Kris 0:19
Hey everyone, welcome to Queerly Recommended. I am Kris Bryant and I’m back as always with Tara.
Tara 0:24
Hey, everybody welcome to episode 19. We are so glad to have you all joining us. We want to start by giving a real quick shout out to Joanna who since last episode supported us through Ko-Fi, and she shared the comment, “Thank you for putting out this content”. Joanna, we are so glad that you enjoy it. And thank you so so much.
Kris 0:44
Definitely. Thank you.
Tara 0:45
For anybody who’s maybe joining us for the first time or who just doesn’t know what Ko-fi is. It’s a site where you can financially support your favorite content creators like us. And we are so grateful because it keeps everything moving so that we can continue to put this content out there.
Kris 0:59
And it’s listener question time. And we actually got a lot of questions this time. So we’re only going to answer- we’ll only have time to answer a few. And we’re going to rotate, and put the questions that we don’t get to today to our next episode.
Tara 1:17
Mm hmm.
Kris 1:18
So Yurific asked, “A question for the both of you: Fuck, Marry, Kill. Take your pics from the cast of The L-Word”. So and we could pick either/or, either the original, or the Generation Q. And so I actually have a list for both.
Tara 1:36
And I have not watched Generation Q, so I only have a list for the original. And also I’m gonna have to go based off of like, incredibly hazy memories.
Kris 1:49
It was a long time ago.
Tara 1:50
Well, and not only was it a long time ago. I watched- I think I only made it t`wo and a half seasons, maybe three seasons, I didn’t watch all of it. But when I did watch it, it was the first two weeks after my first daughter was born. And I was watching it in the middle of the night. I was like nursing or pumping or whatever. And so it’s like, my brain was not there. But it was kind of the perfect show for that. Like, I have- I can’t put a lot of thinking into this. I was like, “Ooooh, what’s going on with all these people?” So yes, I have a list based on what I sort of remember from almost ten years ago.
Kris 2:30
Share. Share with us.
Tara 2:32
Okay, so let’s start with kill. And I mean, I feel like this is everybody’s answer. And if it’s not, it probably should.
Kris 2:41
No.
Tara 2:41
It’s not?
Kris 2:42
It’s not, go ahead, answer it.
Tara 2:43
Oh my god. It’s Jenny Schecter. She’s the fucking worst. I can’t- I could not- and I mean, I don’t know anybody that loved Jenny. She was terrible. And then I feel like so for fuck, I feel like Shane is the easiest answer.
Kris 2:59
What?!?
Tara 2:59
And there were a lot of people would have chosen her. Come on now. A lot of straight people would have chosen her.
Kris 3:05
Come on!
Tara 3:06
Really?
Kris 3:07
How are we friends? How do we have a completely different list?
Tara 3:11
I’m not choosing Shane.
Kris 3:13
Oh, you’re not choosing Shane. Okay.
Tara 3:14
No, I’m not choosing Shane, because I think it’s almost too easy as an answer if it’s Shane. And so I was going through and looking at I was like, “Ah ha.” What?
Kris 3:24
I said Jenny is an easy answer for the kill.
Tara 3:27
Oh.
Kris 3:28
But I didn’t go with Jenny. But go ahead. Go ahead. We’re talking about you.
Tara 3:32
So I think Helena Peabody is my choice for fuck cuz she’s-
Kris 3:38
I applaud that.
Tara 3:39
-pretty fantastic. And then marry was hard. That was a tough call.
Kris 3:45
Don’t you take mine.
Tara 3:47
I can’t remember who you said yours was gonna be. I mean, like, Bette is tempting because Jennifer Beals is gorgeous, but I can’t forget that she cheats. And now I’m probably going to name somebody who has something weird in her background that I never got to because I didn’t finish the series but I’m going to go with Alice, who was lovely in the part of the series that I saw. Does she do horrible shit later?
Kris 4:13
Well, okay, so let’s, let’s talk about my lists now.
Tara 4:16
Yes, let’s do it.
Kris 4:18
We’ll get to it. So because Alice hits one of my lists, too.
Tara 4:22
Oh no.
Kris 4:23
Oooh, okay. So from the original cast like Bette is like power house everything but I look at- like she’s a size zero. I would totally crush her in bed. And I need her to be the top. So that’s- I can’t. Like Bette and Shane, they’re about the same size.
Tara 4:40
Yeah.
Kris 4:41
Tiny. I can’t do tiny. So I’m with you on the fucking. Helena Peabody. There. 100% Good job.
Tara 4:49
Yeah. Thank you.
Kris 4:50
So to marry though, marry is for sure Carmen.
Tara 4:55
Who’s that?
Kris 4:57
She’s at my top. She’s at my top.
Tara 4:59
Excuse me while I scroll through IMDb.
Kris 5:03
And to kill, I think a lot of people are going to be with me on this one and they and it’s not somebody that’s really on their radar, but once I say it, it’s gonna be like, “Boom. Mind blowing”.
Tara 5:14
Okay.
Kris 5:15
Ready? Ready?
Tara 5:15
Yeah.
Kris 5:15
Tina. Tina. I fucking hated Tina. I hated her then and I hate her in the second- the second season.
Tara 5:23
Did she get worse cuz she wasn’t awful. I don’t remember her being awful.
Kris 5:27
She’s just so whiny. And like- and everybody like catered to her and she was just so so. “Whine whine. Poor me. Whine whine. Poor me.” And yes, I’m sorry. I get that there was an affair. But even before and after, and during the affair, she was just not a very likable person. Like she would- I would have divorced her before the affair. Like certainly.
Tara 5:51
Well, yeah.
Kris 5:52
She’s too whiny. Yeah. So that’s the original cast. So here’s the new cast. Okay, so fuck, everybody’s gonna hate me on this one. They’re going to hate me. I’m gonna say Sophie. I- Whoa.
Tara 6:04
I don’t know.
Kris 6:05
I know you have just flipped me off because I said Sophie to fuck.
Tara 6:11
Why?
