as someone who studies linguistics, i will never not laugh when someone says “that word doesn’t exist” like, my good bitch. if a word is regularly used by a certain amount of people then it exists. if it has its own grammatical rules then its perfectly valid. it’s part of their lexicon now, sweetie. “It’s a made up word” honey, all words are made up. Linguists didn’t just fucking excavate athens and were like BEHOLD!!! VOCABULARY!! “that word isn’t in the dictionary” dictionaries are not rule books, they’re record books. “Refrigerate” didn’t exist 200 years ago and yet here we are. a language that doesn’t adapt to an ever changing society is bound to be lost because, eventually, it won’t be able to keep up with social progress. you motherfuckers.
it's very important to me that the public understands the difference between thinking that someone is dating and feeling entitled to it. like, are there a couple of cps that make me go 👀? absolutely. but if my limited outsider observations turn out to be incorrect, i'm not going to be upset. i'm not going to feel betrayed or lied to, i'm not going to be mad about "the fanservice". i'm just gonna go "oh? well alright then!" and move on with my life. because, you know, it's kind of fucking wild to actually feel entitled to a specific relationship between two people you don't even personally know.
Your rizz is so strong, you turn an incorrigible playboy into a voluntarily abstinent monk, who is pursuing you relentlessly for months even though you're not putting out (and your boyfriend's weird soulfriend can tell immediately).
And who would not be discouraged by your defensive, traumatic reluctance, no matter what.
Imagine being Guo Chengyu.
A red flag AND a dream boyfriend of all, who is not only amazing in bed, in the kitchen, and at the mental chessboard, not only knows how to fight for you, but most importantly, has mastered the obviously unmanageable for his weird soulfriend skill of COMMUNICATION.
See, that's why karma repaid his six years of whipping boy servitude with everything he wanted (after some more scheming with the besties, and a dramatic pretend fight, but hey, if you don't help fate a little, how else will you get exactly what you want? can't rely on happy accidents for something so important).
AND SCORE! Mission successful after a DOUBLE layered scheming. Those four are really perfect for each other.
I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.
I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM
Hooted
Howled
Yowled
I WONDER
Pondered
Voiced
Wondered
OH, YEAH, WHOOPS
Recalled
Recited
Remembered
SURPRISE BITCH
Revealed
IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD
Scoffed
Snickered
Snorted
BITCHY
Tattled
Taunted
Teased
Edit: People, I’m an English and creative writing double major in college; I understand that there’s nothing wrong with simply using “said.” This was just for fun, and it comes in handy when I need to add pizzazz.
In addition to a little pizzazz in the dialogue tags, these are also super useful as part of the narration, or summing up/paraphrasing something that has been said, or even in a character’s dialogue as they describe how someone was talking!
"Nobody is forcing them to do it" is an odd response to pushback against BL fanservice because it overlooks external obligations and gives the illusion that everything we do is based on our own free will.
For example, nobody is forcing anyone to go to college, but people go because they are told they will do better in life if they have a degree. It isn't true. It's been proven multiple times people can do fine without going to college. There are many careers that only require professional training or certificates, and those jobs pay very well, so why do people keep going to college (and in debt) when nobody is forcing them? Why do people keep going to college and getting degrees in a job market that only hires a little over half of people with college degrees when nobody is forcing them?
Because they are being forced!
Society constantly tells people to go to college. From the moment most students enter formal education, they are told that the path to success rests solely on a college degree. Everything a student does in secondary education is geared to them applying to college. Even entry-level jobs now require a college degree, in anything, to apply. So, yeah, nobody is forcing anyone to go to college, but the entire system is built around the idea that people must go to college.
Nobody is forcing any of these people to provide fanservice. It's just an aspect of their job if they want to indulge in it. Pairs can work out if they want to provide fanservice and to what extent. It's just part of a job if they want it to be. They can possibly make more money, get more branding jobs outside of acting, and even travel more, but nobody is forcing them to participate in fanservice. Even if they like it, it's only part of the job if they want it to be part of the job. I'm not writing about pairs that are dating. I'm writing about the job.
