Zombie Posted May 15 Author Posted May 15 10 hours ago, Krista said: I was the one that helped pull them up from that sadly many have no-one to help “pull them up from that” 1
Krista Posted June 4 Posted June 4 "Overcompensating," is a new series from Amazon Prime, featuring the writer/comedian/actor Benito Skinner. I hadn't heard of him, but I don't know many comedian/producers really. This is supposed to be a raunchy coming out series. Sort of American Pie/Roadhouse sort of television show. It isn't that deep, but there are moments of that sprinkled into the series, but it is so underdelivered that it misses the mark in a lot of ways with both leads, not just Benito. I don't really like shallow/raunchy comedies, so I went into this knowing I wasn't the target audience. I think it missed the mark on that front too though, I do have a sense of humor, I just didn't find it funny, erratic is what I would call it. It leaned really heavily on shallow uncreative jokes/punchlines and stereotypes far too overused in the attempt to be a "more modern" coming out story. It left me thinking that I didn't like any of these people. Still, I thought it better than "Bros," though, not saying much in my opinion, but it is something. I didn't like that we were supposed to believe that all of these early to late-thirty year old people were in college, especially Freshmen. Everyone looked miscast by decades. It might have been a stylistic choice, because Roadhouse and American Pie were similar in that all the actors were a lot older than the characters they played - so it may have been intentional. If not, then yeah, completely miscast. I also don't think Benito himself did well in this, a lot of his acting was one-note and a bit wooden. If he was the reason why they aged up the majority of the cast around him, then it was a definite misstep. The two leads didn't carry this series and they should have, as their own stories were so overburdened by everything else that was going on. It was difficult to care about what happens with any of them in the first half of the series. I thought it started coming together more in the last two episodes a lot more cohesively, like it finally had a direction worth going. It ends on a cliffhanger, I'm sure the series was budgeted well enough for a second season, and I think it was semi-well received. We'll see if Amazon will carry it along or not. The platform didn't with Prisma, which I felt was a far better series and still worth the time to watch, even if Season 2 is still unavailable in American markets. If you can find season two I still think it is worth the watch. 1 1
Ron Posted June 4 Posted June 4 1 hour ago, Krista said: The two leads didn't carry this series and they should have, as their own stories were so overburdened by everything else that was going on. It was difficult to care about what happens with any of them in the first half of the series. I thought it started coming together more in the last two episodes a lot more cohesively, like it finally had a direction worth going. I think yours is a fair opinion of the series. I watched it through over a couple of nights and I agree with you overall on the acting, especially the two main characters — and their backstories weren’t all that great either. 2
Krista Posted June 6 Posted June 6 On 6/3/2025 at 9:56 PM, Ron said: I think yours is a fair opinion of the series. I watched it through over a couple of nights and I agree with you overall on the acting, especially the two main characters — and their backstories weren’t all that great either. It is a definite case of, "I don't like any of these people..." with me. If done truly and with intention, that's okay. The overall plot has to follow it though. These people were just... self-centered and stupidly clumsy when it came to socializing. Something you may expect from 18 - 20 year old humans I guess, especially if left to their own devices for the first time and navigating the world on their own. The character writing didn't cohesively fit with with all the plots the series tried to manage though. I mean they had: Slutty/Self-centered sorority girl. Self-centered society rich sorority girls. Weird roommate Attractive Nerd (female) Douchebag Frat guy Bitchy 'misunderstood' Sister/female character Awkward horny virgin (in this case there were numerous examples) Mysterious guy with an accent that's hot because he's