all kinds of troubles

Life in Smokey Blue // Episode 8

“Freedom always has a price.”

MAJA CHWALINSKA

Brain child of @siathawisit and started by @maybe-boys-do-love (post). I was tagged by all these wonderful humans @befuddledcinnamonroll (here) @dramalove247 (here) @embersinthefirelight (here) @colourme-feral (here). Thank you all 🫶

Rules: The rasas are South Asian aesthetic categories that remain influential in the regions dramas and art (read more on the wikipedia article here). Literally, it’s the dominant “flavour” of a work or performance. For the game, pick a pair that represents each rasa to you. You can choose whether you want to do CP, pairings or just characters. No need to explain unless you feel like it. Then tag 5 friends to find out their flavours of love.

Well I've been reading about this and it's so interesting and completely new to me. So thank you to @siathawisit and @maybe-boys-do-love for giving me the opportunity to learn something new. After reading a bit about this I decided to go for characters instead of pairs. With one exception. Keeping it to just gifs cause time and brain.

1. Sringara (शृङ्गारः): Romance, Love, Beauty, Eroticism [Peem, Khemjira]

2. Hasya (हास्यं): Laughter, Mirth, Comedy [Aoki, Kieta Hatsukoi]

3. Raudram (रौद्रं): Fury, Anger [Wei Wuxian, The Untamed]

4. Karuṇā (करुणा): Compassion, Mercy, Spiritual Longing, Sorrow [Koichi, Eternal Yesterday]

5. Bībhatsa (बीभत्सं): Disgust, Aversion, Repulsion [Young, Love in the Big City]

6. Bhayanaka (भयानकं): Horror, Terror, Overwhelm [Tae Myungha, Love for Love's Sake]

7. Vīram (वीरं): Heroism, Energy, Adventure [King, Marahuyo Project]

8. Adbhutam (अद्भुतं): Awe, Wonder, Amazement [Kakeru, I Cannot Reach You]

9. Santam (शान्तरस): Peace, Tranquility, Calm [Kasuga & Nomoto, She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat]

Well that's it. This is my interpretation of the theme and the chars. Tagging but as always no pressure @thisonelikesaliens @incandescentflower @mikuni14 @negrowhat @tanrak @abstractelysium @nonglukest @byemambo @bluesandfilms @mewsthumbring @troubled-mind @wanderlust-in-my-soul and if you see this and want to play consider yourself tagged here ➡️@ 💜

List for easy copy-paste under the cut ⤵

happy birthday  thank you now, we’re the same age again

And oh

Oh my god my heart

I think there's something to be said about watching shows at the right time. Idk there was something very special/magical about it being January and there's snow outside and I was sitting in the dark, sick, bundled up in blankets but my nose and fingers exposed to the cold air, and watching this show in particular.

I don't know how Japan does it but this show is so chilly and so cozy at the same time. It's cold and grey and stark and there's so much awkward silence. The interiors feel old and creaky, yet also lived-in and inviting. I feel like the whole atmosphere beautifully captured the tension of intimacy and distance between the two characters.

I don't love amnesia tropes, I don't love lying/miscommunication tropes, I don't love second chance romance.

But I did really really love this show.

I liked the messy darkness of this show, how every scene is weighed down by all the things they haven't said to each other. Fumiya is always lurking in doorways, in shadow. His inability to communicate makes him almost creepy. His dark clothes almost seem to choke him, like he's being swallowed up by his worst qualities.

Rathering than smothering him, Ritsu's layers of clothing seem to have a swaddling effect. He's bundled up in light/warm cozy layers, as impervious to the cold as he is ignorant to the truth and oblivious to the hurt his own carelessness caused.

The headphones/apology scene was sooooooo ahhhhhhh! The lights are on, but Fumiya refuses to step into them. Ritsu is bathed in warmth and completely tuned out of the anguish happening behind him.

