Busting the myths around LGBTQIA+.

Although Thailand is the main producer of LGBTQIA+ themed content and many people in Thailand are labeled as "ladyboys", it remains quite homophobic, transphobic and overall not understanding country to its own people even now in the 21st century. The way Thais perceive LGBTQIA+ could be often seen in the related content, because not all shows or movies are non toxic and don't rise any red flags, which can be damagin for the comunity, for example romanticising sexual abuse or abuse in general, cheating, homophobia, etc.

Sprite and Tong from BOC sit down with Dr. Chanettee Tinnam, professor from the Mass Communication Major in the faculty of Communication Arts of Chulalongkorn University, to discuss basic knowledge around LGBTQIA+, what the acronym stands for, what are usual misconceptions related to LGBTQIA+ and their personal experience and point of view.

The lesson of this short series is not to judge and keep open mind.

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Love is a terrible thing to hate.

Everything is moving forward, each day we learn something new about our world and society. Yet some people still don't understand, that having different opinion is not an excuse for violence or hatred, because opinions are like assh*les - we all have one.

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Cin and May go from friends to lovers, not hiding their relationship from nobody, especially not from their schoolmates. At the beginning everything is rosy pink and they are happy, but one person is enough to trigger a chain of bullying and hate. Sometimes hard times bring us closer to each other and sometimes it is what tears us apart, even tho the love is still there. And that's how it goes for Cin and May...

There's nothing much to write about Even If, it's short, well written and shot movie that leaves sour taste in your mouth and breaks your heart. A theme that we see too often in LGBTQIA+ movies, dramas, books... And we will keep seeing it for a while, unfortunately.

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A feel-good LGBTQ+ friendly BL.

I deleted Bad Buddy from my Plan to watch list when I saw how many things I have on it and something just had to go. No idea why I picked Bad Buddy to be deleted too, but YouTube knew this was the right drama for me and recommended me some OST and Just friend? playing on repeat made me watch it right the next day.

N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S

Ming and (if you know Pran's dad name, let me know)'s families been rivals since... Forever. Competing with each other in everything you can think of. Spending years arguing, the rivalry is being passed down to their sons, Pran and Pat. They start off as neighbours, trying to avoid each other, and end up being actually friends during high school, attending the same class and playing in the same band. Unfortunatelly Pran's mother is not happy with that and transfers Pran to different high school. Year later is Pran allowed to come back and start his studies at local university. Moving to dorm, he accidentally starts passing small gifts with his nextdoor neighbour, which turns out to be Pat. After whole semester of rilling each other and their friends up, Pat is tired of it and starts hitting on Pran instead...

We've seen so many variations of Romeo and Juliet already, ones following the story to the detail, ones alternated, some GL, some BL, the theme is nothing new. But none of them ever felt as feel-good, non toxic, non stereotypical or LGBTQ+ friendly until Bad Buddy came out and rised the bar high for everyone, not just the Thai BL dramas.

I applaud to the whole cast of Bad Buddy for making it fun experience with great soundtrack, ditching all those BL stereotypes about who's the wife and who's the husband in the BL relationship, avoiding the cliché line "I don't like guys, I only like him", smashing the misogyny many dramas use and excuse and sneakily turning sismance into GL. I was only sad about how Wai was painted as the victim after he outed Pran and Pat to everyone, which is in the LGBTQ+ community dangerous behavior and you do not need or want friends like that.

And with the ending we got, I don't think we need season 2. What we need more is another drama with Ohm and Nanon as leads. :)

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Not your typical flower-boy-type of BL.

Bullying in (any type of) drama always hits too close to home for me. Seen few dramas where the main theme was bullying, the execution wasn't always good, because it is hard topic to work with without coming up with excuses for aggressors. In Utsukushii Kare, there's something deeper to think about.

N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S

Hira Kazunari was never the cool kid, he was always shy, the slightest attention making him stutter. He knows it and he runs with it, tired of fighting and just waiting for the high school to be over. Kiyoi Sou was given good looks that make all his classmates orbitate him, without actually trying to get to know him better. He knows it, and he runs with it, using his flower boy privilege. When Kiyoi transfers to Hira's class, Hira immediately feels attracted to him. Seems like letting Kiyoi bully him, making Hira his lackey, is the only way to stay close to him. Unfortunately Kiyoi's also been bottling his feelings up and Hira practically stalking him is pushing his buttons.

