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pandasmagorica · 11 months

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Intro/tracking post

Last updated April 25, 2024.

Older queer white cis dude in California, pronoun he.

Love music.

Enjoy QL, mostly Thai, mostly series. Here to read and comment on posts.

If a series puts me off in the first episode, I will often abandon it, sometimes within the first few minutes. I'm less likely to abandon midway. If I'm considering abandoning a series I've otherwise liked up to that point, I'll often read the reviews on MDL or look up posts on the series, at risk of getting spoilers, to decide whether to go on with it (and it's gone both ways).

Not a fan of spoilers, but recognize it as a risk of engaging so I don't (usually) spoiler-shame. Please don't put them in comments to me, if you would be so kind.

Okay with sad endings if they're earned or otherwise inevitable.

Incomplete watchlist (which I will update from time to time):

Top Ten (in order as best I can, ask me on another day and stuff might move):

Not Me (best QL series ever for plot, acting, cinematography, and music, content warning for violence) (1 re-watch)

Bad Buddy (lots of fun, new discoveries on every re-watch) (3 re-watches)

He's Coming to Me (heartwarming, delightful coming-of-age work. I didn't care for the library raid part and skipped it once on rewatch and there seemed to me to be some inconsistencies with the ghost rules.) (3 re-watches)

Cherry Magic (Japanese version, delightful, looking forward to the Thai remake if they ever settle the rights issues)

To Sir With Love (could get me to try lakorns)

Semantic Error (enemies to lovers comedy that hits all the right notes)

A Tale of a Thousand Stars (fine series, not sure why I haven't rewatched it, need to rewatch after Our Skyy 2)

55:15 Never Too Late (not QL but has a QL subplot, notable for having an older semi-out gay character) (1 re-watch)

Gaya Sa Pelicula (Like in the Movies) (odd couple thrown together, fall in love, hit limits)

Eternal Yesterday (re-watch episode notes) (not usually into high school QL but the plot got me and it blew me away, achingly sad throughout) (1 re-watch)

Much as I love them, I don't automatically recommend every one of them to everyone. The right rec for the right person!

In progress

23.5

Cherry Magic (Thai) (on apparently long-term hold pending rights issues)

I Promised You the Moon (but not actively watching)

Considering

Okay, this is a really long list and I'm probably not going to watch all of them, but a fan's gotta dream, right?

Although I Love You, and You?

The Eighth Sense

Ex-Morning

The Heart Killers

Leap Day

Mama Gogo

Midnight Motel

My Strawberry Film

Old Fashioned Cupcake

Oh! Boarding House

1000 Years Old

The Player

Revamp

Shadow (although probably not)

Stay Still

The Spirealm (this ones an unlikely stretch - censored and 38 x 45 minutes equals over 28 hours)

ThamePo

Unknown (to binge)

First episode watched but not committed to

Our Dining Table

Also Completed:

A Cut Above (in alphabetical order):

Near misses for my top 10 - there can only be 10 - but bubbling under that line. Highly recommended.

Anti-Reset (episode notes) (speculative fiction on the future of AI, in a robot and a human who fall in love, quite emotional)

Formula 17 (campy and fun) (2 or 3 rewatches)

History 3: Trapped (very funny and enjoyable

I Became the Main Role of a BL Drama (feel-good comedy)

The Great Doctor (episode notes) (not QL) (medical/historical/time travel mashup, content warning for violence and gory medical stuff)

Kiseki: Dear to Me (watch notes) (top notch crime drama with a lot of humor - content warning for violence - includes an older gay couple) (1 rewatch)

Lovely Writer (very meta about the QL industry and quite funny)

Moonlight Chicken (touching and fun)

Once Again (touching time travel, sad throughout) (1 rewatch)

180 Degrees Longitude Passes Through Us (intelligent and a good watch, melancholy, feels very much like a stage play)

The Sign (deeply flawed but wild and enthralling deep dive into northeastern Thai mythology disguised as a cop series - content warning for violence - yeah, it's a mess but it's a glorious mess)

10 Years Ticket (episode notes) (crime drama about two warring families, bittersweet ending - not QL, but there's a QL subplot)

3 Will Be Free (review link) (wild ride with great twists, content warning for violence, yeah I'd call it QL)

Until We Meet Again (fine contrast between the ghosts of the past and the world of today, deep story, but has a few problematic scenes that I cringe at, theme music got repetitive; content warning for suicide) (1 or 2 re-watches)

The Warp Effect (not QL, but some queer characters)

and a fanfic:

What's in Your Head (Bad Buddy zombie fic) (content warning for violence, requires AO3 login)

Others I enjoyed (in alpha order):

I enjoyed these enough to be happy I watched them, but not enough to consider them classics and in no danger of breaching my top 10.

Be My Favorite (fun time-travel fantasy with a strong political viewpoint and good twists, one of the mains is a bit hard to take)

Bed Friend (not sure enjoyed is the right word, has some triggers, but worth seeing, loved the cat role-play)

The Boy Foretold By the Stars (fun, sweet comedy)

Choco Milkshake (fun, touching pet fantasy)

Cupid's Last Wish (fun body-swap plot, insane amount of food and landscape porn, rural settings, content warning for gross cow veterinary scene)

Dark Blue Kiss (pretty good, creepy interloper)

Dear Tenant (enjoyed isn't the right word, and had to pause and walk away from it partway for a major cry, but an excellent film)

DNA Says I Love You (review link) (sweet, sad, interesting gender minority rep)

The End of the World With You (mix of SF and fantasy, good story and relationships)

Eternal Summer (Taiwanese film about youth discovering their identity - bisexual love triangle - well done if a bit melancholy)

Ghost Host, Ghost House (nice supernatural treatment)

Gift Shop for People You Hate (not QL but has two minor gay characters making guest appearances, one evil and one harmless) (horror, with a very dark sense of humor) (this one doesn't show an English title on YouTube, but if you search YouTube under that name you'll find it) (1 rewatch)

Jack O'Frost (melancholy and sweet)

The Man Who Defies the World of BL (very funny after watching several series and becoming aware of the tropes)

The Man Who Defies the World of BL season 2 (okay, maybe a joke can go on long enough)

Me, My Husband and My Husband's Boyfriend (bittersweet poly-ish story)

Midnight Museum (not QL but has a major bromance that could go full QL if there's ever a sequel) (a mess, but a glorious mess)

Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss (quite enjoyable)

My Ride (enjoyable comedy with dramatic moments - includes an older gay couple)

Naked Dining (good fun, lots of misunderstandings and food porn)

Neverland (web series from India, well done and too brief)

Our Dating Sim (fun series about the courage to correct your mistakes from the past, set in the video game workplace - a few cringe moments, but generally a very kind series)

Rainbow Prince (campy and fun, not enough songs for something that's supposed to be a musical, you have to be okay with cheesy)

Rak Diao (funny, very silly, although the harassment jokes got old fast and didn't stop)

Sleep With Me (review link) (sweet lesbian romance, kinda slow for such short episodes, great disability rep)

Something in My Room (the abridged-episode version) (good, not great, ghost story)

Stay By My Side (review link) (fun ghost story version of Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss)

Tale of the Lost Boys (movie) (friendship story between a visiting straight Filipino and a gay Taiwanese aboriginal in Taiwan, heartwarming story)

Tinted with You (a way too short, fun time travel fantasy involving a painting and a mystical art lover that bring an art student together with an ancient deposed prince)

Twilight Kiss aka Suk Suk (fine, bittersweet Hong Kong film about an affair between two heterosexually married men who are actually closeted gay men)

Twins (Thai pulp, fun, not too deep)

Your Name Engraved Herein (not sure enjoyed is the right word but it's fine work)

Zero Photography (from Magic of Zero) (most entertaining product promotion vehicle I've seen in QL, even better than Pran & Pat's product placements in Bad Buddy)

Torn about:

These all had some kind of major issue that prevents me from recommending them.

