the emotional wherewithal to stand up to the tragedy, because I do sometimes enjoy—I guess ‘enjoy’ is a strange word—but enjoy a good tragic romance.

I tend to enjoy work from the Philippines, especially when the production quality lines up with the ideas they're trying to espouse. And so, given everything that you've said about it to me up until now, it's on my list. I just don't know when I'm going to get to it.

Ben

I think the production quality is about where The Boy Foretold by the Stars is. It's slightly under Gameboys.

NiNi

I think that's a good spot to land.

Ben

The music's good, like the song that they selected for the intro is a banger. It's called Sweet + Wild by YANCO—such an excellent song.

NiNi

I love Filipino music, as you are well aware, so really looking forward to that.

Ben

It's a really excellently put together little production. There's a lot of heart in the story and it takes its characters and its conceits really seriously, in a way that I found really compelling. And I continue to be really impressed with the way the Philippines explores Catholicism and Christianity inside of BL. It's one of the unique things that the Philippines can do, and I like that they do it well consistently.

NiNi

It's one of the things that draws me to them as well, being a lapsed Catholic myself. Lapsed? Former? What's the terminology these days? Having grown up Catholic, it's one of the things that does draw me to the Philippines, and I feel like I understand a lot of what they are getting into in their narratives and in their characters because of that.

Ben

The Day I Loved You from Regal Entertainment, directed by Easy Ferrer, starring Tommy Alejandrino as Nico, Raynald Tan as Eli, and Rabin Josh as Justine.

10:26 Honorable Mention: Chen Yi and Ai Di

NiNi

Our next Honorable Mention award is not for a show. It is for a couple coming out of Taiwan from the show Kiseki: Dear To Me, Chen Yi and Ai Di. [Applause sound] It has been a long time, for me anyway, since a side couple completely took over the show from the main couple to the point that I'm kind of only slightly sure what happened to the [laughs] main couple on Kiseki? But I know for sure what happened to Chen Yi and Ai Di. [laughs]

Kiseki was a mixed bag. It was a strange year from Taiwan. Nothing really landed. They did quite a bit that I ended up, in the end, not watching. I think Ben, you watched most of it?

Ben

Unfortunately.

NiNi

It was a very strange year. The only thing that drew me in was Kiseki and then, it was a strange show. I didn't expect something like that from Lin Pei Yu. But the light in the tunnel was definitely Chen Yi and Ai Di, played by Nat Chen and Louis Chiang.

They play orphans who basically grew up inside the mafia. Chen Yi thinks he's in love with the mafia boss, while Ai Di is in love with Chen Yi. Hijinks ensue. Let's just put it that way. Hijinks ensue. And then Ai Di goes to jail for four years, but before he goes to jail, he and Chen Yi have sex while Chen Yi is, shall we say, altered? And then Ai Di goes to jail and Chen Yi is left with his feelings trying to sort of understand how he feels and where he stands with Ai Di. Then when Ai Di gets out of jail, he's pissed, and trying to keep his distance from Chen Yi. But Chen Yi has now realized how in love he is, and he's not gonna let that stand.

It is one of the crackheads ships I've ever seen. But also kind of delightful in a way? [laughs] But the important thing is that they really took over the show. I don't mean that in a critical way. I mean that of all the things that were happening on Kiseki, they were easily the most interesting.

Ben

So it was a weird year for Taiwan and part of why I wanted to talk about these two is because there's just been less activity from Taiwan and the BL front. Some of that has to do with a lot of complicating factors [laughs] we won't get into on this podcast. But in all the things released—quick aside, there is an interesting project happening right now in Taiwan in that the Friday Taiwanese BLs are being produced by a single company doing a dedicated for BL project. I don't think it's been that great personally, but it's rare that we get dedicated BL commitment in a time slot, and while I don't think the projects have been really strong, the things that Taiwan is good at remain. Like, the overall cast chemistry from Taiwan still remains the best. They are very good at getting the whole cast to believably play off of each other, even in characters who only interact once or twice in the whole show. It is always impressive and especially with the romantic and sexual chemistry. I enjoy the paired chemistry of actors from Taiwan, more [than] the other BL producing countries more often than not.

