RuPaul’s Drag Race: Who Will Win Season 8?

Okay, so Bob The Drag Queen has been sort of cut out of this group photo. The “purse first” pose, she is there (right hand side). Here we are again, only this time, the decision will be a nail biter. This year’s queens weren’t all underwhelming, but a few were just there and they just didn’t pop. If Acid Betty wasn’t such a bitch, she would’ve had a better shot at making the final three. Robbie Turner was the weakest Seattle queen to ever appear on the show. Cynthia Lee Fontaine was entertaining, but she was so not self-aware. She might even win Miss Congeniality.

Last year, I was wrong about Ginger Minj taking the crown. Honestly, Violet Chachki winning was a surprise. This season’s final three present a similar set of skills as last year’s top 3. Bob is the comedy queen, Kim Chi is the painted for the Gods queen, and Naomi Smalls is Violet Chachki 2.0. Based on this initial analysis, I take the crown out of Naomi’s hands, no offense, but I want a more well-rounded queen to win this year.

I like Bob a lot. She’s funny, clever, and she’s shady. Where she falls short is in glamour. Her looks were good, but I can’t remember a big stand-out runway moment for her. Another aspect which makes Bob attractive is her activism, which is an element not often mentioned on Drag Race. She’s a queen for change, not just dollar bills in the club. If Bob doesn’t win, it won’t matter, she will be in high demand everywhere, but I do give her a slight edge to take the crown.

Kim Chi is this season’s wild card. She has beauty and she has the creativity of a modern artist. On these points alone, she should win. No she’s not graceful, she’s a big girl, but really, that’s all that’s holding her back. Kim Chi also brings the story of hiding drag from her family. Yeah, it will be a photo finish.

Who wins Miss Congeniality? Throw a dart. I’m leaning Chi Chi DeVayne or Thorgy Thor. That’s all I got, I say either Bob or Kim Chi wins…until next year…

 

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Who Will Capture The Crown?

Another season of RuPaul’s Drag Race is almost over and this is truly going to be a coronation for the ages. Why? Because this is the first time in a couple of seasons there is no clear winner. Let’s be honest, with the exception of Jinkx Monsoon’s win two seasons ago, there has never been this much doubt going into the finale.

Since I’ll forget, let’s go ahead and award this season’s “Miss Congeniality”. At first, I was thinking Trixie Mattel, but when Katya was sent packing Top 5 week, I mean come on. She was clearly this season’s most hilarious queen. Her runway look descriptions were priceless.

If Katya had made the top 3, she had a really good chance at winning. However, somehow Kennedy Davenport skated through the entire season when, in my opinion, she should’ve been gone weeks ago. Her bold “Snatch Game” choice of Little Richard, which was brilliant, saved her.

Alas, Kennedy did NOT make the final three. In no particular order, because I have no idea what the hell is going to happen.

Yes, Pearl, flazeda, and the like. If you are going to pick someone who has come a long way throughout the course of the competition, then she should win. She may go down in herestory as the cutest boy out of drag ever.

However, it’s not “RuPaul’s Cutest Boy Race”. I wouldn’t be shocked if she did win; she seems to have a lot of social media support.

Violet Chachki is very young, but very smart in terms of knowing her drag. She’s a true illusionist. I mean, this, dead.

I’d say Violet is the dark horse, and I’m crossing all my fingers, hands, legs, and toes, praying Ginger Minj takes the crown.

Believe it or not, a big girl could win season 7. Ginger is hilarious, savvy, and she knows how to make it work. And she gave us all a new catch phrase.

So, I’m not going to toss a coin, I’m going to break it down this way. Who should win? Ginger Minj. Who will win? Maybe Pearl.

Let’s just pray that rumored season 2 of Drag Race All-Stars comes to fruition.

Pretty Little Withdrawal And A Concussion

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Okay, I realize using the word “withdrawal” may have been a bad choice after what I covered in my last post. By the way, anyone going as a Krokodil victim/user for Halloween?

