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Am here in hopes of finding a broader community to connect with, in a format which works with my cognitive limitations, around Asian drama. I'm finding KDrama and CDrama too stressful just now, or at least the ones the people I found elsewhere recommend, so I keep ending up back with Thai youth drama and BL because those genres are better at mitigating stress in their stories. The more mainstream a drama genre is, the more they seem to lean into the addictive nature of stress to grab viewers, and there's enough of that in the world already.

The JFF+ Independent Cinema Film Festival rekindled my interest in Japanese film (many years ago I used to watch a lot of 1950s golden era J film from the library). I especially liked the youth drama films from that JFF+ festival. My favourite Japanese series are a 32 minute GL called My Fairy Ghost and Bokura no Shokutaku (Our Dining Table) which couples gentle, often understated acting from the leads with the exuberance of the World's Cutest Kid. I can also recommend Lei & Mar, a short GL from the Philippines which uses clever writing to pack much more into its brief time span without feeling rushed or incomplete.

My favourite KDramas are Do You Like Brahms? and Queen InHyun's Man. My favourite CDrama is The Romance of Tiger and Rose because Zhao Lusi rocks a screwball comedy. I am old enough that I can use rocks as a verb in this way without being ironic. My very favourite Thai series are The Broken Us, Moonlight Chicken and He's Coming to Me. Enigma is the one I most often recommend to start with. Favourite Thai movies include The Undertaker, Dek Hor (Dorm), Low Season and May Who? I am on a quest to watch every Mae/Nang Nak I can access.

Lei & Mar, My Fairy Ghost, Do You Like Brahms?, Romance of Tiger and Rose, Moonlight Chicken, He's Coming to Me and Enigma, are available on youtube. The Broken Us is free to stream on Thai PBS. Their website can be awkward to navigate but I'm happy to help.

On the off chance anyone happens to read this and has happened to watch any of the above, please say hello and squee about your favourite parts.

I used to listen to a lot of trad/traditional musics from around the world, but my brain is too slow to keep up with them and take in the detail of the playing. I listen to a lot of OSTs and use videos with Romanised lyrics to pick up some Thai. This is not providing me with a practical vocabulary but it's a lot of fun.

Chronically ill and trying to keep myself occupied whilst bed bound. (Please don't say you hope I get well soon or feel better. I appreciate the thought but chronic illness doesn't work like that.)

Sometimes I am able to write a story, or perhaps ideas for a story, which was for awhile most of my posts here. The rest was just me shouting into the void, although that's become awkward because the limitations of my life make it difficult to impossible for others to understand me without detailed explanations. And of course detailed explanations cause other problems. It's better for everyone just to keep to myself.

I find it difficult to write reviews when I like something as I'm more inclined to say "Just watch this" and give minimal reasons why because discovering why something is good is such an important part of the joy.