In this particular show, I think both couples had really strong performances as couples with each other. And we ended up focusing on Ai Di and Chen Yi a lot because they're the mafia boys and Louis Chiang's character wears a choker the whole time, and is always trying to murder someone, and he's shorter than everyone, and everyone loves that! Every time I see this boy getting a little bit mad, I'm like, yes! Kill them!

But they were really good. And it was funny, like, the show shifts towards the back half where we spend a great deal of time focusing on them, and they get the final shot of the show. It's so weird! This side couple legitimately won. I'm just amazed by that choice.

NiNi

A choice it definitely was. With all that said, Honorable Mention award to Chen Yi and Ai Di from Kiseki: Dear to Me from Taiwan, played by Nat Chen and Louis Chiang.

15:44 Honorable Mention: Sasake and Miyano: Graduation

NiNi

The third and final Honorable Mention award this year goes to an anime project. Sasaki and Miyano: Graduation. [applause sound]

Ben, lead the way.

Ben

Okay! Let's talk about anime. So, yaoi is old, a lot older than people realize. We have art made by, we suspect to be women, going as far back as the 1400s, of guys sucking each others dicks. This is not a new phenomenon. At all.

And so, when we're talking about, like, what is BL doing, what is BL, where is BL going? A big question is always what is happening on the written front? What novels are popular in various cultures, and in, for Japan in particular, it's going to be manga. A significant amount of content is adapted directly from manga because manga is already successful, it has a built in fan base, and the manga itself serves as a storyboard and it's very easy to win fans over by taking popular panels and recreating them on screen for maximum impact. What's also notable is, when something is doing really well, it's going to get an anime adaptation. Anime is far more expensive to produce than live action content.

So, Sasaki and Miyano is a story about these guys in high school. One is a little bit older and is going to be graduating soon. His name is Sasaki and he helps Miyano in an instant where these guys are bullying one of Miyano’s friends, and Miyano wants to jump in. Sasaki sees that Miyano wants to help, and he jumps in to help, kind of gets his ass whipped anyway, but the two of them start hanging out.

Sasaki learns pretty early on that Miyano is a fudanshi—this is the boy version of a fujoshi—he reads BL all the time. He is one of us. But he doesn't think of himself as queer at the beginning of this. Sasaki ends up becoming very fond of Miyano, starts reading BL because it's very important to Miyano, and a relationship blossoms between them. Where this particular show is fascinating for me is because Miyano is a fudanshi, and Sasaki is not. And this is evinced most notably in the movie that released this year: Graduation, where Miyano’s understanding of what m/m romance is supposed to look like is influenced by BL, and we get this really incredible moment in the movie where after sorting through some of their stuff, they're having this moment that is sexually charged. And Miyano, who's shorter than Sasaki, and because he's more petite, a lot of people might expect him to be the uke-slash-bottom in this instance, he stops the moment that they're having and says, “I'm not an uke.” And this is also backed by the fact that Miyano does not have uke hair [laughs] but Sasaki does.

NiNi

[laughs] I know what that is now.

Ben

It also gets confused because Sasaki has yaoi hands.

NiNi

Okay, wait, pause. What are yaoi hands?

Ben

So whenever you're watching yaoi—animated yaoi—seme my hands are fucking enormous, because they want you to focus on their fingers and stuff, so their hands are fucking enormous.

NiNi

Listen, the things I learn on this show.

Ben

It's interesting because Sasaki, who just recognizes his attraction to Miyano, and maybe knew about himself already—it's a little unclear on that front. He doesn't care what position Miyano wants him to take, he just wants to be with Miyano. It's not that explicit, like the show's not going to point the camera at us and go, “Let's break down and talk about the [laughs] social politics of BL and how it impacts the youths’ maturation.” But it's apparent that it's one of the things it's thinking about because we get this really excellent presentation through Miyano, who is struggling to contextualize their relationship because his primary framework for understanding relationships between two men is formed by BL, which is not a great source, obviously [laughs] for this ‘cause BL is fictional, and is trying to just have fun with a lot of readers preconceptions of stuff. So, we get to watch them figure out what their relationship is going to be while deconstructing some BL presumptions. And it's a really enjoyable experience watching this really adorable little show.

