I was nervous at the start of the challenge. I thought this would be another performance disaster for this crop of drag queens who have no exactly impressed when it comes to putting on theatrical productions. The Shakesqueer episode a few weeks ago was disastrous and I was anticipating a repeat of that carnage. Fortunately, two of the three teams put on something of a good show. And not just a good show but a clarifying show. I think there can't be any doubt as to who the favorites are to be on the final show after this week's episode. On to the rankings!
7.) Miss Fame (OUT) - Rarely has there been a more deserving elimination than Miss Fame. She was the clear weak link, if not in this episode then in general. She had been among the worst queens for three weeks in a row prior to this episode and had shown all the wit of a brick wall. I eagerly anticipate her appearance on a Bravo reality show of some sort, but she is clearly not cut out to be America's next drag superstar. When her turn at lip sync finally came, Miss Fame, who has bitched about everyone else's effort, barely put up a fight. Even a mediocre lip sync might have defeated Pearl's languid effort. I actually thought Ru Paul might send them both home, as she has done in the past. But this time it was only Miss Fame.
5.) (tie) Pearl & Trixie Mattel- It's hard to talk about one without talking about the other. Pearl eliminated Trixie in a lip sync and then brought her back with a spectacular performance last week. Now both seem the least likely to make it into the top three. I don't think either of them have any real glaring weaknesses, but neither of them have shown a real capacity to amaze. They may well outlast one of the other queens here because of their capacity to not screw up but i don't see anyone wanting them for the finale. Pearl this week was completely unremarkable as Divine, one of the more iconic characters in the history of drag, and Trixie seemed to be going through the motions, adding nothing to her scene with Ginger. Both were fine enough to escape elimination but it's not going to be the type of performance that will lead either of them into the finals.
4.) Violet Chachki- I was going to give the bottom remaining queens a three-way tie for fourth place, as they all seem to be of equal quality and clearly below the top three queens. But for you readers I pushed myself. I asked "Who is most likely to break into the top 3 if an upset were to happen?" I think the answer is Violet. Trixie is completely blocked out by Ginger Minj as a comedy queen, and I can't see Ru choosing Pearl over any of the top three queens. Violet, however, has the capacity to amaze and shock under the right circumstances. If I were the top three queens I would definitely prefer to see either Pearl or Trixie in the final four rather than Violet. You can sort of expect what's coming from Pearl and Trixie, but Violet has had potential, she has had some of the better moments on the show so far: the stunning plaid dress in Week 1...the vanishingly tiny corset. She has the capacity to upset.
3.) Kennedy Davenport- Similarly, for the top three, I wondered "Who among the top 3 is most likely to screw up?" I think it's Kennedy. She make me nervous when she forgets her lines at some points, and makes ...interesting clothing choices, like her rooster suit for the "death dress" runway challenge. Overall Kennedy has been very solid throughout and is clearly better than at least three of the remaining queens, but she really inches close to a big mistake at times.
2.) Katya- I actually though Katya outperformed Ginger in this challenge, and outperformed Pearl last week, so she's very hot, but it strikes me that she's probably a slight underdog to win the whole thing. Ginger is such a big personality and Katya is subtle. I think big plays better in a competition like this. So while Katya is my personal favorite, i think we have to slot her slightly behind Ginger.
1.) Ginger Minj- Yeah, gut feeling, I think any watcher of Drag Race has to be thinking that Ginger is the favorite to take the crown. Although I think the race is close, it's hard to imagine Ru choosing one of the other queens over Ginger. She's had the biggest personality and the best story of the competitors. If she continues turning in strong performances she will remain THE FAVORITE.
Friday, May 01, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
RuPaul's Drag Race Power Rankings (Week 8)
Well, I thought that episode was great. It was quite a surprise to see all the old queens come back simultaneously to interact with the new queens, and it retrospectively changed a my opinion of a bunch of them. I think Ms. Kasha Davis showed more than she ever had during the competition, and it's a shame we didn't get to see more of this side of her. I also thought that Max showed himself to be a little....boring.? I still think he was eliminated too soon, but we may have seen the crest of the Max wave. I thought his and Violet's effort was a little ho-hum when a big win was needed. Of course, the big winner this week was Trixie Mattel...but we'll get to that.
8.) Jaidynn Diore Fierce (OUT)- I thought Jaidynn put in quite a good effort during this competition. She stuck around as long as she could have expected to, and knocked out a few good queens in the lip sync competitions. Her lack of imagination on the runway and her pairing with the awful Tempest DuJour finally did her in, however
7.) Miss Fame- Ru protects Miss Fame once again. This is the third week in a row that Miss Fame has placed in the bottom, and Miss Fame still hasn't been made to lip sync for his life. Her inane narcissistic banter is really starting to get on my nerves as well. It's time for Miss Fame to go. With Jaidynn's exit she is the only queen remaining who hasn't one a single challenge, and she hasn't really distinguished herself in any way.
6.) Violet Chachki- Violet is hanging in there and got high praise for his attitude adjustment from Ms. Kasha Davis. I've noticed the change too. However, I can't shake the feeling that Violet is slightly closer to being on the outs than making a big leap into the final three. While Violet has been pretty competent throughout the competition, she hasn't impressed since the very first week. Kennedy was correct to note that the corset thing is getting kind of tired. If that was Violet's big card to play, she should have saved it for the end when it could make an impact in the tough rounds, but, then again, maybe she doesn't have any other cards to play? That's my fear with Violet.
4.) (tie) Trixie Mattel- Trixie made quite the leap back into the competition, not only winning this challenge but one upping Pearl on the runway. Now that Trixie's back, she suddenly seems dangerous where she seem moribund at the time of her elimination. If Trixie can realize her promise as a genuine comedy queen, she'll be a definite threat to get into the top 3. Ginger has shown more talent than Trixie through this competition, but she's also shown signs that the pressure is getting to her a bit. A newly energized Trixie, with nothing to lose, could overtake Ginger in the comedy queen lane if Ginger isn't
4.) (tie) Pearl - Pearl has been spot on since out performing Trixie in their lip sync competition. Pearl has been one of the funnier queens since then, and her growth is reminiscent of Adore Delano last season. Unfortunately Pearl doesn't have the huge singing voice that Adore did, otherwise I think Pearl would already be in the top three. Before we can consider Pearl a serious contender, I think we need to see him nail something on his own.
3.) Ginger Minj- I'm kind of worried about Ginger. Her ability should make her a shoe in for the top three, but her flagging confidence threatens to put her out. I thought she was simply out of it for this competition. While Sasha Belle was one of the worst queens to be paired with, Ginger still should have been able to pull something decent off without getting rattled. I thought Ginger's effort was the worst of the queens. I think it was entirely her fear and self doubt that wrecked her and not her ability.
2.) Kennedy- In contrast to Ginger, Kennedy's best asset is her unflappability. It might just be all the pot. She seems to always be in control of the room. She showed confidence by pairing the queens in a way that way just rather than rawly strategic. Her talent and sense of humor is not quite up to Ginger's but she doesn't seem to get as easily discouraged or rattled.
1.) Katya- Katya is a weak number one, but she is the one I can most envision in the top three. After misremembering her lines in week 2, she hasn't taken a wrong step since, and seems to be the funniest queen in the competition. I thought her runway look this week was hilarious, and of a piece with her sense of humor. Katya's doesn't have Ginger's bawdy one-liners nor does she mug for the camera like Trixie. But Katya has a sense of the subtly hilarious that none of the other queens do. I think she is the most oroginal and, therefore, the favorite at this point.
8.) Jaidynn Diore Fierce (OUT)- I thought Jaidynn put in quite a good effort during this competition. She stuck around as long as she could have expected to, and knocked out a few good queens in the lip sync competitions. Her lack of imagination on the runway and her pairing with the awful Tempest DuJour finally did her in, however
7.) Miss Fame- Ru protects Miss Fame once again. This is the third week in a row that Miss Fame has placed in the bottom, and Miss Fame still hasn't been made to lip sync for his life. Her inane narcissistic banter is really starting to get on my nerves as well. It's time for Miss Fame to go. With Jaidynn's exit she is the only queen remaining who hasn't one a single challenge, and she hasn't really distinguished herself in any way.
6.) Violet Chachki- Violet is hanging in there and got high praise for his attitude adjustment from Ms. Kasha Davis. I've noticed the change too. However, I can't shake the feeling that Violet is slightly closer to being on the outs than making a big leap into the final three. While Violet has been pretty competent throughout the competition, she hasn't impressed since the very first week. Kennedy was correct to note that the corset thing is getting kind of tired. If that was Violet's big card to play, she should have saved it for the end when it could make an impact in the tough rounds, but, then again, maybe she doesn't have any other cards to play? That's my fear with Violet.
