>Hugz<

Queer shotfilms cumming soon??? Gae-bong-bak-du(開封迫頭) means "coming soon" in Korean(chinese). Gay-bong-bak-du is Korean short queer films which were filmed by non-professional gay directors who used smart phones or DSLR cameras in filming. Last Saturday, I had a chance to watch the films at Korea University. I can't say that the movies are well-crafted but they're inspiring and lovable. After the films, some of the directors gathered to answer to the questions from the crowd. One of the directors was Byun-chun who is also a famous comic writer (see ansgel*crazy). It was a very rare chance to watch these kinds of short films. I hope there will be more and more chances and more films from now on.

Jiraiya is releasing another comic anthology. But it is a kind of "updated" version of the comic book which was released years ago (see below). The newer version contains 3 more comics which were released after the 1st version's release. And it also contains various new stuffs, says Jiraiya.

I found a print inspired by Tom of Finland. I might make a rubber stamp out of this image.

G-men #172 Another comic by Jiraiya, which was published after his latest comic book. It is called Kinta no Kintama(金太のキンタマ), which means Kinta's balls in Japanese. Followings are the images that I've found regarding this comic.

Byunchun aka Angel Crazy is a Korean gay cartoonist. He is well known for his comic book, Byun -tae- chun -sa(perverted angel). Currently, he posts his comics through his personal site; http://angelcrazy.egloos.com or famous Korean gay portal site, Ivancity .

Last week, this book arrived. I purchased it early this month. I surfed the net before I ordered it, but the only place where I can read this book is the library of one university in Suwon(a city located at south of Seoul). And only one local on-line bookstore sells the book only in Chinese (which I can't read). It's hard to find the image of this book. Not like the cover image up above, if you hold the book, you can see the boy (on the cover) stare back at you (very straightforward). Glad to have the book in English.

The movie is based on true story. The mother of Bobby didn't embrace the fact that her son is gay. Bobby suffered from the alienation from his family, especially from his mother. After Bobby took his own life, the mother tries to make it all right, visits church where people have different opinion on what the Bible tells and finally becomes a figure of PFLAG . I almost cried watching this movie. This blog is mostly dedicated to non-english source or at least materials published in Korea. But sometimes, I'll be posting things like this.

Jiraiya has published his newest comic, Beware of Fire(火のー用ー心), though G-Men #196. Here's the rough sketch of two main characters of the comic.   Here are some shots from the comic.   The man on the left is saying, "Don't you feel somewhat dangerous/risky, do you?" I can't read the line.   The man on the right is saying that "Call the insurance company". And the other man is responding "But what about today?(literally, today is a big problem)" *Because of the fire at the younger man's apartment, the elder man, who is the boss, let the younger man stay at his own home. *What's going to happen that night? Here's the cover of the magazine which includes the comic. Should I buy magazines or should I wait for another compilation comic book by Jiraiya???

The music video of Leaving Me , a song by Korean indie rock band, Monni depicts a lesbian couple, I recall. The video is no longer available, so I re-editted this posting. https://youtu.be/ooU9s68UBd8 Followings are the lyrics: 사랑해 내 귓가에 들려와 "I love you", I can still hear your words. 하지만 너는 내 곁을 떠나고 But you left me. 붉어진 너의 눈가에 눈물 Your eyes turned read because of the tears. 가슴이 아파 슬퍼하네 I(or You) looked sad and heartbroken. 나를 떠나가던 네 모습에 난 울었고 I cried to see you leave me. 위태로워지는 너를 떠날 수가 없고 But I couldn't leave you 'cause you became so insecure. 세상에서 너만 혼자라고 느껴질 때 When you feel you're the only one in the world, 너무 많이 널 사랑한다 말해줄께 I will say how much I love you. 나에게 바보라 말하지 마 Don't say I'm a fool 사랑이란 게 이런가봐 Maybe this is the way love goes. 나를 떠나가던 네 모습에 난 울었고 I cried to see you leave me. 위태로워지는 너를 떠날 수가 없고 But I couldn't leave you 'cause you became so insecure. 세상에서 너만 혼자라고 느껴질 때 When you feel you're the only one in th

Sunblock from Too Cool for School . It's called  Jean George Long Sunblock .

Few months ago, I mentioned about the illustration above. They have another illustration like this (below). I read that these illustration were done by renowned Painter (drawing application) artist, Jung-hyun Seok , aka Seok-ga . He is a comic writer, illustrator and professor. Who can deny the influence by Tom of Finland?

