Maybe its just for this page I think I have seen gaga on other pages before 🤔
Hi there! I can confirm the suspicions/conslusions drawn by Nauriya. I feel the same and it started pissing me off after I realized I had been here almost two years and had NEVER seen an article on the MDL regarding ANY BL or gay-themed content or actors.
I wrote admins THREE times, inquiring as to whether this was an official policy, and if so, then why the hell was it? NO ANSWER all three times, which means the real answer is they do it deliberately.
I then went googling to see if I could determine who owns and runs MDL. NOTHING. Please try, maybe you'll have better luck.
Of course, it's upsetting and outrageous, but here is how I look at it: As much as the MDL commentariat can be annoying in a host of ways, and now, in addition to that, I know it is run and managed via homophobic policies, there are many aspects of this crazy place that I appreciate a great deal and have been unable to find elsewhere:
Ability to maintain a Plan to Watch list, Completed list, see and read about upcoming and already-aired shows I would have otherwise never known about, rate shows and argue with Puritanical LGs in comment sections, which is a good outlet. :D
I have discovered many, many excellent gay-themed Asian films through this site. Those films have enriched my life immensely, and through friends like you,, JollyGolly , and Maggi, my knowledge of HOW to watch films and series and thus, get much more out of them, has increased dramatically. I notice all kinds of aspects of films I missed before I found this place, and my powers of perception regarding live-action fiction will continue to grow as long as I hang around.
There is no person in my real life I can talk to about gay films and BLs the way I do with you guys and other numerous sane commenters. It's not that I haven't tried, or that they're all bigots, it's that especially BL, goes WAAAY over their heads. I get blank eyes and no response when I try discussing BLs with friends or family. Many gay folks don't get BLs either. BL is not only gay, it is a very specific KIND of gay that deeply moves those of us who "get it" when they're good. The majority of people, gay or straight, who don't get it, likely think we're crazy.
My poor, next-oldest brother, an extremely straight, kind -hearted and gay-friendly sort, probably thinks my BL love is symptomatic of past mental health issues. lol Seriously. He pretended to listen when I first found BL and was gushing about it 24/7 but then I had to consider the significance of the fact that his only participation in these one-sided BL "discussions " consisted of "uh-huh..." and that only after I asked if he was listening. So I finally gave up and keep my BL world to myself and online.
Actually I have an in-law with whom I no longer engage in any way because at one point she informed me that she was "embarrassed for me" regarding my "obsession with young Korean "boys" (note the implied same-sex pedohpilia) as expressed on FB. This was regarding Korean gay movies, BL, and ONE, particular Kpop mega-idol who was an other-worldly talent, one in a billion, until his devastating suicide. He was 27 fucking years old, hardly a boy. But that insulting, dense, conventional, ignorant, close-minded, Xenophobic attitude moved her to denigrate me to that extent.
I told her to take her judgemental stupidity and shove it, blocked her on FB and have never engaged with her since. It's been almost three years now. Seeing as she is the wife of the very brother mentioned above, this rift is very apparent within the family. But until I get an unsolicited apology, she can fuck herself. I don't need people like that in my life any more than I need others who are at least open about their ignorance and gay hate. But she fancies herself a progressive person.
I haven't thought or spoken about her or our falling out in many months; this is cathartic. :D
All of which to say, please don't leave MDL. It's how you and I connected. Since you are a non-paying member, your departure will not effect its bottom line in the slightest. And given the size of the membership, no one will know you've left anyway.
Stick around with Maggi, JollyGolly, and me. Let's eat this place alive from the inside-out.
Yeah, it's like buying a Victorian terrace in London, and opening the door for the first time, only to find out…
lol Help me out, please: I know lots of MDLers use the FF button through shows they're impatient with but...how do you determine when to stop and watch? How do you know you're not missing key lines of dialogue even if a scene is otherwise dull?
My feeling is that if a show is so boring I start fast-forwarding, then it's bad enough to drop; and any show bad enough to drop gets a 1/10 from me. Perhaps that breaks my "you can't rate it til you've seen it rule...may have to rethink that. A lot of times however, I drop shows-especially Thai shows-that are being massively up-rated by fangirls, so I see the 1/10s as a bit of pushback. :D
I feel you, man. I picked this up from somewhere.Rating a show while it is airing comes with distinct advantages…
oh...i was unaware of that. Thanks. It's telling though, that they hide that option away like that. Even more reason to not allow "overall" ratings until the show has completed its run.