4.) (tie) Trixie Mattel- Trixie made quite the leap back into the competition, not only winning this challenge but one upping Pearl on the runway. Now that Trixie's back, she suddenly seems dangerous where she seem moribund at the time of her elimination. If Trixie can realize her promise as a genuine comedy queen, she'll be a definite threat to get into the top 3. Ginger has shown more talent than Trixie through this competition, but she's also shown signs that the pressure is getting to her a bit. A newly energized Trixie, with nothing to lose, could overtake Ginger in the comedy queen lane if Ginger isn't
4.) (tie) Pearl - Pearl has been spot on since out performing Trixie in their lip sync competition. Pearl has been one of the funnier queens since then, and her growth is reminiscent of Adore Delano last season. Unfortunately Pearl doesn't have the huge singing voice that Adore did, otherwise I think Pearl would already be in the top three. Before we can consider Pearl a serious contender, I think we need to see him nail something on his own.
3.) Ginger Minj- I'm kind of worried about Ginger. Her ability should make her a shoe in for the top three, but her flagging confidence threatens to put her out. I thought she was simply out of it for this competition. While Sasha Belle was one of the worst queens to be paired with, Ginger still should have been able to pull something decent off without getting rattled. I thought Ginger's effort was the worst of the queens. I think it was entirely her fear and self doubt that wrecked her and not her ability.
2.) Kennedy- In contrast to Ginger, Kennedy's best asset is her unflappability. It might just be all the pot. She seems to always be in control of the room. She showed confidence by pairing the queens in a way that way just rather than rawly strategic. Her talent and sense of humor is not quite up to Ginger's but she doesn't seem to get as easily discouraged or rattled.
1.) Katya- Katya is a weak number one, but she is the one I can most envision in the top three. After misremembering her lines in week 2, she hasn't taken a wrong step since, and seems to be the funniest queen in the competition. I thought her runway look this week was hilarious, and of a piece with her sense of humor. Katya's doesn't have Ginger's bawdy one-liners nor does she mug for the camera like Trixie. But Katya has a sense of the subtly hilarious that none of the other queens do. I think she is the most oroginal and, therefore, the favorite at this point.
Friday, April 17, 2015
RuPaul's Drag Race Power Rankings (Week 7)
Wellity wellity wellity, this was certainly an eventful week. I will get to the shocking news in a paragraph or two, but there are two items of note that may be interesting to fans of Drag Race. First, RuPaul came out with an app call RuPaul's Drag Race Keyboard that allows you to insert Drag Race emoji's, stickers, and gifs into your texts. If you are friends with me in real life, look for these soon.
ALSO, I was on twitter and noticed an interesting tweet from Bianca Del Rio, last year's winner. In it, she calls Detox, a drag queen from Season 5, her "boo." Does this mean that Bianca and Detox are dating? I looked up "boo" on urban dictionary just to be sure my understanding of boo wasn't mistaken, and it appears that "boyfriend or girlfriend" is the primary definition. Interesting! I wish them the best of luck if this is true. They were both excellent competitors on Drag Race. Now, on to the rankings.
8.) Max (OUT?)- It's a travesty that Max was eliminated this week. You can defend Ru's decision on the margins, but by any consistent strain of logic either Jaidynn or Miss Fame deserved to go. Yes, Max was one of the two worst performers on the Snatch Game, a huge choke, but Miss Fame was quite a bit worse and deserved to be eliminated for his totally uninspired and boring performance. Miss Fame chose a character that Violet also chose, got his way by being able to play that character, and still totally whiffed. It appeared as if they put Jaidynn in the bottom two because of how weak she had been overall, because her Snatch Game performance was not one of the two worst. Yes, she only had one gimmick, but at least she had something. Neither Max nor Miss Fame had anything. So if Jaidynn was included in the bottom two, they had to be considering past performance as part of the judging equation. If that's so, then there's no way Max's strong performance deserved to land him in the bottom two.
Almost immediately after Max's shocking elimination came the announcement from Ru that she had prematurely ejected one the queens. It's clear to me that either Max or Trixie is coming back. Hopefully it is Max, as he is much more promising performer. However, I have a nagging feeling that it is Trixie we will see back. Max was portrayed as a sort of villain on the show recently, and if Ru wanted to keep Max around she could have taken the very easy step of simply eliminating Jaidynn Diore Fierce, which was the obvious move.
There's also a narrative in favor of Trixie: Ru saw how poorly the current cast did at Snatch Game and realized she needed the funny one back. Incidentally, I saw this tasteless but very funny video of Trixie auditioning with her Snatch Game character of Anne Frank . Ru mentioned on the show that Trixie's audition tape, which featured this Snatch Game character was among the funniest he has seen. Thus it makes sense that the Snatch Game was the venue for Ru's reconsideration.
7.) Miss Fame- I have to say, I think Ru is protecting Miss Fame. There is no universe in which Miss Fame didn't belong in the bottom two. The character choice was unoriginal and the execution was worse than that. Also, the scene between Miss Fame and Katya was clearly staged. Notice how the camera was perfectly set up for that scene and captured every moment of dialogue. There is no way that Katya would go to Miss Fame for advice, it's as ridiculous as various people going to the Cookie Monster as a life coach. I think we're being encourage to think of Miss Fame as deeper than she actually is, and so I'm moving her back to #7 as a bit of mild protest.
6.) Jaidynn Diore Fierce- The Raven Simone impersonation was not as bad as I thought it would be, but the runway look was very so-so. I hope Jaidynn can hold on for another week.
5.) Violet Chacki- Violet is just sort of hanging around, she fell into a surprisingly good Alyssa Edwards impression (I think her Donatella Versace would've landed her near the bottom) and continues to impress on the runway. Violet is beginning to remind me of the Rex Ryan Jets whenever they would play the Patriots. At first they seem completely overmatched, but then they just keep hanging around until you realize that, despite everything, the game is actually going their way. I would've thought that Violet would be on her way out by now based on her past performance, but here she is, and she may have an outside chance to make it into the top 3.
4.) Pearl- Pearl might be the one who benefited the most from Max's unceremonious ejection. Now she just has to upset one of the top three to get into the finals. She had a strong week. Her performance in Snatch Game was excellent and her runway look was very good. Kennedy and Ginger have been consistent performers, and I think the world of Katya, but Pearl might have a higher ceiling than all of them. Pearl continues to be the most intriguing one of the bunch.
3.) Katya- I thought her Suze Orman was good but a little disappointing. Her runway look was excellent though. Of all the queens, I'm probably rooting for her the most.
2.) Kennedy- Little Richard was a gamble that improbably paid off. And she has been a good performer all along, although not as consistent as.....
1.) Ginger Minj- Ginger was clearly the best in Snatch Game with her hilarious Adele impression. I'm not even sure why she had to share it with Kennedy. With Max gone this race is Ginger's to lose. Whatever you do, Ginger, don't fuck it up!
ALSO, I was on twitter and noticed an interesting tweet from Bianca Del Rio, last year's winner. In it, she calls Detox, a drag queen from Season 5, her "boo." Does this mean that Bianca and Detox are dating? I looked up "boo" on urban dictionary just to be sure my understanding of boo wasn't mistaken, and it appears that "boyfriend or girlfriend" is the primary definition. Interesting! I wish them the best of luck if this is true. They were both excellent competitors on Drag Race. Now, on to the rankings.
8.) Max (OUT?)- It's a travesty that Max was eliminated this week. You can defend Ru's decision on the margins, but by any consistent strain of logic either Jaidynn or Miss Fame deserved to go. Yes, Max was one of the two worst performers on the Snatch Game, a huge choke, but Miss Fame was quite a bit worse and deserved to be eliminated for his totally uninspired and boring performance. Miss Fame chose a character that Violet also chose, got his way by being able to play that character, and still totally whiffed. It appeared as if they put Jaidynn in the bottom two because of how weak she had been overall, because her Snatch Game performance was not one of the two worst. Yes, she only had one gimmick, but at least she had something. Neither Max nor Miss Fame had anything. So if Jaidynn was included in the bottom two, they had to be considering past performance as part of the judging equation. If that's so, then there's no way Max's strong performance deserved to land him in the bottom two.
Almost immediately after Max's shocking elimination came the announcement from Ru that she had prematurely ejected one the queens. It's clear to me that either Max or Trixie is coming back. Hopefully it is Max, as he is much more promising performer. However, I have a nagging feeling that it is Trixie we will see back. Max was portrayed as a sort of villain on the show recently, and if Ru wanted to keep Max around she could have taken the very easy step of simply eliminating Jaidynn Diore Fierce, which was the obvious move.
There's also a narrative in favor of Trixie: Ru saw how poorly the current cast did at Snatch Game and realized she needed the funny one back. Incidentally, I saw this tasteless but very funny video of Trixie auditioning with her Snatch Game character of Anne Frank . Ru mentioned on the show that Trixie's audition tape, which featured this Snatch Game character was among the funniest he has seen. Thus it makes sense that the Snatch Game was the venue for Ru's reconsideration.
7.) Miss Fame- I have to say, I think Ru is protecting Miss Fame. There is no universe in which Miss Fame didn't belong in the bottom two. The character choice was unoriginal and the execution was worse than that. Also, the scene between Miss Fame and Katya was clearly staged. Notice how the camera was perfectly set up for that scene and captured every moment of dialogue. There is no way that Katya would go to Miss Fame for advice, it's as ridiculous as various people going to the Cookie Monster as a life coach. I think we're being encourage to think of Miss Fame as deeper than she actually is, and so I'm moving her back to #7 as a bit of mild protest.