Kris 6:11
But you know what, Sophie, just like- she just oozes sexuality. I mean, she’s just she
Tara 6:19
But why is everybody gonna hate you for that?
Kris 6:22
Because she actually had an affair with Finn, who everybody wants me to kill. But that’s not who my kill person is. So it’s this whole thing. And Sophie and Dani were engaged. And on the day of their wedding, this has already happened, so I mean, for sure, if you are going to watch this, and you haven’t started this season, then you need to like, fast forward because I’m about ready to give some stuff away.
So wedding day, they’re up there. Sophie and Dani are up there. They’re getting ready to do their vows. And they’re like, “I love you. I love you. No I love.” And so then all of a sudden Finn, who used to work with Sophie and worked for Alice, rushes in with her backpack. And is like, “I love you. Sophie, I love you. And I think you love me too”.
Tara 7:10
Oh,
Kris 7:11
And so then like all hell breaks loose. So anyway, marry, I would totally marry Dani. It’s 100% my type right there, right there. Little young for me, but I’m just saying and this question she for sure would be my marry. And my kill. Here’s my kill. This is another reason why people hate me.
Tara 7:30
Is it also- is it still?
Kris 7:32
It’s not Tina. I’m tempted, like Tina and Rosie O’Donnell. I know, right? They’re a couple in this new series.
Tara 7:42
What?!?
Kris 7:43
I know. Did I just give way too much away?
Tara 7:46
Oh, I don’t know, it’s been out for a while.
Kris 7:48
It’s been out. It’s out. It’s ongoing. So- but I could do without that relationship. It’s not believable to me.
Tara 7:55
Wait, are you killing Rosie O’Donnell?
Kris 7:57
No, I’m not killing her either. I’m going to kill Alice. Alice is just annoying to me.
Tara 8:04
Oh no. I feel like I chose the wrong person. She was so sweet in the first couple seasons.
Kris 8:14
You know what? She makes me laugh. There are some times when she makes me laugh but she was annoying in the first go around and she’s annoying in this one too. And so I just, I feel like out of all the options. She’s the best for me on that one to kill.
Tara 8:28
I don’t feel like there are great options for marry in the original cast. Because even like- I’m looking at the list again. And I’m like, “Oh, maybe Dana?” No. Doesn’t Dana get weird too?
Kris 8:43
I’m not even gonna ruin it for you on that one.
Tara 8:45
I’m just not gonna marry anybody.
Kris 8:47
You want to know? Um, yeah, so we’re just gonna go- are you ever gonna watch this? These, any of these?
Tara 8:56
I mean, if I do, I’ll forget by then.
Kris 8:58
Okay, are you sure, this is a big one? This is a big spoiler.
Tara 9:01
Yeah, go for it.
Kris 9:04
Okay, so anyway, if you pick Dana, I just want you to know that she dies.
Tara 9:11
Oh, yeah. See, you can’t pick that. That’s terrible. I should have married Helena Peabody. That’s what I should do.
Kris 9:18
Too late! Like, oh, I guess you can.
Tara 9:20
No, I’m gonna marry Helena Peabody and go with the easy answer and bang Shane. No, I’m kidding. I dunno.
Kris 9:31
That’s all right. Okay, we have spent way too much time on this. But it was a fun question. I really enjoyed that. Because it’s one of the questions that, you know- Yeah, we don’t get a lot of this. So that was fun. Okay, and then we got another question by Alexandra Hawkins. “Kris, if you could, if you couldn’t write this genre (romance lesbian fiction), what genre would you write?” And 100% I would write young adult dystopian or dystopian young adult. And you know this, because you and I have talked about.
Tara 9:58
I do.
Kris 9:59
So I kind have this idea for a- for a movie? Would that be nice?
Tara 10:05
Mm hmm.
Kris 10:05
For a book and at some point in my life, I plan to write it and it is exactly that. And there doesn’t necessarily have to be queer characters, but I probably for sure will add some. But I feel like this has potential to be something.
Tara 10:21
It does. And we’re gonna leave all these poor listeners hanging that are probably like (gasp sound) “What is it?” But sorry, pals. You can’t hear it because Kris has to write it.
Kris 10:33
That’s true. But we did have an in-depth conversation about it. So at least you know that it’s still in my head and it’s percolating.
Tara 10:40
All right. I am still- I’m looking forward to seeing that one. When it turns out someday.
Kris 10:46
Yay.
Tara 10:47
So Kris, what have you been watching or reading?
Kris 10:51
Okay, so we all know that whenever I have deadlines, I have the TV on 24/7. And I have the DVR is recording everything that I can’t see live. So first of all, Alone is over. It’s done.
Tara 11:06
Hurray! Did they all die or did somebody win?
Kris 11:11
Okay, so I was really disappointed with the ending. Because they show in the last episode, they show three people, three people and then one person, you know, can’t- they pulled somebody for medical reasons. Okay, so they pulled I don’t know, can I give shit away?
Tara 11:28
I don’t know enough about this show. Is it like? Do people go back and watch it? Or do they? Is it kind of like everybody watches it as it comes out? The big moment is over,
Kris 11:41
I think everybody watches is that it comes out. I don’t think it’ll be a big surprise. So again, if you don’t want to- if you haven’t seen it, and you don’t want to have a spoiler, then fast forward. Anyway, it was down to three people, a woman named Theresa, Bico is a man who he’s 29 years old. He’s great. He like plays kind of grungy music. And he’s like a construction worker and tries to do everything he can to make money for his family and his wife is pregnant with twins. And he was just so low key very cool. And I was rooting for him. So he ended up being the runner up.
Tara 12:20
Oh.
Kris 12:20
And yeah, so the guy who won was, you know, he did great in everything. It’s just, I’m tired of the, you know, the typical this sounds horrible, but, you know, the, the, I don’t know, like, Midwest hunter, you know, truck toting, gun toting American type person, you know, who wins this, and I just, you know, is that horrible to say? That’s bad to say.