Fish Upon the Sky (appalled at the racism/punch-down humor in episode 4, otherwise loved its play with form)

Last Twilight (entrancing series, but the characters didn't grow, the ending was poorly set up - needed a few more episodes - and it ultimately fumbled on disability rep)

Mr. Cinderella (nearly abandoned this one because of a supporting toxic character, but kept with it after reading a post about the traditional Vietnamese story it was tracking)

Secret Crush on You (cringed for the first half, considered dropping it, read the defense by trans reviewers, watched the rest, and suddenly it got really good)

Together With Me (mix of great content and really problematic content)

Lukewarm:

I'm more glad than not that I watched these but in retrospect would have been okay if I had missed them:

Bagan Beginning (Not-bad early Myanmar QL, lots of food and antiquity porn, content warning for violence in the last episode)

Color Rush (interesting concept, okay)

Enchanté (not as bad as people say it is, but also just okay)

Gay OK Bangkok and Gay OK Bangkok 2 (definitely gay and, er, okay)

Nitiman (okay enough)

Only Friends (episode notes) (a sex farce with too much toxic behavior for my taste and a last episode choice that left a bad taste in my mouth)

Our Skyy 2 Bad Buddy x Thousand Stars (counting the four episodes as one series even though they have different names, didn't love this but didn't hate it either, very pale compared to the original two separate series)

Our Skyy 2 Vice Versa (was just okay with a really bad idea at the base of its plot)

Star & Sky: Star in My Mind (not great, not bad)

The Tasty Florida (cute enough, just so-so)

Vice Versa (brief notes) (good concept, product placements became way too intrusive for my full enjoyment)

Ones I wish I could watch:

I only watch legit sources, both so the creators get money for it and to reduce the hacking risks that watching gray presents.

Triage (I don't have a Thai phone number to log in to AISPlay, and even if I did not sure if it would have English subtitles)

Manner of Death (I need a WeTV subscription and will check that out) (thank you to @lurkingteapot for this info)

I Feel You Linger in the Air

Peach of Time (supernatural plot) (supposedly I can watch this on WeTV using VPN but I'm not yet ready to make the leap to VPN)

Series I abandoned:

Accomplishment of Fundoshi Bartender (episode 2 when he screamed offstage about not dating married men - I know this series isn't intended to be realistic but I still need the other characters to react to his behavior - this series has gotten entirely too silly for me)

Candy Colored Paradox (bored by episode 2 or 3)

Cooking Crush (a few minutes into episode 1 [2/4] as it is getting way too silly for me, plus we're going to have to put up with hazing/bullying as comedy - at least they had some new sound effects)

Cutie Pie (hated the infantilizing, left by episode 3 or 4)

I Told Sunset About You (left in episode 1, not loving the high school content)

Love by Chance (had someone fall on top of someone else in the first 30 seconds, left immediately)

Love Stage (apparently without most of the music - I'm guessing there's rights issues - but I abandoned it after 2 episodes because one of the lead's acting felt flat and I didn't enjoy the humor)

Lucky My Love (first segment didn't engage me)

Meow Ears Up (lost interest in the first episode with the fangirls in the store incident)

My Secret Love (first segment didn't engage me)

One Room Angel (dropped after episode 3 because it's so depressing; open to returning if it cheers up)

Playboyy (a new record - I got scared away by the content warning before the episode even started - however, based on various posts I might reconsider in for a binge watch once it's over)

SOTUS (not a fan of hazing)

Star & Sky: Sky in Your Heart (abandoned around the time of the outhouse incident)

Theory of Love (abandoned when nearly at the beginning Gun's character was crying in the shower)

VIP Only (failed to engage me in the first episode)

Un-favorite tropes:

Falling on someone

Heavy seme/uke dynamic

Northern rural Thai loan sharks

Evil ex

Boss/Employee

Stuff that I've written as opposed to reblogged I've tagged #pandasmagorica so I can find them easier.

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absolutebl · 6 months

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Okay, FINE, the shows you should watch for BL's QUEER AF roots

You ready to go hunting?

Many of these are difficult to find. Also many of the images of them and their posters have been block/banned by tumblr, so, no screen grabs for you! (Good times.)

I don't necessarily *like* any of these, but if you are queer and in this fandom and need to dialogue around BL's queerness - these are going to provide a foundation for you. They are important for various industry, reputation, directorial, and cultural reasons. As seeds often are.

Trigger warnings throughout.

The true beginnings:

Boys Love, Japan's 2006 movie is a REALLY rough start featuring a journalist + hot model = murder gay, mild necrophilia, cheating, abuse, rape, and suicide for love. Start as you mean to go on, why don't you, Japan? Is it queer... maybe? Is it BL... honey, I am very sorry to inform you, this started BL.

Note: Yoshikazu Kotani is famous in og BL circles since he acted in 3 early BLs, both Boys Loves and then Same Difference. Also he v tall and hawt.

Eternal Summer, Taiwan 2006 - unlike Japan, Taiwan did NOT start how it would, eventually, go on. But what a messy way to start. A high school story of 3 besties in a love triangle, self discovery, and sexual awakening that fucks it all up.

No Regret, Korea 2006, is a very unhinged queer catastrophe piece about a lost gay man who ends up a host and then almost a murderer because of both his job and his identity.

Note: This is the directorial feature film debut of Lee-Song Hee-il Korea's (so far as I know) first openly gay director who specialized (to this day) in queer content.

The Love of Siam, Thailand 2007, this was Thailand's queer awakening, sure they would backpedal for YEARS after, but in 2022 they began to remember what this movie was (and did) and overtly referenced this quiet little masterpiece. This movie is sad but stunning in that way that the best queer works from Thailand can be (like Present Perfect or ITSAY.) It has Thailand's quintessential softness around theme and character, which you'll understand perfectly when highlighted against the backdrop of the early 2000s works from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Thailand will never lose this soft style and it's one of the most attractive qualities of Thai BL: it's never very harsh with us or its characters. This movie very easily COULD have been quite harsh indeed.

I thought long and hard about including Rice Rhapsody AKA Hainan Chicken Rice (Hainan ji fan) on this list and finally decided it doesn't really qualify. Still let me mention Hong Kong's 2005 movie. It is amazing, fascinating, and very rough going for an ostensible comedy. It wasn't the actual beginning because few saw it and Hong Kong never really picked up or ran with BL let alone QL, but it was hella queer. It's also hella homophobic.