a mysterious guy with an accent. Secret Society in College that has post-graduation implications. Weird interactions with a child-aged bully that's a lot younger than every character in the film/series. - it was just overused comedy fodder that you see in about every film or series based in college. Winning formulas don't always win and this wasn't a win for me. And they 'had' to throw in the stereotype that gay couples and gay people in general are dysfunctional at best, wrecks of people that can't think beyond their sex lives. They can't be monogamous, but their open relationship causes so much discourse that they can't function well with one another either. I've literally seen it depicted in over half of the films and/or series I've watched since like 2020. Where I don't see it, I expect to see it eventually, unless it is a simple romance with nothing else going for it. Again, if done well with fresh elements, fine. But this was just randomly thrown in for the sake of a quick laugh for like five minutes of screen time. 2
Ron Posted June 6 Posted June 6 @Krista I’m going to ask you to beta-read my next writing adventure. If you make that much effort to critique a sloppy made-for-Amazon series then you’ll be the perfect foil for any sloppiness of mine. 😉 4
Krista Posted June 6 Posted June 6 19 minutes ago, Ron said: @Krista I’m going to ask you to beta-read my next writing adventure. If you make that much effort to critique a sloppy made-for-Amazon series then you’ll be the perfect foil for any sloppiness of mine. 😉 I critique all of this knowing that I am probably more than half-ass guilty of everything that I have said, possibly more. Other than this response here though, I will never admit to it. If any of you find reasonable evidence to show me how hypocritical I am in my snobbery, I ask that you keep it to yourselves. I do not like the taste of my own medicine. Ask Wildthing. 4 1
Zombie Posted June 9 Author Posted June 9 On 6/6/2025 at 3:57 AM, Krista said: I do not like the taste of my own medicine. Ask Wildthing nah, ‘WildThing’s busy right now
W_L Posted June 28 Posted June 28 Currently reading: Building a Civilization and Raising Cubs in the Beast World/兽世种田养崽搞基建 Basically, it's the story of a modern gay male being transmigrated into a tribal shifter world. He's a weak rabbit shifter attempting to survive and thrive in world that values strength and survival of the fittest, ultimately building up his little rabbit tribe into a bronze-age civilization. Plus, there's a certain wolf king/pack alpha, who's impressed and fall for the little rabbit civilization-builder. It's a nice change of pace for folks who enjoy Civ-games and want something different from the usual shifter genre.
TheWordWizard2025 Posted July 6 Posted July 6 (edited) Fireworks (2023) (YouTube Link) Beautiful but sad story (based on real events) of 1980s Italy where two young guys discover their feelings for each other and their families' reaction to it. Full movie on YouTube. Italian audio / English subtitles. Synopsis: In early-'80s Sicily, the unhappy life of bullied gay teen Gianni (Samuele Segreto) would change for the better when he fell hard for adolescent Nino (Gabriele Pizzurro). The boys' open affection for one another met with intense pushback from their disapproving families-and their determination to stay together would culminate in stunning tragedy. Sobering, fact-inspired opus also stars Simona Malato, Fabrizia Sacchi, Antonio de Matteo, Simone Raffaele Cordiano. Edited July 6 by TheWordWizard2025 3
W_L Posted July 6 Posted July 6 (edited) And back to reading gay Sci-Fi The Brightness Between Us is the sequel to my favorite book in recent years, The Darkness Outside Us. Eliot Schrefer's first book captivated me, like a gay version of 2001: Space Odyssey with a lot of deep themes and humanist concerns. I don't know if this sequel will be as good as the original, but I am willing to give a chance and based on what readers say so far, I think fans of the original will like this one too. Edited July 6 by W_L
TheWordWizard2025 Posted July 6 Posted July 6 1 hour ago, W_L said: ...like a gay version of 2001: Space Odyssey... I dunno Space Odyssey was pretty gay. IYKYK 🙃
Ron Posted July 7 Posted July 7 If you watched and liked the movie Mascarpone (2021) then you might be interested to learn there is a sequel out called Mascarpone: The Rainbow Cake (2025).