Tara 12:34
I don’t know, man. It’s your neighbors.
Kris 12:54
They’re my neighbors. I know for sure. I mean, he did a really good job. It’s just, I don’t- I mean, they should have pulled him. So what they do is medical comes in and they do checks on them. And so they pulled Theresa cuz she- she did lose a lot of weight. She was like, 120 pounds, and she dropped down to 94.
Tara 13:13
Oh, geez. Yeah.
Kris 13:14
Yeah, so that’s pretty bad. So Bico was like- I told you this, when we talked about last time, he gained 45 pounds than lost 70. Then he was down 90 pounds.
Tara 13:24
Oh my god.
Kris 13:24
So they pulled him for medical reasons, too. And the other guy, the guy who actually won, he, I’m trying to think he lost. A lot of- he had no fat on him. Like he was also skin and bones too.
Tara 13:37
Oh, my goodness.
Kris 13:38
So I just feel like, I’m kind of getting to the point where I feel like it’s, it’s not really, it might be staged. I don’t know. I mean-
Tara 13:50
I mean, all reality shows are.
Kris 13:51
Yeah. So I think they pick the winner ahead of time. Because last season, there was a girl like, she was like, good to go. She was like, “I got this”. And she was ice fishing. And they pulled her and so a guy won. Surprise. So I don’t know, I just, I was not happy with- I really wanted Bico to win. He was such a cool cat. I just really liked him. But it didn’t happen. So anyway, I’m done with that.
Tara 14:16
Mm hmm.
Kris 14:17
Because the Walking Dead has started. The final season has started. And so I am now watching that.
Tara 14:26
How’s that?
Kris 14:27
I’m sad. Because it is the last season and- but I know that they’re going to make movies. But still, you know, it’s a waiting game and I hate waiting. It’s not my thing.
Tara 14:38
Yeah, that’s fair.
Kris 14:40
So and that’s why I am also watching the Great British Bake Off.
Tara 14:46
Mm hmm.
Kris 14:46
I think that’s great to have in the background as I’m writing. So I just blew through season six.
Tara 14:52
I love that show. I think the thing that I love about that show and also there’s a Canadian version which I also love, The Great Canadian Baking Show. I don’t know if they have it on your Netflix or not. It’s produced by CBC. The first two seasons has Dan Levy as a host.
Kris 15:12
Oh, cool.
Tara 15:13
Yeah. And he’s lovely. The third season has two of the women from- I can never, oh, Baroness von Sketch, which is a hilarious sketch comedy show out of Toronto. That’s all women, like if you got a chance to watch it. Very funny, but like they were okay as hosts. And now the new hosts are two people I’ve never heard of before, because they’re from like, Second City. I think it also in Toronto, but there’s so good. And the thing that I love about all of the like, all of the Great British or Great Canadian or whatever, all those baking shows, is that like, yes, it’s competitive, and everybody wants to win. But also, so often, you see, like, “I’m actually done, how can I help you?” Like contestants really building relationships and being helpful, and it’s like, you know, the world sucks. And it sucks like a lot, in a number of really difficult ways. But then you watch a show like that and you just think “It’s kind of nice sometimes when people help each other and there’s delicious food”.
Kris 16:16
Right! So here’s what this is bad. I’m gonna admit this, and I hate this because it’s kind of like reading the last page of a book first. So there was one contestant that I just was so annoyed with, in this season. Besides, she couldn’t blend her makeup. So I have issues with that too. But I had to make sure she didn’t win because I didn’t want to waste 10 hours of my life.
Tara 16:44
Sure.
Kris 16:45
And then she wins. So I cheated. And I googled the winner.
Tara 16:49
And did she- is she the winner?
Kris 16:51
I’m not gonna tell you anything, because you’re blowing through those. So I’m not telling you anything.
Tara 16:55
It’s gonna take me a while. I was telling Kris before we started recording this, that I’ve actually gone back to the beginning. But this is my like, I watch it when I’m having lunch at my desk. Like I don’t- I’m not watching it through like kind of all the time, because it’s just kind of a nice when things are, again, things are stressful at work. And then you take a little break at lunch, and you’re like, “Oh, look at them baking their bread. Oh, their little tarts look delicious”. Like it’s just, it’s the perfect balm for any day.
Kris 17:24
You know, and now I’m following some of them on Twitter. And they’re- the prize. The grand prize is like a bouquet of flowers, and a cake stand. That’s it, there’s no money.
Tara 17:34
I think there are rules to contest shows in the UK, because it’s the same thing actually, if you look at RuPaul’s Drag Race. In the US, contestants that win and I think it’s kind of no matter if it’s like regular season or all stars like they win $100,000. And then in Australia, I can’t remember how much they won for Drag Race Down Under but they won money. And then in Canada, I believe they also won money. And then in the UK, they don’t win money, they win a badge, like a little pin that they can put on there. And then they talk about kind of the distinction of that. So I actually think it’s, I think it’s a law in Britain. It’s not- Yeah, it’s very strange to me. If there are any British listeners who understands how this works and feels like emailing us at podcast@queerlyrecommeded.com.
Kris 18:25
We want to know.
Tara 18:27
We want to know, and clearly we’re too lazy to do the searching.
Kris 18:30
I mean, I guess we could Google it. But it’s nice to have people reach out and chat. It’s nice to have a conversation going, so…
Tara 18:39
I agree.
Kris 18:40
We’ll leave it up to the listeners. Let’s see. And the last and of course, I’m watching The L-Word: Generation Q I’m going through it with everybody. So we’re on this journey together. So what about you, Tara, what have you been reading and watching or playing?
Tara 18:56
Well, speaking of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season Six. Yes, I am still watching that religiously. I would say at this point. Watching RuPaul’s Drag Race is the only thing I do religiously. And all season long as contestants have been packing up their stuff and they’re about to leave the work room. Every episode, RuPaul pops up on the screen and says, “Hey, (drag queen name) this season, there’s a game within the game. Do you want to play?” And so all season, everybody’s been saying, “Okay, what is this game within a game? When are we going to find out what it is?” And they even got all the way down to only having four contestants left. They have their top four.