While everyone was desperately binge-watching Breaking Bad so they could be prepared for the series finale, I chose to binge on a show I had no intention of ever watching. ABC Family’s gold star, Pretty Little Liars. Lord knows I didn’t need ANOTHER show to keep up with, but I don’t regret this choice at all. The only fact I knew reading about the show was that one of the Liars, Emily (Shay Mitchell) is gay. As you know, I crave and I seek out all things lesbian in TV and movies. However, I didn’t watch PLL for three years, but I would keeping reading about it. So about three weeks ago, via my Netflix subscription, I decided to start my binge, and I was hooked, and..I could not stop watching. I don’t know how many times I had to recharge the battery on my tablet; that poor device isn’t even a year old. I would also sneak in some PC and laptop viewings. But then last week, it all stopped. You see, season 4 started this summer. They took a hiatus and now the new season resumes with the now traditional Halloween episode on October 22nd. According to all my searches, I won’t be able to catch up fully on what’s happening and it’s driving me crazy. I’m hoping ABC Family will air a marathon in advance of October 22nd. They better or I will be completely lost.

What I like best about the series is that it takes a twist almost every episode, which it has to if you watch the very first episode. At this point *SPOILER ALERT* I think Alison DiLaurentis is indeed alive. It’s her murder that drives the action and the mysterious revenge plot inflicted upon the Liars. If I’ve learned one thing, be careful who you trust with your secrets especially if you told them to someone you thought was dead. And if anyone knows how I can watch the first 12 episodes of season 4 without having to pay for them, please let me know! I’m obsessed! Speaking of obsessed…

I had been reading about Concussion for over a year. It’s one of those independent films that needed a distributor and it screened at all the big indie film festivals. Last week, it was finally got a very, tiny limited release in theaters, and it was made available on iTunes, and as a Video On Demand. I counted down the weeks to October 4th, and that morning, I immediately purchased Concussion and since I didn’t have to be up and out of bed for a while, I decided to go ahead and watch it. I ended up watching it, oh, six times. And just the other night, I purchased it on iTunes. Yes, I have an old laptop, but I didn’t care, this film is that good.

hollywoodreporter.com

Robin Weigert plays a lesbian housewife who is hit in the head with a baseball by her son and although the term concussion is never used or said in the film, the character’s libido is the most affected area. Weigert’s Abby is suffering from “Lesbian Bed Death” which means her busy wife is either too busy for sex or she has become frigid. Thus the old married couple setttles into a pattern of just being a couple, parents, yet strange bedfellows. So Abby decides she needs to seek satisfaction elsewhere which leads to her new career as a high-end escort for the ladies. The script is smart and Weigert, I hope, will receive multiple accolades for her performance. If you do buy Concussion VOD, it’s $6.99, which is less expensive than a normal movie ticket these days. You won’t regret it!

Random Movie Review: J. Edgar

One of the greatest memes ever!

Okay, this hilarious meme has nothing to do with J. Edgar Hoover or the film bearing his name, but it has a government feel and a sexy feel. But now I think about it, you would have NEVER heard the late FBI director say anything with the term “pussy” in it. That’s a joke, I think.
I had let my copy of J. Edgar from Blockbuster sit around for about a week until I finally decided to watch it last night. By the way, I’m giving up on DVD subscriptions for a while. Who has time? And in the end, I think going to a store or a Redbox is cheaper. Anyhoo, my Dad, a retired social studies teacher, had gone to see this movie and he wasn’t that wild about it. I knew I wanted to see it, but I wasn’t sure what I was going to get. Hoover, who served as FBI director for nearly 50 years, was a man ahead of his time in ways of gathering evidence via DNA and fingerprinting, but he also was known for secret wire taps and a very secret sex life. You know, that whole cross-dressing thing?