6.) Jaidynn Diore Fierce- The Raven Simone impersonation was not as bad as I thought it would be, but the runway look was very so-so. I hope Jaidynn can hold on for another week.
5.) Violet Chacki- Violet is just sort of hanging around, she fell into a surprisingly good Alyssa Edwards impression (I think her Donatella Versace would've landed her near the bottom) and continues to impress on the runway. Violet is beginning to remind me of the Rex Ryan Jets whenever they would play the Patriots. At first they seem completely overmatched, but then they just keep hanging around until you realize that, despite everything, the game is actually going their way. I would've thought that Violet would be on her way out by now based on her past performance, but here she is, and she may have an outside chance to make it into the top 3.
4.) Pearl- Pearl might be the one who benefited the most from Max's unceremonious ejection. Now she just has to upset one of the top three to get into the finals. She had a strong week. Her performance in Snatch Game was excellent and her runway look was very good. Kennedy and Ginger have been consistent performers, and I think the world of Katya, but Pearl might have a higher ceiling than all of them. Pearl continues to be the most intriguing one of the bunch.
3.) Katya- I thought her Suze Orman was good but a little disappointing. Her runway look was excellent though. Of all the queens, I'm probably rooting for her the most.
2.) Kennedy- Little Richard was a gamble that improbably paid off. And she has been a good performer all along, although not as consistent as.....
1.) Ginger Minj- Ginger was clearly the best in Snatch Game with her hilarious Adele impression. I'm not even sure why she had to share it with Kennedy. With Max gone this race is Ginger's to lose. Whatever you do, Ginger, don't fuck it up!
Thursday, April 09, 2015
Ru Paul's Drag Race Power Rankings (Week 6)
Well no Snatch Game this week. I officially give up predicting which episodes come next! Anyway, speaking of predictions, I hope that the readers of this blog noticed that the bottom three in the challenge this week exactly matched my bottom three after last week's episode, and the top three matched positions 2-4 with Max being stuck on an island by himself (more on that later). I hope this convinces skeptical readers that this blog means business!
This week's challenge was an interesting one and I found the whole show and the Untucked episode to be really entertaining. I feel like this season is really starting to hit its stride, and my job is becoming easier, as the stratifications of the drag queens are becoming clearer and clearer.
9.) Kandy Ho (OUT)- Kandy Ho made it easy this week: a lousy performance, the return of the beard contour, and kind of a crappy attitude to boot. She put up a good fight in Lip Synch, but Pearl was right to reassure Jaidynn. There was no way they were keeping Kandy on the show after sleepwalking through these last few weeks.
8.) Jaidynn Diore Fierce- Kennedy must have gone forward in time and read my critique of Jaidynn from last week, because she and I have similar thoughts. Jaidynn seems way too self-conscious to succeed. Her Ru performance was not great, and the judge's (unjustified, in my mind) critique of her outfit appeared to destroy whatever confidence she had. I feel bad for Jaidynn, there's a scared look in her eyes all the time that must stem from her terrible home life. She's dependent on a family that totally rejects who she is.
I must say that I am getting increasingly impatient with families that refuse to even meet their children half-way on these matters. I suppose it is Jaidynn's responsibility to fully come out to her family, but, for God's sake, she is open to them about being a drag performer, and yet these people continue to torture her by suggesting that one day she will marry a woman. There's a lot of baloney that goes around about how "your family is all you have" that people like Jaidynn internalize. Your biological family is not all you have. And I don't know why we should have to indulge these people if they refuse to accept who you are. Does Jaidynn have this obligation to have a fraught conversation with her family that is clearly going to go poorly? I don't think so. I think at some point you have a right to walk away.
7.) Miss Fame- God, what a fucking idiot. And the mother too. Could you imagine being in a relationship with either of these people? The circular conversations and arguments that go nowhere. The many simple concepts you would have to explain. The inane stories from the 12-step program. I suppose the sex would be good, but, then again, I'm not certain someone called "Miss Fame" would be entirely concerned with your pleasure. While I'm putting her a little higher up, I sincerely hope Jaidynn beats out Miss Fame in this competition. I actually like Jaidynn.
6.) Violet Chachki- The most impressive thing about Violet this week was clearly that corset. I actually gasped when I saw his grapefruit sized waist. Violet is still the same externalizing bitch she's been throughout this competition. It would work if she was blowing everyone away, but she isn't.
5.) Pearl- No change this week, although Pearl is heating up rather than fading away. She managed to garner praise despite having to improvise with her death costume. And her performance in the nonsensical "Ru's Point of View" skit was quite good. Some other queens seem fed up with Pearl's attitude, but I think they mistake theatrics for effort. It's clear that Pearl is trying to make it on this show, and that she is succeeding. It's just that she doesn't feel the need to constantly remind to everyone that she is working hard.
4.) Kennedy- Kennedy had an unmentioned but great impression of Ru in her skit, but her runway look was insane. The story that she put in to explain in sounded like a long origin story you'd hear at the beginning of one of those dark Saturday morning cartoons in the 80s. I'm holding her here at the bottom of the non-Max top 3.
3.) Ginger Minj- Ginger did well, but I feel like she's beginning to suffer from the Darienne Lake syndrome. There is a creeping externalizing bitterness that is slipping in to her performance, and I don't like it. Ginger is very funny, but she did not deserve to win that challenge. Her runway look was in the same genre as Katya's but not has clever. She was hammier than Katya in the sketch but she was not as funny. She is in the game but if she starts to believe she is being persecuted she won't reach her potential.
2.) Katya- The shark attack runway look was the best, and I loved her performance in the sketch. Katya and Max have the most intelligent eyes in the competition. They are the only two thus far that don't seem to be caught up in the bullshit drama. They both have different approaches to it, though. Katya, slyly observes, whereas Max seems to be able to sit back and push buttons.
1.) Max- I have to say, I don't like Michelle Visage as an assessor of talent on Drag Race. She has a lot of chemistry with Ru, but she gets hung up on odd things during the season, only to drop them at some arbitrary point. Two seasons ago she thought Jinx Monsoon was sloppy until, all of a sudden, he wasn't and steamrolled the competition. Last year, she harangued Adore Delano over some small issue until she decided not to. Now she is apparently fixated on Max's gray wig. I don't know why. The gray wig is a great signature, and I would hardly describe the rest of Max's work as unoriginal.
Ginger commented that Max appears to think he is on "easy street." That is because he is. He is clearly the class thus far, and, outside of Katya, is several IQ points above the rest of the queens. In Untucked, we saw Max subtly manipulate the room into a few fights, pitting the rest of the queens against Ginger and Kennedy, two of her main rivals for the final show. In every challenge, thus far we've seen him push whatever queen he was paired with to a good performance. He is the perfect combination of deviousness and talent, and is thus, the favorite.
This week's challenge was an interesting one and I found the whole show and the Untucked episode to be really entertaining. I feel like this season is really starting to hit its stride, and my job is becoming easier, as the stratifications of the drag queens are becoming clearer and clearer.
9.) Kandy Ho (OUT)- Kandy Ho made it easy this week: a lousy performance, the return of the beard contour, and kind of a crappy attitude to boot. She put up a good fight in Lip Synch, but Pearl was right to reassure Jaidynn. There was no way they were keeping Kandy on the show after sleepwalking through these last few weeks.
8.) Jaidynn Diore Fierce- Kennedy must have gone forward in time and read my critique of Jaidynn from last week, because she and I have similar thoughts. Jaidynn seems way too self-conscious to succeed. Her Ru performance was not great, and the judge's (unjustified, in my mind) critique of her outfit appeared to destroy whatever confidence she had. I feel bad for Jaidynn, there's a scared look in her eyes all the time that must stem from her terrible home life. She's dependent on a family that totally rejects who she is.
I must say that I am getting increasingly impatient with families that refuse to even meet their children half-way on these matters. I suppose it is Jaidynn's responsibility to fully come out to her family, but, for God's sake, she is open to them about being a drag performer, and yet these people continue to torture her by suggesting that one day she will marry a woman. There's a lot of baloney that goes around about how "your family is all you have" that people like Jaidynn internalize. Your biological family is not all you have. And I don't know why we should have to indulge these people if they refuse to accept who you are. Does Jaidynn have this obligation to have a fraught conversation with her family that is clearly going to go poorly? I don't think so. I think at some point you have a right to walk away.
7.) Miss Fame- God, what a fucking idiot. And the mother too. Could you imagine being in a relationship with either of these people? The circular conversations and arguments that go nowhere. The many simple concepts you would have to explain. The inane stories from the 12-step program. I suppose the sex would be good, but, then again, I'm not certain someone called "Miss Fame" would be entirely concerned with your pleasure. While I'm putting her a little higher up, I sincerely hope Jaidynn beats out Miss Fame in this competition. I actually like Jaidynn.