Well, the game within a game was revealed and I have to say I really really liked how they did it. So typically on All Stars is always some kind of a way for a contestant to make their way back on and it’s usually like, they’ll pit all the eliminated queens versus all the queens that are still in play, and they’ll do some sort of a competition thing so that like an eliminated queen can come back. And one of the current queens has to leave. But again, like I said, they got from like, I can’t remember how many they started with if it was like 12, or something like that, but they got all the way down to four. So to me, that kind of a structure didn’t make sense. And it turns out what they’ve been doing all along in the background is lip sync battles.
And so they took the first two eliminated queens, and they had to lip sync against each other. And then the one who went on- the one who won went on to do the next Lip Sync Battle against whoever with the new eliminated and so on and so forth. It was spectacular. And there actually ended up being one queen, Silky Nutmeg Ganache, who, because she was the third one eliminated, she made it all the way to the end.
Kris 20:55
Nice, nice.
Tara 20:57
And it’s like she, she had some incredible gags that she did like with props and stuff. So the first time she lip syncs, she did it to the song Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper. And as she’s doing her thing, and she’s up against Jiggly Caliente who did fine, like she was okay, but like Silky Nutmeg Ganache, as she’s saying, she starts pulling things out of her cleavage, and she pulls out like a tumbler glass. And then she pulls out a little baggie of ice. And then she pulls out some kind of like juice or soda or something like that. And then she pulls out a bottle of Crown Royal, mixes herself a drink, starts drinking it and has her hand continue doing the lip sync for her in time to the lyric.
Kris 21:48
I love it.
Tara 21:50
Or the one that you can actually see anybody can go look for this on YouTube, but because they put it on the RuPaul’s Drag Race YouTube Channel. So she showed up for one of the lip syncs. It was supposed to be against A’Keria C. Davenport who basically just said, “Nah, I’m not doing it. I’ve done all I need to do here. I don’t want to risk getting my heart broken again”. And Silky said, “Here’s the thing, I take this really seriously. And I really feel like if I get to that end, I want to feel like I’ve earned it all the way. To me, this is like any Maxi challenge. I want to do the lip sync”. And RuPaul said, “All right, what the hell go for it”.
And it’s to, you know, queer anthem Barbie Girl. And when she came out, she had her face covered. And this like, lime green to the floor, some kind of a jacket. And when the music starts, she pulls this thing off of her face, and she’s to the side and she’s singing to it, and starts opening the jacket. And then as soon as the- because it’s a song with two parts, right? Like, there’s the girl singing and then there’s the man. And then as soon as the man goes, she turns around and it’s a half and half costume. She has like a man on one half and a woman on the other half. And so this whole thing is her turning back and forth the whole time. It’s just- I was howling. It was so funny. I don’t think I’ve ever seen RuPaul laugh that hard at a lip sync in the whole history of the entire show. Like it just gave me so much life. I ended up showing it to one of my kids later who thought it was the greatest thing ever and demanded to watch it again two more times in a row.
So yeah, again, All Star Season Six might be my favorite All Star season, which I know can be controversial. But I don’t know the challenges have been really interesting. The contestants have actually gelled really well together. I enjoyed all the previous ones too. But this one is just really doing it for me. And then, in terms of what I’ve been playing, there’s a new game that came out that as soon as it was announced, I don’t actually think they had- if they did have a lot of pre promo I entirely missed it. I know there was a Kickstarter for it that I completely missed. But I had three people reach out to me and say, “Hey, you’re gonna want to play this game”. And I was like, “Okay, I get it”.
And it’s called Boyfriend Dungeon. I played it on my Switch. I believe it’s available on Steam. I know it’s on Game Pass for the Xbox. And if it’s there, I’m guessing it’s probably on PlayStation, but I don’t know for sure. And I’m sorry if that’s not true. It comes out of an indie studio called Kitfox games who I’ve never heard of before, but I hope get all good things because I had a lot of fun playing it. Boyfriend Dungeon is a game that has like two genres in one. It is like a dating sim, and a dungeon crawler. And the idea is that As you’re kind of going through and crawling dungeons, you find weapons and these weapons are also people. So there are people that can shape shift into weapons that have special powers. But also you can date all of them.
Kris 25:14
I’m gonna date my axe.
Tara 25:16
The axe is the only one you can’t actually date in this game. Which is so funny. Well and I was looking forward to dating him because he’s this like really big, sweet, beefy dude, that to me looks like a reject from Dream Daddy. He just like so reminds me of the fat dad in Dream Daddy, which also is a queer game that if you have not played it, you should play that game. We could talk about that more in a future episode, if anybody wants to hear more about it. But in this case, you start off with a sword, who is Isaac, and he’s black and has kind of a bad relationship with his dad who’s a total asshole. But Isaac has started his own organization, basically for wealth redistribution, which is pretty cool. Like it’s a very, it’s a very socially aware game. And then the next one you find is- I think it’s the dagger. Well, there’s, you basically get three kind of right at the beginning and then- So one of them is a dagger. Her name is Valeria. She is an artist. She is kind of like, cynical and kind of like, she looks like somebody who would have been a really big fan of the grunge movement in the 90s. She’s pretty cool. And then there’s also Sunder. He’s some kind of- What kind of sword is he? A scimitar I think? And then along the way you find like a lightsaber that’s actually also a Kpop Star.
Kris 26:42
I love that.
Tara 26:43
And a sai, that’s also a non binary magic user. And because they’re non binary I don’t- I don’t- what is the gender neutral word for like a witch or a wizard or whatever? I don’t know if there is one.
Kris 26:59
Is like…magician, will that cover it? No, because this is more spells and stuff. So yeah. Wizardly witchy. A witchy wizard?
Tara 27:11
Yeah, I don’t know. There’s also a cat that is brass knuckles. You cannot date the cat also. You can makes friends with the cat.