I know most of us have jobs, so we understand having to play nice with coworkers for the betterment of our careers. Nobody is forcing us. We understand that we don't have to do it, but if we do, our careers can grow because of it, but we aren't being forced to do it. We understand that if we don't abide by the company culture, that it could possibly hurt our careers, but we still aren't being forced to do it. We understand that even if we like our jobs, if we speak out against the company or don't align with its mission, we could be left out to dry all by ourselves, but we aren't being forced to participate.
Nobody is forcing us to do anything. We are completely in charge of what we do, and to say otherwise infantilizes us and reduces our autonomy. Every decision is solely ours to make, and there are never any other factors that contribute to the way we behave or act. Ever.
THE EX-MORNING Q10: EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING AT ONCE!!! (ALSO: THERE'S A CAT IN THE SERIES!!!)
WE HAVE AN EXTRA SPECIAL UPDATE TODAY, FOLKS!
WE HAVE FOOTAGE OF A NEAR-KISS SCENE BETWEEN PATHAPI AND TAMTAWAN!
But let's start at the beginning, shall we? :D
This morning, the official account shared these two gorgeously lit photos from the set:
For the uninitiated, Krist and Singto tend to thrive in dramatic scenes. When they get to choose their own music for the duets they've performed together, they tend to choose breakup songs, so honestly this whole series is completely their wheelhouse.
Not long after, we were given this photo:
It is, at present, my new Tumblr header. \:D/
We were also extremely lucky today, because Aou was on set! Aou, who appeared in Be My Favorite with Krist, is the newest promotional captain of the KristSingto ship, and he gave us not one, but two videos of their shenanigans.
Then, as if all of this wasn't enough, we got word that we would see even more behind-the-scenes footage on today's Livehouse!
Naturally all of this had to happen while I was at work, so I had to run back and forth to watch Livehouse, but!
First I saw Lit's customary wrap story, and there was something extremely interesting in it:
CAT!!!
As you may recall, The Ex-Morning is a super meta original series that takes inspiration from KristSingto's real life stories, and when I saw that cat, I immediately suspected that it might be a stand-in for Pluto, Krist's baby boy:
I can't quite tell from the Livehouse footage, but I did hear Krist say Pluto's name, so it's possible!
According to the auto-generated captions which are neeeever wrong, the cat belongs to Tamtawan, and his name is a SOTUS reference! There’s a song in SOTUS called “โซซัดโซเซ (Soh Sut Soh Say)” so Tam’s cat is named Sosay.
I already love this series so much.
We also saw a glimpse of this near-kiss!
Tamtawan runs when Pathapi tries to kiss him, so we finally get a dynamic where Krist's character is pursuing Singto's! MY LONG-AWAITED DREAM COME TRUE.
Their interview was really cute. :') Their comfort with each other is such a relief to see back in action. You can really feel how much they missed working together. <3
I believe we're also getting another(?) love scene, too. [eyeball emoji]
We got a li'l time with our possible sapphic couple Jamie and Earn, too, and they talked a bit about their characters, but I don't trust the auto-generated captions, so I'd wait for someone with stronger language skills to translate.
All in all, it seems like a wonderful cast, a comfortable experience for all involved, and a magnificent series to come!
It seems like they'll have another ten Qs or so before wrapping. Series of twelve episodes tend to be 20-30 Qs, and most of their film days seem to have been between 9am to 9pm with some running even longer. In the last Livehouse with behind-the-scenes footage (and elsewhere in years past), Singto said that when he and Krist film together, they tend to get their scenes done quite quickly. They've talked before about how they feel extremely comfortable with each other, and they have a deep trust in each other, so they say they work best when they're together.
I hope ThamePo holds a mirror so close up to toxic fan culture and shows stans that they basically have no say in what idols/actors/etc do, and gives those fans a big old middle finger with the happy ending of the series by showing them that Pepper and Thame both deserve love, regardless of the gender of the person they love because it’s their own private business who they date.
