>Hugz<

About two weeks ago, I came to know that Mr. Yamada’s art exhibition was being held in Tokyo. And that they were selling the Art Book!!! Even though it is a shame that all of his works are somewhat censored for the book, I still feel lucky to have the book before it goes out of print. 

Ramunne Ikki(ラムネイッキ) is a now out-of-print short stories compilation of Sansuke Yamada(山田参助). Some of his previous works are newly published by major publishers after he got more famous after his Areyo Hoshikuzo . But this one is not yet. Ramune refers a bottled lemonade widely sold throughout Japan. Ikki means "at once" or in this context, "bottoms up," I guess. The book is described as "hard cover" in Amazon Japan. And one of the customers reviewed that "cover is not the only thing that is hard..." Maybe Japaneses also refer something extreme as "hard" as Koreans do. This is how "Ramune" looks like. By the way, I want the book so badly. Maybe Mr. Yamada re-release the book.

Recently I had a chance to read some of Howard Cruse's works. He is renowned for his work, Stuck Rubber Baby , but instead, I grabbed From Headrack to Claude , thinking short stories would be easier to understand, which turned out to be a huge mistake. The stories were somewhat hard to get it. I didn't know where to laugh and why the stories went that way.. I found some hard time to relate to the stories. Anyway, it was a pleasure to see each frame. He used dots to express shades and it could have taken some time, I suppose. Unique. This time, I am thinking of trying Wendel, one of his comic strip series.

Recently I came to know a webcomics site where only gay-themed comic strips are posted. It's called Kaman Bongji, which means black (plastic) bag literally.  m.kkatoon.com I don't know it is universal or not, Koreans use black plastic bag when to carry purchased items which they want to hide.  Maybe this site is named such as a metaphor for Korean gays who are closeted.  Anyway, Gom Kim is a one of the comics writers on the site.  His comics is based on his interviews with gays who had come out.  I like the way he portrays the interviewees' lives and I love his artwork so~~~ much. 

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During recent years, many cock-and-bull soaps were big success in Korea. The writers seem to focus on the most absurd and extreme stories ever and the ratings are better as the stories are more extreme and more absurd. Many people say that they watch even though they dislike the stories. Anyway, this is another cock-and-bull soap, people say. The husband's being gay may only serve one of many obstacles the heroine(wife) has to deal with. But it is what matters that the show is gay-themed anyway. I have never had the chance to watch the show. Maybe I will catch up with the previous episodes soon. Or not?

I loved Madonna even more when she released "American Pie" music video which contains a gay kiss scene. I loved Christina Aguilera when she released "Beautiful" music video. Japanese dance diva(I suppose), Ayumi Hamasaki has released a song called "How beautiful You are" with a music video which has very similar theme( You are beautiful no matter how you look, who you love and so on ). Couple of years ago I saw a music video of a girl duo, which has a very similar format. Many couple are shown to be unhappy because they are not accepted as they are and in the end they smile and kiss each other. I'm not saying that I don't like that Hamasaki's music video resembles its precedents. To the contrary, I want to point out why it took so long till a Asian diva made music video with a gay kiss scene.

Another movie by the director of "No Regret". It's about a victim of hate crime (the one in black) who visited Korea after years for revenge. The other one (in red) hoped for just one night stand with the former but got involved more than he expected.

Two short queer movies from the director of 'No Regret'. The first one is named after one of the oldest gay-themed movie(although the gay character was not shown, nor he is referred as gay). It's about a student and his teacher. The student met his teacher in a gay bar and followed him around and threatened him to go a short boat trip. What could happen afterwards? The second one is about an affair between soldiers. The one finished his time and left army. The other thought that there something left between themselves and contacted  the former in the last vacation before the end of his time in army. What would happen on their way back to the base? The director, Hee-il Lee-song, seems to like to portray very intensive love affairs, like the characters think that their love is the only thing that has left to them.

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...

Korean band " Monni " released their second album this year in five years after their first album in 2005. I heard their song for the first time, when I visited clubs around Hongik Univ areas. I liked them instantly. But recently I came across the fact that their promotion video for " Leaving Me " was banned for lesbianism. Now I like Monni even more. :)