Kris 27:22
Okay.
Tara 27:22
Like the cat will love you as like an interaction between a pet and it- but it’s not- you do not have a romantic relationship with the cat just for the record,
Kris 27:31
Or the axe. I’m out.
Tara 27:33
For the axe which is disappointing but I hope is indicative of a future expansion pack. And so some of the things that I liked about it is just like again, how inclusive it is. There- you know there are people of color in the main cast. There’s a woman, there’s men, there are non binary characters. There’s actually more than one non binary character, there’s another one Sawyer, who is….what kind of weapons Sawyer? I can’t remember.
Kris 27:59
So like do you just say like, like a “Wonder twin powers activate” turned into your dagger? How do you get them to be the weapon?
Tara 28:05
So you meet up at a dungeon. And then when you get there, you choose which weapon you’re taking into the dungeon. And then they’re automatically in that shape. But then when you’re in there- so the one dungeon is actually the local mall, and you’re fighting. It’s interesting, the monsters that you’re fighting, they say is a manifestation of your own personal fears. And so you have a fear of connection. And that’s, oh shit, I forget what all those things are. So I’ve been more focused on like the dating side of it. The fighting is still fun, and it’s fine. And you get materials that you can use to craft clothing, and then gifts that you give to the people that you’re dating and whatever. The other things that I actually really like about the gameplay is some choices that they’ve made, again, to build in more inclusivity.
And the first thing there, there are kind of three things there. The first is that they actually have a content warning. And the content warning says: this game may include references to unwanted advances, stalking and other forms of emotional manipulation, play with care. And so I like that that gives people a choice, whether they actually want to engage or not. The next, the thing that comes up immediately after that is they say something about how like there are a lot of text messages in this game. And actually, some of the text messages come from a character called Mom, if you would prefer not to receive those, let us know now and you don’t have to receive them. And I thought that was a really cool choice. Knowing that so many people have really fraught relationships with parents and maybe they don’t want to be reminded of a parental relationship, even if it is one that is very supportive and good. And so I thought that was a good choice.
And then the other one is that when you’re choosing your clothes to go out in, they have options for hats but they also have an option for a turban and then they have an option for a head covering for women, and you can change your gender at any point, like you can change your name at any point, you can change your gender in the options there are- it’s pronoun based, so you can choose between he/him, she/her, they/them. You never get locked into any of it, you can change your hairstyle at any point, you can change your eye shape at any point, like, I thought it was a really cool- And as I’ve been playing, I do shift the gender here and there just because to see and it’s really cool to see how all the characters just kind of roll with those choices. And so I’ve had a lot of fun with that. But then I thought maybe you and I could talk about some of the controversy tht has come up about this game, as I know you haven’t played. But I feel…
Kris 30:43
When I played video games, it’s like you played to get to the end, there was no, “I’m gonna change into, you know, a suit and tie and I’m gonna drink a martini with dagger”. I mean, it’s, it’s it was just like, “I’m fighting, I’m getting to the end”. And that’s it, like so. So this sounds a lot more engaging, more time consuming, maybe, but on a pleasurable level.
Tara 31:06
It is. But the thing that I find a little sad, and I kind of understand it to a certain extent, but there’s been a lot of controversy around that content warning, because there is stalking in the game for sure. There’s a character called Eric, who is a total creep. And yeah, he owns a weapon store. And he believes that forged weapons are better than these weapon-human hybrids. And the way he talks about that comes across pretty similar to racist people and how they talk about-
Kris 31:43
Oh, so Eric, like lives down the street from me?
Tara 31:46
He might.
Kris 31:47
Right.
Tara 31:47
Yeah. But there has been a lot of backlash and people saying, first of all, that the content warning was not adequate. Which to be honest, I was shocked that there was a content warning at all. I’ve never come across a content warning like that. I’ve only seen the ESRB ratings, which tend to say like, oh, it contains things like either gore or nudity or swearing or whatever. So again, like I was pleasantly surprised, but okay, I mean, a content warning, I think is easy enough to beef up because you’re just changing language and Kitfox has said that they’re going to update the warning to make it more clear. The one that I found especially appalling is that there were calls for them to remove that content entirely.
Kris 32:34
That’s ridiculous. I mean, I understand that people want to protect, like, especially children or teens are playing this. But I mean, how is that any different than Grand Theft Auto that came out like 20 years ago, or whenever and the things you could do there? You could kill people, rape people, you can like burn things and run over people? It’s just, I mean, how is that?
Tara 32:56
And this was so much gentler than all of that. And honestly, like, if you took him out of the game, he’s the main- he is the villain. Like how, what? And there were even people that were harassing the guy who did the voice acting for the villain, which is so sad. And so I just wonder there- it sparked a conversation, and this is where I’d love to get a take from you, about why is it that indie creators or smaller studios, or- and this is true in other spaces as well, right? TV, film, writing? Why is it that creators with less power that are catering to queer audiences get held to a higher standard than mainstream creators? Do you have any any thoughts on that?
Kris 33:48
I think it’s a form of bullying. And I think smaller is a lot easier to- they’re more accessible. And if we’re going to, like, you know, bring something up. It’s kind of like bullying, you know, you bully the little person. And, you know, you don’t want to bully the giant because you’re gonna get crushed. So maybe it’s maybe it’s just like, people need to pick on things. And they go with the smaller, because it’s easier. They’re more attainable. They’re I don’t know. That’s what I’m thinking because that’s how I see it.
Tara 34:19
Yeah, I think it’s definitely possible and I don’t, I don’t-
Kris 34:23
Or maybe because it’s queer.
Tara 34:25
Well, and it’s queer people who are making the calls for it often as well. It makes me think about Happiest Season, which I haven’t seen yet and I will, I will see it.
Kris 34:35
Yes, yes, we talked about this.
