jarabaa

What a handsome, charming man. Just a pleasure to see him on the screen. And is that him singing in episode 6 of Hidden Love? He has a very sweet, romantic voice. And it's a lovely song - what is it?

Oh my goodness! You are a major Benefactor of Humanity. You deserve the Nobel Prize for .... hmmmm, for generosity. Imagine writing out all those episode link addresses, or copying them, or whatever you did. It is HUGELY appreciated. Thanks a million.

I love the fact that Peter's character (Kim) is nicknamed "Boy-Crazy" early on in the series. We get the impression he is/was called that at university. And he seems to like it. I find it a real ... pleasure to see a young male character totally owning his gay identity like that. There's a real sexy energy to that kind of confidence - which Kim radiates. No "I don't like guys, I just fell for X", no struggling with new homoerotic inclinations (e.g. Jin in Nitiman), no straight-acting macho dude here - but a sweet, hot young guy who's proud to be known as Boy-Crazy. I'll have more of that, please. Another 200,000 servings.

Thanks. I have been really making a big effort to trace this song. We see our handsome sexy Win - the actor Net Thanachar Paosung - sing it in episode 6. I found a version from 2018 sung by ... I don't know who. And in thjs video - who is the singer? And what is the song? And it's not actually identical to the song in episode 6. Plus another version is sung in A Tale of 1000 Stars.

There WAS a dreadful photo here. The new one is a million times better. As anyone following Nitiman knows, this man has an exquisite face. His subtle smiles are completely ... tantalising. And his gentle, serene gaze is unique. I'm totally captivated. The absolute male Mona Lisa. The "man [in this case] with the mystic smile".

Totally agree. You've said it all. Thanks.

Thank you! I've never before encountered this site. So grateful to you for the link!! I wish I could follow it on WeTV but I just get the usual block saying not available in my country.

Quite enjoying this. Yes, the protracted opera of non-communication and miscommunication in episodes 5 and 6 was trying. Very trying. And I was engaged enough with Som Som to feel sad about her rejection by Jin. Nevertheless, her story seemed odd. There are many odd, ambiguous characters here altogether, I feel perplexed by everyone. Especially poker-faced. hard-to-read Keam. And quiet Jay the songwriter. And clowning Kaownah, i.e. Song. Even Aim. On yes, Singh, whose girlfriend-ambivalence is intriguing. And those friends of Bbong, U and ? Their interaction is also perplexing. Wispy fragments of potentially interesting storylines, glimpses of ambiguous characters, boys of admirably fluid sexuality who are mad keen to date girls round the clock yet in reality seem to be pining for each other ... all very perplexing, as I say. But I like it. Plus there are many men who are a delight to the eye.

Problem is, where on earth does one watch it?

? Others seem to be grateful for this link, posted here only 4 days ago - I only find "Video unavailable"...

"Video unavailable"

Gosh, you're very observant. I just look at the screen and see Beautiful Man. And then another Beautiful Man appears in the scene. And then it's Beautiful Man overload in this series when the third one enters the screen. I pass out then. So I completely miss ... the ... makeup? Really? Lipstick? Well, he's ... pale and anaemic, you know. Delicate. He needs a strong man to look after him. As his mother so accurately appreciates, I think.

I was thinking that too. All these boys seem to have a sound training in Basic Nursing. I missed out on that at Homosexual School.

Precisely. It's so wonderfully therapeutic! Especially observing Hank and Aaron very VERY carefully, studying their faces, their expressions, their movements, etc - so wholesome and healthful, very restorative. Oh yes! This is an excellent treatment for ... anything, frankly.

I agree with everyone's fond comments about adorable Hank. I'm besotted too. Meanwhile, however, I'm mesmerised by Aaron. Truly, I am THAT deer in the headlights.

You make interesting points, good points. Work settings feature very prominently in Taiwanese, Chinese and Japanese BL series. Because work is a huge part of human life, and often dominates our minds, controls our choices, and generates a lot of our dreams too. I notice that Chinese culture gives work a lot of attention - skills, job satisfaction, office dramas, career aspirations, relations with colleagues ...

Thanks for giving me a lot to think about. I ... could understand where the comment came from. And I have thought something similar about Oh-aew myself. But, whatever it means to be "girly", I really like it in this character. But the way the comment is made is, as you say, unpleasant, and even worse, our beloved Oh-aew was hurt.

Do we need to get rid of gender roles? Oh-aew has qualities which nasty people and nice people may think of as "girly". Is that bad? Maybe there is indeed something which some people could identify and describe as girlish, girly, feminine in his behaviour, bearing, etc. But ... I think it's rather lovely. I would like to ... affirm and celebrate whatever's deemed "girly" in Oh-aew.

And how girly are ... girls? I know lots of girls - who aren't very girly! Could we look at the qualities that people call "girly" in Oh-aew and say instead: he is as much a young man as any other young man, so these are manly qualities - the characteristics of a man. Somehow, at the end of the day, that's what I feel: Oh-aew has some ways of acting and being which people call girly and seem to dislike ... yet I find those qualities in his personality appealing and positive, and I would like to see them as part of who he is - a young man.

