haitangkitty

There's still summer left so i try to make best out of it even though i can't stand the heat. 

Some fun stuff from past weeks:


Drinks

- Ube Matcha
- Coconut Matcha
- Rhubarb Martini
- Home-made Lychee-Mango Ice Tea 



The Odysseus (2026)
I saw it at a big old film theater on 70MM film. It was suprisingly good for a Hollywood adaptation. There's a lot of discourse about it not staying loyal for the original work, but that's not what adaptations need to be. Classics and myths have numerous different adaptations, but people don't seem to get that nowadays. In a way there's multiple Odysseus adaptations already since it's such an influencial classic that has affected the basic hero narrative. No matter how loyal Nolan would've stayed for the source material the effects of our times and his Americaness would have been present in one way or another, so I have no problem with him leaning into it.

It was almost 3 hours but i did not get bored at all, although that's usually the case with me when there's too many action scenes, but they were full of meaning and tension compared to basic Hollywood slop. My favorite part was the sea(lol) and Elliot Page's incredible performance as Sinon. To my taste there could've been more slow moments and more emphasis on spiritual meanings (+overall mystic atmosphere), but i didn't expect it from this film since it's for modern "general" audience, which seem to have enjoyed it. I saw it with a few family members who don't watch that many films and they were very touched by it and loved the film. I want to watch the Italian miniseries adaptation from 1968, it might be more to my taste. 



Cyberpunk news!: 

New Blade Runner series WITH MICHELLE YEOH AND HUNTER SCHAFER coming soon!

(i hope it has even a little bit yuri)


Classic cyberpunk novel Neuromancer is being adapted to a series by Apple! The teaser looks cool. 

I recently listened to a con lecture that talked about the four-type target audience classification (shoujo-josei-shonen-seinen) and how it is changing. It went through the history of the magazines, how they have changed, exceptional works, and how to approach target audience discourse especially when it comes to difference between Japan and the West. It also discussed how heterosexual dramas have changed in recent years and how there's more kind of gender-neutral/all audience/not gender-focused stories.

As a teenager i used to read lot of shojo and shonen but these days only BL and lately some seinen. Since 2020 when i became a full on fujo i've been very distant from the general weeb culture since it's so shonen centered. There's some old shojo classics by Year 24 Group i wanna get into + Basara, Yona of the Dawn, and 7 Seeds, but otherwise i have no interest in the typical high school shojo anymore. New term i learned is joseimuke (meaning female audience), apparently some people only use that about games and some about all female-targeted media more broadly.  What was notable about the lecture was also that online you have to pay attention to target audience puritists and how target audience being male or female doesn't define the whole work or who can enjoy it and how(especially since there's more mixed-audience and genre-mixing now). Obviously people reflect their identity on the works they enjoy and want to defend them but sometimes online it can become a bit...uhh difficult? That conversation is always present in discourse about BL lol but also GL. First anime I've watched after a while has been Apothecary Diaries, officially classified as seinen but broadly also liked by women. It's a historical series around a Chinese harem with some detective work. MaomaoxJinshi dynamic is so interesting to me. 


First episode thoughts:

Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You (anime)
Loved it!!! This is also a seinen and i can definitely see how it can please both female and male audiences. It's a slice of life age gap romance about a pathetic middle-aged salaryman and a cool cashier. As a smoker i felt like i had to check out this series lmaoo and it did end up being my thing. Will continue.

Knot The Series (Thai BL)
Very weak start for this series imo... all 3 omegaverse series so far released have been somewhat cringe but that actually isn't a problem for me and i actually loved Desire. I might watch second episode out of curiosity to give a second chance but the pilot was visually very underwhelming to me and the worldbuilding around omegaverse didn't convince me at least yet.

Margo's Got Money Troubles (USA drama)

"That child will break you"

Unexpected child being born into circumstances where dad is not present and a young single mother without direction in life raises the baby without much money. It's a serious topic but the series is also funny and quite easy to watch(also only 30min episodes). Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer as loving but complex mother and daughter are fantastic, they're such great actresses. Defininitely will continue. Apparently this series has an Onlyfans storyline as well, so i'm interested to see where it takes. I'm always down to watching series and films about how financial troubles affect people since it's a relatable topic to me XD

(full reviews coming later to my neocities)

I'm waiting for news if i got into my dream school. At least i got into all five parts(!!) of the entrance exam, that itself is an achievement already. 