Zombie Posted July 7 Author Posted July 7 16 hours ago, TheWordWizard2025 said: IYKYK finding gay subtexts anywhere / everywhere seems to be a staple of university ‘research papers’ https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/4234/1/4234.pdf but I guess academics are under the same pressures to ‘produce’ as the rest of us
TheWordWizard2025 Posted July 7 Posted July 7 (edited) 28 minutes ago, Zombie said: finding gay subtexts anywhere / everywhere seems to be a staple of university ‘research papers’ https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/4234/1/4234.pdf but I guess academics are under the same pressures to ‘produce’ as the rest of us If you have read the authors works, including the Odyssey series you will see that it is not subtext at all. It is all out stated. In Odyssey there was even a contention over a man and woman both of whom were pursuing fellow crewman Max Brailovsky. Walter Curnow and Max Brailovsky, crew of the Leonov in 2010: Odyssey 2 were in a relationship during the mission. Max eventually got engaged to Zenia Marchenko. Odyssey 3 had George and Jerry. The author was well noted to have represented alternative sexualities in his works and he did have quite a few gay/bi/flexible friends in real life. HAL and Bowman did not even cross my mind tbh. Edited July 7 by TheWordWizard2025
W_L Posted July 7 Posted July 7 ...Is there a reason we're all avoiding acknowledging Arthur C. Clarke by name? Sadly, despite this being an award winning YA novel, a lot of young LGBT readers in the US will not be able to read it due to various restrictions. Hope we can at least share good literature 1 1
Zombie Posted July 7 Author Posted July 7 5 hours ago, TheWordWizard2025 said: If you have read the authors works, including the Odyssey series you will see that it is not subtext at all. It is all out stated. In Odyssey there was even a contention over a man and woman both of whom were pursuing fellow crewman Max Brailovsky. Walter Curnow and Max Brailovsky, crew of the Leonov in 2010: Odyssey 2 were in a relationship during the mission. Max eventually got engaged to Zenia Marchenko. Odyssey 3 had George and Jerry. The author was well noted to have represented alternative sexualities in his works and he did have quite a few gay/bi/flexible friends in real life. HAL and Bowman did not even cross my mind tbh. sorry, I assumed ‘2001: Space Odyssey’ was referring to the movie, which I’ve watched many many times (one of my all-time faves) but I never read the book version, nor these other books you just mentioned Clarke’s sexuality was I think well-known - indeed there was a Michael Jackson-type ‘scandal’ concerning the many boys in his life in Sri Lanka - so I’m not surprised that homosexuality would feature in his works. But, as a gay guy, I never once in my many viewings detected homosexual undercurrents in the 2001 movie - guess I was too fixated on Kubrick’s amazing (even today) visual images 2
TheWordWizard2025 Posted July 8 Posted July 8 44 minutes ago, Zombie said: sorry, I assumed ‘2001: Space Odyssey’ was referring to the movie, which I’ve watched many many times (one of my all-time faves) but I never read the book version, nor these other books you just mentioned Clarke’s sexuality was I think well-known - indeed there was a Michael Jackson-type ‘scandal’ concerning the many boys in his life in Sri Lanka - so I’m not surprised that homosexuality would feature in his works. But, as a gay guy, I never once in my many viewings detected homosexual undercurrents in the 2001 movie - guess I was too fixated on Kubrick’s amazing (even today) visual images Oh yeah the movie is very sanitized. I assumed we were discussing the books and not the movies. Although there was a very slight subtext, blink if you miss it, type thing between HAL and Bowman in the movie. And yeah, I know about the "pool boys" rumors but never saw any evidence beyond rumors. 2
Krista Posted July 8 Posted July 8 23 minutes ago, TheWordWizard2025 said: Oh yeah the movie is very sanitized. I assumed we were discussing the books and not the movies. Although there was a very slight subtext, blink if you miss it, type thing between HAL and Bowman in the movie. And yeah, I know about the "pool boys" rumors but never saw any evidence beyond rumors. Yeah, they showed this to a room full of teenagers in school for a reward of some sort and I think I would have much rather done my Algebra homework. 3 1
TheWordWizard2025 Posted July 8 Posted July 8 4 minutes ago, Krista said: Yeah, they showed this to a room full of teenagers in school for a reward of some sort and I think I would have much rather done my Algebra homework. OMG! It's YOU! I knew the name seemed familiar! I'm OCD and download fics for safekeeping. I remember reading your stuff on early mornings when I was a freshman doing my 1st degree, sitting outside under the trees, waiting for the Chemistry lab to open. Lol. Great stuff! I remember reading Something Unexpected and jumping out of my skin when my lab super tapped me on my shoulder and I was "afraid" she had been reading over my shoulder (was deeply closeted at the time). 1 3
