jarabaa

Well said.

Totally agree with your assessment on all points. Exactly how I felt.

One thing I liked which I've not seen before in BL was the way Li Gong leapt into Ze Shou's arms (more than once), and I mean jumped up and wrapped his legs around his much taller lover - and the way Ze Shou held and carried Li Gong (and yes, threw him on the bed ... )

I also recommend Cupcake and Sky in Your Heart, To My Star 2, and Senpai, Daijite Koidewa. But as I've mentioned, I'll watch (and end up enjoying, at least a little) almost anything.

I completely agree with both of you. But as a mature gay man who had absolutely nothing growing up which showed love between men - no fairy tales, no nursery rhymes, no fables, no love stories, no shows, no folksongs, no pop songs, no comedies, no dramas, no ads, zero, nothing - well, I have to laugh at myself, honestly, when I realise that I'll accept ... anything!! Crazy non-stories full of holes, virginal guys in their 30s saving themselves for the right one, sexy ghosts, hot and cold running Thai engineering students, straight men falling in love with cute male volunteer teachers in mountain villages, magic, slapstick humour of the kind I associate with the golden age of the silent cinema - it's all fine by me if I get a glimpse of something that validates the idea and reality of two guys loving each other.

So our individual perspective counts for a lot. And at the same time I am aware of other gay men here on MDL who do not "accept anything" - their point of view is very different from mine, and they are very clear about what they dislike and reject in the world of BL. I seem to have become absurdly accepting, tolerant and indiscriminate in my old age.

What I would like to see more of is the ongoing reality of two men together. Not the nonsense of episodes 10 and 11. But the everyday world of two men managing being in love and being together. I still find it dramatic, comic and one hell of a challenge.

I feel you are right to sense that you were aggressively corrected. It doesn't read like a jocular "tongue in cheek" comment, no. There was an error in the rank of the court in question when you first referred to it, but what you reported was broadly speaking otherwise accurate. A Japanese court did indeed uphold the ongoing unavailability of same-sex marriage. That was your point, I think. I understood it.

Not much sushi up there in the mountains of northern Thailand. But the good Dr has already made reference to the over-spicy northern Thai cuisine.

Both, please. Both. We need to compare.

What is it about these twins, JJ and AJ? Something about the eyes ... both sultry and amused. Anyhow, they are equally handsome guys who are well suited both for bad boy and comic best friend roles. Great in the BL context, where we desperately need men who are not only gorgeous but genuinely interesting to look at AND keen young actors who want to show what they're capable of.

A handsome actor, with a notably interesting, appealing face, he made the most of Typhoon in "Star" - a support role that under-utilised his obvious talents. But why on earth does the very short biographical note (above) on this ACTOR waste a sentence on telling us that he's dating a woman - other than to reassure us that he's straight? Embarrassing. Should be irrelevant in 2022.

I see this incredibly handsome, indeed beautiful man as needing a whole repertoire of BL (and other) roles to develop his natural romantic leading man potential. Unfortunately, Khabkhluen in "Star" didn't really stretch him, even though he was always awesome to look at.

Thanks! Pierre is totally new to me. It's an excellent video, very apposite. I can indeed relate. Thanks again.

Love it. Very true to older man + younger man relationship reality. But ... what's 4shared? A website?? I don't get the joke ...

I know what you mean. I can appreciate that it's another comic vocabulary in which all this extreme emoting comes across as funny and entertaining, but I find it tiring, and puzzling. Sometimes other characters seem to notice the ludicrous, crazy behaviour, I note. But sometimes Kota screams up a storm and runs about in circles and no one notices. And most of the time it's just way over the top, too exaggerated for me to enter into the spirit of the given funny moment. I like him, I find him very sweet a lot of the time, but these wild slapstick panic scenes make my head hurt.