Just Friends? (2009 Korea) - this is Korea's first (kinda) upbeat version of a BL featuring already established boyfriends, one of whom is on military leave, trying to decide on coming out, family life, and the future. All of these are themes Korea will pretty much never tackle again, retreating as they would to their bubble. But what a fun little offering this little show was and is to this day. You should watch it.

Like Love 1 AKA I Love You As A Man: Part 1 - China's 2014 offering is actually pretty classic early form live action yaoi with things like whipping boy, a university setting, rich/poor jock/nerd pairing, hard grumpy/sunshine and a very odd title. It's pre-censorship with an HEA, also explicit, yeah China once did that. This is a lot less queer that it is classic BL and classic Chinese romance, neither of which have any kind of connection to reality. But hey, that's what I'm here for. But it's important to note the drifting away from queerness beginning to occur.

Love Sick - Thailand's 2014 "boys in blues shorts" high school set soapy (in all ways) offering is widely considered the true beginning of Thai BL and by default, eventually, BL as we know it today. (As the biggest producer they somewhat dictate taste and trends in the genre.) This is one of those BLs that owes almost nothing to yaoi, although it started a number of tropes that are now endemic to Thai BL. What it is, instead, is a well scripted story of bisexual self-discovery and the inherent chaos of loving someone of the same gender for the first time, all wrapped up in hormones, existing relationships, and communication issues. It is high school queer angst at its messiest. Nothing is going to be easy for these boys because queer isn’t easy but also because life isn’t easy… welcome to adulthood sweethearts. Is is overtly queer? For 2014 Thailand? Sure is.

Love Next Door 2 a movie from 2014 and one of Thailand’s early very high heat pieces, it’s odd, but sexy I guess? Some unexpectedly decent queer rep including femme characters getting screen time + HEAs. (Part one from 2013 has the same high heat content and features the same lead character (and actor) discovering he is gay with the sex worker next door, but isn't as good nor is it relevant to this installment.)

A few other unknowns, for the queer babies

Wait For Me at Udagawachou AKA Udagawachou de Matteteyo - from Japan in 2015, this is a story about two boys in high school one of whom is a repressed outsider and the other who has a terrible secret (body dysmorphia & cross dressing). When the first boy discovers what's up with the second one, his reaction is very much fetishization. "Oh Japan must you?" kinda started for me with this show. But in this case, Japan, weirdly MUST. This is the ONLY show laboring under (and testing) a pointedly straight lens (or is it?) and identity examination (yes but which boys' identity? that's the question) that I've EVER seen even edge into the BL genre. It is crazy queer, even as it mostly focuses on the fetishization of identity from an outsider's perspective. I WISH more people in fandom would watch it so I could at least talk to someone about it.

The Lover (BL Cut) Korea's 2015 series had multiple couples in an apartment complex, one pair of whom is a BL romance between a Korean man and a visiting Japanese tourist (played by a Kpop idol). It's comedic, slapstick sexy only (no kissing), but basically starts up Korea's bubble and use of idols in BL. It's kinda fascinating to watch them dodge around and still represent gayness in what (is sadly destined to become) a very Chinese way, but which Korea in pursuit of Hallyu and market share would morph into the bubble.

Mr. X and I from China in 2015 is a compilation piece and, I think, the first of this kind of multiple narrative shorter grab bags AKA "Sampler Pack BL." Two of the stories are very queerly sad, but the third is CLASSIC BL of the kind that would become China's best (and last) true BL, Addicted.

Sweet Boy, (Thai 2016) Chimon's first gay role and it is quite sad, oddly sexy, and similar to Dew the movie or My Bromance (just so you know what you are in for) but the acting is on point. When Thailand goes dark, this is how they do it, but this is rough going for baby queers because that's the darkness it is exploring. Our old thematic friends: the pain of self discovery and coming out into a homophobic environment and unfriendly reality, and the cost of being the one able (and willing) to stay in the closet.

Method (Korea 2017) this movie is a May/December actor/idol pairing, that should have been everything I wanted in life but is more about the older character cheating on his wife and their weird “artsy” relationship and frankly, I hated it. And I don’t say that lightly. Is it queer? Who tf knows, but is sure has some interesting things to say about the nature of PERFORMATIVE queerness.

Red Balloon is Taiwan's 2017 precursor BL to their biggest and most famous prestige piece Your Name Engraved Herein. If you're making a choice, choose that instead, but this series certainly paved the way for it to come into existence. Both shows tackle the pressures of culture and social structures on self acceptance and identity and the loneliness inevitably caused by conflict between the two.

(As indeed does Life Love On The Line, Present Perfect, Grey Rainbow, Tropical Night, My Sky, and many other queer meets early BL pieces that revolved around coming out and family acceptance.)

China's 3 2017 "they tried to censor the gay... and it went HORRIBLY wrong":

Beloved Enemy,

The Fairy Fox,

Mr. CEO is Falling in Love with Him.

Honestly these 3 are basically the uncanny valley of BLs.

The Novelist AKA The Pornographer series (2018-2020). Messy psychological machinations, gaslighting, fetishization, sexual corruption, and more good times from "well, what did you expect?" Japan, but also no holds barred queer, just well and truly fucked in the head (and arse) about it.

The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese AKA Kyuso wa Chizu no Yume wo Miru (Japan 2020) - Drama llama queers so queer and so dramatic it's like Japan is trying to PROVE something: obsession, cheating, break-up, reunion, then break up again, all of it explicit. This show is just SO JAPANESE. I can't even, but you should watch it and you'll know exactly what I mean. Something like My Personal Weatherman owes it's lineage to this kind of BL. If you like Japan naked, boney, emo, and smoking (hot & ciggy) you will love this, and should watch it. It's objectively amazing, I can't stand it, but I NEED people to talk about it more.

More Queer Stuff about BL from moi

BL Linguistics & Queer Identity - I Am Gay versus I Like Men

Will BL Get More Honestly Queer?

Actually gay, not BL gay - the idea of “by queers, for queers, about queers,” the BL bubble, sanitized gay, and a queer lens

Queer lens (from the director) and chemistry (from the actors) in BL (A Tale of Thousand Stars)

Touch & Daisy in Secret Crush On You - Queer Coded Language and 3rd Gender Identity

BL in Taiwan & Gay Marriage

Debating Queerbaiting in BL ( + Devil Judge… is it queerbaiting?)

BL Actors and the Assumption of Queerness - outing actors, coming out, being out, more: Is that BL actor actually queer?

So is it really fetishization? straight women loving bl

Some BL fans are sasaengs, and it’s a problem in this fandom

BLs That Highlight How Society Treats Queers

10 BLs That Are Honest to a Queer Experience

If you like these kinds of shows try the "Moody Arthouse Smackdoodle" section of this post too.

Happy watching!

(source)

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twig-tea · 4 months

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2023 BL/GL/QL Round-Up Post

I thought for posterity I'd post a reflection on everything I watched that completed in 2023. For me, that means anything that started in 2022 but the last episode was in 2023 is on this list, but anything that will still be airing after 31 December 2023 11:59 my time (EST) is not on this list, even if the bulk of the show did air in 2023.