Hey sailor! (amazon.com)

There is only one scene in J. Edgar that alludes to Hoover’s fetish. SPOILER ALERT! When his mother dies, Hoover tries on one of her favorite necklaces and then proceeds to put on one of her dresses. And then he collapses into a sobbing ball on the floor. Leonardo DiCaprio is actually quite good as the controversial head G-man, and even better is Armie Hammer as Hoover’s longtime associate and probably lover, Clyde Tolson. Tolson is potrayed as the flamboyant one in the relationship, but he apparently did his share of work for the FBI. He was acting FBI chief after Hoover’s death in 1972 but was soon replaced by Nixon appointee L. Patrick Gray, and then Watergate figure Mark Felt AKA “Deep Throat”.

I found Hoover’s rigid personality a turn-off. The film is basically 75 percent flashback with Hoover dictating his life story to various agents in 1963. A bulk of the film is dedicated to the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and investigation. Hoover embellishes the story as he did with many other portions of his life. Though Charles Lindbergh’s body was eventually found, Hoover’s men arrested Bruno Hauptmann, he was then convicted and, under New Jersey law, put to death.

I’m usually a fan of Clint Eastwood‘s movies, but this one just didn’t flow and there wasn’t enough story about the years between Hauptmann’s conviction and when Hoover is dictating his story. I do applaud Eastwood’s effort to tell a little bit of a love story which Oscar-winner Dustin Lance Black wrote the script. If I was grading this, I would give it a solid C.

Wolf Gang/Flickr

PS, I want Bill Clinton back!

Has Coming Out Lost Its Shock Value?

All right, I had originally intended to blog about something else today, well, last night, but then I wanted to try and save some electricity during the triple digit weather. I will probably still write about what I intended to write about either later (if I’m bored) or tomorrow.

Raise your hand if you’re gay! Um, yes, you the gray-headed fellow (vasofoto.com/Flickr)

For some reason, Anderson Cooper stayed publicly in the closet for what seemed like an eternity, but not today, today he became a gay public figure. However, Cooper’s coming out is not shocking, and mainly because me and billion other people never thought he was in the closet. More importantly, he probably never considered himself closeted. And that’s where the confusion begins. Now don’t lose it, but I’m gay. So I can look at Cooper and say, yeah, and if he never came out, it wasn’t going to be end of the world. However, to many young people, Cooper’s coming out is a big deal. He or she can look at AC360 or Anderson’s talk show now and say, “that man is gay, and I can identify with him”. I can’t wait to see how Cooper’s pal Kathy Griffin handles the news on her new talk show. Their repartee now has deeper meaning or not. At least Griffn can now call Cooper “girlfriend” or refer to him as “she”, pure hilarity! The best Tweet on Cooper? A little jab at CNN’s premature announcement on Obamacare last week:

CNN is reporting that Anderson Cooper is straight

— Fake Times PE (@TimesPublicEdit) July 2, 2012

After I picked myself off the floor after hearing about the Silver Fox, it was reported yet another public figure, this time from the world of sports had decided to come out.

Megan Rapinoe Facebook fan page

Who is this? Megan Rapinoe is a midfielder for the US Women’s National Soccer Team, a team who is heading to London next month with a very good shot at the gold. Although this one isn’t shocking to me, it just might have a bigger impact than AC. Okay, I know, not every female athlete is a lesbian, but the ones who are, a lot of them have stood up and been counted. I now wonder if Rapinoe’s valor will perhaps coax some of her teammates and maybe other female athletes, especially since the Olympics are right around the corner, to follow her lead. I’m going to say, yes. And this means volumes to all the girls out there who do play sports and they might be trying to figure everything out, or they want to come out but are scared. We’ve come a long way since Title IX.

I can argue that it’s not shocking, but it makes me feel closer to people whom I may never cross paths with, we are all bonded, we are all proud!

 

I’m Puzzled By The Secret Life Of The American Teenager “Gay” Story Line

Welcome to post #400, and it only took me over three years to get here. The original name of my blog was “Gay Man Trapped In A Lesbian’s Body” (By the way, all of the posts under the old title are now here) and there is no truer statement to describe me. Now I won’t go as far as Kathy Griffin and call myself a gay man, but I have my moments. 