What a breath of fresh air. This drama is bitter sweet, you know that what the characters are doing, saying, their behavior and things unspoken, are the root of all their problems, you know it and the creators (the novel author) knows it, and they will use it against you... With a sweet release at the end. ;))

Do you think Kiyoi is just an ordinary flower boy? Kiyoi is mainly a human being hearing for most of his life that his looks will get him everything, but he knows first hand that is not true. He's been expected to behave certain way and the beauty spell is broken, when he does the opposite the society is expecting of him. It actually makes other superficial, not him.

Do you think Hira is shy weirdo? Hira is mainly a human being that never got the help he needed as a kid. His parents tried so hard to label him as "normal", so Hira ended up even more closed up, in his own world, desperately trying to find the reason for living. And the status quo becomes Kiyoi.

In a sense, those two are destined to each other, needing each other more, than they realise and that makes the relationship they have so hard on both of them. It is also something that pushes them closer in the end, to the point where they have to communicate like two broken adults they are and stop hurting each other. And that is going to be a long journey for them. (yeah, hoping for second season, but not sure if my kokoro can handle it)

I love the way they went with both sides of the story. Kiyoi's story could've more episodes, but I understand the time they got for this was limited and they probably went for a surprise. It was surprise for me for sure. Nice surprise. I liked the cast, I had some hard time dealing with first two episodes before I realised this wasn't only about bullying. Utsukushii kare is about teens that grew up without anyone talking about their problems, which shaped them into who we see at the beginning. The character developement was there and without it, it just couldn't work.

Not feeling like rewatching it (yet!, there's too much stuff on my Plan to watch list), but I am considering reding the novel Utsukushii kare was based on. It probably doesn't have English translation, so training my Japanese it is.

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Family is politics.

Cinematography, storytelling, casting and acting, symbolism, the simple, yet complex nature of this drama is simply mesmerizing. It will pull you in, won't let go and break your heart in the end, because nothing is more complicated than human nature. This show is about how one person influenced the lives of another three people that keep dwelling on the past and keep hurting each other in the process, leaving their scars open and gapping, instead of tending to them.

“People keep saying they are okay with you being gay - but it’s not acceptance, just tolerance.”

N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S

Sasiwimol and her son Wang are influenced by the loss of their dad, husband Siam. Sasiwimol doesn't like to talk about him, since she's not able to reminisce on the good things, so Wang has to find someone, who knows his father well and is able to tell him more about the person he lost and the one turns out to be an old family friend, In. In the span of a few days, Wang uncovers more than he maybe would wish for...

180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us shows us how powerful unresolved trauma and regret can be, how expressing our feelings and being truthful to ourselves and others can hurt so much so to heal means cutting people out of your life.

The Great Sasiwimol, successful producer and mother of Wang, always energetic and with a sharp mouth, yet a carrier of trauma of her husband passing away drunk driving. Sasiwimol keeps hurting herself and her son, sending him to boarding school and seeing him only during the weekends, not really listening to him or accepting his opinions, because her own opinion is the only one that matters. Maybe she can't listen to him, as Wang resembles his father too much and it's painful for her just to look at him, or she's simply ashamed of being a single mother, not introducing Wang to any of her friends, lovers, not mentioning him during her speech. She projects her insecurities onto Wang, keeps being homophobic, toxic to her suroundings, gaslighting people into doing things she wants them to do.

Wang, who lost his closest person, his father, was backstabbed by his mother for sending him away, bullied and defending others from bullies during his school days and figuring out his own sexual preferences he could never talk about with anyone, especially not with his mother. The suddenly missing father figure pushes him closer to In, who keeps wallowing in the sadness and who doesn't want to get on anyone's bad side by playing a diplomat, which doesn't help anyone. Wang, even for being only 20 years old, is the most mature one in this doomed triangle.