A few stats:

110 discrete pieces of content (series/films)

clocking in at est. 600 hours of NEW BL/GL content only

from 9 different countries (Cambodia [1], Philippines [3], Hong Kong [1], Japan [18], Korea [19], Myanmar [1], Taiwan [6], Thailand [56], Vietnam [7])

~50% of the content I watched on this list is from Thailand

~85% of my content was on YouTube [40%], GaGaOoLaLa [23%] and iQIYI [21%].

[Note that this year a lot of older GMMTV shows moved off of YouTube and onto Viki so if you're looking at these stats to decide what to pay for, this won't account for that.]

This doesn't include re-watches or catching up on old shows [e.g. I re-watched Love Sick, My Ride the Series, Semantic Error, ITSAY/IPYTM, Our Dating Sim at least 3 times lol, and anything with a s2 I re-watched s1 to prep, among others, watched Fujoshi Ukkari Gei no Kokuru (2019) for the first time] or non-QL [e.g. Heartstopper s2, Our Flag Means Death s2, Taskmaster s. 15 & 16, Uncanny Counter s2, One Piece s1, etc.] but does include films as well as shows, though I don't count special episodes separately (so Wedding Plan counts once, though I watched both the show and the special).

I hope you all appreciate that with this much content, and with my general brand of being unable to make decisions, I really struggled to narrow down a top 10 list. What follows is the best I could do lol

Top 20 Shows I'd Recommend From This Year:

Moonlight Chicken

Our Dating Sim

Bed Friend

The Eighth Sense

La Pluie

Sing My Crush

Tokyo in April Is...

Wedding Plan

Laws of Attraction

I Cannot Reach You

I Feel You Linger in the Air

What Did You Eat Yesterday S2

I Became the Lead in a BL Drama

If It's With You

Love in Translation

Our Dining Table

My Personal Weatherman

My Beautiful Man: Eternal

My School President

Be My Favorite

+10 I liked but I would only recommend with caveats:

Love Class 2

The New Employee [for the Rainbow Rice Cakes]

Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru

Never Let Me Go

Kiseki: Dear to Me

Unintentional Love Story

The Day I Loved You

End of the World with You

A Breeze of Love

Jack O'Frost

Bonus: Not a BL but worth calling out:

One Room Angel

Midnight Museum

Grand Guignol

The Warp Effect

Sadly, of the GLs that aired this year, I wouldn't recommend any of them. The best one was Show Me Love, which was not actually good but had very gorgeous women and a LOT of flirting.

The other huge thing that happened this year was that I stopped lurking! Thanks specifically to @lurkingshan and @bengiyo demanding everyone start talking about La Pluie, because they got me to post my first meta post. And because I started actually talking to people, I started making actual friends, and participated in organizing things like the Be My Favorite clown checkpoint for ep 11. I also disappeared a month because of life, and am still catching up on everything I intended to write this year. But it's been really rewarding finding this corner of tumblr with likeminded people who like good shows, like to think about these shows, and who are interested in talking about them in a way that's insightful and respectful.

It's been a long time since I felt comfortable enough participating actively in a fandom, and I just want to say to everyone I've interacted with this year: Thank you!

Full list under the cut for anyone curious! [Mostly in order it aired but may be slightly off].

Love Bill

Director Who Buys Me Dinner, The

Star Always Follow You, The

Cutie Pie 2 You

Between Us the Series (Hemp Rope)

Reason Why He Fell in Love with Me Special & S2 [international release]

New Employee, The

I Will Hit You/I Will Knock You

Individual Circumstances

609 Bedtime Story

GAPYuri / GAP the series

My School President

HitBiteLove the Series

Never Let Me Go

Moonlight Chicken

History 5: Love in the Future

Oh My God (ToDo) the Series

Warp Effect, The

End of the World, With You

My Blessing the Series

Our Winter (miniseries)

All the Liquors

Once in Memory: Let Me Be Yours

Shoulder to Cry On, A

Jack O'Frost

Our Dating Sim

Midnight Museum

Me, My Husband, and My Husband's Boyfriend

My Colleague at BL Shop might be My Meant-to-Be

Unintentional Love Story

Chains of Heart

Bed Friend the series

Bad Brother the Series

Stormy Honeymoon

Eighth Sense, the

Bad Brother the Series

Future Series

Tin Tam Jai the series

Crush on You

House of Stars the Series

Happy Merry Ending

Boss and a Babe, A

Pastsenger the Series

Love Mate

Love Syndrome the Series

Promise the Series, The

Day I Loved You, The

Our Dining Table (Bokura no Shokutaku)

Our Skyy 2

My Story the Series

Starstruck

Love Tractor

Naked Dining

Luminous Solution, The

Omai Series / Is My Roommate A Foreigner

Stupid Genius

Step By Step

La Pluie the series

Tie the Not

Sing My Crush / Follow the Wind

Tokyo in April Is .../ Shigatsu no Tokyo wa

Senior Love Me?

Be My Favorite

Show Me Love

Dinosaur Love

Low Frequency

Stay Still

Stay By My Side

Jun & Jun

Wedding Plan the Series

Laws of Attraction, the

Love Class s2

Minato's Laundromat S2

Hidden Agenda

Bon Appetit

Why RU the Series [Korean adaptation]

Be Mine Superstar

Star, The Season 2

Love In Translation

My Beautiful Man: Eternal

My Personal Weatherman

Bump Up Business

Naughty Babe Series

Only Friends

Grand Guignol

Dangerous Romance

If It's With You / Kimi to Nara Koi wo Shite Mite Mo

Y Journey: Stay Like a Local

I Feel You Linger in the Air

Venus in the Sky

Kiseki: Dear to Me

I Cannot Reach You

You Are Mine

Breeze of Love / Weather Forecast of Love

Mr. Cinderella 2

Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru

One Room Angel

Marry My Dead Body

Lucky My Love the Series

Pure Vanilla: Recipe for Romance

Absolute Zero

Memories, The

My Dear Gangster Oppa

Shadow

What Did You Eat Yesterday? S2

Middleman Love

Beyond the Star

Bake Me Please

You and My Stars

I Became the Lead in a BL Drama

#2023 round-ups #bl meta #multi bl #typed so i can stop thinking it #twig talks #top lists are so hard for me this is the best I could do #if anyone wants to know anything about any of these shows feel free to ask!#best of bl 2023 #long post

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imminentinertia · 1 year

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For my own sanity's sake, I think I need a sideblog to keep track of QL I watch/hopefully will get to watch that can't be found on My Drama List due to being from countries outside of MDL's scope (Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines). Finding the other shows on World of BL isn't good enough. I can't check things there! Aaaaaah! Also, WoB doesn't cover GL.

To be honest, my sanity may be suffering worse from escalating my love for lists and structures.

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fellharder · 1 year

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Side blog for @imminentinertia

This is where I put the QL I watch, or am interested in watching if they get the money and it actually gets made, that falls outside of MyDramaList's scope (as of now in 2023 Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines) and that I want to keep track of. That encompasses for instance Myanmar, the UK, Cambodia and Vietnam.

I view BL/GL as subgenres of queer cinema and shows and don't box them neatly apart from each other, but if it's tropey and romantic enough I'll classify it as QL. Posts about other queer genres may occur, but if so I'll try to keep this to the Global South general LGBTQ+ and Western genre-typical QL.

I don't speak any Asian languages, so if there aren't any subtitles in a language I do speak I'm fucked.