Is this a Schemmy in the making? (djnaquin76/Flickr)

All right, back the point. It was recently brought to my attention that there was/is a “gay” story line on the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and I totally searched my OnDemand for proof. I heard Molly Ringwald, who stars as the main character’s mother, that main character being Amy Jurgens played by Shailene Woodley, was going to come out of the closet. No harm no foul, however, this channel, which also airs the hit show Pretty Little Liars, and it features a main character who is a lesbian, after all of the primetime programming is over, the 700 Club airs: contractually, it has to air three times a day. Excuse me? Yes, the channel where the Rev. Pat Robertson has spewed some very questionable comments toward the gay community airs at least two shows with gay characters. Don’t tell me I’m the only one who  made the connection. And the main plot line in Secret Life is Amy Jurgens becomes pregnant while in high school and she has to find a way to juggle everything. This season that just ended, Amy and the father of her son, decide to elope instead of getting married on the 4th of July which according to the show is “gay holiday”. We’ll get back to that in a moment. 

“Molly? You in danger girl!” (abcfamily.go.com)

I just want to start out by saying, this is one of the dumbest shows I’ve ever seen. The demographic for the network, which is now in its fifth incarnation, is teenage girls and young women, ages 15-30. I’m sorry, but isn’t that gap a tad too narrow? But when I think about, I think the demo is perfect for this particular show. I watched the episode before last night’s season 4 finale and I noticed the word “gay” was said…A LOT! And it doesn’t offend me, but does it really take that many times for the writers to get their point across? So I conducted an experiment with last night’s season 4 finale, I would count how many times the word “gay” was said. Any guesses? It’s an hour-long show. 

Yep! (brighterorange/Flickr)

85 times! And that doesn’t include references to LGBTQ, lesbians, or once, bisexual was mentioned. Here’s just one example of a ridiculous (and somewhat insulting) tete a tete.

And when Grace decides to experiment with her sexuality in “other ways”, ahem!, she decided to dress like this (I couldn’t find an image from the episode)

Seriously?!?

How stupid do the writers and producers think we are? I felt really dumb after watching this, but…I love Molly Ringwald and I think I may keep watching to see if the writers retract and take her back to straight land. Season 5 starts Monday!!!

Survivor’s Colton Cumbie: The RAREST Gay Republican

And I use the word “rarest” for a reason. Who knew this little old twink from Alabama would be in control of the all-male Manono tribe. Certainly not after the initial men vs. women aka “One World” situation was introduced. At first glance, Colton Cumbie seemed to never fit in with the guys’ tribe, so he would hang out with the girls, yet they finally decided he shouldn’t hang around anymore. I think his fellow dudes made the mistake of underestimating him, and he turned the tide by forming an alliance of other outcasts, including Survivor‘s first little person to ever compete, Leif. Colton is by the far the most flamboyant gay man to ever play the game. Sure, Season 1 winner Richard Hatch may flaunted his nakedness around, but he’s got nothing on Colton. But here’s the kicker, Colton is not only gay and Republican–what is up with that?–he just might be a bigot and a racist. Even if he was brought up with black housekeepers and he’s never had a real job, he’s not afraid to say it, as this week’s volunteer Tribal Council proved. 

It’s totally unfair to form an opinion about someone without getting to know him or her, but Colton made up his mind about stand-up comedian Bill–who is black–by just throwing around a lot of degrading phrases like calling him “ghetto trash” and telling him he needs to get a “real job”. I doubt Colton could throw a stone, but he heaved a hell of a lot of them at Bill. Nevertheless, the Survivor producers have molded Colton into this season’s break-out star/villain. Why do the gays always have to be “villains”? And just because, here’s another look at this week’s historic and bat shit crazy Tribal Council (Courtesy of tv.yahoo.com)

http://d.yimg.com/nl/ytv/cbs/player.html#shareUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ftv.yahoo.com%2Fsurvivor-24%2Fshow%2F47228%2Fvideos%2F28554815&vid=28554815&repeat=0

The episode was titled “Bum-Puzzled” for a reason, well that Jay guy said it, but Oh My God!!!!