Tara 34:37
We’re not gonna announce the reasons yet but I will see it for reasons. People who have been paying attention to this feed might be able to figure it out by looking at the episode name. But it just reminds me a little bit of the conversation that happened around that because I know a lot of people found it incredibly problematic because of the way the one girlfriend treats the other girlfriend ,or lets her family treat her. I can’t remember any of their names. But basically how Kristen Stewart’s character is treated. There were a lot of people that were like, no that there was like gaslighting and abuse and she should probably leave her girlfriend. And then there were a lot of other people that were saying, “But we should celebrate this because how else are we going to get more queer content?” And I feel like that’s almost the opposite reaction to what’s happened with Boyfriend Dungeon. You know what I mean? It’s like this. And I think it is what you say like there is that level of accessibility. Like, well, you’re small. So you’re gonna see my email, or you’re gonna see my tweet. Yeah.
Kris 35:41
Raging at night. Yes.
Tara 35:44
Well, I recommend Boyfriend Dungeon. The reason it’s not an official recommendation for me is that to be honest, I found a couple of the people that you can date in the game. kind of boring.
Kris 35:57
Like life? Yeah.
Tara 35:58
Yeah. Like it’s not, which is also fine. Like, and also, anybody from Kitfox is listening. Overall, I really did love and enjoy the game. I do recommend it. Just because there were a couple characters that didn’t do it for me doesn’t mean that they don’t do it for other people. And that’s fine. And so I think, you know, if you’re, if you’re looking for a fairly short game to play, it’s, I think it’s about eight hours. And honestly, I’ve played it through twice now. So I enjoyed it enough to play it again.
Kris 36:28
Nice.
Tara 36:28
Go get it. Well, Kris, what is your recommendation this week?
Kris 36:37
Okay, so I have a little story to tell before I just go on out and say what I’m recommending this week. So here’s a childhood secret. So when I was little, I really thought that I had special blood.
Tara 36:50
Okay.
Kris 36:51
So here’s why. I never caught any childhood diseases. Measles, mumps, chickenpox, and never. My sister had them all. And so the doctors back in the day would say, “Put your children in the same bed, let them sleep together so they both catch it”. And so that’s what my mom did. So- and I never caught anything. I never caught anything.
Tara 37:15
Wow.
Kris 37:15
So I was thinking, you know, I wonder if I was like, “Am I special?” I mean, I am but, but I was thinking, “Is my blood special, you know?” And then and then like, it became about money. Like maybe I could sell my blood? Like-
Tara 37:34
I love you.
Kris 37:35
You know, this is little me. So yeah, you know, I was thinking like, maybe I could sell it but then wouldn’t people want to kidnap me and want my blood? Because it’s, it’s able to help people. But then, could I ever go to the grocery store again, without fearing for my life? So these are things like, like, this is in my head like episode, you know, 4,000,814 this is this is the episode that’s in my head. So when I saw the movie, The Old Guard, which is a horrible name, by the way, available on Netflix.
Tara 38:08
It’s the name of the comic.
Kris 38:10
I know, but it doesn’t mean it’s good. I’m just saying. It’s on Netflix, and it’s directed by Gina Prince Blythewood. And I was all in because the the blurb, the movie blurb, plus, Charlize Theron. I mean, stop right there. I mean, right.
Tara 38:30
Also Charlize Theron’s biceps.
Kris 38:33
Like all of her. All of her.
Tara 38:39
I know.
Kris 38:41
So I mean, so that movie reminded me of when I was a little kid, and I thought that my blood was special. Because so here’s the blurb. Here’s the blurb, I’m gonna read it.
Tara 38:49
Okay.
Kris 38:50
“A covert team of immortal mercenaries is suddenly exposed and must now fight to keep their identity a secret, just as an unexpected new member is discovered.” Okay, so the immortal mercenaries, quote, unquote, they look like regular people. You know, they don’t look like the normal superheroes we see, you know, through the Avengers or whatever. They don’t have costumes, they don’t have alter egos. Andy is Charlize. She’s the leader of this pack. There’s, there’s a four pack, it’s four pack. Nicky and Joe are just normal dudes you’d see on the street and just be like, “Hey, what’s up?” You know, like, nothing is special about them. They’re just normal guys, but they’re lovers. Like they’re lovers. It’s so adorable. And then there’s another guy. He goes by- His name is Booker but he also goes by Sebastian and those three guys plus Charlize, they are the Old Guard, and they’re only hundreds of years old. So we know that Andy’s the oldest and we know she’s 1000s and 1000s of years old, but we don’t know really how old. So I actually googled it, I cheated. And she’s like 6700 and something years old.
Tara 40:06
That’s pretty old. Age gap!
Kris 40:09
Age gape. Yeah, that’s a big age gap. So you know, it’s so- you get the queerness of the two main characters, the two guys that are in this group, and it’s just so loving and sweet. And, and just how they work as a group. They’re just so smooth, there’s so much respect and trust within their group. They just know what each other is going to do. Because they’ve been working for years, hundreds of years together. So this is kind of how it starts off, you know, a CIA agent gets in touch with Andy, and actually gets in touch with the Old Guard and tells them they need to go save a group of children in South Sudan. So they go and they’re ambushed. And so they get away. But yeah, because like, the opening scene is like, the first five minutes of this movie is like, super action packed. It’s amazing. I mean, if you’re into action packed like I am, I love it. So they get out of it. They they- I’m just gonna say they get out of it. And so they go to find out who’s behind this, like, who ambushed them, why? So they want to find out why. So it turns out this CIA agent, he made a deal with Big Pharma to capture the Old Guard and bring them in so they could use the blood, like figure out their DNA.
Tara 41:31
Terrible. Terrible.
Kris 41:32
And he made that decision because he lost his wife. And he’s thinking that Big Pharma is gonna use it for good. And of course, they’re not because it’s Big Pharma.
Tara 41:42
No, has he heard of them?