6.) Violet Chachki- The most impressive thing about Violet this week was clearly that corset. I actually gasped when I saw his grapefruit sized waist. Violet is still the same externalizing bitch she's been throughout this competition. It would work if she was blowing everyone away, but she isn't.
5.) Pearl- No change this week, although Pearl is heating up rather than fading away. She managed to garner praise despite having to improvise with her death costume. And her performance in the nonsensical "Ru's Point of View" skit was quite good. Some other queens seem fed up with Pearl's attitude, but I think they mistake theatrics for effort. It's clear that Pearl is trying to make it on this show, and that she is succeeding. It's just that she doesn't feel the need to constantly remind to everyone that she is working hard.
4.) Kennedy- Kennedy had an unmentioned but great impression of Ru in her skit, but her runway look was insane. The story that she put in to explain in sounded like a long origin story you'd hear at the beginning of one of those dark Saturday morning cartoons in the 80s. I'm holding her here at the bottom of the non-Max top 3.
3.) Ginger Minj- Ginger did well, but I feel like she's beginning to suffer from the Darienne Lake syndrome. There is a creeping externalizing bitterness that is slipping in to her performance, and I don't like it. Ginger is very funny, but she did not deserve to win that challenge. Her runway look was in the same genre as Katya's but not has clever. She was hammier than Katya in the sketch but she was not as funny. She is in the game but if she starts to believe she is being persecuted she won't reach her potential.
2.) Katya- The shark attack runway look was the best, and I loved her performance in the sketch. Katya and Max have the most intelligent eyes in the competition. They are the only two thus far that don't seem to be caught up in the bullshit drama. They both have different approaches to it, though. Katya, slyly observes, whereas Max seems to be able to sit back and push buttons.
1.) Max- I have to say, I don't like Michelle Visage as an assessor of talent on Drag Race. She has a lot of chemistry with Ru, but she gets hung up on odd things during the season, only to drop them at some arbitrary point. Two seasons ago she thought Jinx Monsoon was sloppy until, all of a sudden, he wasn't and steamrolled the competition. Last year, she harangued Adore Delano over some small issue until she decided not to. Now she is apparently fixated on Max's gray wig. I don't know why. The gray wig is a great signature, and I would hardly describe the rest of Max's work as unoriginal.
Ginger commented that Max appears to think he is on "easy street." That is because he is. He is clearly the class thus far, and, outside of Katya, is several IQ points above the rest of the queens. In Untucked, we saw Max subtly manipulate the room into a few fights, pitting the rest of the queens against Ginger and Kennedy, two of her main rivals for the final show. In every challenge, thus far we've seen him push whatever queen he was paired with to a good performance. He is the perfect combination of deviousness and talent, and is thus, the favorite.
Friday, April 03, 2015
Ru Paul's Drag Race Power Ranking (Episode 5)
Well I wrong about this week being the Snatch Game episode. I guess Ru decided to hold it off for another week. I wonder if Ru decided that perhaps this years players were as deep improvisationally as last year and so they couldn't be trusted with a 10 person Snatch Game. I had the chance to check back in on last year's Snatch Game and it was more excellent than I had remembered. Bianca, Ben, and Adore were all very strong and there were good supporting turns put in by the other queens. Of this year's queens, I think Ginger, Katya, and Kennedy will all have a chance to be strong in the Snatch Game. Max and Pearl are wild cards, Max will succeed if he chooses the right character, while Pearl will succeed if she raids Jessie Spano's drug cabinet. I think Miss Fame and Violet will both be in trouble.
In news from this week, I got the chance for the first time to watch Untucked, and I think it will be mandatory viewing from now on. As you will see the show confirmed some opinions I had and shed a new light on some other queens. On to the rankings:
10.) (OUT) Mrs. Kasha Davis (-1)- No one likes a bitter old queen, Mrs. Kasha. Kasha seems to mistake gay theatrics for people actually giving up, which no one did. On Untucked, with all his "at least I tried" nonsense I thought he was going to launch into a live reading of Bill Clinton's 2006 smackdown of Chris Wallace. Mrs. Kasha may have been trying but the bottom line is that she wasn't very exciting. I probably would have sent home Kandy Ho before her, but it was not history's greatest injustice.
9.) Kandy Ho (+1)- Hey ho, Kandy Ho has got to go. Kandy is boring, unpolished, and not in the same league as the rest of the Queens. Even Jadyn Diore Fierce has shown flashes of talent in a mostly undistinguished run. Kandy has conspicuously avoided any excitement. I read a book this past week that discussed the possibility of multiverses where, in worlds slightly different than our own, the many quantum possibilities played out. Well, for the next 8 queens, I can imagine there is some Universe out there where they win Drag Race. Not so, for Miss Kandy Ho, however.
8.) Jadyn Diore Fierce (No Change)- I wish Jadyn would stop counting herself out. I have found her not totally unpleasant, and I think she could be funny if she had some confidence and the courage to work on it. This week she got totally steamrolled by Kennedy, whose performance on Untucked revealed her to be extremely ambitious and, above all, Aware. Jadyn seems to have the old "Deer In the Headlights" look to her. She's too starstruck to realize that she is a star.
7.) Miss Fame (No Change)- I'm sorry but I just don't think there's much depth to Miss Fame. "He's got no bottom" as Margaret Thatcher might say of him (now wouldn't she be a hilarious viewing companion for Drag Race?). Miss Fame is pretty but in a very conventional way. She doesn't ooze sexuality like Pearl or Violet, and she doesn't seem to have much to say. His freakout at Ginger's husband's phone call was strange and possibly condescending (OMG IF THE UGLY ONE CAN GET LOVE....THATS...THATS...INCREDIBLE!!!). She doesn't seem to have a sense of humor, and doesn't have any avant garde fashion sense to make up for that deficit.
6.) Violet Chachki (-2)- Violet does have a bit of daring to her, and I like that she's the bitch, but she seems so young and so Over It. She has promise, like Adore in the early episodes of last year, but she doesn't have Adore's eagerness or her kindness. I do think you have to have a bit of kindness to you to succeed at Drag Race. It's a humanizing quality and it allows you to be receptive to criticism. Violet just seems like she's too good, yet not quite good enough for every challenge.
5.) Pearl (+1)- Ah Pearl, perhaps the show's greatest enigma, and thus, the most intriguing character this year. I could see Pearl bottoming out next week or going on to win the whole thing. Whither Pearl? I'm excited to see what she does in the Snatch Game, because we saw she secretly does have some talent at mimicry. But why didn't we see that before? Maybe her withholding is subconscious strategy, an art learned to create the greatest possible intrigue. We all love a mystery.
4.) Ginger Minj(-2)- A drop for Ginger this week, and I can't fully explain it. It has something to do with the fact that she spent $5,000 for that hideous dowdy skirt. It also has something to do with the fact that she didn't quite connect with the challenge this week as I would have liked. I couldn't quite justify putting her above the queens ahead of her.
3.) Kennedy Davenport(No Change)- One look at Kennedy in Untucked solidified her character in my mind. She was standing up, with perfect posture, holding a drink, nervously looking around, and dispensing advice. She's in it to win, and she thinks she has the talent to do so. It was hilarious that she brushed aside all of Jadyn's suggestions and went with her personal vision for the challenge. I like that. It shows confidence and competence. I also think there's a little bit of Machiavelli in Kennedy, which will help her as the show goes along.
2.) Katya(+3)- I know! I can't believe Katya ended up this high either, but Katya is fast becoming my favorite. Katya's eyes belie an intelligence that has its equal only in Max. His opening was a bit of a clunker, but the acceptance speech was very good. I also have to emphasize that we still haven't seen the schtick that got him here. Here's hoping we see it in Snatch Game.
1.) Max(No Change)- Max thinks he has this thing in the bag, that much became very clear after watching Untucked. Max treats the other queens like wayward children who don't seem to have their heads fully screwed on. Incredibly the other queens take this treatment not with indignation, but with friendliness. That tells me that they believe it too, at some level. Max is only 22, the same age as Violet, incredibly, but he seems to be working on a different level. I think if Pearl had dropped out, Max would have been able to win that challenge by himself. But Pearl did show up, and Max brought out the best in him. At this point Max is the clear favorite.
In news from this week, I got the chance for the first time to watch Untucked, and I think it will be mandatory viewing from now on. As you will see the show confirmed some opinions I had and shed a new light on some other queens. On to the rankings:
10.) (OUT) Mrs. Kasha Davis (-1)- No one likes a bitter old queen, Mrs. Kasha. Kasha seems to mistake gay theatrics for people actually giving up, which no one did. On Untucked, with all his "at least I tried" nonsense I thought he was going to launch into a live reading of Bill Clinton's 2006 smackdown of Chris Wallace. Mrs. Kasha may have been trying but the bottom line is that she wasn't very exciting. I probably would have sent home Kandy Ho before her, but it was not history's greatest injustice.