My writing may be premature, because apparently next week, girlfriend gets thrown off by a twist, and something tells me either the tribes are merging or at the very least, integrating (no pun intended!)

I also loved when Tarzan had his Tourette’s moment when he went on and on about how race shouldn’t be an issue in this country. Needless to say, I’m entertained and just how despicable will Colton get?  One more parting shot, Colton’s Twitter account. You’re welcome!

GaGaLeaks

Okay, I, no more no less, am ready to hear GaGa’s new masterpiece “Born This Way” (it drops February 13th, if you haven’t RSPV’ed yet GaGa’s official site) and I want to HEAR it rather than read the lyrics.  However, I have to give GaGa props for promoting her single this way; scattering lyrics to different media sources, then today, the whole song was mapped out, complete with producer/songwriter info.  And it’s no mystery the song is being lauded as the next big “gay anthem”, yep, the lyrics totally spell it out.  I will respect those media outlets who are printing the lyrics, but with one exception, the main refrain is “Don’t be a drag, be a queen!”  Oh yeah!  I just think the better marketing would have been to release fragments of the song, plus the lyrics; it would drive the little monsters nuts!  That is all.

Margaret Cho Will Always Be A Dancer!

So it ends…Margaret Cho and her partner Louis Van Amstel have been eliminated from Dancing With The Stars.  Let’s not call foul, even though Bristol Palin was far more ungraceful this week.  This was a big accomplishment for Cho; performing was never a problem in the competition, her will outlasted her abilities.  More importantly, Cho triumphantly returned to the turf of ABC, the network that fired her and canned her hilarious sitcom, All-American Girl sixteen years ago.  So what if her facial expressions annoyed the judges?  That’s who she is, and one should never compromise his or her personality just to please three people who I would personally like to see take on the grueling rehearsals and preparations.  

Cho’s other big accomplishment, trying to draw attention to being yourself.  She looked fabulous in her pride flag dress.  We’ve seen a baffling and disheartening number of gay teen suicides over the past week, and I commend Cho for trying to put forth the issue, even if it was a tiny mention, which I’m sure American scoffed at.  It’s that whole “this isn’t the time or place for that” argument.  Whatever!  Even though I’m not a devoted fan of the show, my money is on Jennifer Grey to take the crown.  That is all.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=gamatrinalesb-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B003VQO50G&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Happy Birthday!

To Ellen DeGeneres…52 today!…I don’t know where to begin on my love of Ellen…it started with some modest stand-up comedy on HBO, moved on to These Friends of Mine later renamed Ellen on ABC…then she came out!…via her sitcom and the world went into a tizzy…”The Puppy Episode” garnered record ratings and a Best Writing in a Comedy Series Emmy for Ellen…however, during this madness, Ellen disappointed me and probably a lot of my fellow ladies when she started dating actress and cerifiable nutbar, Anne Heche…I never saw their relationship as geniune…it was definitely indulgent as Heche directed her then girlfriend in the final vignette of HBO’s If These Walls Could Talk 2 in 2000…at that point, I didn’t really care for Ellen anymore…yes, she went on to star in another self-titled sitcom, The Ellen Show, for CBS, but it just didn’t have the goofiness of her original series…it did have Betty White!…then Ellen vanished for a while…oh sure, she hosted the Emmys, the Grammys, and she would eventually host the Oscars, but her ultimate comeback came in the form of her own talk show, and stay with me…The Ellen DeGeneres Show…the show has won a total of 25 Emmys…and DeGeneres continues to delight the masses, and me, with her rambling, yet clever sense of humor…in just a few weeks, Ellen will venture into new territory, as a judge on American Idol…I’m very excited, but maybe just a tad cynical…I don’t like it when hit shows, although Idol has not raked in its usual ratings at least the last two seasons, shakes things up…don’t even get me started on The L Word…all in all, Ellen will be great and I hope she’s able to completely embrace her new role as a critic aka normal music buying person on the judging panel…and I’m very glad Ellen finally settled down and got married to actress Portia de Rossi…they are uber-cute together…

Ah, sweet love…later!