NiNi

My brain is still stuck on yaoi hands.

Ben

All right, legit. Legit. You can pause right now and you can go Google yaoi hands. It's a whole thing.

NiNi

I believe you. [laughs] I'm gonna wait until after the show. So…

Ben

Ginny is in the fucking transcript right now Googling ‘yaoi hands.’

[both laugh]

NiNi

Ginny, I don't know if I should say I'm sorry or you're welcome.

Ben

The third and final award goes to Sasaki and Miyano, developed by Studio Dean.

21:41 Sixth Man: Mark Pakin Kuna-anuvit

NiNi

Our next category of awards is the Sixth Man Award. We are going to name the Sixth Man award for its inaugural awardee, and the inaugural Sixth Man awardee is one Khun Mark Pakin Kuna-anuvit. [fanfare sound] Mark Pakin, the most valuable and versatile supporting actor of the year. So this award shall forever be known after this as the Mark Pakin Sixth Man Award.

Bestie, I want you to go first here. Why is Mark Pakin not just our inaugural winner, but why is this award being named after him?

Ben

It's easy to get caught up in the ships, and the leads, and all the actors, and the big romance parts. But a big part of any successful story is going to be how well the lead characters play off of their supporting characters. It's notable when you look at Mark's credits since 2021, when he first appeared in a small role in I Promised You the Moon, since then every single show he's been in has been one of the highlight shows of the year.

Mark was in Bad Buddy, My School President, The Warp Effect, Moonlight Chicken, Only Friends, and now Last Twilight. Mark picks good projects and he makes them better because he can play whatever is needed of him in each of these shows. And because, as NiNi says, I bring the lore, when you watch the behind the scenes stuff and what people say about Mark, he is a huge presence behind the scenes helping manage morale and the overall mood of the set when he's present. Mark is working even when the camera is not in front of him, and making sure people are taken care of, and making sure people are grounded, and making sure that people stay in the right headspace so that they can do the work. And it clearly pays off.

Mark is really talented and you can feel how effective he was as one of the oldest actors on My School President in particular, and helping Gemini in a lot of his scenes. Mark plays so well with Fourth in Moonlight Chicken. Mark has a couple of moments with Earth in Moonlight Chicken that I still think about, like particularly the scene where Saleng receives the dowry gift from Jim, or the scene where he's leaving in, like, episode one and he's kind of shuffling out of the place. Or even just his goofy ass showing up at the end now that he's moved into, like, a value position at the water park he's working at.

Like, it's so incredible to watch Mark work whenever he's on screen. You are just so excited that he's back on screen and he does that completely from a supporting role. He is doing a great job without stealing the show or the scene from the other people that are in it. No disrespect to some of the other actors out there who are really talented, but they can't help but chew the scenery and take over every moment that they're in. Mark is really good at dialing in his performance to exactly where it needs to be in any scene, any moment. He can go really high or really low. He can go big or small as needed, and then turn it on a dime. And it's so impressive to watch. It's notable that every show he's been in has rated highly with audiences. And I just at this point find it hard to not see a pattern with his presence, and people's general love of his characters, and the shows and the storylines around where his character is involved.

NiNi

This year I watched Mark's play—technically six, if you consider the Our Skyy: My School President AU?

Ben

Kind of counts. We'll call it six. We had six different versions of Mark Pakin on our screen this year.

NiNi

And all of them were different. Every single one of them was different. And if you expand out to his other roles, every role that he has ever played, he is a different person. I do not know how he does that. I talked in the Moonlight Chicken episode about how loose he plays as Saleng. His body language is loose. The way that he speaks is loosened. It's such a different version of him that comes up as Nick in Only Friends. You can feel some of the anxiety that comes off of Nick. You can feel his vulnerability. Compare that to Tiwson in My School President, who is nothing if not confident. Ultimately, utterly confident. Every single role that he plays is just different. Physically, he acts differently. He sounds different. The way that he interacts with the other characters becomes different. He is building these characters right in front of our eyes, almost in a weird way, in real time. And then when you see him off the clock—well, not off the clock—but when you see him behind the scenes and you see him just sort of being Mark, that's a completely different person, too.