Tags

I tag my posts (and reblogs) with title of the show/film, nationality, BL/GL and production company, also with short film if that applies. I also tag with "plan to watch", "currently watching", "watched", "on hold", "dropped" and "never aired" to track my own watching.

Tag list

Header picture: from The Law of Love trailer (2020) by Viofly Media, never aired

Profile picture: Vietnamese actor and model Mai Vũ Luân from a promotional poster for Vian (2023)

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daniel1244martinez · 6 years

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World Tennis Racket Market to grow at a CAGR of more than 2% during the forecast period

“Tennis Racket Market: Global Industry Trends, Market Size, Competitive Analysis and Forecast – 2018 – 2022”, this study is recently published by Reports Monitor covering global market size for Tennis Racket market for the key segments and further cross-regional segmentation of these segments for the period 2018 to 2022.

This report presents a comprehensive overview of the Tennis Racket market in Europe, which shares the history data information from 2012 to 2016, and forecast from 2017 to 2022. This report provides a detailed analysis of the market, including its dynamics, structure, characteristics, main players, growth and demand drivers, etc. As a Detailed Analysis report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinion in Tennis Racket industry.

Get Free Sample Copy Of Tennis Racket Market Report: https://www.reportsmonitor.com/request-sample/?post=278870

Top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players including: Wilson(US), HEAD(Austria), Babolat(France), Prince(US), YONEX(Japan), Dunlop(UK), Teloon(China), Slazenger(UK), VOLKL(Germany), Tecnifibre(France), OLIVER(Germany), PROKENNEX(Taiwan, China), Bonny(China), DHS(China), KAWASAKI(Japan), Decathlon(France), MESUCA(Japan), QL(China), WISH(China), SUPER-K(US), Lenwave(China), FLEX(China Hong Kong), FISCHER(Germany), Silik(Germany)

Product Type Coverage: By Racket Material: Carbon Fiber, Carbon Aluminum Alloy, All Aluminum Shoots, Others., By Face Classification: MID Face (85-95), MP Face (96-100), OS Face (100-110), Others., By Racket Weight: L, LM, M, T., By Line Material: Nylon, Polyester, Others.

Segmentation by distribution channel and analysis of this market: Personal, Competition, School, Stadium

Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers: United States, EU, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia

To Check a Discount on Tennis Racket Market Report: https://www.reportsmonitor.com/check-discount/?post=278870

Moving forward with TOC areas covered in this market research report are:

1) Tennis Racket Market Overview.

2) Global Tennis Racket Market Competition by Manufacturers

3) Global Tennis Racket Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region

4) Global Tennis Racket Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region

5) Global Tennis Racket Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

6) Global Tennis Racket Market Analysis by Application

7) Global Tennis Racket Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis

8) Tennis Racket Manufacturing Cost Analysis

9) Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers

Overall the report gives an entire study of the parent Tennis Racket market, key techniques followed by leading Market Key Players and upcoming segments. Former, current and forecast Tennis Racket market synthesis in terms of volume and value along with research conclusions is a decisive part of Tennis Racket study. So that the report helps the fresh aspirants to inspect the upcoming opportunities in the Tennis Racket market.

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spideygogogo · 5 years

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승아이, 이것은 늦은 배달 생일 축하 인사입니다, 나는 당신을 희망합니다 모든 것이 잘 진행됩니다. 그리고 나는 앞으로 당신의 연기를 기대합니다. SeungA, this is a late Happy Birthday greetings, I hope that all your things go well. And I am look forward to your acting in coming days. @snowmanloveu @noeul0510 #오승아 #승아 #SeungA #OhSeungA #スンア #丞芽 #吳丞芽 #레인보우 #Rainbow #レインボー #RAINNOUS #레인너스 #kpop #kdrama #HappySeungAhDay #HappySeungADay #HappySeungAhDay19 #HappySeungADay19 #190913 #노을 #레인보우노을 #NoEul #ノウル #盧乙（在 Hong Kong） https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Yyt-ql-eV/?igshid=up9xheywqn76

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viettelhanoivietnam · 5 years

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Apec Diamond Park nâng tầm cho tiêu chuẩn sống tại Lạng Sơn

Với dịch vụ, tiện ích chuẩn 5 sao và những trải nghiệm nghỉ dưỡng tại gia độc nhất, Apec Diamond Park đang tạo ra chuẩn sống mới cho giới tinh hoa của Lạng Sơn.

Khi cuộc sống đẳng cấp không còn là “nhà cao – cửa rộng”

Theo một báo cáo mới đây của công ty Nielsen tại Việt Nam, vào năm 2020, tầng lớp trung lưu ở Việt Nam sẽ gấp 3 lần hiện tại, đạt đến con số 33 triệu người, tầng lớp siêu giàu cũng đứng thứ 3 thế giới về tốc độ tăng trưởng.

Sự phát triển kinh tế mạnh mẽ đã tạo nên những thay đổi lớn trong nhận thức, lối sống và cách chi tiêu của người dân. Sống sang, sống đẳng cấp giờ đây không còn đơn thuần là “nhà cao, cửa rộng” nữa mà đã chú trọng hơn đến các yếu tố trải nghiệm và tiện ích 5 sao, thỏa mãn các nhu cầu vui chơi, thể thao, giải trí đỉnh cao hay gia nhập cộng đồng những người thành đạt,…

Các căn hộ siêu sang tọa lạc tại vị trí đắc địa đi kèm các tiện ích đặc quyền được giới trung – thượng lưu ngày càng ưa chuộng

Xu hướng này đang tiệm cận d��n với phong cách sống thượng lưu ở các thành phố phát triển như Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, New York, đồng thời định hình nên hướng đi mới cho việc quy hoạch, thiết kế và quản lý các dự án bất động sản: chứng tỏ được đẳng cấp, tiện ích vượt trội và tính thẩm mỹ đa chiều hơn. Trong đó, trải nghiệm nghỉ dưỡng tại gia với không gian sống xanh, hệ thống tiện ích đẳng cấp và cộng đồng văn minh đang là giá trị cốt lõi được nhiều người tìm kiếm.

Apec Diamond Park – tiên phong kiến tạo phong cách sống đỉnh cao

Không chỉ phát triển ở Hà Nội, TP.HCM mà Lạng Sơn – thành phố vùng biên sôi động bậc nhất miền Bắc cũng đã sớm bắt nhịp được xu hướng này với sự xuất hiện của Apec Diamond Park – Tổ hợp căn hộ khách sạn, shophouse 5 sao do IDJ làm chủ đầu tư.

Viên kim cương xanh của xứ Lạng này rộng 5,5 ha, tọa lạc tại vị trí siêu đắc địa trên khu đất vàng ngay cửa ngõ TP. Lạng Sơn, sở hữu mặt tiền QL1A đắt giá.

Đây là dự án tiên phong kiến tạo và nâng tầm tiêu chuẩn sống tại Lạng Sơn, khi xây dựng nên môi trường và không gian sống đẳng cấp chưa từng có.