Kris 41:44
Really? Hello. And so, at the same time, you know, Andy’s figuring out she’s not healing as, as she used to. And they’re not really immortal. Like, they become mortal without any warning. Yeah, so that’s, that’s kind of interesting. That sort of happens. And at the same time, they’re all getting visions of another immortal, like, it’s in their heads when they’re like, you know, kind of drifting off and all sudden, they like, wake up and like, “Oh, I saw this person”. And you know, “I see dog tags”, and you’re not quite sure who it is. And it turns out that there is a, there’s a marine named Nile Freeman. And she gets her throat slashed on a mission somewhere. And I don’t know if it’s Afghanistan, but heals immediately. And that freaks everybody out. I mean, her neck is slashed, she is dead, bloods pouring up. And then all of a sudden, she’s up and running, and there’s nothing on her neck. And so people are freaked out by that.
So then Andy goes in and kind of kidnaps her, you know, apparently, everything I watch is about kidnapping.
Tara 42:42
As you do.
Kris 42:44
Exactly. And said, “Look, I’m sorry, but this is your life now. We don’t know why people are picked. You know, we don’t know any of this”. And Nile is like, “Yeah, no, I don’t want to do this”. And Andy’s like, “I’m sorry, but this is your life now. You have to say goodbye to everybody you know”, and, and so and then you realize, like, like, think about it. Like if you are 1000s of years old. jow many times do you see people you love die?
Tara 43:09
Oh, yeah.
Kris 43:10
Yeah. So you can’t have any contact with your family. You just have to move on and live your life now. So they, I think that there are two main queer storylines. So we have Nicky and Joe that’s real obvious and sweet. And they protect each other. And there’s a scene where the henchmen of Big Pharma, you know, they’re holding them down. And Joe says, here’s a quote, quote. They’re just being mean guys. And so then he’s like, “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s more to me than you could ever dream. He’s the moon when I am when I’m lost in darkness”. So it’s like this really heartfelt thing and the guys are like, “Oh, okay”. And so it’s just it’s beautiful. And like it’s, it’s, it’s celebrated. Their love is actually celebrated throughout the movie, and like, nobody really says anything negative about it. That’s one relationship. The other relationship is between Andy and another immortal named Quinn. But here’s what happened. So like, they have this super close friendship. And there’s a scene-
Tara 44:18
Just gals being pals?
Kris 44:21
Yeah.
Tara 44:21
Immortal gals being pals.
Kris 44:24
That is a new bumper sticker. So Andy whisper- you know, you see them they’re fighting together, and they’re like laughing and giggling. And there’s a scene where Andy whispers in her ear, and we don’t really know for sure that there’s a queer ship there. But my little gay heart says “Yes, they actually had an affair or lovers or whatever”.
Tara 44:41
I’m pretty sure it’s canon in the comics.
Kris 44:44
Oh, is it canon?
Tara 44:45
I’m pretty sure it is.
Kris 44:48
Really?
Tara 44:50
Mmmhmm. I can text the comic expert. He’ll probably text us back.
Kris 44:58
Well, uh, at least I think Quinn, I mean, I think I’m pronouncing it right. But so they capture- like, I think it’s like during witchcraft time, when witches were big. 1600s? I don’t know when this time is, but they capture them. They say they’re witches and they separate them and they put Quinn in an Iron Maiden and drop her into the ocean. She searches, Andy searches for her for centuries, but then gives up and she kinda is having a conversation with Nile and she like, “I never forgive myself for giving up”. So I recommend this because it is a low key genuine superhero movie, where the heroes don’t want to be recognized. Y’know, they’re just good people out to help people. And I found out- I just found out that there’s a sequel coming out.
Tara 45:46
Yeah, I know. I’m excited about that, too. Well, I’m hoping that that’s where that subtext about Andy and Quinn becomes text.
Kris 45:58
Well. Let me tell you something. So you watch, you know, you’re like, “Oh, that was a good movie”. You know, they show some of the credits and all sudden, boom, there’s one of those secret scenes.
Tara 46:07
Mm hmm.
Kris 46:08
There’s a secret scene and Quinn is back. She shows up and Sebastian/Booker’s apartment in Paris. And that was the end. So you know, we’ll find out for sure. If maybe the relationship was smoochy smoochy.
Tara 46:27
And maybe Charlize Theron will make out with her in a future movie.
Kris 46:29
That’s what I’m hoping, if not I’m always available.
Tara 46:35
That’s right. You can call Kris Bryant at one….
Kris 46:41
So that was my recommendation for this week, or that is my recommendation.
Tara 46:45
I love your recommendation. It’s such a fun movie, like a super, super fun movie. And you told me- we were texting last night. And you said that was what you chose. And I was simultaneously so happy that you chose it. And so bummed out that I didn’t have time to watch it again before this because it’s just that much fun. Like it was such a wonderful unexpected surprise, I think.
Kris 47:12
Right? Right. And to have, you know, queer rep up front, main characters, big roles, you know, they quote unquote, die, but they come back several times. So we’re gonna kill off queer, you know, characters, at least let them be able to come back several times.
Tara 47:30
That is what we want. Give the queers what we want, please and thank you, Hollywood.
Kris 47:36
So what about you, Tara, what is your recommendation for this week?
Tara 47:40
Okay, so the reason why I could not watch the Old Guard last night is because I was finishing up my recommendation for this week. And this is a book that I learned about from Jamie Hunsaker, when she sent in that list of FF romances with trans leads. And she said- it was the one, Fake It by Lilly Seabrooke, and you remember how she said, “And there’s this book coming out soon.” And I got a chance to beta read it, and it’s great. And I said, well, then I’m gonna preorder it. And then I forgot that I pre ordered it. And then I got an email from Amazon that was like, “Heyyo, here’s this book you ordered”. And I was like, “Oh, shit. Way to go Past Tara. Thanks for doing me a solid.” And it’s wonderful.
Kris 48:27
Nice.
Tara 48:28
So yes, it is called Fake It by Lily Seabrooke. And it is about, obviously, two women falling in love, as it’s a lesbian romance. But it’s about Avery who, you know, she’s opened her dream restaurant, it all takes place in this place called Port of Andrea. My only complaint about this book is that I don’t know where in the world Port of Andrea is. I get that it’s probably a fake place. But is it? Is it American? British? I don’t know. I’m guessing it’s one of those two, maybe it’s somewhere else in Europe. And I just don’t know, like, I don’t know. And I want to know, somebody tell me what country this is set in please.