I am not the lore person, Ben is the lore person. But I did happen to see within the last couple of days a conversation on some one of these variety shows between Mark and Namtan. And Namtan is talking about being on the Last Twilight set and working with Film on the upcoming GL Pluto. And the way that Mark interacts with Namtan, and the way that they discuss acting, and the way that he supports her in those moments in the variety show. Like, he's kind of interviewing her but also praising her. I just think about what it's like to have somebody like Mark in your corner on set. And he did this too, we saw, in some of the behind the scenes on Only Friends. There's a particular one that I'm thinking of where Force played a fairly difficult emotional scene. And after the scene was over, Mark was there to say, “Yeah, guy, that was really good.” And to discuss in detail and specificity what about the way the that Force acted in that take really worked.

Ben

He was gassing Force up, and Force was eating it up. He was a little shy about it, but Mark came in and was yelling at this man. He's like, “You did amazing! You fucking crushed that, dude!”

NiNi

Mark is what I like to call an actor's actor. I don't know what else to say about this dude. He's only 25. There is so much ahead of him.

Ben

He's playing a very serious character on Last Twilight right now, and I remember seeing in one of the early behind the scenes things Aof was talking about Mark and he's like, “We weren't sure what was going on. Like, Mark was playing the scene and we were like, wait, what's going on? Mark Pakin’s on screen but we're not laughing or smiling.” And they asked Mark about it and he's like, “Well, I'm not playing a comedic character. Like, this is pretty—it's a pretty sad character, guys.”

NiNi

One of the stories of this year, I think that we're going to get into a little bit in the year in review, is people finally putting some goddamn respect on some comedic actors' names. Because, guys comedy is hard. It is so hard. It is harder in certain ways than playing drama. And so when you get a really good, really good comedic actor, you should know off the bat that they're gonna be good at drama, because it's just easier. Mark Pakin is a really fucking good comedic actor. I don't know where this kid came from.

Ben

Nadao Bangkok.

NiNi

Well, yes, there was that. [both laugh] He's only 25. He's got so much ahead of him. But in terms of what's already behind him, gotta give him props for that. And that is why he is both the inaugural Sixth Man award awardee and is going to be the person after whom this award is named going forward. So congratulations to Mark Pakin Kuna-anuvit.

Ben

We're big fans of yours, Mark, if you ever hear this. Please keep working. We love everything you're doing, and I'm really glad you committed to acting.

NiNi

I genuinely cannot wait to see what this kid does next.

31:33 Standout Queer Narrative: Moonlight Chicken

NiNi

We are now in the Standout Queer Narratives category of our Special Class awards. These three shows are chosen because while they might be in genre, they're not really of genre.

Ben

So, BL is a romance genre. The thrust of BL is about the romantic relationship at its core, and seeing it to completion. You go to a BL and you expect the very pretty boys in the intro to flirt with each other a bunch and eventually sort out their dramas and pair up by the end. Sometimes we're dramatic and they don't pair up, but we come to the genre because we want to see the cute boys get together. There's a big difference between a queer drama and a queer romance. And BL is romance. And so if you're wondering where Moonlight Chicken was [fanfare sound] [laughs] for the last week with us, it's why it's here. We talked about this in our episode, which you can go listen to. We praised it for, like, an hour and a half.

Moonlight Chicken is a family drama. The only ‘I love you’ said in the whole show is between Jim and Li Ming. The relationship between Wen and Jim is important, but it's primarily about how Jim's queer experience has further weakened the version of his life he thought he was building, and how Wen is an opportunity for him to not perpetually punish himself for the way certain things went wrong. It is important to the story but their romance is part of the drama around the diner, and the people who are connected to Jim. Like, Saleng and Praew are not a side couple, and I wouldn't even classify Heart and Li Ming as a side couple in this. They are just one of the dynamics that's being explored in this show, and it has resonance with Jim because Li MIng is Jim’s son in all but name. And so that's the crux of the whole story here.

Moonlight Chicken is truly fantastic, and I don't know that if we put Moonlight Chicken under the traditional scope we were doing in the award show that it would have won in every category it was in, but it would have probably superseded a lot of these just because of the scope of the project. That is not fair to the other shows, because the other shows are operating under the presumptions of romance as a genre.