Cuộc sống thảnh thơi với các tiện ích giải trí cao cấp tại Apec Diamond Park

Dự án bao gồm 4 tòa condotel với 1600 căn hộ khách sạn 5 sao được xây dựng và hoàn thiện theo tiêu chuẩn cao cấp. Thiết kế của mỗi căn hộ là sự kết hợp hài hoà nét độc đáo Á Đông với phong cách đương đại phương Tây, là sự thăng hoa nghệ thuật kiến trúc nghỉ dưỡng cao cấp. 100% căn hộ có ban công với các ô cửa kính lớn nhiều màu sắc, tầm nhìn thoáng giúp khai thác tối đa ánh sáng tự nhiên cùng vẻ đẹp non nước xứ Lạng, mang đến một không gian tinh tế, giao hòa với thiên nhiên. Đây chính là tâm huyết của chủ đầu tư nhằm mang lại không gian sống sang trọng và tận hưởng cuộc sống thoải mái cho cư dân.

Riêng khu shophouse 5 sao – khu phố của giới nhà giàu được tô điểm bằng dãy shophouse triệu đô mặt tiền QL 1A với hệ thống tiện ích đặc quyền, đẳng cấp: thang máy bên trong mỗi căn, hầm để xe, khu spa, phòng xông khô, bồn sục jacuzzi, bể bơi tại tầng 7,… Phía trong là các dãy shophouse được quy hoạch thành phố ẩm thực, phố mua sắm… vô cùng sầm uất và hoa lệ.

Bao quanh cuộc sống cư dân là hệ sinh thái tiện ích vượt trội, bao gồm đầy đủ các dịch vụ từ ăn uống đến vui chơi, giải trí, mua sắm 5 sao như: trường mầm non quốc tế, trung tâm thể thao – giải trí phức hợp (gyms, yoga, fitnees, sauna, spa…), khu vui chơi trẻ em, trung tâm thương mại Apec Center, siêu thị, nhà hàng, cà phê, bể bơi vô cực, đường dạo, quảng trường lớn,…

Với các tiện ích đỉnh cao này, cuộc sống của cư dân Apec Diamond Park đã được thiết lập một chuẩn sống mới mà không phải dự án nào cũng có được: sáng bình yên trong những quán cà phê sang trọng, trưa thưởng thức những ly rượu vang thượng hạng tại nhà hàng Á-Âu, chiều sôi động với các hoạt động vui chơi ở công viên 4.800m2, tối thanh lịch dạo quanh các khu phố ẩm thực, mua sắm… cho cư dân cảm nhận và tận hưởng cuộc sống một cách trọn vẹn nhất.

Cuộc sống về đêm lung linh tại phố dạo bộ Apec Diamond Park

Chia sẻ quyết định lựa chọn một ngôi nhà để vừa “an cư” vừa “lạc nghiệp” tại dự án Apec Diamond Park Lạng Sơn, anh Lục Thanh Tùng chia sẻ: “Vị trí đẹp, hệ thống tiện ích đắt giá và dịch vụ quản lý quốc tế chuyên nghiệp là những yếu tố tôi hết sức quan tâm khi chọn nơi an cư. Khi nhìn vào Apec Diamond Park, tôi thấy được những điều này và xa hơn là một cuộc sống hiện đại, tiện nghi, đẳng cấp với những giá trị sống sang mà tôi và gia đình đều muốn hướng tới. Dự án cũng có tiềm năng tăng giá lớn, là khoản đầu tư đáng giá cho tương lai”.

Có thể khẳng định, sở hữu một căn hộ tại khu đất “vàng” của Lạng Sơn cùng nhiều ưu thế vượt trội trên chính là một trong những cách tôn vinh vị thế của giới thượng lưu, những người dẫn đầu xu hướng. Apec Diamond Park với các căn hộ cao cấp, hệ thống tiện ích đồng bộ và môi trường sống văn minh, hiện đại khởi đầu cho xu hướng sống sang tại Lạng Sơn, đang trở thành đích ngắm của giới trung – thượng lưu tại đây.

(Theo Vnexpress)

Theo AZ nhà đất >> https://aznhadat.com/

from WordPress https://aznhadat.000webhostapp.com/apec-diamond-park-nang-tam-cho-tieu-chuan-song-tai-lang-son/

#Tin tức Bất động sản

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pandasmagorica · 10 months

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Memory reach: Comrades: Almost A Love Story

OK, flying by the seat of my pants here, working on pure memory. I am one of those lucky people who knew what Jim was talking about when, in Moonlight Chicken, he told Wen about the movie Comrades: Almost a Love Story. I saw that movie many years ago here in San Francisco, either at a film festival or at one of the three theaters, alas, long gone, which used to show movies from Hong Kong. It's a great movie. I remember it in particular as the movie that showed me that Lai Ming (namesake of Li Ming in Moonlight Chicken) could act; before that, I had not been impressed by his acting abilities (although I'm not sure where I might have gotten that impression, as I can't seem to be able to figure out which of his earlier films I might have seen, so it may have been a false memory even at that time). But it really is a great movie and worth hunting down. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available on any of my current streaming services.

(Edit: Worldcat lists Comrades' availability in various editions.)

So yes, having to go on a memory of a movie I probably saw about 25 years ago as well as the description on MDL. I've reconstructed my memory about it from two important real world events which happened during the course of the movie: the 1987 closure of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for four days and the 1995 death of Teresa Teng. Please forgive me for errors of fact in describing the movie.

I also suggest reading @telomeke's post on the connection between Comrades: Almost A Love Story and Moonlight Chicken and @waitmyturtles' post on the same subject, as they will likely be much more coherent than my post which follows. Nevertheless, I am thinking about that movie, want to discuss it here, and will plunge forward with my two Hong Kong cents.

Basically, it's about a long time flirtation between two people who meet after emigrating from mainland China to Hong Kong around 1985 or 1986. Qiao, played by Maggie Cheung - who does a great job as well, and always has yes - knows Cantonese, the language of Hong Kong, and is a bit of a schemer. Jun, played by Lai Ming, is a bit simpler and speaks Mandarin. After Qiao's attempt to cheat Jun, they somehow wind up attracted to each other. However, Jun has a fiancé back in China and Qiao falls in with a mob boss, so although – if I recall correctly – they do have an affair, they never fully connect or wind up with each other. Not sure the exact sequence, but at some point in the film the 1987 stock exchange debacle happens and Qiao is wiped out financially. Possibly that is the trigger for her winding up with the mob boss. And Jun marries his fiancé. I think. Again, my memory of the film is hazy.

Full disclosure: Although I have long known and like the song which opens every Moonlight Chicken episode, I am not a Teresa Teng fan and don't recall that aspect of Comrades beyond: the one scene that I will mention in the forthcoming spoilers, and that the Cantonese title of the film is a title of one of her songs.

The theme of the film seems to be that even that if people might be right for each other, the time may not be right for them to be together. Jim echoes this explicitly in his dialogue with Wen in Moonlight Chicken.

Although the focus of this post is the movie and not the series, I do want to give a side prop to Khaotung for being willing to be caught on screen singing that song badly. This goes hand-in-hand with Ohm's destruction of If You Don't Love Her You're Crazy in that bar scene in He's Coming to Me, another Khun Aof series.

Before we get to the spoilers, another Maggie Cheung film I can recommend is Alan and Eric: Between Hello and Goodbye. Warning: it's a weepie. I've also seen her in Days of Being Wild and Behind the Yellow Line but I don't find it either of those films particularly memorable.