9.) Kandy Ho (+1)- Hey ho, Kandy Ho has got to go. Kandy is boring, unpolished, and not in the same league as the rest of the Queens. Even Jadyn Diore Fierce has shown flashes of talent in a mostly undistinguished run. Kandy has conspicuously avoided any excitement. I read a book this past week that discussed the possibility of multiverses where, in worlds slightly different than our own, the many quantum possibilities played out. Well, for the next 8 queens, I can imagine there is some Universe out there where they win Drag Race. Not so, for Miss Kandy Ho, however.
8.) Jadyn Diore Fierce (No Change)- I wish Jadyn would stop counting herself out. I have found her not totally unpleasant, and I think she could be funny if she had some confidence and the courage to work on it. This week she got totally steamrolled by Kennedy, whose performance on Untucked revealed her to be extremely ambitious and, above all, Aware. Jadyn seems to have the old "Deer In the Headlights" look to her. She's too starstruck to realize that she is a star.
7.) Miss Fame (No Change)- I'm sorry but I just don't think there's much depth to Miss Fame. "He's got no bottom" as Margaret Thatcher might say of him (now wouldn't she be a hilarious viewing companion for Drag Race?). Miss Fame is pretty but in a very conventional way. She doesn't ooze sexuality like Pearl or Violet, and she doesn't seem to have much to say. His freakout at Ginger's husband's phone call was strange and possibly condescending (OMG IF THE UGLY ONE CAN GET LOVE....THATS...THATS...INCREDIBLE!!!). She doesn't seem to have a sense of humor, and doesn't have any avant garde fashion sense to make up for that deficit.
6.) Violet Chachki (-2)- Violet does have a bit of daring to her, and I like that she's the bitch, but she seems so young and so Over It. She has promise, like Adore in the early episodes of last year, but she doesn't have Adore's eagerness or her kindness. I do think you have to have a bit of kindness to you to succeed at Drag Race. It's a humanizing quality and it allows you to be receptive to criticism. Violet just seems like she's too good, yet not quite good enough for every challenge.
5.) Pearl (+1)- Ah Pearl, perhaps the show's greatest enigma, and thus, the most intriguing character this year. I could see Pearl bottoming out next week or going on to win the whole thing. Whither Pearl? I'm excited to see what she does in the Snatch Game, because we saw she secretly does have some talent at mimicry. But why didn't we see that before? Maybe her withholding is subconscious strategy, an art learned to create the greatest possible intrigue. We all love a mystery.
4.) Ginger Minj(-2)- A drop for Ginger this week, and I can't fully explain it. It has something to do with the fact that she spent $5,000 for that hideous dowdy skirt. It also has something to do with the fact that she didn't quite connect with the challenge this week as I would have liked. I couldn't quite justify putting her above the queens ahead of her.
3.) Kennedy Davenport(No Change)- One look at Kennedy in Untucked solidified her character in my mind. She was standing up, with perfect posture, holding a drink, nervously looking around, and dispensing advice. She's in it to win, and she thinks she has the talent to do so. It was hilarious that she brushed aside all of Jadyn's suggestions and went with her personal vision for the challenge. I like that. It shows confidence and competence. I also think there's a little bit of Machiavelli in Kennedy, which will help her as the show goes along.
2.) Katya(+3)- I know! I can't believe Katya ended up this high either, but Katya is fast becoming my favorite. Katya's eyes belie an intelligence that has its equal only in Max. His opening was a bit of a clunker, but the acceptance speech was very good. I also have to emphasize that we still haven't seen the schtick that got him here. Here's hoping we see it in Snatch Game.
1.) Max(No Change)- Max thinks he has this thing in the bag, that much became very clear after watching Untucked. Max treats the other queens like wayward children who don't seem to have their heads fully screwed on. Incredibly the other queens take this treatment not with indignation, but with friendliness. That tells me that they believe it too, at some level. Max is only 22, the same age as Violet, incredibly, but he seems to be working on a different level. I think if Pearl had dropped out, Max would have been able to win that challenge by himself. But Pearl did show up, and Max brought out the best in him. At this point Max is the clear favorite.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Duck Dynasty, Morality, and the Truth
Some days ago Right Wing Watch posted a clip of a speech that had been made by a certain Duck Dynasty star on atheists and morality. For those that haven't heard the speech itself was outrageous and more akin to a revenge fantasy than a philosophical argument. If you care to listen to it, it is here. He set up a hypothetical scenario where an atheist's family is raped and murdered in front of him while the murderer asserts that because of his (and presumably the murderer's) atheist beliefs there can be no objective determination that what he was doing was wrong in a moral sense.
This is an argument, though crudely put in this case, I've never had a good answer to. There have been countless attempts in history to define some sort of morality that is not based on a man in the sky telling us what is right and wrong. Jesus is some people's man in the sky, but he made famous the rather durable code ("do unto others as you would have done unto you") that doesn't seem to require a divine sanction to make sense. Kant referenced a categorical imperative that seems to my crude philosophical mind to be a generalized case of Jesus' Golden Rule: "do as you would have others in your position do." Most recently, Sam Harris played the semantic trick of re-defining good as that which benefits the welfare of conscious creatures, with the Kantian caveat that conscious creatures should be seen as ends and not means to an end.
The efforts of Jesus, Kant, and Harris all seem to make sense to me. But where these systems all seem to fail as moralities is that, without any objective creature to tell us so, these moralities still rest on the preferences and intuitions of the hearer, giving them a rather circular quality. In other words, if I choose one of these moralities upon hearing it but later run up against circumstances that change my sense of the greater good, should I trust these old moral laws or my new intuition? Always choosing ones' intuition seems a kind of solipsism while always choosing a received moral system seems a kind of fanaticism.
Moreover, all these secular values seem descriptive of how a good human citizen acts in a society we'd all like to live in rather than a description of an objective truth outside our collective experience. This may seem like splitting hairs, but what do we do when we encounter secular moral systems that don't make sense to us? Imagine a person who held that scientific advancement was more important than furthering of the welfare of conscious creatures. How do we weigh this system against Sam Harris', except to say "I like the implications of one but I don't like the implications of the other?" I haven't found a way around that question either.
Theists may chortle at this existential quandary atheists find themselves in, but the problem is no better for theists. After all, why should a god's commands be moral? The way the Judeo-Christian God is able to prove his edicts to be moral to us is that the moral go to Heaven while the immoral go to Hell. In modern sophisticated religions, Hell has been defined down from a visceral place of tortures to an eternal cutting off from the bliss of being with God or simply to Nothing. Nevertheless it still boils down to a principle of "be good or you'll feel it in the end." Under the old tribal God, might makes right. Under the modern God, morality is like a healthy diet. What's striking is that we're still relying on utilitarian principles and rational self interest, albeit with the scales weighted by fantastical stories of the afterlife.
A lifetime of thinking on my part adds up to this: there is no such thing as morality. Even if there were a God there would be no such thing as morality. If a person has a belief about the right thing to do when she is in possession of all the right facts, there is no "proving" that person wrong. We can appeal to the intuitions of others and hope everyone else agrees with our informed intuition, but there's nothing we can reference outside of the effects of the principles we are espousing.
This is not to say that all beliefs are created equal. When Christians say that they oppose homosexuality or divorce based on God-derived principles, I can appeal to the truth, as I see it, that there is no personal God whose thoughts they could possibly know. Now, it is true that the truth is always up for debate, but there at least we are appealing to something outside ourselves. We do not have to take the path of what is commonly referred to as "moral relativism" where nonsensical barbarity is excused because we can't judge other cultures. We can judge beliefs not just based on our own intuitions, but on our evaluation of the basic truths that underly those beliefs. This means that not everyone's belief is equal if we assume that there is an objective reality. (I realize that some people dispute this, but I'm less troubled by that assumption.) The propagandist thinks that truth has a debt to pay to morality, but it is the opposite. Any so- called morality we espouse must be relative, but the truth is absolute.
I guess, then, we don't really have a universal answer for the hypothetical killer rapist in the Duck Dynasty story. Whether we believe in God in not, we'll still have to express an assertion based on our own view of the world. That might not be satisfying to those that would like the perfect retort to all the madness in the world, but it's all we have, and it is the truth.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
RuPaul's Drag Race Power Rankings (Week 4)
Well folks, that was a pretty good week 4. This is the last week of the preliminary rounds, "the end of the beginning" as Winston Churchill might have said after we revived him with smelling salts. Next week comes The Snatch Game, which is when things start to get really interesting. So it's a good time to take stock. The first thing to note about the first four weeks is how deep a field we have this year. Last year at this time we still had Gia Gunn, and Laganja Estranja to eliminate. By the time the dust had settled, Joslyn Fox would sleepwalk into 6th place . I think everyone in these Power Rankings, including the eliminated Trixie Mattell is better than the Terrible Two. And all but one or two of them are better than Joslyn.
The depth of the field means we can't be too critical of a queen going up for elimination. A lot of the decisions at the bottom end are on a razor's edge. There were actually no truly weak runway outfits this week, and the judges had to resort to criticizing Kandy Ho for not being original enough. That's harsh when it seems like the bottom queens in past seasons were struggling to put together basic outfits at this stage. Anyway, on to the rankings!
