>Hugz<

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.

Sweet Sixties (2004) deals with elder people's romance. And one of the characters faces an unwanted blind date. In fact he is gay and lives with his elder brother. On the d-day he stands up his date and visits a gay bar. Good to see that he's not typical gay like in many other queer movies.

A few days ago, this ad caught my eyes. Definitely influenced by works of Tom of Finland. I doubt this ad drew attentions from women as it did from gays out there.

A film by famous Spanish director, Almodovar. In a Catholic boarding school, there were two boys who had feelings for each other. One of the boy was an altar boy and because of his looks and angelic voice he caught the eyes of one father and was abused sexually and made to part with the other boy. Many years later, the other boy has become a renowned film director. And the former altar boys visits him with a script based on their experiences at the school and asks for the role of "himself" in the movie. The film director was charmed by the script and starts to shoot the movie but soon he finds that the friend of his was hiding a big secret. I watched the movie for the second time, last night. But I was wowed by the film once again.

Most of the part of this film was filmed with a hand-held camera. There are two men who's been a couple several years. But one of them is getting married and the other is letting him go. They recorded their last time together in a motel, out in the beach, etc. Many Korean gays could relate to these subjects, marriage, long-term relationships and so on, I suppose. But even if I could relate to their situations, I couldn't relate to the way they responded to the seperation.

This book contains 3 Korean artists' erotic paintings. I found it in one second-handed book store and bought it with the expectation that it "could" contain some male-to-male eroticas. But what a shame, it didn't!!! I have other books containg many erotic Japanese paintings. And one of the main themes is homosexuality. Because homosexual activities were found any time, any place. According to one Chinese book, it was more than just common to have gay loves in Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. I don't know if the publisher of this book intentionally excluded homosexual erotica or not. But I think that there were some homosexual erotica, even in the Chosun Dynasty.

This is the book I mentioned last April. The man on the left is a medical school student who earns money by selling drugs which he steals from the hospital. The other man is a professor who sort of threatens the student and they become lovers. The professor has also some love stories of his own. I love the art of this manga artist and looking forward to seeing her other works soon.