Lastly In, who shut himself away from the world. He likes to say he likes his quiet, but maybe he's just running away from his problems which used to be Sasiwimol and her husband, later on his own feelings of betrayal, hurt and regret, that haunts him now in the form of Wang. Wang who is too much like his father, like In's best friend, his idol he abandoned when Siam needed him the most. When Wang's father was there for him, but In wasn't there when he realized his and his own feelings, that could tear Wang's parents apart. And now, years later, he serves as a catalyst between Wang and Sasiwimol.

There's no good way of handling the situation those three find themselves in. Someone will get hurt and it will only get worse, before it gets better. But the change needs to happen, if they like it or not.

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Movie adaptations just don't work for Jigoku Shoujo.

As someone, who's seen complete Jigoku Shoujo the anime series and is ready to read the manga, I feel like a movie adaptation just doesn't do any of the characters justice. TV series would have more space to introduce everyone properly and imerse you more in the story. Which this movie is honestly lacking and I'm not sure who should be the target audience, but about that later.

N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S

Did you ever felt hatered so strong, held such a powerful grudge, that you would be able to curse someone for hell? What if I tell you there's something called Hell Correspondence, that only those filled with anger and pain can access when the clock strikes midnight? Would you do it, would you send someone to hell? Not for free of course, it would cost you your soul. You will get to live your life in peace, but once you die, your soul will also go to hell, because once you curse someone, the curse will come back right to you.

Sometimes pain makes us do irrational things and it's quite easy to be blinded by our emotions. And once the rumor about Hell Correspondence brokes out and becames a urban legends, you can be sure there will be someone, who will try to access the page once midnigh comes. Mikuriya Sanae is one of those people. Scared for life after her attacker slashes her face with a kitchen knife and mocks her in his apology letter, she decides to make a deal with Enma to take him to hell, cursing herself with the same fate. On the other hand, Ichikawa Miho makes deal with Enma to save her friend from being sacrificed by popular male idol in live show...

Okay, so, what we got - brief introduction to how Hell Correspondence works, no lore, no history background, no other explanation about Enma Ai and her team, their reasoning and how this whole thing works, what all they can do and how the hell works, because for everyone hell looks differently. So the most interesting things were left out.

Enma Ai was actually my biggest disapointment, her character felt bland, ghost like (which she isn't) and not creepy enough. The flower animation for when she took people to hell was quite nice, but I honestly missed the bell on her bracelet ringing when she did that, and Wanyuudou as the carriage that takes you to hell. I also have to wonder why none of the Hell's Correspondence client weren't given the chest tattoo as symbol of closing the deal with Enma. I guess it didn't suit any purpose in this story, in anime it was rather important detail.

Overal this movie was lacking any characters that you could feel for, except for Kudo, but yeah, he also doesn't get to live for long. No good soundtrack, no background that makes Jigoku Shoujo interesting, just B grade movie that I feel will piss of fans of this series and confuse people that never heard of the original. Unfortunatelly live actions will always have problem to uplive to their ancestors.

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Different than you know it from 2020.

First season of Color Rush delivered something I was really exited for, because for me, it was quite rare mix of BL, soulmates concept and slight thriller / horror experience. It had it flaws for sure, but even considering that, this sequel left me quite disappointed and there were things I just could not overlook.

N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S

Choi Yeon Woo lost the person he longed for the most - Yoo Han, his Probe, the person thanks to which he was able to see colours for the first time in his life. And apparently for the last time. Leaving huge gap in his chest and a desire to find out who kidnapped him and if he's still alive, he starts his own investigation. In the end the leads bring him closer to finding out what happened to his mom and what a shady business are desperate Monos dragged into...

I appreciate the effort the creators put into changing the story due Hur Hyun Jun leaving the show after the first season. Problem is, it wasn't very well executed and the plot holes left weird taste in my mouth. Plot holes matter, the good ones only tho.

Another thing I appreciate is trying to fill in Hyun Jun's place and Hyuk had it very hard, because Hyun Jun left behind high expectations for his successor. I love Hyuk, I miss VIXX, but this wasn't IT for me. Hyuk's character was written in such unlikable way and all my attempts to like him went in vain. There was no connection and I actually ended up not carring for any of the characters on the show.

There were awkward editing mistakes, weird cuts between scenes, odd soundtrack cuts, the dialogue structure was off... The whole thing was just a hot mess.