11.) Trixie Mattel (-1) (OUT)- Speaking of harsh, it turns out Ru liked Trixie even less than I did! Still her judgement was basically sound. Trixie's whole raison d'etre was comedy and she wasn't very funny on the show. I'm sure she is funny in real life but it wasn't working for her here, and that just killed her. When Courtney Act wasn't funny, she could cruise on looks and glamour. Even Bianca had her authority and basic competence to fall back on. Trixie had no net. She's like one of those relief pitchers whose one killer pitch stops working. All of a sudden, they're not only not an All-Star talent, but people begin wondering how they even made it to the highest level of competition in the first place.
10.) Kandy Ho (-1)- Boy, Kandy has looked like a dead queen walking for a few weeks now. One almost feels like she should have been the one wearing a Marie Antoinette outfit this week. But she escapes the National Razor once again. It surprises me that Ru didn't throw Kandy up as the sacrificial lamb against either Trixie or Pearl. There's at least a ghost of a chance that we could have seen something out of Trixie in the next few weeks, but I feel like we've seen all we're going to get from Kandy.
9.) Mrs. Kasha Davis (-1)- I'm not a huge fan of Kasha, but she's quietly put up a few good weeks in a row which can't be ignored. I was surprised the judges went for the money dress, which was not terrible, but was my least favorite among the excellent crop of runway looks this week. The problem with Mrs. Kasha is that she seems very old. She's only a few years older than Darienne Lake or even Bianca, but her age and experience seems to have ossified her rather than giving her confidence and vitality. I don't get excited by the prospect of seeing her perform, and she doesn't seem to have the capacity to surprise.
8.) Jadyn Diore Fierce (+3)- Jadyn had a good week this week, and did an uncannily good impression of Bianca Del Rio for someone who does not have a similar style at all. However, I thought her runway look was one of the weaker ones, and it seems to be of a type with the other outfits she stole from Janet Jackson in the Fat Elvis phase we all somehow missed. Still, she seems like the most improved queen of the first few weeks, and might be someone to watch if she continues to move forward.
7.) Miss Fame (-2)- Pretty ain't gonna be enough this year.
6.) Pearl (-3)- Spare us the crocodile tears, Pearl. (Or actually I guess they were snake tears.) You tried to pin the Tan With You parody on Trixie when you thought it was a loser.
It was a bad week, and the 2nd week in a row being low for Pearl, which isn't a great sign. I think the lip synch showed us what Pearl could be if he ever got going, however. He had the intense eyes of a silent movie star. The dress was incredible and the performance was genuinely compelling. More of that, please!
5.) Katya(+2)- Here comes Katya...Her lead performance in the Tan With You video was excellent, and she seems to be one of the funnier queens of the bunch. She recalls Alaska without all the bullshit and self-importance. I'm genuinely intrigued by what we'll see in Snatch Game from her. I'm guessing we'll finally get to see an Eastern Bloc character. She's wisely kept that powder dry, and a convincing performance could vault her into the top competitors.
4.) Violet Chachki (No Change)- Violet had an excellent performance as Adore Delano, and had a daring runway look. (But stop relying on that body!) Still, I can't help but think Violet's petulant attitude will hold her back in this competition. It's hard to believe, but she and Max are the same age. Max a vision for the parody, took control, and accepted responsibility. Violet again externalized and seemed like a bratty little child. It's this lack of maturity that, for now, is keeping her out of the top three.
3.) Kennedy Davenport (+3)- Kennedy won the challenge and was beautiful on the runway. It was nice to see her back in the saddle.
2.) Max (-1)- Again, it's striking that Max to immediate control of the project for his group even when there were no assigned leaders. He gave himself the hardest part, and, despite the judges' criticisms, I thought he did a good job with his Courtney Act impression. (On the whole, it was the most successful of the parodies.) I'm not sure we've ever seen anyone do "artistic" drag really successfully on the program, but if Max can pull off the high wire act for the whole season, he'll be a tough out.
1.) Ginger Minj (+1)- The Minj is relentless, though. She hasn't looked close to placing in the Bottom 2 at any point this season, and she made me laugh out loud twice in this episode. Where Max is a molecular gastronomic delight, Ginger is steak frites with a glass or two of Cote Du Rhone. The former has the potential to be transcendent, but the latter will never let you down. It should be an interesting season.
The depth of the field means we can't be too critical of a queen going up for elimination. A lot of the decisions at the bottom end are on a razor's edge. There were actually no truly weak runway outfits this week, and the judges had to resort to criticizing Kandy Ho for not being original enough. That's harsh when it seems like the bottom queens in past seasons were struggling to put together basic outfits at this stage. Anyway, on to the rankings!
11.) Trixie Mattel (-1) (OUT)- Speaking of harsh, it turns out Ru liked Trixie even less than I did! Still her judgement was basically sound. Trixie's whole raison d'etre was comedy and she wasn't very funny on the show. I'm sure she is funny in real life but it wasn't working for her here, and that just killed her. When Courtney Act wasn't funny, she could cruise on looks and glamour. Even Bianca had her authority and basic competence to fall back on. Trixie had no net. She's like one of those relief pitchers whose one killer pitch stops working. All of a sudden, they're not only not an All-Star talent, but people begin wondering how they even made it to the highest level of competition in the first place.
10.) Kandy Ho (-1)- Boy, Kandy has looked like a dead queen walking for a few weeks now. One almost feels like she should have been the one wearing a Marie Antoinette outfit this week. But she escapes the National Razor once again. It surprises me that Ru didn't throw Kandy up as the sacrificial lamb against either Trixie or Pearl. There's at least a ghost of a chance that we could have seen something out of Trixie in the next few weeks, but I feel like we've seen all we're going to get from Kandy.
9.) Mrs. Kasha Davis (-1)- I'm not a huge fan of Kasha, but she's quietly put up a few good weeks in a row which can't be ignored. I was surprised the judges went for the money dress, which was not terrible, but was my least favorite among the excellent crop of runway looks this week. The problem with Mrs. Kasha is that she seems very old. She's only a few years older than Darienne Lake or even Bianca, but her age and experience seems to have ossified her rather than giving her confidence and vitality. I don't get excited by the prospect of seeing her perform, and she doesn't seem to have the capacity to surprise.
8.) Jadyn Diore Fierce (+3)- Jadyn had a good week this week, and did an uncannily good impression of Bianca Del Rio for someone who does not have a similar style at all. However, I thought her runway look was one of the weaker ones, and it seems to be of a type with the other outfits she stole from Janet Jackson in the Fat Elvis phase we all somehow missed. Still, she seems like the most improved queen of the first few weeks, and might be someone to watch if she continues to move forward.
7.) Miss Fame (-2)- Pretty ain't gonna be enough this year.
6.) Pearl (-3)- Spare us the crocodile tears, Pearl. (Or actually I guess they were snake tears.) You tried to pin the Tan With You parody on Trixie when you thought it was a loser.
It was a bad week, and the 2nd week in a row being low for Pearl, which isn't a great sign. I think the lip synch showed us what Pearl could be if he ever got going, however. He had the intense eyes of a silent movie star. The dress was incredible and the performance was genuinely compelling. More of that, please!
5.) Katya(+2)- Here comes Katya...Her lead performance in the Tan With You video was excellent, and she seems to be one of the funnier queens of the bunch. She recalls Alaska without all the bullshit and self-importance. I'm genuinely intrigued by what we'll see in Snatch Game from her. I'm guessing we'll finally get to see an Eastern Bloc character. She's wisely kept that powder dry, and a convincing performance could vault her into the top competitors.
4.) Violet Chachki (No Change)- Violet had an excellent performance as Adore Delano, and had a daring runway look. (But stop relying on that body!) Still, I can't help but think Violet's petulant attitude will hold her back in this competition. It's hard to believe, but she and Max are the same age. Max a vision for the parody, took control, and accepted responsibility. Violet again externalized and seemed like a bratty little child. It's this lack of maturity that, for now, is keeping her out of the top three.
3.) Kennedy Davenport (+3)- Kennedy won the challenge and was beautiful on the runway. It was nice to see her back in the saddle.
2.) Max (-1)- Again, it's striking that Max to immediate control of the project for his group even when there were no assigned leaders. He gave himself the hardest part, and, despite the judges' criticisms, I thought he did a good job with his Courtney Act impression. (On the whole, it was the most successful of the parodies.) I'm not sure we've ever seen anyone do "artistic" drag really successfully on the program, but if Max can pull off the high wire act for the whole season, he'll be a tough out.
1.) Ginger Minj (+1)- The Minj is relentless, though. She hasn't looked close to placing in the Bottom 2 at any point this season, and she made me laugh out loud twice in this episode. Where Max is a molecular gastronomic delight, Ginger is steak frites with a glass or two of Cote Du Rhone. The former has the potential to be transcendent, but the latter will never let you down. It should be an interesting season.
Friday, March 20, 2015
Ru Paul Drag Race Power Rankings (Week 3)
Sorry for the late entry here, friends, but there were extenuating circumstances, I promise. Next Monday I will make it up to you by getting it up as soon as possible. Anyway, I found this one difficult to write soon after watching the episode, as it was one of the more poorly executed challenges in the show's herstory.