But Avery, you know, she really had a dream. She’s worked in kitchens previously. And it’s kind of now is her time to have her own upscale restaurant. This is where she’s wanting to have it. She had moved there previously with a girlfriend and that relationship didn’t work out. But you know, she just really fell in love with the place. And that’s where she wanted to like establish her name within the culinary world. But kind of right at the very opening this guy walks in and he’s like a famous chef, Mike Wallace. And he basically says, “Hey, your place is pretty great here. But what if you sold it to me because I’m doing this new like restaurant collective thing?” And she’s like, “Wow, you’re an asshole. Pound salt. Get the fuck out of my restaurant”. Well, she doesn’t. I mean, she doesn’t say it quite like that. But she does end up telling him, “I hope the butter-” because she gave him like, some kind of some food. “I hope the butter gives you diarrhea”. I was like, “Yay I like you already.”
Then we have our other love interest who is Holly Mason. She’s a celebrity chef. She has a show, a TV show where she basically goes in and helps restaurants turn themselves around. But it’s, you know, she’s getting kind of bored and people are getting bored with her show. It’s feeling kind of stale. And even worse, Mike Wallace, that same dickhead is her ex boyfriend. And he’s been trying to make these backdoor deals with the folks that run the show to steal the show from her. He wants to be the host of the show. Yeah, that guy’s a real fucking prick. And I’m very happy with what happens to him in the end.
But Holly’s agent Tay, who is non binary has a solution because Tay hears about what happened with Avery. Because after Avery tells him to pound salt, there’s a whole bunch of smear articles that come out. There’s a whole bunch of like really shitty reviews and like really, like just lies and stuff like that. Yeah. And so Tay notices that this is happening. And she’s like, “Hey, I have an idea. What if you go take this restaurant and turn that one around?” Like, we’ll cancel the restaurant you’re set to do for this next season, you’ll come into this one. And Holly’s like, “Okay, but then the thing that Tay doesn’t tell Holly or Avery- and Avery has looked up to Holly forever, of course, right? Because this show has had like six seasons. Holly is gorgeous. What more could you want.
But what Tate doesn’t tell them is that she’s going to put a story out to the media that they’re dating. And so it’s a fake relationship romance, and they end up quite liking each other and then realize they have some really good chemistry. And then it goes from like, “Okay, okay, so our relationship is fake. Neither of us really wants a relationship,” because Avery, you know, is still hurting from the end of her last relationship. And Holly just has like, I don’t know, relationship issues or whatever. But they say, “But what if we were friends with benefits? Like surely, surely we can just bang and that will be fine.”
Kris 52:27
Cause there are no emotions there. Yeah.
Tara 52:28
Right? Right. And then they make this strict, like, “We only kiss when we’re going to have sex” and it’s like, well, I have a lot of sex. And it’s, you know, where do they go from there? Can they actually keep it to just a friend with benefits thing? Can they take down this colossal dickhead? What can they do about all that? And it’s lovely. They are so freakin cute together. Holly in a lot of spots really reminds me of Ted Lasso, Roy Kent’s girlfriend? Keely! Keely.
For some reason, like, it really reminded- the way she talks in some bits kind of remind me of Keely and the way she like, builds people up and how straightforward she is, and all that. So I kind of quite liked that. And I guess she’s my celebrity casting for there. I don’t have a celebrity casting for Avery at this point. But I liked seeing how they each built each other up in different ways. And the thing I forgot to mention about Avery too, is that she’s very much a fake it till you make it kind of person. And so she’s very, like, power of positive thinking, positive self talk all the time, the people around her like, “What are you doing? Why are you saying this? Your restaurant is a shambles.” And she’s like, “Yeah, but it’s gonna be amazing. Like, I’m just gonna put it out there, and it’s gonna manifest and the universe is gonna bring it back”. You know what? She is right.
I’m not saying that I’m going to adopt that in every area of my life, but I love that she’s right for herself. Now, like I said, this is a book where one of the leads is trans. And that lead is Avery. And I think the thing that I really, I enjoyed about it, and it’s something that is mentioned in the author’s note. And frankly, even if it had been a book about trans experience, I would have enjoyed that as well. But it is a book about a character who happens to be trans or it has a character who happens to be trans. This is not a story about her trans experience.
And I think the thing that I love about that is that there should be more romances like this, just as we’ve been saying that there should be more FF romances with bi characters where it’s no big deal that they’re bi, absolutely should be the same with trans characters. There should be more with ace characters and I so loved- and it was like- it wasn’t just a mention at once kind of thing like we did get a little bit more, like we got to learn about a little bit about her transitioning experience and what that was like for her but like, it’s a little bit of her character journey, but it’s not all of what her character is about. And so yes, first of all if you like fake relationship stories, if you like, friends with benefits stories that fail spectacularly into love, if you like stories that are set in the restaurant world, if you are looking to find a romance with a trans lead in it, go get Fake It. It’s so freakin cute. I really yeah, it was such a delightful find. And also if you like comeuppances for bad dudes?
Kris 55:42
Yes.
Tara 55:43
Also good.
Kris 55:45
Sounds excellent.
Tara 55:47
So that is all for this episode. Thank you so much for joining us. If you’ve enjoyed the show, please hit subscribe whatever your podcast listener is just so you get notified whenever we have new episodes. If you have a friend that you think would like this show, please also tell them about it because who wouldn’t love to get more good queer content recommendations in their ears?
Kris 56:09
Exactly. Or if you want to connect with us on your favorite social media sites just look for queerly recommended on Instagram Twitter and Facebook or email us at podcast@queerlyrecommended.com. Goodbye everybody.
Tara 56:23
Bye.
Kris 57:02
Hey every- Fuck. Fuck that. Okay.