Love&Deepspace
I've been getting to know Caleb more and i gotta say i've grown quite fond of him. His story and relationship with MC is complex and so angsty. They're both obsessive about each other. I've been watching his myth cards on youtube and they make me so emotional...I've previously written sci-fi stories about medical experiments and rebels in technofascism so his lore is extra interesting.

There's a new (romance) film themed banner(yay!!). I got Rafayel(Titanic) and Xavier(Rome&Juliet), i loved both of them but Rafayel's a little bit more. I've been watching some old Hollywood romance films, it's been fun. It's nice to see some basic classics instead of gut-wrenching art house for a change. 


Pursuit of Jade 
This has been one of the most talked C-dramas this year. I decided to check it because the actor (Yan Yikuan) who inspired Caleb plays the father of the male love interest(absolute dilf). I've only watched 11/40 episodes so far but i'm really loving it! I haven't watched that many hetero romances these years but this is the type that i actually like because the relationship is more equal. There are high stakes, class differences, sweet moments, fake marriage, family secrets, political conspiracies... damn i've missed Chinese dramas!!


Apparently Yan Yikuan was popular in early 2000's romance dramas. I can totally see the similarities with Caleb's character design especially when he was younger.



these gorgeous dilf Caleb fanarts were made by sashaa_art2 on x

I pulled another myth card (2/3 now)!!
It takes place earlier in the story(but it might not be the first one?). Basically the lore is that they meet again in different timelines, so there's a cyclical nature in the romance. I just finished reading the script for Past Lives(2023), although not a sci-fi, it touched on the Korean concept of inyeon (which to my understanding comes from a Buddhist tradition), lovers/people meeting each other is affected by their past lives. Connection, codependency, fate - I find it very romantic. 

I like how in the game it's not a typical hetero romance but the mc has more power (she's the chosen one, the queen, a top hunter), she's not a damsel in distress. There are scenes when they take turns taking care of each other or finding each other thorough the universe all the space and time between them. Xavier is a yearner and i love that. His relationship with the mc is so cute even though they relax a lot of times they also love to play together, and that sometimes brings out the surprising dominant side of Xavier (ppl say they were suprised the quiet one might be the freakiest one in the game, i actually didnt know this when i picked him as my bias but it was a pleasant surprise :D)  

I progressed in the main story to the part where i unlocked Sylus. He's such a funny character.  He might be the most popular one at least with fanartists. I usually like mafia stories and naturally mafia men but for some reason Sylus as a character is a bit too much for me - you have to be so alerted/quick with him. That being said he's a very entertaining and interesting character :D Only LI that i think will challenge my love for Xavier is Caleb, whom i haven't unlocked yet. But i'm pretty sure i won't leave Xavier since i'm already so obsessed with him and have gotten to know him more. 

Now that i've really got into the game i have to be careful with money because after all it's a gacha, a gambling game! I somehow managed to get all the past three Xavier 5-star cards but there's another rerun coming in a few days. I have some coins saved up but it takes some time and effort. Luckily, all the content is also being uploaded to youtube by fans for free so that's a relief! I'm just gonna have fun with the game even though i seem serious when i talk about Xavier...it's basically become my routine to nap with him and fall asleep at night listening to his asmr<3

I've been thinking about investing in a tablet i can dedicate to lads and e-books/romance, so i can only use phone for communication and laptop for work and so i can separate my free time better.

idk what the point of this post is other than i'm feeling hormonal due to my period and i'm trying to de-stress after moving to a new apartment and being scared of new things. 

anyway.

a while ago i started playing Love&Deepspace for the first time. It's the first otome game i've played and i really like it, it has much more depth than i thought and i feel like it truly has a female perspective (which is still very rare in this world...) I'm still in the very beginning of it but i instantly fell in love with Xavier. Tbh i don't really even care for the other men because they're too cocky to my taste (at least for now, maybe i'll warm up?) I'm actually going crazy over Xavier because he's so mysterious, sensitive, and a little weird. He's sooo catboy. I want more reactions out of him but he's slow to warm up and it drives me crazyyyy. In a way he reminds me a bit of Heeseung because of certain characteristics like shyness, kindness, sincerity, and a bit of a mystical aura. Those features are often linked with femininity but for me it's more like this deep intuitive spirit that has no gender or is like this yin and yang balance of both feminine and masculine in a way you can't tell them apart. Funny thing is that these features that i'm most attracted to are something i see in myself, or maybe my inner self or ideal self. 