12.) Jasmine Masters (-3)(OUT)- This was my biggest Drag Race disappointment since the shocking episode last year when Ben DeLaCreme was ousted before reaching the final four. Jasmine screwed up the diction, didn't memorize her lines well enough, and probably deserved to go. I knew it was curtains for her when she matched up with Kennedy in the final two. But Jasmine had real personality and heart. She was funny, quick witted, and served as an amusing counterpoint to the young bitchy queens that seem poised to dominate this season. Hopefully Ru allows a comeback this year rather than saving two queens in an episode as she has done the past few years. Jasmine, I will miss you!
11.) Jadyn Diore Fierce (+1)- THERE'S NO CRYING IN DRAG RACE! Or at least there's no crying until Episode 7 when you are up for elimination. Seriously, what a meltdown for someone that should be used to performing onstage! She didn't even have a tragic story. At least have a murdered parent that left you at the bus stop or something! I am still not optimistic.
10.) Trixie Mattel (+1)- I am so sick of Trixie: not pretty enough to be glamorous not funny enough to be a comedy queen, and sickeningly trying to align herself with the Miss Fame-Violet Axis. However, I was curious and checked Twitter...amazingly she is solidly in the middle in terms of Twitter followers among the girls. Am I missing something? These first few weeks have been so topsy turvy that I barely trust my own instincts anymore. I suppose that Greek God(ess) dress was pretty good this week...
9.) Kandy Ho (+2)- A game performance, I suppose, on Team Kennedy's sinking ship. I feel like Kandy could do a halfway decent Sarah Palin if ever called upon. We shall see if that comes up in Snatch Game. Also, that drag beard was tremendous, as was the boxed hairdo. Worthy of a bump up.
8.) Kasha Davis (No Change)- Meh. A decent performance as Lady Capulet (?) in that Romeo and Juliet parody. Nothing special on the runway. I feel she is the dividing line between the girls in danger and the girls who could be contenders.
7.) Katya (No Change)- Katya is the dark horse girl among the contenders, but I think she's done well, and we haven't even seen the Russian character schtick that made her famous. The Abe Lincoln dress was great and her Shakequeer contribution was OK. I always enjoy Katya's contributions, and I think she will shine given the opportunity.
6.) Kennedy Davenport (-4) Oof, rough week. I am starting to doubt my initial impression of Kennedy as the favorite. That theatrical troupe was extremely poorly managed. I actually agreed with Kennedy's instincts in making Violet and Jasmine go against type(she had to be thinking of the famous Rue McClanahan/Betty White swap for Golden Girls). But alas, neither Violet nor Jasmine had the talent of those sitcom divas. I also thought Kennedy's instinct to be a background player was a very bad sign. Jasmine at least grabbed for a big part, swung, and miss. Kennedy seemed content to drop some potion into cauldron. The dress and beard were also really terrible. Kennedy was, by any objective standard, the worst one on this episode. Only my (fading) estimation of her talent keeps her this high.
5.) Miss Fame (+1)- Miss Fame was just treading water this week. Nothing special in either the play or the runway. I wasn't crazy about the dress choice either, but the relative strength of the past few weeks keep Miss Fame up with the contenders.
4.) Violet Chachki (No Change)- I know Violet has her supporters, chiefly herself, but I am not a huge fan. She has performed decently well the first few weeks, and the dream-in-pink runway look was outstanding, but she is significantly weaker than the three girls at the top. First, Violet was absolutely terrible in the challenge. Even with the bad teammate performances, she should have nailed that role if she really is a top queen. Also, the attitude is a huge problem. The difference between Pearl and Violet is that Pearl knows when he's terrible, and is more likely to change course on things that are a problem. Violet externalizes problems and doesn't take responsibility for failures. I think we'll see Violet gradually drop back in the pack as the show goes on.
3.) Pearl (No Change)- A bad performance in the play but that runway look was so outstanding that all is pretty much forgiven. It is the best look of the season so far, and reminded me of a Final Fantasy villain, which is a high compliment if you can't tell.
2.) Ginger Minj (-1)- Ginger didn't do anything wrong in this challenge and continues to be the most amusing of the bunch. Ginger will be dangerous because she doesn't appear to screw up and is consistently able to ham up any situation. That will take you a long way in Drag Race. I'd say her floor is Ben DeLaCreme and her ceiling is Jinx or Bianca. That is, I think she has a chance to be the obvious favorite for the final show. This week however, she was completely outshone by....
1.) Max (+4)- Max turned in a great performance on a very weak episode. He was the only one to nail all three elements. His old woman was the only standout in the mini-challenge. She actually had believable and an original personality. It felt like we were visiting one of the Cabaret girls from Weimar-era Berlin in a nursing home. Her theater troupe was well-managed and she was a star in the leading part. Finally, the runway look was fantastic and showed that Max has a deep aesthetic reservoir upon which to draw. I like a queen that can reference the 20s and Salvador Dali! I like Max this week as the favorite.
12.) Jasmine Masters (-3)(OUT)- This was my biggest Drag Race disappointment since the shocking episode last year when Ben DeLaCreme was ousted before reaching the final four. Jasmine screwed up the diction, didn't memorize her lines well enough, and probably deserved to go. I knew it was curtains for her when she matched up with Kennedy in the final two. But Jasmine had real personality and heart. She was funny, quick witted, and served as an amusing counterpoint to the young bitchy queens that seem poised to dominate this season. Hopefully Ru allows a comeback this year rather than saving two queens in an episode as she has done the past few years. Jasmine, I will miss you!
11.) Jadyn Diore Fierce (+1)- THERE'S NO CRYING IN DRAG RACE! Or at least there's no crying until Episode 7 when you are up for elimination. Seriously, what a meltdown for someone that should be used to performing onstage! She didn't even have a tragic story. At least have a murdered parent that left you at the bus stop or something! I am still not optimistic.
10.) Trixie Mattel (+1)- I am so sick of Trixie: not pretty enough to be glamorous not funny enough to be a comedy queen, and sickeningly trying to align herself with the Miss Fame-Violet Axis. However, I was curious and checked Twitter...amazingly she is solidly in the middle in terms of Twitter followers among the girls. Am I missing something? These first few weeks have been so topsy turvy that I barely trust my own instincts anymore. I suppose that Greek God(ess) dress was pretty good this week...
9.) Kandy Ho (+2)- A game performance, I suppose, on Team Kennedy's sinking ship. I feel like Kandy could do a halfway decent Sarah Palin if ever called upon. We shall see if that comes up in Snatch Game. Also, that drag beard was tremendous, as was the boxed hairdo. Worthy of a bump up.
7.) Katya (No Change)- Katya is the dark horse girl among the contenders, but I think she's done well, and we haven't even seen the Russian character schtick that made her famous. The Abe Lincoln dress was great and her Shakequeer contribution was OK. I always enjoy Katya's contributions, and I think she will shine given the opportunity.
6.) Kennedy Davenport (-4) Oof, rough week. I am starting to doubt my initial impression of Kennedy as the favorite. That theatrical troupe was extremely poorly managed. I actually agreed with Kennedy's instincts in making Violet and Jasmine go against type(she had to be thinking of the famous Rue McClanahan/Betty White swap for Golden Girls). But alas, neither Violet nor Jasmine had the talent of those sitcom divas. I also thought Kennedy's instinct to be a background player was a very bad sign. Jasmine at least grabbed for a big part, swung, and miss. Kennedy seemed content to drop some potion into cauldron. The dress and beard were also really terrible. Kennedy was, by any objective standard, the worst one on this episode. Only my (fading) estimation of her talent keeps her this high.
5.) Miss Fame (+1)- Miss Fame was just treading water this week. Nothing special in either the play or the runway. I wasn't crazy about the dress choice either, but the relative strength of the past few weeks keep Miss Fame up with the contenders.
4.) Violet Chachki (No Change)- I know Violet has her supporters, chiefly herself, but I am not a huge fan. She has performed decently well the first few weeks, and the dream-in-pink runway look was outstanding, but she is significantly weaker than the three girls at the top. First, Violet was absolutely terrible in the challenge. Even with the bad teammate performances, she should have nailed that role if she really is a top queen. Also, the attitude is a huge problem. The difference between Pearl and Violet is that Pearl knows when he's terrible, and is more likely to change course on things that are a problem. Violet externalizes problems and doesn't take responsibility for failures. I think we'll see Violet gradually drop back in the pack as the show goes on.
3.) Pearl (No Change)- A bad performance in the play but that runway look was so outstanding that all is pretty much forgiven. It is the best look of the season so far, and reminded me of a Final Fantasy villain, which is a high compliment if you can't tell.
2.) Ginger Minj (-1)- Ginger didn't do anything wrong in this challenge and continues to be the most amusing of the bunch. Ginger will be dangerous because she doesn't appear to screw up and is consistently able to ham up any situation. That will take you a long way in Drag Race. I'd say her floor is Ben DeLaCreme and her ceiling is Jinx or Bianca. That is, I think she has a chance to be the obvious favorite for the final show. This week however, she was completely outshone by....