Page Scrawler Posted July 8 Posted July 8 9 minutes ago, Krista said: Yeah, they showed this to a room full of teenagers in school for a reward of some sort and I think I would have much rather done my Algebra homework. I feel the same way about the Algebra, only it was Spaceballs we had to endure. 5
Site Administrator wildone Posted July 8 Site Administrator Posted July 8 Two things I like, hockey and hockey gay stories I'm looking forward to this: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35495073/ Based of a fiction series but if it is two hot gay hockey players, I'm in I believe will air in Canada on Crave and probably that means will air in the US or other places on HBO or Starz. Krista says she won't watch because she doesn't like hockey 1 2
Krista Posted July 8 Posted July 8 7 minutes ago, TheWordWizard2025 said: OMG! It's YOU! I knew the name seemed familiar! I'm OCD and download fics for safekeeping. I remember reading your stuff on early mornings when I was a freshman doing my 1st degree, sitting outside under the trees, waiting for the Chemistry lab to open. Lol. Great stuff! I remember reading Something Unexpected and jumping out of my skin when my lab super tapped me on my shoulder and I was "afraid" she had been reading over my shoulder (was deeply closeted at the time). Oh no. Lol. If you were going to get caught out, I would've much rather you got caught out reading Standing in Shadows or something, not my embarrassing written when I was a teenager angst stories. Glad you weren't caught. I knew from the resurrected Dom topic that you must've been a really early reader here. So, welcome. 3 minutes ago, Page Scrawler said: I feel the same way about the Algebra, only it was Spaceballs we had to endure. Never saw spaceballs, so I will take your word for it. 2 minutes ago, wildone said: Two things I like, hockey and hockey gay stories I'm looking forward to this: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35495073/ Based of a fiction series but if it is two hot gay hockey players, I'm in I believe will air in Canada on Crave and probably that means will air in the US or other places on HBO or Starz. Krista says she won't watch because she doesn't like hockey Not everything is about Hockey, Wildthing, if the writing is good and the story is nice I'll give it a go... I'll just complain about the hockey scenes to your face. 2 2 1
TheWordWizard2025 Posted July 8 Posted July 8 6 minutes ago, Krista said: Oh no. Lol. If you were going to get caught out, I would've much rather you got caught out reading Standing in Shadows or something, not my embarrassing written when I was a teenager angst stories. Glad you weren't caught. I knew from the resurrected Dom topic that you must've been a really early reader here. So, welcome. Never saw spaceballs, so I will take your word for it. Not everything is about Hockey, Wildthing, if the writing is good and the story is nice I'll give it a go... I'll just complain about the hockey scenes to your face. "Really early reader" - such a lovely, kind way to say OLD AS DIRT! LOL! Yes I was broken in way back in the day with names like Virtual Insanity, JoJo, Madison Ayesha Dante, etc. etc. etc. 1 1 3
Jeff Burton Posted July 8 Posted July 8 (edited) 2 hours ago, Krista said: Never saw spaceballs, so I will take your word for it. I find it moronically funny, but I've got a sentimental attachment to it, so no need to go out of your way on that one. Funny off topic story, I had to live with my cousin for a while at the start of the 2010's, and his two kids loved watching that movie. So much in fact they'd watch it repeatedly over and over again until I couldn't take it anymore. When I finally snapped I grabbed the DVD out of the player, put it in it's case and put that on top of a book shelf that was mostly built into the wall, out of sight out of mind, because they where under 10 years old at the time they weren't big enough to get it. What I didn't realize was, that simple act became a tradition until the day they moved out. That movie sat on top of the book case collecting dust, my cousin and his wife never seeing the need to bring it down. The kids eventually got big enough to pull it down and they did. Except they'd wait till nobody was home, they'd pull down the movie, watch it, put it back in it's case and put it on top of the book case. They sold that house when the oldest graduated high school, and when they where packing they waited until almost everything was packed before the 'Spaceballs The DVD' was finally removed from it's place of reverence for good, and packed away. I had no idea that the kids had decided to just keep it up there, or that I'd unintentionally spark that tiny tradition they held on to from childhood to graduation. Edited July 8 by Jeff Burton 2 2
Jeff Burton Posted July 8 Posted July 8 2 hours ago, TheWordWizard2025 said: "Really early reader" - such a lovely, kind way to say OLD AS DIRT! LOL! Yes I was broken in way back in the day with names like Virtual Insanity, JoJo, Madison Ayesha Dante, etc. etc. etc. Wow, way to make me feel old lmao. 2
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