I feel like the story they went for could've been really good, if it was done some other way and if they didn't try to put too many themes in. I missed the original concept of scenes that were just black and white (they just left that in season 1), there was no soundtrack that could grab my attention (after 2 years I am still obssesing over the soundtrack they used for when Yeon Woo was experiencing his color rush), the ending had me throwing hands and overall, I was not happy.

Will rewatch it? Nope. Hoping for season 3? Not really.

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Red is for errors and Jang Jae Young‬.

I found out about Semantic Error TV show adaptation by total coincidence while browsing YTB and it was the best coincidence of this year, because I fell for Park & Park duo so quickly I almost got a whiplash. It is not as *spicy* as the manhwa, but it still has such magic that draws you into it... So I'm probably gonna re-watch it for the fourth time during this weekend.

N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S

Chu Sang Woo loves routine, loves things that make sense and is not afraid to go against the flow. People may thing he's a robot, in reality he just wants to live his life in peace. That being said, ratting out on his team matesnot helping him with their final project was probably not the smartest idea - he did not count with one of the freeloaders taking a revenge on him, because now said freeloader can't graduate. The error's name reveals to be Jang Jae Young, graphic design senior, which decides to repay Sangwoo by making his life miserable by constantly crashing his schedule and habits. But in the end, he also crashes into his heart and Sangwoo can't get rid of this bug no matter how hard he tries...

My unhealed trauma freaking loves enemies to lovers trope. Semantic Error is definitely not the first TV show with this trope I've seen, yet it became my no. 1 among Korean BL dramas, sharing first place with We Best Love (chinese) and Sotus (thai) in "enemies to lovers" category.

It's good to see that Korean BLs are stepping up their game. There's been demand for BL dramas for a while, while Thai dramas are thriving, Korea is still kinda shy, but slowly getting there. Semantic Error is proof of that, it has great cast, great OST, good writing, I love the details and how they follow the manhwa. Seoham and Jaechan chamistry is something, that makes this drama *chef's kiss*, because they have awesome chemistry not only on screen, but also off screen and I'm really hoping they will consider making season 2 when Seoham gets out of the army. As far as I know, both of them are interested in that idea.

I'm also really happy that SE got KNK and Dongkiz (DKZ) the attention both boy groups deserved. Finally after all those years! Watcha is slowly putting subtitles on all their SE videos, which are worth watching, there's also a photo book coming out on March 22nd, just google Semantic Error Photo Essay Book... Already ordered mine and can't wait to put my hands on it. :)

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Some things are better left unseen, indeed.

I am a huge fan of horror movies, especially Asian horror movie production is my favourite and my friends don't want to watch any horror movies with me since Kairo (2001), which I honestly understand. So you can imagine I was excited for this movie, been seeing posts about how this movie ranked #1 few times, how creepy it is... Well, I was quite dissapointed.

N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S

Kar Mun lost her vision when she was little, spending years living in a haze, not knowing how her own face looks like. Now at 18yo she got a chance to have her vision repaired with corneal transplantation, risky, yet in the end succesful and she can start learning to recognize things not by touch, smell or sound, but by looking at them. Kar Mun is ready to see all the beautiful things this world has to offer, except she starts seeing thing in the corner of her eye, figures that no one else sees or can talk to. It's quite maddening experience for someone, who just got back their sight, so she decides to look into who donated the cornea to her. Hopefully that would explain what is happening to her...

I definitely liked the gloomy atmosphere, the dark and grim colour palette, some of the shots were pretty good and you could feel how the heroin was slowly sinking into despair. Unfortunatelly the movie tried too hard to deliver some jump scares, scary scenes weren't working for me, because I could tell what to expect. The creepiest shot was the ghost lady with her kid standing at the restaurant, licking the meat, that gave me the ick, other than that... Won't probably even watch the rest of this saga. The concept is good, but I would rather invest my time into something else.

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We are like everybody else.

Kudos to Kayama Mei, which did great job portraying Yuma Takada, a 23 years old girl born with cerebral palsy, working as assistant of rising mangaka star Sayaka.

N O T  S P O I L E R  F R E E / N O  M A J O R  S P O I L E R S

Yuma doesn't have it easy because her disability and how everyone treats her because of it. Especially her overprotective mother and her fake snake friend Sayaka, that is just using her.

