forestsofpine

Happy New Year! Here are some of the fics I enjoyed in December:( MDZS/CQL, Beyond Evil, Kinnporsche, K-pop RPF )

My kids returned to school in early September and immediately came down with covid. Unfortunately, it also coincided with bad air quality from the end of the wildfire season in our area, so we couldn't even open the windows for ventilation, and of course everyone got sick. First my oldest, then my youngest, then my spouse, and finally I fell ill. It was the first (known) time any of us have had it and it wasn't horrible (we're all vaxxed and boosted) but not exactly fun either. The interesting thing is we all got a slightly different mix of symptoms - the body aches were the worst for me. By the time everyone was recovered, out of quarantine, and back to school/work, taking care of my sick family and then being sick myself had taken up almost half the month.

As a result, I did not manage to get much fic reading done this month, so this is a rather small batch of recs, but here are some of the fics I did enjoy in September:( 4 Kinnporsche and 1 Good Manager )

pi did a BL-themed vidshow for the recent Fanworks Convention in Chicago and posted a playlist of the vids used in the show, which included a few premieres and a few good vids that were new to me.

I haven't watched all the vids from the show yet because there were a bunch from dramas I haven't watched yet but plan to, but for now I will enthusiastically second the recs for:

• You Drive Me Crazy (Semantic Error, Jaeyoung/Sangwoo)
• Matter To You (Cherry Magic, Kurosawa/Adachi)
• Stray Italian Greyhound (Kinnporsche, Kinn/Porsche) - premiere
• I Really Like You (Bad Buddy, Pat/Pran) - I recced this one a couple weeks ago along with another equally cute Pat/Pran vid set to the same song here

I was doubly excited about the Stray Italian Greyhound vid because it's set to the same song as my all-time favorite Wangxian fanvid and I always find it fun to compare how different vidders utilize the same song. helcinda, who did the Kinn/Porsche vid, had two Kinnporsche premieres during the convention and I also highly recommend the other, An Ocean, which was a stunning Porsche-centric character vid.

Had a six hour drive to get home today (well, yesterday now) and accidentally fell asleep around 8 PM, only to wake up again at 10 PM. I've been lying in bed for the last two+ hours chewing over the Kinnporsche finale instead of falling back asleep, so I finally decided to just give up on sleep for now and start writing some thoughts down, even though it is past midnight. The cat will almost certainly wake me up demanding his breakfast around 4 or 5 AM, so I'm sure I'll regret this life choice. 😅

[Update: Finally fell back asleep around 1:30 AM, and the cat woke me up at 5:15 AM, just like I expected, lol. Please excuse any incoherence on sleep deprivation, since this was written half at midnight and half in the early morning.]

If you're unfamiliar with it, Kinnporsche is the title of a hit BL mafia drama from Thailand that premiered April 2, 2022. It's also the smushname of the drama's main ship. To avoid confusion, I'll put the title in italics and leave the ship smushname normal in this post. The origin story of this drama is nearly as wild as its actual plot, which involves, among other things, a great deal of violence, a lot of outrageously hot sex scenes, and some of the most hilarious product placement I've ever seen. Season one finished airing July 9, and season two is reportedly being developed.

( General thoughts, non-spoilery )

( Additional thoughts, spoilers for all episodes )

Anyway, despite my quibbles and lingering questions, I thought Kinnporsche was quite a fun and addictive ride. Similar to Word of Honor, it was a passion project, and it shows in the love and attention to detail it received from cast and crew alike. I hope for more good fic now that season one is finished airing and I've already seen some other great edits and vids, so I'm sure I'll have more recs soon!