Yeah, it's like buying a Victorian terrace in London, and opening the door for the first time, only to find out…
hahaha...I love your wonderfully creative writing. Thanks for the laughs.
Xi introduced the other guy as his "partner," which could mean his business partner, and the interactions between the two of them have been opaque; I can't figure out whether they are romantically/sexually a couple, or just business partners. I say this because, for instance, when Xi's "partner" met the female teacher, he acted intrigued and interested in her, even giving a lingering, thoughtful gaze to her back as she walked away. Immediately after, the camera was in closeup and he acted as though he was interested in her.
Then the whole "rainbow" mug thing, and the flirting between them, followed by Xi showing up in that room and more apparent, furtive glances and interaction between them...wtf? Is Xi's partner bi? Who knows? These episodes are too dragged out, but if they flushed out that side-plot, maybe it would overall be more compelling. As you wrote elsewhere, this show could be half as long if they tightened up the script. I'd say more like 3/4 as long because I actually enjoy some of the show's leisurely pace. But more and more I find myself fidgeting.
I never speed up the video. That's just against my morals as a consumer of live-action fiction. I'm either all-in or I'm out. :D
The step-bros thing is no less absurd because it's ubiquitous. It happens over and over in Thai BLs too.
I feel you, man. I picked this up from somewhere.Rating a show while it is airing comes with distinct advantages…
"What I like, I like..."
I guess that doesn't apply to me, or at least it doesn't apply until I've seen a series or movie in its ENTIRETY. It never occurred to me to rate a series during its run until I saw that hundreds of people were doing this and realized the "overall" rating is nearly meaningless because of this netizen-like behavior. For certain types here, it's not enough to be enthralled by a series, they have to take the next step and attempt to artificially control its rating so it might get a second season, get more viewers, or just for the thrill of feeling powerful on the Internet.
I was thrilled by the film "The Love of Siam" (almost all the first BLs I watched and loved when I found this genre were Thai; now I rarely watch anything out of that country), and then the last 15 minutes happened. It went from a possible 10 to a 3/10 or something like that and a spot on my Worst 30 BLs list because of that homophobic, cheap-ass ending that destroyed everything before it. This is the type of change in opinion I think very view young MDLers would have the ability to make. Because they loved the film to that point, there's probably nothing in the ending that could effect their overall opinion of it.
This behavior comes from the same basic source as the insane, negative swarming that occurs online when Koreans decide that a show or actor has grossly offended them and needs to be destroyed. They do the same thing to shows on MDL that don't meet their Puritanical standards for sexual content, or if a character behaves in a way of which they disapprove. Murders or violence or kidnapping are all fine, but let there be a "dub-con" scene and the page will be inundated with 1/10 ratings, regardless of the overall quality of production and storytelling.
I suppose to a large degree this is generational: younger people are far more likely to feel a need to cancel a show or entertainer because they want to directly have an effect on it. Whereas, I see myself as an observer, they consider themselves participants and direct "influencers." Annoying.
I am also babbling on, but lastly, this issue has taken me to a place where, at least in the case of dramas as opposed to movies, which I watch more than dramas, a low MDL rating indicates to me the show may well be excellent, and a high rating spells danger. lol I first noticed this specifically with Bad Buddy, a juvenile mess that has a high MDL rating and whose comments are liberally strewn with declarations that it is a "masterpiece." hahaha That word has no meaning on MDL.
Hey thanks for your kind words regarding my comment/reviews. I'm glad you get something out of them.
I feel you, man. I picked this up from somewhere.Rating a show while it is airing comes with distinct advantages…
It's BS. At the least, MDL could make it possible to rate each episode only after it airs. The only rating choice now specifically labels your rating "OVERALL," not "episodes thus far" or "episodes to date." Then, they could show an AVERAGE rating of the eps that people have actually SEEN, as opposed to, you know, fantasized about.