It may feel like we're splitting hairs to some of you, and I'm sorry I can't make it more clear or explain this better. But we don't like to put bad bitches up against each other [NiNi laughs] on this podcast.

NiNi

Not even in our awards shows.

Ben

Like our award shows are really about, like, these are the top two projects that we really like the most. We give them awards because it's more dramatic for us to fight over who's better than the other one. But it isn't good to put a project like Moonlight Chicken up against the other shows that we talked about earlier this week with you all.

NiNi, any other things you want to add for Moonlight Chicken, since we've already gushed over the show once this year.

NiNi

I mean, we spent—unedited—close to three hours talking about Moonlight Chicken. I don't know what I can say that I haven't already said about this show. It is not primarily a romance. There are some parts of the audience that kind of bounced off of it or bounced off parts of it. And that's because it's not a romance. And that's okay if you come to this genre expecting romance, and you see Moonlight Chicken and you're just kind of like, “Oh, I don't know.” I'm going to judge you a little bit, but ultimately, yeah, you're right. It's not a romance. What it is is a haunting, absolutely haunting examination of love and loss and family and intergenerational trauma. It's about community. It's about coming to terms with yourself at literally every stage of being. Coming to terms with yourself in your youth, coming to terms with yourself as you start to become a real adult, coming to terms with yourself in your middle age. I have no more words, so I'm not going to try.

Ben

It has Mark Pakin in it!

NiNi

[laughs] If you haven't watched this and you like things like Parenthood or Friday Night Lights.

Ben

Aging ourselves immediately.

NiNi

Go watch it.

Ben

It is our Standout Queer Narrative as the family drama of the year that we were most enamored by.

NiNi

Moonlight Chicken produced and aired by GMMTV, starring Earth Pirapat Watthanasetsiri and Mix Sahaphap Wongratch among others, including the Sixth Man Mark Pakin, and directed by Aof Noppharnach Chaiyahwimhon.

38:02 Standout Queer Narrative: The Warp Effect

Ben

Our next show that we wanted to talk about was The Warp Effect [fanfare sound] as our after-school special [laughs] show of the year. It also has Mark Pakin in it!

NiNi

[laughs] This is not a coincidence. I think Ben is right. I think that putting Mark Pakin in your show automatically raises the level.

Ben

So, despite our [laughs] mixed bag of Jojo shows this year, he and NiNew did a really good job on The Warp Effect, exploring the social politics of sex, and how they impact people even 10 years later for the things you do in high school. I think they did a good job with the sex ed 101 component of it. You could see some of Jojo's Gay OK, Bangkok roots coming back there. And it was a lot of fun seeing Jojo work with a large cast of men and women talking about the way sex worked for them, how it didn't necessarily always work for some of them. And it was so legible! Like, it was amazing to me from week-to-week how much recall I had of that show from week-to-week, ‘cause that show was packed. It had like three to five threads it was juggling in every single episode, and yet I was still able to hold them from week to week—and as you all know, I watch too much. So, the likelihood that I forget stuff is high.

It was so much fun to watch this for the 12 weeks it was on.

NiNi

One of the things that I think it did really well is balance its themes with its narrative. I think that a lot of shows this year sort of failed at that balance. I think The Warp Effect was probably the strongest at doing that all year. It doesn't fall into the BL categories because it's not a BL.

Ben

The main character is literally straight.

NiNi

But we wanted to acknowledge all the things that it did really well, and also acknowledge that it was a very queer narrative, because the main character, yes, is straight and he has straight problems. But within the show we have a gay couple, a lesbian couple, Mark Pakin in a relationship with a trans woman.

Ben

Who Mark made blush all the time. [both laugh]

NiNi

Again, that behind the scenes stuff he's so good at. We had couples involved in kink, which kink is not technically queer, but they're definitely in the vicinity.

Ben

They're getting their asses beat with us on the streets. They count.

NiNi

We've got an aromantic character. We've got bisexuals, we've got everybody in this show. It is super queer in only the way a Jojo show can really be. And it was just fun to watch. It is an after school special that did not feel preachy. It was lighthearted where it needed to be. It was serious where it needed to be. It's a great show and definitely one of the standout great narratives of the year.

