Directed by Anthony Rangel Coll, short film ‘aBloom’ follows Nick. After undergoing gay conversion therapy, Nick returns home determined to move on from his former partner. While spending time with his friends, he meets a mysterious stranger whose gaze ignites a spark within him.
Nick struggles to reconcile his true self with the expectations of those around him, but the stranger’s presence forces him to confront his deepest desires. Nick swims between embracing his true self and drowning in a lie. The strange visit of the past and the sweet gaze of this stranger will finally make him sink to the bottom of his heart and be reborn.
Takato Yamamoto was born in Akita Prefecture (Japan) in 1960. After graduating from the painting department of the Tokyo Zokei University, he experimented with the Ukiyo-e Pop style. He further refined and developed that style to create his “Heisei estheticism” style. His first exhibition was held in Tokyo, in 1998.
Well, my frustration with the votes at Eurovision continues. After being upset of last year’s lack of popular votes for Australia, at least my friend group agrees that Germany was absolutely robbed this year…
The show was opened by the above absolute bop by Teya & Salena competing for Austria (The video might be blocked in the US, you can check it out the song here instead). The song’s not only a hell of an earworm, it also has an important message about the shitty treatment many artists get from the music industry. Which might be part of the reason why it didn’t do well with the juries which mostly consist of the people being addressed with that message…
Another notable entry was, of course, Loreen who won Eurovision for Sweden before. The rumour is that it’s no coincidence that she entered this year because Eurovision organisers are probably not mad at having the event in Sweden next year when ABBA, who started their career at the ESC, are celebrating their 50th anniversary. Anyway, Tattoo (Americans, click here) is a good song but it’s no Euphoria.
The real fun started when the crowd’s clear favourite and winner of the popular vote Käärijä performed Cha Cha Cha (Americans… you know the drill by now). I love Loreen but come on, this is exactly what Eurovision is about: Representing your country with a banger you’re not gonna get out of your head for a long time to come and giving the world a hell of a show while not taking yourself too seriously. Alas the jury disagreed somewhat and the song ended up as tonight’s runner up.
The real tragedy of the evening though was that Germany sent an absolute banger for the first time… ever, just to get the cold shoulder from both the juries and the people voting from home. Lord of the Lost with Blood & Glitter (Americans, this way). I’m kind of devastated that the little bit of goth representation we got earned so little appreciation. But that’s what being outsiders for you. There are still a lot of people very proud of you guys <3
In the end Sweden and Norway got us two bisexual artists in the top 5, Germany and the UK placed where they always do, Australia didn’t get as many points as they should have, Estonia proved ballads at Eurovision can actually be nice and everyone kind of agrees that we should just get rid of jury votes.
See you in Sweden, next year, can’t wait to find out why we’ll be upset then!
The “Bury Your Gays” trope is the presentation of deaths of LGBT characters where these characters are nominally able to be viewed as more expendable than their heterosexual counterparts. In this way, the death is treated as exceptional in its circumstances.
In aggregate, queer characters are more likely to die than straight characters. Indeed, it may be because they seem to have less purpose compared to straight characters, or that the supposed natural conclusion of their story is an early death. But where did this trope come from?
Red, White & Royal Blue fans are in celebration mode. On Monday, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) revealed that the upcoming Prime Video film will be Rated-R as a result of the “language, some sexual content, and partial nudity.”
As the two central characters – in the words of one Twitter user – “fuck every time they see each other in the book”, fans of Casey McQuiston’s iconic New York Bestseller celebrated the news on social media. “If they’re book accurate it won’t just be “some” sexual content,” said one reader, while another tweeted: “Oh so they really want to keep close to source material. I’m sat.”
Launching 11 August on Prime Video, the highly-anticipated gay romance stars The Kissing Booth’s Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex Claremont-Diaz and Cinderella’s Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Henry.
The novel follows the story of Alex, the son of America’s first female president (played by Kill Bill icon Uma Thurman), and his complicated relationship with his royal counterpart across the pond.
“Separated by an ocean, their long-running feud hasn’t really been an issue, until a disastrous—and very public—altercation at a royal event becomes tabloid fodder, driving a potential wedge in U.S./British relations at the worst possible time,” reads the synopsis.
Louder Than Words follows a young musician named Ansel (Luke Farley), and his unexpected encounter with Niall (Marty Lauter also known as Marcia Marcia Marcia from Season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race), an endearing, deaf dancer.
When forced to share a studio space, artists Ansel and Niall find themselves awkwardly beside each other, performing song and dance respectively. They have an underlying connection, and that is a closeted interest and admiration of each other. While Niall can read lips, an obvious language barrier still stands between him and Ansel. In order to communicate, Ansel and Niall must step out of their comfort zones, because even though they share similar passions and quickly inspire each other, the inevitable risk of miscommunication—both in language and emotion—remains, rendering their hidden affection almost impossible to express.
The film explores the sheer struggle that queer people often face in a culture that is yet to fully foster accepting spaces for courtship and love. At its core, the story portrays how difficult it can be to communicate romantic interest as a queer person, and in this case, the added impediment of being deaf.
We are heading back to the halls of Truham Grammar School for Boys this summer when season two of Heartstopper returns. Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor) come back for season two on August 3.
The queer coming-of-age tv series based on the script and graphic novel by author Alice Oseman follows teens Charlie and Nick on their journey of queer self-discovery, their growing relationship, and the friends within their orbit. Season two will bring the boys back in front of the camera, with the upcoming season based on volume 3 of the graphic novel series.
“Season 2 is based on Volume 3,” said Oseman. “So we had a good foundation. But there’s not enough in the book to take a whole season of TV, so there had to be a lot of creation of new stuff.”
Every weekend at an illegal drag show in the suburbs of Havana, Sebastián, a 17 year old Cuban teenager, transforms into ‘Mila Caos’, his empowered, flamboyant alter-ego. When he returns to his daytime self, Sebastián suffers from his mother’s indifference, dreaming that one day she will see him on stage for who he truly is.
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