Recently I ordered Jiraiya 1998 - 2012, the latest illustration book of Jiraiya. Like one fan pointed out, the book is filled with many drawings which any die-hard fan of Jiraiya would have seen while "stalking" Jiraiya. I'm not the only one who's obssessed with Jiraiya's works. :) good to know.

While surfing the net to choose where to buy English version of Crystal Boys , I found this book. I don't know the writer but the cover instantly caught my eyes.

Based on the novel of same title, Crystal Boys portrays gay boys who became outsiders because their home and society couldn't embrace them. Most of the music used in the soap was conducted by Tan Zong-pei, a famous Taiwanese cello player. I bought the OST recently. This is the dvd cover of the soap. Thanks to one of my friends, I could buy the dvd set. All I need to do is to learn Chinese...???

By chance, I ran into the works of Tom Whalen. Because he made it very clear that any of the works should not be reproduced or transmitted, I made the screenshot of searched images of his works (by Google) for you to get the impression of how his works look like. Here's his personal homepage. http://www.strongstuff.net/

He seems to like draw chubby men and he's very talented. At his personal site, you can leave a message or buy items like T-shirts and so on. http://jimjimbear.tumblr.com/ As of 2023, his tumbler site is no longer available.

Another Korean Bara artist, Bam-i(aka Babam86). In some drawings, you can tell that he's inspired by Jiraiya but he has developed his own style and I love it.

Netcub is a Korean Bara artist. He regularly works with other Korean Bara artists to publish indie Bara comics compilation called Woong(熊, which means bear) and also has his comics published through Japanese gay magazines or Japanese gay comic books.

  Another comic of Jiraiya which is not included in his own comic books. This comic is included in #181 G-men magazine. According to the publisher, the comic is about two men on their trip to Hokkaido(one of Japanese Islands).

New comic of Jiraiya, Onyama-san to shiroi sake (Mr. Onyama* and white liqour) The comic is included in the #6 of Comic G.G. The main character who cut the trees  and stayed in the mountains(*Yama means a mountain in Japanese) received a visit from the spirits wearing white mask. The sprits asked for "White liqour" and you know what it means.

I found Mr. Po(former Nonbe Kensuke)'s blog. http://blog.goo.ne.jp/inyuinyu It seems that he posted drawings from time to time. Recently he seems to be into drawing anthropomorphic (humanized) animals. He even posted some of his works for download at following site. http://p.booklog.jp/users/pokoinumaru

Taken at the Taipei Main Station.

Recently, I had a chance to visit Taiwan. During the stay, I came across the movie posters of this movie at many places. I could detect that there must be something gay-themed in this movie. The title itself and the poster said there's something between two male lead characters.  But I didn't have the chance to watch the movie. After some research on the net, I came to know that my guess was right. In the trailer, the male characters even kissed each other.  In Korea, the movie seems to be premiered at the Busan International Film Festival(BIFF, former PIFF).

A movie about one North Korean defector who faces prejudice and discrimination and one homeless boy who lives at the mercy of his male lover (who seems to be married). The movie consists of 3 parts. The first one is focused on what makes the defector boy flee from his workplace(gas station) with his colleague girl who he likes. The second one is focused on the relationship between homeless boy and his male lover. The third part is focused on what happens when 2 boys met each other. But the thing is that because of some scenes, many viewers guess that the 2 boys are actually the same person, which I cannot disagree. *I had the chance to watch the movie again in 2022 and I came to agree that two boys might be the same person. The movies is a little bit slow but I think this is okay.

Another movie by Korean "out" director, Gwang-su Kim-jo . He is a renowned movie producer but this movie is his first feature film of his own directing. Hyo-jin (the one with long hair) wants to adopt a boy in the orphanage. She asks Min-su who works at the same hospital to get married hoping that the marriage will make it much easier for her to adopt the boy. Hyo-jin is lesbian and Min-su is gay. Both of them are under much pressure for marriage. Min-su agrees to marry Hyo-jin but as you guess it is more complicated than they think to lead a fake marriage. Other main characters are gay friends of Min-su , who are also members of gay choir, G-Voice (which is real name of the Korean gay choir organized by Chingusai ). The lines are very straightforward and the accident which leads to 'the' funeral is so shocking (at least, to Me). Kim-jo directed two movies before( Boy meets boy and Just friends ). But 2W1F( 2 Weddings and 1 funeral ) is the most tho

Documentary on four gay men in 2000s. One film directer. One activist. One chef. And one salaryman. They're leading extradordinary lives in their own ways; making queer movies, acting as a gay activist; being a member of a gay chorus; partnered with a man with HIV+. There were laughters and tears, even a death to my surprise. I got so relieved that I had the chance to see this movie at LGBT film festival.