The Warp Effect produced and aired by GMMTV. Starring everybody you can think of [laughs], directed by Jojo Tichakorn Phukhaotong.

41:30 Standout Queer Narrative: What Did You Eat Yesterday? 2

NiNi

Our final Standout Queer Narrative award, and our final Special Class award goes to the granddaddy of this podcast. It’s What Did You Eat Yesterday? Season 2, guys. [fanfare sound] Do we even need to explain this?

Ben

The only thing that could have possibly made What Did You Eat Yesterday? 2 better was if Mark Pakin was somehow involved with it.

[both laugh]

NiNi

I can’t stand you. So What Did You Eat Yesterday? falls into the slice-of-life genre. We would have talked about What Did You Eat Yesterday? ad nauseam in our Om Nom Nom episode, which you would have heard if the editing is right… last week… sometime?

Ben

Oh my God.

NiNi

[laughs] Don't quote me on that. Listen guys, the editing is…it's gonna be what it is. So we would have waxed poetic about this show for, at the very least, an hour.

Ben

And you've already heard Ginny’s supercut of me mentioning the show unprompted all year long.

NiNi

You would have definitely heard Ben, bringing up What Did You Eat Yesterday? every chance he gets in our holiday clip show.

This show is amazing. Nishijima and Uchino are amazing. I did not expect to get more What Did You Eat Yesterday? this year. The fact that we got it is a gift.

Ben

This season 2 picks up a little bit after the movie. Shiro and Kenji been together for about eight years now, and we continue with more stories about their lives. The big theme for this season: they are dealing with the fact that they are in their 50s now. They're getting older and they're going through physical and emotional changes, and there are changes going on in their personal, professional, and family lives that they also have to manage as well.

This show remains kind of unique. BL is romance. It’s focused on people getting together. What What Did You Eat Yesterday? is focused on as a slice-of-life food drama, is about a couple staying together and dealing with the things that come up in their lives. Less than a handful of shows allow us to return to characters and see how they're doing and if they're going to make it and stick together. And What Did You Eat Yesterday? is so important in that regard, not just because it's about a long-term relationship. It's also about older gay men. And it's super important that we conceive of the idea that there are older gay couples. We do get to grow old with each other. That's also–and marriage equality is important. You want your boys to grow old together? There are gays who are old right now. You deserve to see gays getting older together and doing their best for each other.

What a lovely season we had because everybody got to grow this season. We got to see Shiro take on more professional responsibility than he was maybe willing to. Kenji got to grow professionally as well. Wataru was still a bitch the whole time, but he feels like a friend now?

[both laugh]

NiNi

I'm still creasin’ over the 50 balloon. [laughs] Oh God, that was such bitchy energy. I love it.

Ben

I just love how at this point, Kohinata and Wataru feel like their friends. And that was so important for me that we got to see them having a relationship with another gay couple. Kenji finally got to meet Kayoko this season. What a delight that was.

NiNi

And Kayoko treating him like a celebrity when she runs into him in the grocery store. So fun. Great, phenomenal, fantastic show anchored by some of the best performances by two of the greats.

Ben

Man, that's another thing we should talk about. The-the other reason why we need older gay characters: we deserve to see more veteran actors in the genre. This is not a knock on the young and up-and-coming talent or the OGs who are still doin’ the work. We deserve to see veteran actors bringing veteran-level talent to this genre more often than we do.

NiNi

What Did You Eat Yesterday? produced and aired by TV Tokyo, starring Nishijima Hidetoshi and Uchino Seiyou. You have won the coveted standout Queer Narrative Special Class award from The Conversation.

46:54 Outro

That is going to wrap us up on the 2023 Very Important Internet BL Awards, the VIIB Awards. It's kind of sad to see this go, but we will be back with the VIIB Awards next year when we get to discuss a whole new bunch of stuff.

Looking forward to it. With that, we out.

Say “bye” to the people, Ben.

Ben

Peace!

#podcast #lgbtq #thai bl #bl series #filipino bl #taiwanese bl #japanese bl #on art #season 5 #winter series #Spotify

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