Tired of everything, she tries to get her own work published, just to be told to get some experience first. The manga is an exotic one and Yuma was never before intimate with anyone.

This starts her journey to getting know herself better. Herself, and her family too.

You don't see this topic in Japanese movies too often and it was such breath of fresh air. Disability in people is often treated the wrong way, people are being used, because they can't defend themselves, often ridiculed and misunderstood for something that is not their fault.

I think most of us witnessed such behavior through our lives, maybe some of us were unintentionally doing some things wrong ourselves. That's up to each of us to decide.

Also, if you are gonna watch this movie expecting something raunchy, then don't. The sex in this movie is being freely discussed, but is really not the main point of the story.

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Would you kill him for me then?

Damn, the trailer got me so excited for this movie. First, japanese LGBTQ+ themed movies are still kinda rare. Secondly, it was looking like the story is gonna touch upon some sensitive topics. Lastly, CHE.R.RY by YUI used in that trailer. What can I say, I love that song.

N O T  S P O I L E R  F R E E / N O  M A J O R  S P O I L E R S

Shinoda Nanae is barely surviving. With her husband beating her up, she calls her old friend Nagisawa Rei to share her pain. Old love dies hard, so others can die easily. Rei takes it upon herself to get rid of Nanae's bastard husband. Both girls being the "damaged goods" decide to run away together. But they were damaged since the beginning of knowingeach other...

There are things I really liked about this movie.

Abuse. Different forms of it. Physical or psychological. The movie was not afraid to show that any relationship can be pretty toxic. Gay, straight, doesn't matter.

Depression and suicide. Nanae is depressed, talking about suicide a lot. The reason why in the story it's Rei killing her husband, instead of Nanae going to the police, is the way abuse and depression is treated in Japan. Killing is sadly way more effective in her case...

Manipulation and obsession. Nanae uses Rei, because she knows she was always obsessed with her. But Nanae herself wasn't able to accept the fact Rei wasn't the only one obsessed for 10 years.

How LGBTQ+ is perceived, in this case lesbian relationships. Rei was told by young age that she should "forget the straight girl", being exposed to toxic masculinity and prejudice all the time, tired of having to hide her orientation.

There were also things I didn't like...

So, who's responsible for this bull... Loosing virginity after years of lesbian sex, just because she did it with a guy once? That's not how this works. Same with Rei thinking she wouldn't be able to satisfy her, because she doesn't have the D. Sigh... Really.

I haven't read Gunjo, but what the hell is the director's obsession with Rei getting nailed by guys? Why? Is this in the original story? Or is it in this movie just to makw it more sex centered? Don't understand it.

Well, some scenes were pretty long. Silent. It got boring really fast, especially towards the end.

Not deep enough. Sometimes it felt as if the creators got too scared to go deeper with feelings, explaining, everything. The informations and problems of the characters kept piling up and that was it.

Also I think the trailer got lot of people confused, including me. The vibe was similar to Handmaiden, just modern, so we expected a thriller. We got none of it and it dissapointed some of us.

Overall, I was happy with first half of the movie story wise, with the other half only acting wise. Was it worth my time? I think it was, but probably won't watch it again.

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Tricks by Tops.

Before even dipping their toes into the Thai movie industry, many Thai actors actually graduated from different departments, be it engineering, arts or economy. Garnpaphon Laolerkiat aka "Gameplay" graduated from a culinary school and in Food Design, CentralFood TV's program about 39 episodes, we can witness Gameplay cook different dishes.

It was quite nice to watch him being passionate about food, while learning something new. And now I quite understand why Marwin (Jeff Satur) always wants to eat his food. That being said, Gameplay also manifests his cooking skills in related content called Ingredients, which was being published at the same time with Food Design since Marwin was filming Tops cooking, yet Ingredients are more about relationship of Tops with Marwin than about food.

I also posted list of episodes, you can find it in the Discussion section in case you are curious - some of the recipes will need bit of tweaking, since not all ingredients used are available world wide or suitable for everyone.

I would give 9* rating, but the problem is the quantities of each ingredient are missing, so you have to guess based on what is Gameplay using. :(

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