Day old 'V' drink tastes like it could have come from the toilet.
Surprise!rec:
The Walking Wounded by svilleficrecs
Fandom: DIE HARD 4
Pairing: John McClane/Matthew Farrell
Rating: NC-17
Summary: John does "being hurt" very well. John does make it sexy.
Why: Reading Die Hard Slash is akin to looking over the edge of the abyss. Bruce Willis is a man I may never find hot, would never ever lust over, but I still enjoy the crap out of his movies, because he makes looking 50, hardened and downright dirty and weathered, sexy. I also have a thing for Macboy which cannot be contained. Reading this feels wrong, it feels so dirty and crackish I gaped open mouthed at my screen. And I love it. There's something so very slashable and hot about a movie trying so hard at heterosexuality, you can't help but imagine the the alternative. It's like a kink. You know it's wrong, and no one on earth should find Bruce Willis 'attractive' in any normal sense, but still, it has this strange captivating appeal.
... or maybe I've been trained to pair Macboy with older, not really attractive, but still charming men. John McClane however would kick PC's arse.
And then I stumbled onto:
A Year In The Life by miss_pryss because as soon as you START on the dark path, there is NO END.
If I start drawing shoujo flowers around Bruce Willis and Macboy. Please shoot me for the good of the world.
Trolling around fandom as always I also found supacat's interesting thoughts on Seme, Uke and Hierarchy where she compares classical Greek ideals of the older-top/younger-bottom eromenos relationship to that of Japan's Seme/Uke paradigm.
While Japanese seme/uke roles do reinforce the very solid hierarchy they have, your senpai will always be your senapi, as does almost anything Japanese when you think about... the hierarchy is almost one of those inherent qualities in their cultural works, much like how any major Indian, Hong Kong, Taiwanese cultural work would always include a paragraph on post colonialism (much to my chargrin). What I find interesting in this respect are the few manga/fiction/doujinshis that don't suscribe to this, where the seme will always, without fail, have some quality that makes him worthy of being top (such as being taller, more endowed, wealthier, less emotional etc), despite being younger or of lesser status than the uke. The exceptions I can think of are of course Naono Bohra, who does draw pretty conventional stuff at times, but also isn't afraid of thinking outside of the circle, with older ukes whom you wouldn't immediately pin down as the bottom, especially when the younger seme isn't an overlarge monster with shoulders and hands big enough to rip the uke apart (see: Okane ga Nai's seme who has a hand as big as his uke's head). And manga like Haru Wo Daita, where it feels astoundingly balanced. Kaitou who is seme more often than not refers to himself as the housewife, he's also a younger man, a less experienced actor, and not noticeably more endowed than Iwaki, in fact he starts off the series as the bottom. Iwaki isn't more emotional, or he's just AS emotional as Kaitou, and is just as effective either way. And they switch, which makes me happy enough to dance around, lauding the joys of long running explicit yaoi series :D
And I've also watched up to Episode 15 of Coffee Prince. I'm really surprised by this show. The main premise pretty much ended two episodes back. In fact, it could've ended on episode 12, and that would be that. I'm not sure if it's just Korean series length which usually goes to 20 episodes on average compared to Japan's 13 or so which has made them stretch out the series.
Not that I'm unhappy. Far from it. I love that they're showing the fall out between the couples, and reveling on how truly HAPPY they are together, instead of leaving just 5 minutes at the end where you just assume that after the couple gets together, everyone is sickeningly happily ever after. Like say, Full House where all that sexist trauma ends with the most unconvincing 5 minute kiss I have ever seen. Coffee Prince seems to be actively making sure that you can SEE that the people have not suddenly become conjoined twins, they're not identified solely by their soul sucking love for each other, everyone is still refreshingly independent and haven't suddenly changed from who they were at the start. Eun Chan is still a tomboy, she's her own woman, and best of all, Manager Choi loves that, has grown to love that.
What makes my heart squish into a sugary ooze in this series isn't the moment when they declare their love for each other, or when they're frolicing about wet and half clothed. It's the tiny moments when Manager Choi points to her and says Eun Chan is gorgeous, despite her wearing the usual tomboyish overlarge t-shirt while stuffing her face, or the honest, happy expressions on their faces when they're thinking of each other, because they GLOW.
Possibly because the camera doesn't cut away from that slow dawning of expression and the actors are so freaking good at their jobs. At any moment, when you look at Eun Chan's face, you can judge what she's thinking on the inside. She's so entirely comfortable inside herself that I can't help but be impressed. Compared to Joo Rin in My Girl who only seems to develop expressions when she's crying or laughing, or the horrible combination of Rain and what's-her-face in Full House, both of whom could not give me anything except vacant 'blank' or 'pout' when they have no lines, Eun Chan's face seems so normal and alive, it always has some thought behind what she's feeling.
I like that Coffee Prince has chosen to take it's time tying up its subplots instead of the drama equivalent to a four way wedding (though... it could still happen). I also like how physical the main couple are with each other. It's not just the proclaiming eternal devotion to each other while standing 3 metres apart thing all asian dramas seem to do, they hug and kiss and not every single touch is a great dramatic, plot infested move.
Mostly, I like that after the super downloading I've done for the past month, I can now settle down, and there isn't a rush between getting the episodes, nor is this lack of a rush indicative of losing interest (like in Bambino where I just didn't want to waste bandwidth on it any more).