Life is so scary but i have to live it.

The UK girl group FLO recently did an amazing Tiny Desk Concert!


February has come to an end. 

It has been an emotional month and I'm super tired, but at the same I've felt inspired to write more than usually. I'm also finally going to cinema next week to watch a couple of new films (+Enhypen Concert Cinema). I need to keep moving, because when I get stuck in a depressive phase it's really hard to get out of it. 


This weekend I binged a new series: (spoiler-free review)


The Art of Sarah
South-Korean, Thriller, Netflix, 8 episodes

Netflix has made some interesting scammer stories like the fictionalized series about Anna Delvey and the love scammer documentary Tinder Swindler. Recently there was another viral love scammer targeting a tiktok influencer: The Danish Deception. The worst scam story I've heard is about the cancer cure hoax/fraud by Elizabeth Holmes. I'm obsessed with scammer and cult stories in the same way some people are about true crime (which i have complex feelings about. i rarely watch it). 

The Art of Sarah is a fictional story about a scammer building a luxury bag brand. It's both a murder mystery and a scammer story: the two main mysteries(murder and identity) are linked together when the police investigate who really is Sarah Kim.

Scammer stories pose the question of what is real. If people believe in the scam, doesn't that make it real? Legit businesses are also scams, frauds, they make fake things, and unethical choices. At the core these stories deal with status, desperation, corruption, and social mobility in capitalism. Scam stories targeting poor people are always unpleasant, but this story (like Anna Delvey's story and the love scammers) target (mainly) upper middle class women wanting to be top elite. Scammers and abusers study their victims really carefully, they're master manipulators.

It was a very easily bingable series. The investigation/mystery part wasn't super complex but that's fine for me, I don't need everything to be like Mindhunter. The series doesn't try to be too realistic. My only complaint is that by the end of the series the episodes were too short (around 40min), and there wasn't enough exploration of the most interesting part of the plot! 

Overall I enjoyed it. It was a very woman-centric story with a crazy evil woman as a protagonist. The K-dramas I prefer are rarely romance/romance-focused, but South-Korea also makes excellent thrillers and stories about class. 

One of the central places in the story is a luxury mall. That reminded me of my own experience working at one when I was 19. Being a young person from a working class background who couldn't afford to buy anything I was selling and being surrounded by luxury items was sure an interesting experience. Also how during sales "normal" people thought they were being sold stuff for a cheaper prize (because they were never actually advertised as sales, they were campaigns lol). I actually once thought about writing a novel or a film inspired by it, and I think I'm gonna start this project now. Maybe I will only write a short story, we'll see. 

Some stuff I've read and watched lately:


After The Rain (manga)

Recommended by Karafami readers, another slice of life manga about an age gap that isn't really romance(in the traditional sense) or smut. This was a beautiful read how it portrays the passage of time and emotions. It really encompasses the beauty and difficulties that come with each age and how we can inspire one another. The manga is really about dreams - giving up, rejection, distractions, inspiration, and finding meaning.


Call Me Chihiro (film)

Like the previous work, the film's synopsis is more scandalous than the story: A former sex worker starts working at a bento shop and spreads kindness to strangers. I was a bit hesitant how the female main character would be portrayed but she isn't a sexy tragedy or a manic pixie dream girl (or whatever quirky female characters are called). That being said she is an exceptional person who changes the lives around her, but she carries deep sadness inside herself. A very heartfelt film.


I used to find slice of life very boring but it is the perfect genre for me right now that i'm looking for comfort. The beauty of mundane life, eating together, found family, changing seasons... even though there's trauma and difficult situations in life, it's not the focus in the story even though it affects the characters. Stories that feel like swimming in the ocean. I would like to try writing a story like that, a character study where small moments are extremely meaningful. 