I just finished watching The Time of Fever. The first five and a half episodes indicated a show I would have rated 9.5/10 had it continued at that quality, but it went to shit in the last episode and a half. How many people are going to go back and down-rate after something like that? I hadn't rated it yet because I hadn't, you know, SEEN all of it yet, so I ended up at 5/10.
Plus, if you read about ratings on MDL, it specifically says the show rating is arrived at via some obscure formula combining actual rating, number of viewers, how many dropped it, blah blah blah. So who knows what any of these ratings really mean?
The site is great in so many ways, but there are a number of ways in which it is strangely opaque and not what it seems to be. What is the reason a rating can't simply be the average rating of the people who have watched it start to finish and rated it? Who knows, but yeah, I'm sure it has to do with marketing/advertising/$$$$.
This is hilarious and spot-on as to the ups and downs of the series. You gave me the courage to agree the episodes are too long for what takes place within them. I've been thinking the same, but didn't say anything until the comment I just left after ep. 8 on the show's page. It dragged at times. I think I was hesitant to admit it was dragging because amid all that drag there a lot of individual, spaced-out, beautiful, deeply moving moments. Them building up to a "home" at the dorm, and then we discover it's a fucking FOUR MAN ROOM, was a buzzkill for me. How are they going to make love all night with two straight dudes in the same room? It could lead to an exciting straight-boy-walks-in-on-gay-sex moment down the road though. Thanks for the LOL review!
I do wish MDL would configure the site such that you can't give a series an OVERALL rating until it has completed its air time in full. It is not possible to rate a show, overall, until you have seen all of it. The current situation leads to massive up-rating from squealing netizen-type fangirls and boys who want to determine the success or failure of shows they love or hate while they're still airing. It's silly.
Side question: Does anyone have a link for Benjamin Tsang's 2019 short film "A cohabitation"? It used to be in…
You can see it at the link below. The site costs $2 a month for a basic membership but I've watched lots of bl shorts and movies there I haven't seen anywhere else. And once you've watched everything you want to, you can always drop it.
All this drama about moving to the dorm "together" and it's A FOUR MAN ROOM? wtf? Doesn't this kind of defeat the purpose? How is this to feel as if it's Tian's "home" when they're sharing it with two other dudes? All the "home" stuff building up to that was lovely, but the four-man room thing was a buzzkill for me.
Lots of nicely acted small moments again, but this is the first episode that dragged a bit for me. Do we really care about whatever is going on with Xi, the guy I thought was his BF but am no longer sure about that, and the female teacher? Waste of time. Too much of the neurotic parents too.
The "they're brothers but they're really not" thing is tiresome. They are NOT brothers! Can we not just get straight on this?
Morning Wood is everywhere! This series just won my heart and soul forever with those bits. Two things: That is one hundred percent what every morning is like for young men, and often even us old farts. Secondly, to that point, there had been no raunch to the show at all, so the "wood" was all the funnier and more surprising. For a moment, I thought I was watching the old classic BL, "Make It Right," and that's a good thing. I LOL'd like a crazy person. Which works out well, since I am one.
For me, TOO's power lies in all its small, but moving moments. They add up to something far greater than the sum of its parts.
BRAVO!
On to episode 8, which saddens me, as I've binged 1-7, but now I will have to start waiting a week for the last four eps. Bummer.
Wang is now "open" for business. tee-hee :D He sure is asking for lots of injections of Tian's blue ink.
I don't think I've ever before enjoyed watching an actor simply "thinking" before. Benjamin Tsang is remarkable as Tian, the "man of few words" whose eyes, face, and body tell me all I need to know about what is going on in that head. I don't even know how he does it. How can he look at someone silently a hundred times, and make me feel he's thinking a hundred different things? I've done a lot of amateur/semi-pro acting, and I have no real explanation for that, other than that it is some kind of ephemeral, unnamed, innate gift.
I like Xi, the teacher/cafe owner a lot. The actor as well. Interesting good looks.
I only recognized actor An Jun Peng, from History4: Close to You about two episodes ago. This really is a cast of 30-year-olds playing characters 13 years younger than themselves and mostly getting away with it. I would say Peng is one who is NOT getting away with it. I like his performance fine, but either his looks aren't malleable enough to be believed as a high-schooler, or he just doesn't have the innate ability to fully transform himself. I loved his work in History4 though.