Post airing of the show, I hope bunch of GMMTV actors, actresses & idols start openly dating/showing their relationships outside of their branded pairing, and living their damn lives without having to worry about losing their jobs and fans because people have been told in big ass red letters via ThamePo that just people you want these people to be one thing, in reality, they’re completely different and most importantly, they are allowed to be.
Neo literally refused branded QL pairings with Louis and Mark because he wanted to be open about his relationship with Mint, and he knew that fans would riot is he admitted he was a straight guy and wasn’t in an actual relationship with his branded partner. It’s been shown that fans can be sane about artists dating.
Neo and Mint were so supported, and it was beautiful.
Tul and Mew were so supported, and it was beautiful.
Syliv and Mint were so supported, and it was beautiful.
So in a post ThamePo world, I hope that if a GMMTV artist (or any artist regardless of the company) wants to talk about who they’re dating, within or outside of their company/branded pairing, I hope they feel a tad safer to do so.
But on the flip side, fans also need to keep in mind that they have no right to get mad if a couple doesn’t work out. It’s not your relationship, your feelings have nothing to do with it. Like what’s happening currently with NewYear and Both, yes, they broke up, yes, one of them is seeing a new person. No, that is none of your business! You don’t get to bash this person online, doesn’t matter if someone cheated or fell out of love or whatever, you weren’t part of the relationship, so stop acting weird and creepy about it. You weren’t the one that was cheated on, Susan! Get a freaking hobby. /r
Idk how to explain this but 2024's new year feels closer than 2025's new year? Ik it doesn't make sense but all I'm saying is it feels like it's been forever since this year started but why is it only January!!?
Back when the teaser (made as an appeal to sponsors) aired in part two of GMMTV's 2024 showcase, and especially after the trailer (cut from the actual series) aired, I thought ThamePo looked like it would become one of the strongest series GMMTV has ever made.
So far, even though we're only four episodes in, it's well surpassing my expectations. Apparently, it's a passion project that the director had in the making for five years, waiting for the right casting to come along, so based on that alone, it's a series made with love. And I have a soft spot for passion projects. <3
Still, the top criterion I judge all series by is the quality of the writing, and since ThamePo's director is also a seasoned screenwriter who developed the script, this is one of the strongest aspects of the series so far.
Over the past four episodes, we've seen our protagonist's flaws (people-pleasing, projecting, temper) and strengths (resourcefulness, observational skill, cleverness), what he wanted (to return to the creative working world) and how it's changing (to reunite MARS). We've met the public version of Thame, the shallow version of Thame that Po misread, and the private version of Thame trying to make amends with his friends. We've met three of those friends (Jun, Dylan, and Pepper) and have hints about the fourth (Nano), and each friend we've met has given us more insight into the kind of person Thame is and what he's done to try and protect his group as the leader.
Since the main conflict of the story appears to be Thame being forced to choose between his band or his new boyfriend—
—Thame's relationship with Po has to move at quite a quick clip so he's emotionally invested enough in their relationship that it's a difficult choice. He's already extremely attached to his friends, so I'd argue one of the biggest challenges in the writing was having him fall in love with Po convincingly fast without it feeling forced by the hand of the screenwriter.
And daaamn has that been well-accomplished, in my opinion.
First, Po gets his Y/N moment.
It's established in the first episode that Thame saw Po at a fanmeeting once and remembered him because Po did something kind for someone when he didn't have to. Presumably because Thame's in a fairly cutthroat industry where people are constantly vying for his attention, maneuvering him like a chess piece, or flat-out ignoring him, that small act of kindness was probably one of the bright points of his day, week, or even month. Especially as things started falling apart with the other members.
In that same episode, we see Po projecting the heartbreak from his previous relationship onto Thame.
And in return, Thame—who spends most of the next episode docilely doing whatever he's told to do by the company—allows some of what he's hidden to show out of frustration presumably brought on by being so thoroughly misunderstood and chastised by a stranger he used to think well of and now suspects of being a sasaeng.