This little film contains a scene which still feels like one of the great moments of my life. I'm not young, I have seen many things on the screen, but there are still things that catch me unawares and are instantly so exquisite and overpowering that tears ... leap from my eyes. I hope it's no a spoiler to say that in the course of about 20 seconds in this brief film we see Teh suddenly and impetuously kiss Oh-aew in public in the middle of the city - and they then speed off towards a brilliant moonrise (not a sunset, but a moonrise) - accompanied by a very insistent orchestral crescendo which equally suddenly bursts into a short section of Billkin's great love song "Skyline". Why is it an overwhelming moment for me? When I was their age, everything we see here was unthinkable. Two boys fall in love. Their friends and at least one sibling support them. They acknowledge their love in the great line (in "I Told Sunset About You") : "If I can be anything ... can I be your boyfriend?" And here, in that kiss in the middle of Phuket, their racing towards the moonlight, the great surge of music - it felt like the purest, most beautiful, most triumphant affirmation of same-sex eroticism, gay romance, two young men in love with each other. That is, the original vision of Gay Liberation of 50 and more years ago - reality today in Thailand. So that made me cry. For many reasons.

Whether I'll be crying again for other reasons remains a good question ... The words of "Skyline" are complex. Not altogether a joyful affirmation of love. More of an account of the struggle.

Wow, What a chorus of condemnation. (See below.) I take note of the comments. Terrible story, bad acting, silly, flat, going nowhere ... but also: gorgeous men, nice music.

You know what ? Gorgeous men and nice music won me over. 100%. So I'll give it a try...

Right, I will say that I 100% agree with all the positive points you make. (I also love your comments about Meen further down the page.) Mork consents to something wrong being done in his name which causes Pi distress. Yes. But Mork is indeed "90%" good, maybe 99%, absolutely "saint-like", and at the same time sexy, handsome, ardent and loyal. But above all, caring and devoted - that is why he knows he has made a "boo-boo" and wishes to atone for it. He is genuinely upset and ashamed that he has done something to hurt his beloved.

I also agree about weird ethical standards all over the place when plot devices and characters in m/m love stories (i.e. "BL") are being analysed and evaluated. But ... I don't think this reflects a tendency to see "gay people [as] fragile butterflies that need to be coddled". My take on it, and I have watched a lot, read a lot (of comments), and thought about this a lot, is ... : quite the opposite. The tendency is not to "coddle" gay characters. The tendency is to be more likely to judge them harshly, to see evil in them, to resort to the usual library of homophobic caricatures and stereotypes when judging their shortcomings. Mork is a man who loves another man; he makes a mistake; he is harshly judged. THAT is what is happening here. I see no evidence that people have an exaggerated need to coddle Pi. No. Instead I see evidence that people are more ready to condemn Mork because he's gay. If he were a straight man, and Pi were a female character, people's judgments would be less harsh - that's what I'm saying. And I see this again and again in comments here. Comments on BL characters abound in routine stereotypic homophobic features: we frequently see gay male characters accused of rape and abuse, of being creepy and toxic and inappropriate, whilst ANY age difference in a relationship is instantly denounced, ditto any manifestation of teacher-student attraction, plus what you very rightly called "courting" is seen as stalking.

Your use of the word "courting" is actually very powerful. It is a very dignified, romantic, old-fashioned word from the vocabulary of heterosexual love. How rare to see it used in the context of two men! Yet that is indeed what we see here. Mork IS courting Pi. However, if we have somewhere in the back of our minds the lingering notion (which I was inculcated with all my life) that the instincts of gay men are what used to be called "base", then we do not associate them with something gracious and charming like "courting". I was raised in a world in which gay men were 100% associated instead with illicit sex, cruising, pornography, sexually transmitted diseases, blackmail, criminality, terms like "obscenity" and "indecency" and "abomination"- rather than ... "courting". (In large parts of the world, the dominant religious institutions still trade in this language and thinking every day.) And so, even though I am a gay man, and maybe I receive those negative messages less nowadays in the London of 2021, the imprint in my consciousness is there. How often (almost always) do I think of gay men "having sex"; how rarely do I think of them (of us) "making love" ... So - I don't call for coddling, but I do urge all queer people to try to claim positive romantic vocabulary like "courting" - and attempt to erase the imprint of decades of vile anti-gay defamation. It isn't easy. By using this very word, you have challenged me to re-evaluate my own assessment of the behaviour of men in love with men (men like me) as we see it in innumerable BL series: I find it refreshing, almost elevating, to think of men "courting" other men. Thank you.

Wow, you said it. Very all over the place. But suddenly there are scenes which are very compelling. The story has twists and turns which seem to intrigue me. The horror is more real than I'd appreciated but not so full-on that I am sickened and given nightmares. The open discussion of gay identity and the challenges of homophobia is ... good to see. But yes, sometimes it's boring. And sometimes it isn't. And some of these young men are absolutely not-boring - in fact, they're likewise - very ... compelling. I still cannot decide Who Is Most Beautiful. Anyhow, I'm also "kinda enjoying it". lol...