This series is actually quite slow for extended periods of time, but the actors do such a remarkable job of making small moments interesting that I'm riveted to the screen.
The MC's phone exchange of promises (vows?) near the end of this ep was moving.
As an artist, I always notice and consider the features, lines, angles, and shadows of human faces and bodies. It's an automatic thing with me; always has been. The profile outline of Tian's head, face, and neck is another thing about this show that rivets me. Long, aquiline neck, curving adam's apple, up into an amazingly tight under-jaw that juts up before flowing to the chin, then the small but protruding lip, the fascinating nose, the brow and hairline...exquisite. I love that he's not pretty-boy handsome and yet so very attractive. Also love his very Chinese eyes. Beautiful.
1 
1 
I wrote admins THREE times, inquiring as to whether this was an official policy, and if so, then why the hell was it? NO ANSWER all three times, which means the real answer is they do it deliberately.
I then went googling to see if I could determine who owns and runs MDL. NOTHING. Please try, maybe you'll have better luck.
Of course, it's upsetting and outrageous, but here is how I look at it: As much as the MDL commentariat can be annoying in a host of ways, and now, in addition to that, I know it is run and managed via homophobic policies, there are many aspects of this crazy place that I appreciate a great deal and have been unable to find elsewhere:
Ability to maintain a Plan to Watch list, Completed list, see and read about upcoming and already-aired shows I would have otherwise never known about, rate shows and argue with Puritanical LGs in comment sections, which is a good outlet. :D
I have discovered many, many excellent gay-themed Asian films through this site. Those films have enriched my life immensely, and through friends like you,, JollyGolly , and Maggi, my knowledge of HOW to watch films and series and thus, get much more out of them, has increased dramatically. I notice all kinds of aspects of films I missed before I found this place, and my powers of perception regarding live-action fiction will continue to grow as long as I hang around.
There is no person in my real life I can talk to about gay films and BLs the way I do with you guys and other numerous sane commenters. It's not that I haven't tried, or that they're all bigots, it's that especially BL, goes WAAAY over their heads. I get blank eyes and no response when I try discussing BLs with friends or family. Many gay folks don't get BLs either. BL is not only gay, it is a very specific KIND of gay that deeply moves those of us who "get it" when they're good. The majority of people, gay or straight, who don't get it, likely think we're crazy.
My poor, next-oldest brother, an extremely straight, kind -hearted and gay-friendly sort, probably thinks my BL love is symptomatic of past mental health issues. lol Seriously. He pretended to listen when I first found BL and was gushing about it 24/7 but then I had to consider the significance of the fact that his only participation in these one-sided BL "discussions " consisted of "uh-huh..." and that only after I asked if he was listening. So I finally gave up and keep my BL world to myself and online.
Actually I have an in-law with whom I no longer engage in any way because at one point she informed me that she was "embarrassed for me" regarding my "obsession with young Korean "boys" (note the implied same-sex pedohpilia) as expressed on FB. This was regarding Korean gay movies, BL, and ONE, particular Kpop mega-idol who was an other-worldly talent, one in a billion, until his devastating suicide. He was 27 fucking years old, hardly a boy. But that insulting, dense, conventional, ignorant, close-minded, Xenophobic attitude moved her to denigrate me to that extent.
I told her to take her judgemental stupidity and shove it, blocked her on FB and have never engaged with her since. It's been almost three years now. Seeing as she is the wife of the very brother mentioned above, this rift is very apparent within the family. But until I get an unsolicited apology, she can fuck herself. I don't need people like that in my life any more than I need others who are at least open about their ignorance and gay hate. But she fancies herself a progressive person.
I haven't thought or spoken about her or our falling out in many months; this is cathartic. :D
All of which to say, please don't leave MDL. It's how you and I connected. Since you are a non-paying member, your departure will not effect its bottom line in the slightest. And given the size of the membership, no one will know you've left anyway.
Stick around with Maggi, JollyGolly, and me. Let's eat this place alive from the inside-out.
Help me out, please: I know lots of MDLers use the FF button through shows they're impatient with but...how do you determine when to stop and watch? How do you know you're not missing key lines of dialogue even if a scene is otherwise dull?