Because both characters are in such vulnerable places emotionally, it translates well to the narrative when they start to depend on one another.
On Po's end, his recent breakup has left him feeling foolish and exposed, taken advantage of by a man who refused to acknowledge Po's sacrifices or show any true appreciation for all the work Po did to see him succeed.
Meanwhile, Thame is alone in every way that matters.
His parents are neglectful,
his friends abandoned him,
and his boss is manipulating him.
At the start, Po is quite literally the only ally he has.
It's because Po kept at him to be honest, to be sincere, that Thame woke up and decided to fight for himself.
And because Thame is doing something for himself for a change, that's what wins back his closest friend Jun.
What I love about this whole narrative is that it's already established from Po's previous relationship that he's the kind of person to give himself entirely to a cause for someone else's benefit. He helped Earn to his own detriment, he picked up a small child so she could see, and he's risking his job to help Thame find happiness and peace.
So it's entirely in-character for him to, say, go through a whole room filled with boxes of rejected song lyrics trying to find one piece of paper that he had to tape back together. Only for it not to matter, because Thame mended fences with Dylan on his own.
I'd argue this is what makes Po think, Maybe I'm too emotionally involved in this. Especially after Jun has point-blank told him that Thame would never be interested in him that way.
We see the moment Po doubts his enthusiastic support of this whole project.
And it's clear that this could have been where it ended for Po.
Until Thame, observant and kind and the polar opposite of Earn, says exactly the right thing to him.
Because that was the major breaking point for Po in his relationship with Earn. He was made to feel disposable. Extraneous. Unnecessary. But Thame recognizes the work he's done, the effort he's put in. He may be reuniting the group for his own satisfaction, but he's not so selfish that he can let Po's contributions go unobserved and unappreciated.
Then, y'know. Thame talks to Po until he falls asleep—
—and serenades him in the morning.
And the thing is! Knowing all we know about Thame—that his parents don't seem to care about him, that he's been isolated from his friends, that he's been made helpless in his own career for so long after being manipulated into signing contracts that restrict his freedom—it makes sense for him to be the one pursuing Po this hard. Just as much as it makes sense for recently heartbroken Po to be interested and yet hesitant.
Setting all of this up in four episodes while covering the entire backstory of MARS and their gradual reunion is a feat of excellent writing. We have a reason to care about Thame and Po's relationship, because it's been clearly shown to us that they bring out the best in each other and that they're willing, even at this early stage, to take risks for each other. We've also got reason to care about MARS, because they seem to be more family to Thame than his own, and they're his current priority.
I'm genuinely thrilled to see such solid writing come from a GMMTV series because as I've said before, they seem more and more recently to chuck first drafts on an assembly line and just assume the fandom will watch anything regardless of the quality as long as certain khuujin are cast as the leads (which, y'know, isn't untrue).
While I enjoy some GMMTV QL series as mindless fluff to watch with friends, there are very few I'd say are written well. Apart from ThamePo, only five other series I've seen have what I'd consider well-executed scripts: Pluto (2024), Be My Favorite (2023), Dark Blue Kiss (2019), SOTUS S (2017), and SOTUS (2016). Sadly, I think Not Me (2022) was on track to be one of the best with its first half, but the production was infamously neglected with episodes cut by GMMTV at the last minute and the script deprived of major edits that left the second half almost shallow by comparison. (Of course, Not Me had a host of censorship issues as well, so we may never know how much that interfered with the quality. It's still an incredible series for its ambition and for Nuchy's directing, and I'll be mad every day of my reincarnation cycle that it didn't get the writing support it deserved.)
Otherwise, nearly every GMMTV series I've seen has at least one major basic storytelling flaw (no character arc, a sloppy resolution, unconvincing setup, weak characterization, excess filler, etc.), and they seem to be first drafts with very little depth. With that in mind, I hope to see ThamePo do well enough that it sends a message to GMMTV that they should focus more on the writing of their series. I think based on what we've seen in the first four episodes and in the trailer, the script quality is reliable, and ThamePo's relationship may be one of the best-written we've seen yet. <3