Spoilers follow

Back to the movie:

Flash forward 10 years. Both of them wind up in New York City, both now single, still separate and unaware that the other is not far away. Qiao is picked up by immigration authories but escapes. She winds up in front of an appliance store with a window full of televisions. A news story is playing about the death of Teresa Teng. She turns, and also watching the story is Jun. They recognize each other and smile. End of scene.

The film then flashes back to one of them arriving in Hong Kong on the train from China. They get off the train in one direction. The camera pulls back and we see the other one get off the train in the other direction.

So the film is kind of a variation on the idea of people who are destined to meet. In this case they meet very quickly, but just can't manage to be together because the timing is wrong. We don't even know whether they get together this time because the film has cut away. We hope they'll succeed this time, but technically it's an open ending.

It is truly a beautiful film and I recommend tracking it down and watching it if you can.

While there are some parallels between Comrades and Moonlight Chicken, an open ending is not one of them. Please don't let the potentially ambiguous ending stop you from watching Comrades.

#Moonlight Chicken #Comrades: Almost a Love Story #Hong Kong films #ql series #ql drama #thai ql #cantonese film

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priya1sharma · 7 years

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Global and Europe Tennis Racket Market Analysis, Share, Growth and Forecast To 2022

This report presents a comprehensive overview of the Tennis Racket market in Europe, which shares the history data information from 2012 to 2016, and forecast from 2017 to 2022.

This report provides a detailed analysis of the market, including its dynamics, structure, characteristics, main players, growth and demand drivers, etc. As a Detailed Analysis report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinion in Tennis Racket industry.

This report focuses Global and Europe market, including details as following:

Key Players • Wilson(US) • HEAD(Austria) • Babolat(France) • Prince(US) • YONEX(Japan) • Dunlop(UK) • Teloon(China) • Slazenger(UK) • VOLKL(Germany) • Tecnifibre(France) • OLIVER(Germany) • PROKENNEX(Taiwan, China) • Bonny(China) • DHS(China) • KAWASAKI(Japan) • Decathlon(France) • MESUCA(Japan) • QL(China) • WISH(China) • SUPER-K(US) • Lenwave(China) • FLEX(China Hong Kong) • FISCHER(Germany) • Silik(Germany)

Request a Free Sample Copy of this Report @ https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-and-europe-tennis-racket-market-analysis-and-outlook-to-2022/request-sample

Key Regions • North America • United States • Canada • Latin America • Mexico • Brazil • Argentina • Others • Europe • Germany • United Kingdom • France • Italy • Spain • Russia • Netherland • Others • Asia & Pacific • China • Japan • India • Korea • Australia • Southeast Asia • Indonesia • Thailand • Philippines • Vietnam • Singapore • Malaysia • Others • Africa & Middle East • South Africa • Egypt • Turkey • Saudi Arabia • Iran • Others

Download Full Research Report @ https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-and-europe-tennis-racket-market-analysis-and-outlook-to-2022

Key Product Type • By Racket Material: Carbon Fiber, Carbon Aluminum Alloy, All Aluminum Shoots, Others. • By Face Classification: MID Face (85-95), MP Face (96-100), OS Face (100-110), Others. • By Racket Weight: L, LM, M, T. • By Line Material: Nylon, Polyester, Others.

Key Applications • Personal • Competition • School • Stadium

Table of Contents

Global and Europe Tennis Racket Market - Analysis and Outlook to 2022 1 Market Outline 1.1 Research Methodology 1.1.1 Methodology/Research Approach Research Programs/Design Market Size Estimation Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation 1.1.2 Data Source Secondary Sources Primary Sources 1.1.3 Disclaimer 1.2 Regulatory Factors 1.3 End-User Analysis 1.4 Strategic Benchmarking 1.5 Industry Chain and Supply Chain 1.5.1 Tennis Racket Industry Chain Structure 1.5.1.1 R&D 1.5.1.2 Raw Materials (Components) 1.5.1.3 Manufacturing Plants 1.5.1.4 Regional Trading (Import Export and Local Sales) 1.5.1.5 Online Sales Channel 1.5.1.6 Offline Channel 1.5.1.7 End Users 1.5.2 Tennis Racket Manufacturing 1.5.2.1 Key Components 1.5.2.2 Assembly Manufacturing

About Radiant Insights Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. It assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. The Organization has a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions.

Media Contact: Company Name: Radiant Insights, Inc Contact Person: Michelle Thoras Email: [email protected] visit our website: http://www.radiantinsights.com/ Phone: (415) 349-0054 Toll Free: 1-888-928-9744 Address: 201 Spear Street 1100, Suite 3036, City: San Francisco State: California Country: United States

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decaffeinatedlightluminary-blog · 7 years

Text

Zx Spectrum

New Post has been published on http://rolexsubmariner.shop/zx-spectrum/

Zx Spectrum

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push(); Hardware

ZX Spectrum 48K motherboard (Issue 3B 1983, heat sink removed)

The Spectrum is based on a Zilog Z80A CPU running at 3.5 MHz (or NEC D780C-1 clone). The original model Spectrum has 16 KB (161024 bytes) of ROM and either 16 KB or 48 KB of RAM. Hardware design was by Richard Altwasser of Sinclair Research, and the machine’s outward appearance was designed by Sinclair’s industrial designer Rick Dickinson.

Video output is through an RF modulator and was designed for use with contemporary portable television sets, for a simple colour graphic display. Text can be displayed using 32 columns 24 rows of characters from the ZX Spectrum character set or from a set provided within an application, from a palette of 15 shades: seven colours at two levels of brightness each, plus black. The image resolution is 256192 with the same colour limitations. To conserve memory, colour is stored separate from the pixel bitmap in a low resolution, 3224 grid overlay, corresponding to the character cells. Altwasser received a patent for this design.

An “attribute” consists of a foreground and a background colour, a brightness level (normal or bright) and a flashing “flag” which, when set, causes the two colours to swap at regular intervals. Unfortunately, this scheme leads to what was dubbed colour clash or attribute clash with some bizarre effects in the animated graphics of arcade style games. This problem became a distinctive feature of the Spectrum and an in-joke among Spectrum users, as well as a point of derision by advocates of other systems. Other machines available around the same time, for example the Amstrad CPC, did not suffer from this limitation. The Commodore 64 used colour attributes in a similar way, but a special multicolour mode, hardware sprites and scrolling were used to avoid attribute clash.

Sound output is through a beeper on the machine itself. This is capable of producing one channel with 10 octaves. The machine also includes an expansion bus edge connector and audio in/out ports for the connection of a cassette recorder for loading and saving programs and data.

The machine’s Sinclair BASIC interpreter is stored in ROM (along with fundamental system-routines) and was written by Steve Vickers on contract from Nine Tiles Ltd. The Spectrum’s chiclet keyboard (on top of a membrane, similar to calculator keys) is marked with BASIC keywords, so that, for example, pressing “G” when in programming mode would insert the BASIC command GO TO.

Models

Pre-production designs

Rick Dickinson came up with a number of designs called the ZX82 before the finalised ZX Spectrum. A number of the keyboard legends changed during the design phase including ARC becoming CIRCLE, FORE becoming INK and BACK becoming PAPER.