My feeling is that if a show is so boring I start fast-forwarding, then it's bad enough to drop; and any show bad enough to drop gets a 1/10 from me. Perhaps that breaks my "you can't rate it til you've seen it rule...may have to rethink that. A lot of times however, I drop shows-especially Thai shows-that are being massively up-rated by fangirls, so I see the 1/10s as a bit of pushback. :D
Xi introduced the other guy as his "partner," which could mean his business partner, and the interactions between the two of them have been opaque; I can't figure out whether they are romantically/sexually a couple, or just business partners. I say this because, for instance, when Xi's "partner" met the female teacher, he acted intrigued and interested in her, even giving a lingering, thoughtful gaze to her back as she walked away. Immediately after, the camera was in closeup and he acted as though he was interested in her.
Then the whole "rainbow" mug thing, and the flirting between them, followed by Xi showing up in that room and more apparent, furtive glances and interaction between them...wtf? Is Xi's partner bi? Who knows? These episodes are too dragged out, but if they flushed out that side-plot, maybe it would overall be more compelling. As you wrote elsewhere, this show could be half as long if they tightened up the script. I'd say more like 3/4 as long because I actually enjoy some of the show's leisurely pace. But more and more I find myself fidgeting.
I never speed up the video. That's just against my morals as a consumer of live-action fiction. I'm either all-in or I'm out. :D
The step-bros thing is no less absurd because it's ubiquitous. It happens over and over in Thai BLs too.
I guess that doesn't apply to me, or at least it doesn't apply until I've seen a series or movie in its ENTIRETY. It never occurred to me to rate a series during its run until I saw that hundreds of people were doing this and realized the "overall" rating is nearly meaningless because of this netizen-like behavior. For certain types here, it's not enough to be enthralled by a series, they have to take the next step and attempt to artificially control its rating so it might get a second season, get more viewers, or just for the thrill of feeling powerful on the Internet.
I was thrilled by the film "The Love of Siam" (almost all the first BLs I watched and loved when I found this genre were Thai; now I rarely watch anything out of that country), and then the last 15 minutes happened. It went from a possible 10 to a 3/10 or something like that and a spot on my Worst 30 BLs list because of that homophobic, cheap-ass ending that destroyed everything before it. This is the type of change in opinion I think very view young MDLers would have the ability to make. Because they loved the film to that point, there's probably nothing in the ending that could effect their overall opinion of it.
This behavior comes from the same basic source as the insane, negative swarming that occurs online when Koreans decide that a show or actor has grossly offended them and needs to be destroyed. They do the same thing to shows on MDL that don't meet their Puritanical standards for sexual content, or if a character behaves in a way of which they disapprove. Murders or violence or kidnapping are all fine, but let there be a "dub-con" scene and the page will be inundated with 1/10 ratings, regardless of the overall quality of production and storytelling.
I suppose to a large degree this is generational: younger people are far more likely to feel a need to cancel a show or entertainer because they want to directly have an effect on it. Whereas, I see myself as an observer, they consider themselves participants and direct "influencers." Annoying.
I am also babbling on, but lastly, this issue has taken me to a place where, at least in the case of dramas as opposed to movies, which I watch more than dramas, a low MDL rating indicates to me the show may well be excellent, and a high rating spells danger. lol I first noticed this specifically with Bad Buddy, a juvenile mess that has a high MDL rating and whose comments are liberally strewn with declarations that it is a "masterpiece." hahaha That word has no meaning on MDL.
Hey thanks for your kind words regarding my comment/reviews. I'm glad you get something out of them.
At the least, MDL could make it possible to rate each episode only after it airs. The only rating choice now specifically labels your rating "OVERALL," not "episodes thus far" or "episodes to date." Then, they could show an AVERAGE rating of the eps that people have actually SEEN, as opposed to, you know, fantasized about.
I just finished watching The Time of Fever. The first five and a half episodes indicated a show I would have rated 9.5/10 had it continued at that quality, but it went to shit in the last episode and a half. How many people are going to go back and down-rate after something like that? I hadn't rated it yet because I hadn't, you know, SEEN all of it yet, so I ended up at 5/10.