WHY AREN'T Y'ALL WATCHING THIS SHOWWWW?!
The Walking Wounded by svilleficrecs
Fandom: DIE HARD 4
Pairing: John McClane/Matthew Farrell
Rating: NC-17
Summary: John does "being hurt" very well. John does make it sexy.
Why: Reading Die Hard Slash is akin to looking over the edge of the abyss. Bruce Willis is a man I may never find hot, would never ever lust over, but I still enjoy the crap out of his movies, because he makes looking 50, hardened and downright dirty and weathered, sexy. I also have a thing for Macboy which cannot be contained. Reading this feels wrong, it feels so dirty and crackish I gaped open mouthed at my screen. And I love it. There's something so very slashable and hot about a movie trying so hard at heterosexuality, you can't help but imagine the the alternative. It's like a kink. You know it's wrong, and no one on earth should find Bruce Willis 'attractive' in any normal sense, but still, it has this strange captivating appeal.
... or maybe I've been trained to pair Macboy with older, not really attractive, but still charming men. John McClane however would kick PC's arse.
And then I stumbled onto:
A Year In The Life by miss_pryss because as soon as you START on the dark path, there is NO END.
If I start drawing shoujo flowers around Bruce Willis and Macboy. Please shoot me for the good of the world.
Trolling around fandom as always I also found supacat's interesting thoughts on Seme, Uke and Hierarchy where she compares classical Greek ideals of the older-top/younger-bottom eromenos relationship to that of Japan's Seme/Uke paradigm.
While Japanese seme/uke roles do reinforce the very solid hierarchy they have, your senpai will always be your senapi, as does almost anything Japanese when you think about... the hierarchy is almost one of those inherent qualities in their cultural works, much like how any major Indian, Hong Kong, Taiwanese cultural work would always include a paragraph on post colonialism (much to my chargrin). What I find interesting in this respect are the few manga/fiction/doujinshis that don't suscribe to this, where the seme will always, without fail, have some quality that makes him worthy of being top (such as being taller, more endowed, wealthier, less emotional etc), despite being younger or of lesser status than the uke. The exceptions I can think of are of course Naono Bohra, who does draw pretty conventional stuff at times, but also isn't afraid of thinking outside of the circle, with older ukes whom you wouldn't immediately pin down as the bottom, especially when the younger seme isn't an overlarge monster with shoulders and hands big enough to rip the uke apart (see: Okane ga Nai's seme who has a hand as big as his uke's head). And manga like Haru Wo Daita, where it feels astoundingly balanced. Kaitou who is seme more often than not refers to himself as the housewife, he's also a younger man, a less experienced actor, and not noticeably more endowed than Iwaki, in fact he starts off the series as the bottom. Iwaki isn't more emotional, or he's just AS emotional as Kaitou, and is just as effective either way. And they switch, which makes me happy enough to dance around, lauding the joys of long running explicit yaoi series :D
And I've also watched up to Episode 15 of Coffee Prince. I'm really surprised by this show. The main premise pretty much ended two episodes back. In fact, it could've ended on episode 12, and that would be that. I'm not sure if it's just Korean series length which usually goes to 20 episodes on average compared to Japan's 13 or so which has made them stretch out the series.
Not that I'm unhappy. Far from it. I love that they're showing the fall out between the couples, and reveling on how truly HAPPY they are together, instead of leaving just 5 minutes at the end where you just assume that after the couple gets together, everyone is sickeningly happily ever after. Like say, Full House where all that sexist trauma ends with the most unconvincing 5 minute kiss I have ever seen. Coffee Prince seems to be actively making sure that you can SEE that the people have not suddenly become conjoined twins, they're not identified solely by their soul sucking love for each other, everyone is still refreshingly independent and haven't suddenly changed from who they were at the start. Eun Chan is still a tomboy, she's her own woman, and best of all, Manager Choi loves that, has grown to love that.
What makes my heart squish into a sugary ooze in this series isn't the moment when they declare their love for each other, or when they're frolicing about wet and half clothed. It's the tiny moments when Manager Choi points to her and says Eun Chan is gorgeous, despite her wearing the usual tomboyish overlarge t-shirt while stuffing her face, or the honest, happy expressions on their faces when they're thinking of each other, because they GLOW.
Possibly because the camera doesn't cut away from that slow dawning of expression and the actors are so freaking good at their jobs. At any moment, when you look at Eun Chan's face, you can judge what she's thinking on the inside. She's so entirely comfortable inside herself that I can't help but be impressed. Compared to Joo Rin in My Girl who only seems to develop expressions when she's crying or laughing, or the horrible combination of Rain and what's-her-face in Full House, both of whom could not give me anything except vacant 'blank' or 'pout' when they have no lines, Eun Chan's face seems so normal and alive, it always has some thought behind what she's feeling.
I like that Coffee Prince has chosen to take it's time tying up its subplots instead of the drama equivalent to a four way wedding (though... it could still happen). I also like how physical the main couple are with each other. It's not just the proclaiming eternal devotion to each other while standing 3 metres apart thing all asian dramas seem to do, they hug and kiss and not every single touch is a great dramatic, plot infested move.
Mostly, I like that after the super downloading I've done for the past month, I can now settle down, and there isn't a rush between getting the episodes, nor is this lack of a rush indicative of losing interest (like in Bambino where I just didn't want to waste bandwidth on it any more).
WHY AREN'T Y'ALL WATCHING THIS SHOWWWW?!