Hey, thank you for this friendly sign of agreement. I discovered that my comment above provoked a real explosion of extreme animosity on another MDL page. Can you believe it? I am leaving my comment here as it is, unedited - because I am still puzzling over what it was that I wrote here that prompted such a furious storm of abuse. Anyhow, over on the MDL page for a Taiwanese series called "DNA Says Love You" (also good fun) someone called "BadPennyGirl" has posted a real diatribe citing THIS comment here - yes, this rather innocuous comment I wrote about liking "Cutie Pie". So, according to BadPennyGirl, wait for it ... my views are "bullshit", I'm a "chucklefuck" (a what?), I'm guilty of "hating on" the US (where does that come from?), my remarks about Thai culture are an eye-rollingly "ridiculous dramatic complaint", I like to pretend "to know things", and finally my lack of enthusiasm for the overused word "toxic" shows that I'm some sort of maniac who is unable to say anything that makes sense. Can you believe it? Does what I wrote here make you think someone is likely to react with such vituperation? Not only that, "BadPennyGirl" has also tried to block me and prevent me from posting at all. To be honest, I'm still in shock. Thanks for demonstrating that kind and friendly people do exist!

I give up. The "logic" of replying via your post was that BadPennyGirl has had me blocked and banned from replying. I cannot respond to the OP. That's what I have already explained. But I won't go on. Everything here is a contest of invective, an opportunity for another nasty remark. "Novel of drivel" indeed. Now you can have the A for that one. For Gratuitous Nastiness.

Meanwhile, "BadPennyGirl", whom I've never heard of or encountered before, has supplied some remarks (appearing below), calling me a "chucklefuck" who writes "bullshit" (etc!) - and has taken the novel step of trying to get me blocked. I wrote a mild comment on another page saying that I liked another series, Cutie Pie. It has no connection to this page at all, nor to BadPennyGirl - who has nonetheless weighed in here with a rather full denunciation of my supposed shortcomings.

Although I am sure you agree with BadPennyGirl that I am a chucklefuck guilty of bullshit - I hope you do accept that I have a right to my opinion - and to reply to BadPennyGirl. I therefore will post here my response which BadPennyGirl has had blocked:

"BadPennyGirl, you have blocked my reply to your comment below - and so I have to post my response via the kind offices of aquadrone22."

"You appear to be impressively quick with the disdain, the invective, and the over-the-top insults, going straight for the jugular: you accuse me of 'bullshit', your eyes roll at my 'hilarious dramatic complaint', I'm guilty of 'hate on the US' (hate 'on'?) - plus I 'think I seem to know things' whereas in reality I'm a 'chucklefuck' who is incapable of 'making sense' - all because I 'actually' question overuse of the term 'toxic'. "

"You pour out your vituperation on a comment which I wrote which has nothing to do with anything you've written, has no connection to anything on this page, and in fact explains why I quite like a totally different series, Cutie Pie. In case anyone who hasn't scrutinised the Cutie Pie MDL page is curious, my comment there features no complaint, dramatic or otherwise, and never mentions the US - let alone expresses hate."

"I have no idea why you've decided to weigh in here with your remarks of such outstanding ... toxicity. But I am sure that bullshit-writing, US-hating chucklefucks everywhere are quaking in their boots."

My "ramblings" were not ramblings but remarks which related specifically to the things you claimed about the US here on this page. Yes, you are indeed entitled to your view that the US is a great country, but when you reasoned that it was a country of "rebels" who had held out against old things like the metric system and so on, I disagreed with your reasoning and with your own, er, facts. I note that you'll give me an A, thank you, and you instruct me to save my facts for "some other person". However, you - and not some other person - wrote the comment which I was replying to. I am allowed to respond. Or maybe not: your supporter "BadPennyGirl" has weighed in to denounce me in very lively terms - and has tried to have me banned from posting a response.

It would be a good idea to check out these evil examples of "traditional culture" which American "rebels" so bravely reject.

The wonderful weights and measures systems which the United States maintains which you see as the acme of glorious American "rebel" achievement are of course the old traditional Imperial system from ... hated Great Britain. Yes, the very country which you roll into position as the Great Satan which the USA rebelled against. Miles, feet and yards, pounds and ounces, gallons and quarts, even Fahrenheit - these are the older traditional British measurements which the US has chosen to conserve. Thus the US represents the acme of ... conservatism. And the metric systems are in fact the creation of .... revolutionaries, yes, French revolutionaries, who established these systems in the 1790s - after the American revolution. Meanwhile the Fahrenheit scale, dating to the 1720s, is older than the Celsius scale, created in the 1740s and given the name Celsius in 1948.