Plus, if you read about ratings on MDL, it specifically says the show rating is arrived at via some obscure formula combining actual rating, number of viewers, how many dropped it, blah blah blah. So who knows what any of these ratings really mean?
The site is great in so many ways, but there are a number of ways in which it is strangely opaque and not what it seems to be. What is the reason a rating can't simply be the average rating of the people who have watched it start to finish and rated it? Who knows, but yeah, I'm sure it has to do with marketing/advertising/$$$$.
You gave me the courage to agree the episodes are too long for what takes place within them. I've been thinking the same, but didn't say anything until the comment I just left after ep. 8 on the show's page. It dragged at times. I think I was hesitant to admit it was dragging because amid all that drag there a lot of individual, spaced-out, beautiful, deeply moving moments.
Them building up to a "home" at the dorm, and then we discover it's a fucking FOUR MAN ROOM, was a buzzkill for me.
How are they going to make love all night with two straight dudes in the same room?
It could lead to an exciting straight-boy-walks-in-on-gay-sex moment down the road though.
Thanks for the LOL review!
All this drama about moving to the dorm "together" and it's A FOUR MAN ROOM? wtf? Doesn't this kind of defeat the purpose? How is this to feel as if it's Tian's "home" when they're sharing it with two other dudes? All the "home" stuff building up to that was lovely, but the four-man room thing was a buzzkill for me.
Lots of nicely acted small moments again, but this is the first episode that dragged a bit for me. Do we really care about whatever is going on with Xi, the guy I thought was his BF but am no longer sure about that, and the female teacher? Waste of time. Too much of the neurotic parents too.
The "they're brothers but they're really not" thing is tiresome. They are NOT brothers! Can we not just get straight on this?
Eagerly anticipating episode 8.
Morning Wood is everywhere! This series just won my heart and soul forever with those bits.
Two things: That is one hundred percent what every morning is like for young men, and often even us old farts. Secondly, to that point, there had been no raunch to the show at all, so the "wood" was all the funnier and more surprising. For a moment, I thought I was watching the old classic BL, "Make It Right," and that's a good thing. I LOL'd like a crazy person. Which works out well, since I am one.
For me, TOO's power lies in all its small, but moving moments. They add up to something far greater than the sum of its parts.
BRAVO!
On to episode 8, which saddens me, as I've binged 1-7, but now I will have to start waiting a week for the last four eps. Bummer.
Wang is now "open" for business. tee-hee :D He sure is asking for lots of injections of Tian's blue ink.
I don't think I've ever before enjoyed watching an actor simply "thinking" before. Benjamin Tsang is remarkable as Tian, the "man of few words" whose eyes, face, and body tell me all I need to know about what is going on in that head. I don't even know how he does it. How can he look at someone silently a hundred times, and make me feel he's thinking a hundred different things? I've done a lot of amateur/semi-pro acting, and I have no real explanation for that, other than that it is some kind of ephemeral, unnamed, innate gift.
I like Xi, the teacher/cafe owner a lot. The actor as well. Interesting good looks.
I only recognized actor An Jun Peng, from History4: Close to You about two episodes ago. This really is a cast of 30-year-olds playing characters 13 years younger than themselves and mostly getting away with it. I would say Peng is one who is NOT getting away with it. I like his performance fine, but either his looks aren't malleable enough to be believed as a high-schooler, or he just doesn't have the innate ability to fully transform himself. I loved his work in History4 though.
This series is actually quite slow for extended periods of time, but the actors do such a remarkable job of making small moments interesting that I'm riveted to the screen.
The MC's phone exchange of promises (vows?) near the end of this ep was moving.
As an artist, I always notice and consider the features, lines, angles, and shadows of human faces and bodies. It's an automatic thing with me; always has been. The profile outline of Tian's head, face, and neck is another thing about this show that rivets me. Long, aquiline neck, curving adam's apple, up into an amazingly tight under-jaw that juts up before flowing to the chin, then the small but protruding lip, the fascinating nose, the brow and hairline...exquisite. I love that he's not pretty-boy handsome and yet so very attractive. Also love his very Chinese eyes. Beautiful.
OK, I'm fangirling. On to episode 7!