The Summer I Turned Pretty S1 (series)

I've watched Jenny Han's other tv adaptations To All The Boys I've Loved Before and XO Kitty, but this was the only one I hadn't seen. The series is a classic YA story about a girl growing up and suddenly her two childhood friends (who're brothers) like her. Suprisingly, this is probably the best YA series I've watched (after SKAM Norway ofc). Is the story a cliche? Yes, but it doesn't have that 2010 teen drama trashiness, the series is really well made and the cinematography is so beautiful. The series manages to be natural and emotional, and the characters seem very real. A true comfort series. Watching it I felt somehow normal. When it's summer and your childhood crush likes you back and Taylor Swift's "Style" starts playing... incredible. So yes, I will be watching the rest of the series.


Currently watching: I kept my 2026 fandom goal and finally started watching a C-drama! I'm halfway through Lighter&Princess, i will write about it more after I've finished it. I chose it because of Chen Feiyu (who played Mo Ran in the unreleased 2ha adaptation Immortality). It's a modern romance and I'm having so much fun with it. 

Yunjin<3


New BL:

Burnout Syndrome EP. 5


Dead man and the angel's kiss,
money and status all gone when asleep, when dead,
they could they leave the human world and hierarchies behind and enter a fantasy realm of love where work doesn't exist.
Jira bringing comfort and tenderness to Koh despite all the bickering. 
There is sexual tension, Koh could buy sex but doesn't want to.
These small moments between them possible because of art, human creation that transcends mortal boundaries


Heated Rivalry EP. 6 (final)

Beefy dudes being tender with each other... not what i usually watch but surprisingly i've enjoyed it very much. Very warm finale for a steamy series! But i gotta say coming out to your parents/getting caught always makes me anxious. 

I'm glad a western MM series got so popular! Heated Rivalry was overall a great romance. Good balance of romance, smut, and realism. It also had the trope of "slow burn with fucking" which i realized i really like but haven't read/watched that much. 


10Dance (film)


source

this has similarities with the two other BL's i wached: art and competition, my favorite subjects. 
passion, dedication, ruthlessness
challenging each other, being inspired by each other, 
being changed by the other
great critique is to be seen, to help you to succeed 
artists in love: so dramatic!

i think the acting and chemistry was great
there was a lot of amazing dance scenes i loved watching. 
it's been a long time since i've watched something that was full of PASSION!
i could've watched this for longer!
apparently it's based on a manga that hasn't even finished yet so i understand why at times it felt like there could've been more, but i'm not sure if tv series adaptation could have been as dramatic and emotional? idk. 


BONUS: 
Le sserafim did an incredible performance at Gayo Daejeon!
The intro is so cool! I've never seen anything like it. They also brought drag queens on stage!
I really love how they always show support to the queer community. 

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I'm not gonna talk about the novel, I read it when I was 14 and remember nothing of the plot. I remember the very lonely and isolating feeling the Creature has throughout the book. The film does not portray that angst as deeply, and the focus is on relationships (as it is with films). The same could be said about Interview with the Vampire book vs series version.

The creature is a pitiful monster in the human world. The audience's empathy is on his side. He does not fit into a family and does not fit into society. But he is one with nature, unlike his creator. He is the underdog, the abandoned child, the misunderstood monster. He is my friend, he is me. The Creature is portrayed by Jacob Elordi, and he gives life to a monster who is both adorable and at some times scary. 

Family relationships are at the core of the film. The father and the son, the creator and the creature. The mother and the lover, women who are not main characters in the story but change the trajectory of both Frankenstein and the Creature. Like in Interview with the Vampire, there is the dynamic of "you made me a monster in a human world and thus gave me all this suffering i didn't ask for". The film has been very much read as an allegory of an abusive family and the cycle of violence, which Guillermo del Toro actually confirmed is his vision of the story. 

Victor Frankenstein, the hubris of the western/white man. His delusions funded by slavery and war. The Creature is built from men fallen in war. He is made from the skin and suffering of the common man. It could be said that the film comments how Western science and progress is possible because of exploitation.

To me, Victor Frankenstein is also a monster, he seems inhumane, not meaning only his selfishness but also his isolation from rest of society as well, he believes himself a genius above others and thinks he can act like God. The creator and the creature, both outside humanity in their own ways.

The film's ending is very beautiful and hopeful.