In fact, what you are saying - repeatedly - is that the US is indeed a great country: a great "rebel" country, with wonderful colleges which everyone in the world desperately yearns to attend (we don't have any universities in old "traditional" Europe, for instance - they were invented by the brave American rebels, of course). And you are 100% entitled to your patriotic conviction in the greatness of the United States - an opinion which is warmly held by hundreds of millions of Americans, and routinely taught and proclaimed to the rest of us, the remaining billions of non-Americans on earth. But ... please think carefully about your theory of the USA as the land of creative genius "rebels", and if you want to stick to it, choose your examples more carefully.

Speaking of examples, I can think of at least four languages spoken in (old "traditional" etc) Europe which have gender-neutral pronouns: Hungarian, Finnish, Turkish and Estonian.

I think I quite like it too. I see it as a bit of a fable. Plus it's Thailand - I'm not Thai. I have never been in Thailand, I know not a word of Thai, I'm not familiar with the symbols and vocabulary of romantic love in Thailand, my understanding of the traditional Thai sense of humour is limited, and above all I know so little about Thai Buddhism, which shapes so much of their culture. So I do not presume to judge this series. Obviously I wouldn't dream of suggesting that any love story here should be seen as a realistic model relationship which any two young persons anywhere in the world should adopt as the standard they aim to aspire to. But honestly, is there any danger of that?

This is a creation of Thai culture, and I am grateful that I, far away in London, can watch it, follow the subtitles, learn a bit about Thailand, etc. If something does not entertain me or charm me or correspond to my own romantic or ethical ideals, I would never dream of condemning it (e.g. on this page) as "toxic" - the most overworked term here. Toxic toxic toxic - it's a toxic word.

I agree. It's a characteristic of this page, yes, and many others. I have just taken a holiday from the MDL comments pages of about 2 months. I recommend it. Many of us enjoy watching a variety of Asian male/male romance stories - "BL" dramas - for a similar variety of reasons. Speaking for myself, I sometimes get a little overly invested in certain stories or combinations of characters/actors - I find myself eagerly awaiting the next episode, or moved to tears. Lots of tears. Etc. But then I have to tell myself that's nothing abnormal. nothing to be ashamed of or concerned about. Except ... when I genuinely sense my feelings spinning out of control. Then it is necessary to take a break from not only the MDL pages but from a particular series, or from the whole BL genre. Have a rest. It's a good thing. The distance helps. And I return in due course, feeling refreshed, keen to resume watching where I left off - and to try the latest new BL series.

Likewise, I return to these MDL comments pages. But with a much calmer, distanced, more philosophical approach. With a new series, it can be helpful to read through, say, 20 to 50 comments to get an idea of what a story contains and how it's told. And that's it. I honestly distrust the temptation to become more deeply involved in the comments. I like to commend someone whose way of expressing himself or herself is notably amusing or elegant or illuminating, perhaps. I tend to stay away when I spot these key words: toxic, entitled, toxic, on point, throw shade, toxic, call out, creepy, toxic, lame, toxic, etc. And of course toxic. They signal violent altercations where people really lay into others. Often on the basis of a rather innocuous comment - many correspondents have powderkeg temperaments. Others just lunge. And there is an overall commenting culture which favours brutal and harsh comments as evidence of wit or insight. Worst of all are the harsh denunciations of individuals who like some series (possibly deemed .... "toxic" by others?) as guilty of promoting rape and other crimes, and the routine dismissals of all who air any kind of negative criticism by means of the salvo "If you don't like it, stop watching". At any rate, it can be distressing. And it's even more distressing when I find myself to be so churned up about some comment that I am trying to dream up my own malevolent riposte. Then I know it's gone too far, I'm in too deep, time to get out, time for some distance - time for a break.