Sinclair Research models

ZX Spectrum 16K/48K

ZX Spectrum 16K/48K (Dimensions (mm): 233x144x30 (WxHxD) @ ~552 grams).

The original ZX Spectrum is remembered for its rubber keyboard, diminutive size and distinctive rainbow motif. It was originally released in 1982 with 16 KB of RAM for 125 Sterling or with 48 KB for 175; these prices were later reduced to 99 and 129 respectively. Owners of the 16 KB model could purchase an internal 32 KB RAM upgrade, which for early “Issue 1” machines consisted of a daughterboard. Later issue machines required the fitting of 8 dynamic RAM chips and a few TTL chips. Users could mail their 16K Spectrums to Sinclair to be upgraded to 48 KB versions. To reduce the price, the 32 KB extension used eight faulty 64 kilobit chips with only one half of their capacity working and/or available. External 32 KB RAM packs that mounted in the rear expansion slot were also available from third parties. Both machines had 16 KB of onboard ROM.

About 60,000 “Issue 1” ZX Spectrums were manufactured; they can be distinguished from later models by the colour of the keys (light grey for Issue 1, blue-grey for later models).

ZX Spectrum+

ZX Spectrum+ (Dimensions (mm): 319x149x38 (WxHxD))

Planning of the ZX Spectrum+ started in June 1984, and the machine was released in October the same year. This 48 KB Spectrum (development code-name TB) introduced a new QL-style case with an injection-moulded keyboard and a reset button. Electronically, it was identical to the previous 48 KB model. It retailed for 179.95. A DIY conversion-kit for older machines was also available. Early on, the machine outsold the rubber-key model 2:1; however, some retailers reported a failure rate of up to 30%, compared with a more usual 5-6%.

ZX Spectrum 128

Sinclair developed the ZX Spectrum 128 (code-named Derby) in conjunction with their Spanish distributor Investrnica. Investrnica had helped adapt the ZX Spectrum+ to the Spanish market after the Spanish government introduced a special tax on all computers with 64 KB RAM or less which did not support the Spanish alphabet (such as ) and show messages in Spanish.

New features included 128 KB RAM, three-channel audio via the AY-3-8912 chip, MIDI compatibility, an RS-232 serial port, an RGB monitor port, 32 KB of ROM including an improved BASIC editor, and an external keypad.

The machine was simultaneously presented for the first time and launched in September 1985 at the SIMO ’85 trade show in Spain, with a price of 44,250 pesetas. Because of the large number of unsold Spectrum+ models, Sinclair decided not to start selling in the UK until January 1986 at a price of 179.95. No external keypad was available for the UK release, although the ROM routines to use it and the port itself, which was hastily renamed “AUX”, remained.

The Z80 processor used in the Spectrum has a 16-bit address bus, which means only 64 KB of memory can be directly addressed. To facilitate the extra 80 KB of RAM the designers used bank switching so that the new memory would be available as eight pages of 16 KB at the top of the address space. The same technique was also used to page between the new 16 KB editor ROM and the original 16 KB BASIC ROM at the bottom of the address space.

The new sound chip and MIDI out abilities were exposed to the BASIC programming language with the command PLAY and a new command SPECTRUM was added to switch the machine into 48K mode, keeping the current BASIC program intact (although there is no way to switch back to 128K mode). To enable BASIC programmers to access the additional memory, a RAM disk was created where files could be stored in the additional 80 KB of RAM. The new commands took the place of two existing user-defined-character spaces causing compatibility problems with some BASIC programs.

The Spanish version had the “128K” logo in white while the English one had the same logo in red.

Amstrad models

ZX Spectrum +2

The ZX Spectrum +2 was Amstrad’s first Spectrum, coming shortly after their purchase of the Spectrum range and “Sinclair” brand in 1986. The machine featured an all-new grey case featuring a spring-loaded keyboard, dual joystick ports, and a built-in cassette recorder dubbed the “Datacorder” (like the Amstrad CPC 464), but was in most respects identical to the ZX Spectrum 128. The main menu screen lacked the Spectrum 128’s “Tape Test” option, and the ROM was altered to account for a new 1986 Amstrad copyright message. These changes resulted in minor incompatibility problems with software that accessed ROM routines at certain addresses. Production costs had been reduced and the retail price dropped to 139149.

The new keyboard did not include the BASIC keyword markings that were found on earlier Spectrums, except for the keywords LOAD, CODE and RUN which were useful for loading software. This was not a major issue however, as the +2 boasted a menu system, almost identical to the ZX Spectrum 128, where one could switch between 48k BASIC programming with the keywords, and 128k BASIC programming in which all words (keywords and otherwise) must be typed out in full (although the keywords are still stored internally as one character each). Despite these changes, the layout remained identical to that of the 128.

ZX Spectrum +2A

The ZX Spectrum +2A was produced to homogenise Amstrad’s range in 1987. Although the case reads “ZX Spectrum +2”, the +2A/B is easily distinguishable from the original +2 as the case was restored to the standard Spectrum black.

The +2A was derived from Amstrad’s +3 4.1 ROM model, using a new motherboard which vastly reduced the chip count, integrating many of them into a new ASIC. The +2A replaced the +3’s disk drive and associated hardware with a tape drive, as in the original +2. Originally, Amstrad planned to introduce an additional disk interface, but this never appeared. If an external disk drive was added, the “+2A” on the system OS menu would change to a +3. As with the ZX Spectrum +3, some older 48K, and a few older 128K, games were incompatible with the machine.

ZX Spectrum +2B

The ZX Spectrum +2B signified a manufacturing move from Hong Kong to Taiwan later in 1987.

ZX Spectrum +3

The ZX Spectrum +3 looked similar to the +2 but featured a built-in 3-inch floppy disk drive (like the Amstrad CPC 6128) instead of the tape drive, and was in a black case. It was launched in 1987, initially retailed for 249 and then later 199 and was the only Spectrum capable of running the CP/M operating system without additional hardware.

The +3 saw the addition of two more 16 KB ROMs. One was home to the second part of the reorganised 128 ROM and the other hosted the +3’s disk operating system. This was a modified version of Amstrad’s AMSDOS, called +3DOS. These two new 16 KB ROMs and the original two 16 KB ROMs were now physically implemented together as two 32 KB chips. To be able to run CP/M, which requires RAM at the bottom of the address space, the bank-switching was further improved, allowing the ROM to be paged out for another 16 KB of RAM.

Such core changes brought incompatibilities:

Removal of several lines on the expansion bus edge connector (video, power, and IORQGE); caused many external devices problems; some such as the VTX5000 modem could be used via the “FixIt” device

Dividing ROMCS into 2 lines, to disable both ROMs

Reading a non-existent I/O port no longer returned the last attribute; caused some games such as Arkanoid to be unplayable

Memory timing changes; some of the RAM banks were now contended causing high-speed colour-changing effects to fail

The keypad scanning routines from the ROM were removed

move 1 byte address in ROM

Some older 48K, and a few older 128K, games were incompatible with the machine.

The +3 was the final official model of the Spectrum to be manufactured, remaining in production until December 1990. Although still accounting for one third of all home computer sales in the UK at the time, production of the model was ceased by Amstrad at that point.

Clones

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