J-BL + ♨️

Marahuyo Project (2024)

Monster (2023)

Not Me (2021)

See Your Love (2024)

The New Employee (2022)

Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)

The Warp Effect (2022)

Like in the Movies (2020)

Plus & Minus (2022)

Gameboys: The Movie (2021)

The Eighth Sense (2023)

Girl Rules (2026)

Secrets Happened on the Litchi Island (2025)

Khemjira (2025)

Light on Me (2021)

Therapy Game (2025)

Kill to Love (2025)

Your Name Engraved Herein (2020)

Kieta Hatsukoi (2021)

Ball Boy Tactics (2025)

Fragrance of the First Flower (2021)

Wandee Goodday (2024)

Cutie Pie (2022)

Happy PRIDE to all my dearest LGBTQIA+ friends. Wishing a joyful Pride Month to everyone, whether you identify somewhere on the sexuality spectrum or prefer not to define your sexuality or gender identity. Happiest Pride to all those who are unable to celebrate openly and safely. You are loved and you are seen. I hope this month will only be filled with joy, happiness, love and celebration. Not just this month but every day to come. I hope we can all wake up to a brighter, more open minded, compassionate and safe future. Happy Pride Month. Love without limits.

These were just some of my memorable moments in queer media 🌈

First of all, Kongdech's story hits incredibly close to home because I’ve known several people exactly like him: young men from marginalized, rural communities with very narrow horizons.

In 1990s Thailand, remote villages, particularly ethnic minority communities near the border regions (which I’m inferring from how far his parents had to travel) faced severe systemic hurdles. These included barriers to obtaining citizenship documents or national ID cards, extreme poverty, and acute geographic isolation from major hubs like Bangkok. Consequently, this resulted in minimal access to formal education, leaving them with virtually no path toward higher learning or professional careers.

So, based on what he tells Tanrak, it sounds like he's describing a community where basic rights and opportunities aren't guaranteed for everyone. A church scholarship wouldn't just mean religious training; it would also provide housing, education, social mobility, and a genuine path out of poverty. His mother's happiness might be less about "my son is going to be a priest" and more about "my son finally has a future."

Then there's the romance plot. If Tanrak chooses love and ends up with Barth, it strongly reminds me of a movie I watched a long time ago. I can't recall the exact line, but it was also a religious romance. The lead character asked something along the lines of, "Aren't you afraid I'll cheat on you? Because choosing you means I'm betraying God. If I'm not afraid of betraying God, why would I be afraid of betraying you?"

However, looking at TTH from a storytelling standpoint, there is an important nuance here: Tanrak’s ties to the church didn't begin as a matter of free, mature spiritual vocation. The pilot suggests that after losing his parents, he clung to the promise that good people go to heaven. Driven by a desire to see them again, he sought refuge, purpose, and hope within the church, making his ultimate ordination less about a pure calling and more about unresolved grief and longing. That's completely different from someone independently discovering a genuine calling to the priesthood after years of self-reflection. His motivation feels less like a true calling and more like a reaction to loss.

So if the story evolves into him realizing, "I do love God, but I never stopped to ask myself what I wanted," that would perfectly align with the reserved, emotionally repressed nature we've seen since his introduction. The central conflict seems less like "God versus love" and more like duty versus self-discovery, childhood promises versus adult choices, and the struggle between living for a memory versus claiming your own life.

Viewed through this lens, the story seems less interested in betrayal and more interested in whether his chosen path was ever truly a choice at all.

Barth, a young gay man whose estrangement from his faith stems from feeling rejected by religion, creates a fascinating contrast with his foil. While one boy believes deeply but has yet to truly know himself, the other possesses a profound self-awareness but struggles to find a place for belief. Their dynamic forces them to constantly challenge each other's underlying assumptions.

The fact that the show kicks off with news coverage of the 2025 marriage equality act before flashing back to 1996 is hardly a neutral choice. It strongly suggests that the writers want viewers to keep broader social change in mind as the story unfolds. It's a powerful way to remind the audience that the closeted, high-stakes world these boys are growing up in back in the nineties is vastly different from the world that exists today.