1.) Max (+4)- Max turned in a great performance on a very weak episode. He was the only one to nail all three elements. His old woman was the only standout in the mini-challenge. She actually had believable and an original personality. It felt like we were visiting one of the Cabaret girls from Weimar-era Berlin in a nursing home. Her theater troupe was well-managed and she was a star in the leading part. Finally, the runway look was fantastic and showed that Max has a deep aesthetic reservoir upon which to draw. I like a queen that can reference the 20s and Salvador Dali! I like Max this week as the favorite.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Dennis Re-Does the Oscars-Part 1: Best Original Songs of the 1930s
Friends, there are very few injustices that can be cured by blog but I think the Oscars is one of them. In this ongoing many-part series I will re-do the Oscars such that the appropriate people are recognized for their categories. You might ask me, why? Well, good question, but excuse me if I ask you a question: why not? EH?
Anyway, I was inspired to begin with the Best Original Song category because I happened upon the Wikipedia page for that award and was struck by a number of injustices over the years, and, well, it's an easy one to begin with since songs are about 1/50th as long as a feature film. So I can knock a whole decade of nominees off in a single evening, which is what I've done for the 1930s.
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed going through this selection of music. Everything is charming in an old timey sort of way and there was only one song that was so awful that I just couldn't get through it. There is a certain sameness to it all, but that makes listening to them all sort of engrossing. The songs generate an atmosphere and your computer slowly morphs to to one of those old antique radios. It helps that almost all are of a very high quality; there was clearly love and sweat that went into these things. Unlike today, when the Best Original Song nominee is usually played over the closing credits as an afterthought, these were the centerpieces of movies. Often it seems like they served to ennoble cookie cutter fare that was pumped out of the studio system in those days. That's not so bad though, I wish we had something to make our trash a little shinier.
Let's get to it:
1934
Nominees: "The Continental" from The Gay Divorcee, "Caricoa" from Flying Down to Rio, "Love in Bloom" from She Loves Me Not.
Winner: "The Continental"
Who Should Have Won: It's an odd little bunch of nominees from the first year they gave out the award. "The Continental" is a peppy swinging number that Ginger Rogers sings to Fred Astaire. "Caricoa" is a sort of atmospheric piece from another Rodgers and Astaire movie: Flying Down to Rio (SPOILER ALERT: They get there.) "Love in Bloom" is treacly nonsense from Bing Crosby that sounds like an old Looney Toons parody of a crooner singing.
This one isn't even close. The Academy got it right. On it's own "The Continental" is a charming song that makes you want to dance in one of those old fancy night clubs while FDR fixes you a martini. But the way it's deployed in the movie is simply charming. I mean try not to smile through this scene between Rodgers and Astaire.
1935
Nominees: "Lullaby of Broadway" from Gold Diggers of 1935, "Lovely to Look at" from Roberta, "Cheek to Cheek" from Top Hat.
Winner: "Lullaby of Broadway"
Who Should Have Won: Three nominees and two of them are sung by Fred Astaire! If these Oscars were held today, he'd be a very busy man and would have to duck several poorly written jokes from Neil Patrick Harris. Luckily it was 1935 so the Oscars were held in Clark Gable's suite at the Los Angeles Hilton and nobody was yet tired of Herbert Hoover wisecracks.
As for the songs, "Lovely to Look at" is a quiet, nice, but sort of bland song from Astaire, so we can set it aside. "Lullaby of Broadway," the winner from that year, has stood the test of time. You'll find it in the 1980s musical about the 1930s, 42nd Street and many other places. In its 1930s context, it's featured in an extremely wonderful and bizarre scene in Gold Diggers of 1935 that almost makes me want to give it the retrospective Oscar.
As for the songs, "Lovely to Look at" is a quiet, nice, but sort of bland song from Astaire, so we can set it aside. "Lullaby of Broadway," the winner from that year, has stood the test of time. You'll find it in the 1980s musical about the 1930s, 42nd Street and many other places. In its 1930s context, it's featured in an extremely wonderful and bizarre scene in Gold Diggers of 1935 that almost makes me want to give it the retrospective Oscar.
But "Cheek to Cheek" is an all time classic. If you distilled Old Time Hollywood down to a single musical number you would probably get the concentrated essence that is "Cheek to Cheek." Woody Allen just stuck it in Purple Rose of Cairo to establish "THIS IS WHY MIA FARROW'S CHARACTER LIKES MOVIES." The lyrics to "Cheek to Cheek" are sweet without being sickly and are delivered so elegantly by Astaire. The warm glow present in the scene in Top Hat is unlike anything we currently have in movies. Today we'd have to load that scene up with layers of irony and humor to get the audience to accept a genuinely beautiful moment like the one between Rodgers and Astaire here (think "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow"), but somehow, in the long vanished Hollywood of the Great Depression musicals, it just works. Marvelous.
1936
1936
Nominees: "The Way You Look Tonight" from Swing Time, "I've Got You Under My Skin" from Born to Dance,"Pennies from Heaven" from Pennies from Heaven, "When Did You Leave Heaven" from Sing, Baby, Sing "Did I Remember" from Suzy, "A Melody from the Sky" from The Trail of the Lonesome Pine.
Winner: "The Way You Look Tonight"
Who Should Have Won: This was a really strong year. Of course there's "I've Got You Under My Skin" which became so famous as a Sinatra standard, here featured in the Jimmy Stewart musical, Born to Dance. And then there's "Pennies from Heaven" a nice Bing Crosby song about the sweet things in life needing some sadness to accentuate their flavor, a relevant message during the Depression. "When Did You Leave Heaven" and "A Melody from the Sky" are fine songs as well if nothing truly special.
"Did I Remember" may be my favorite discovery so far in doing this review (or whatever I'm doing). The recorded version I was able to find was from Billie Holliday, and it is a fantastic jazzy number that has an ever so slightly sardonic tone, lending a dose of irony to the relatively straightforward romantic lyrics. The portion of the film version in Suzy I was able to find online looks like it's broadly similar to the Holiday recording, and, even better, it features a very cute interaction between Jean Harlow and a young Cary Grant.
All that said, and as good as all of those songs are, "The Way You Look Tonight" absolutely deserved to win this Oscar. It is obviously a very familiar song, but it actually stunned me when I heard it again. It is a beautiful, haunting, and ever so slightly mournful in its acknowledgement of impermanence of a desirable present. It's even more poignant heard across the many eventful years since 1937 where Rodgers and Astaire grew old and died and became plaster legends. The scene in Swing Time is just as satisfying and sweet, and brought tears to my eyes.
1937
"Did I Remember" may be my favorite discovery so far in doing this review (or whatever I'm doing). The recorded version I was able to find was from Billie Holliday, and it is a fantastic jazzy number that has an ever so slightly sardonic tone, lending a dose of irony to the relatively straightforward romantic lyrics. The portion of the film version in Suzy I was able to find online looks like it's broadly similar to the Holiday recording, and, even better, it features a very cute interaction between Jean Harlow and a young Cary Grant.
All that said, and as good as all of those songs are, "The Way You Look Tonight" absolutely deserved to win this Oscar. It is obviously a very familiar song, but it actually stunned me when I heard it again. It is a beautiful, haunting, and ever so slightly mournful in its acknowledgement of impermanence of a desirable present. It's even more poignant heard across the many eventful years since 1937 where Rodgers and Astaire grew old and died and became plaster legends. The scene in Swing Time is just as satisfying and sweet, and brought tears to my eyes.
1937
Nominees: "Sweet Leilani" from Waikiki Wedding, "Whispers in the Dark" from Artists and Models, "Remember Me" from Mr. Dodd Takes the Air,"They Can't Take That Away from Me" from Shall We Dance ,"That Old Feeling" from Vogues of 1938 .
Winner: "Sweet Leilani"
Who Should Have Won: Well, certainly not "Sweet Leilani." I might just not be a huge Bing Crosby fan, but this one is terrible. Plodding and maudlin, it's actually difficult to get through. And the scene where it's featured is awkward Hawaiiansploitation complete with grass skirts, hammocks, and leis. This is a weak year though and I'm struggling to find a song that's not Fred Astaire singing to Ginger Rodgers like the last 2 I've picked. "Whispers in the Dark," "That Old Feeling," and "Remember Me" are all forgettable and of a type with many of the songs nominated during the 30s. There is a long intriguing long big band introduction, followed by a crooner belting for about 10 seconds, followed a few more minutes of big band action. It's hard to separate them! At least "Sweet Leilani" is something different, which may have been why it was picked for this year. They, like me, didn't want to give everything to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers.
But I really can't help it. While it's not as good as "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Cheek to Cheek," "They Can't Take that Away from Me" is a lovely George and Ira Gershwin number performed beautifully by Fred Astaire. Of the crop here, it's the best and so it should get my alternate universe Oscar. I don't like to give all these prizes to the Astaire and Rodgers musicals, but I can console myself with the fact that I'm giving George Gershwin his only Oscar by making the switch. He was posthumously nominated at the time, so I guess this is a double posthumous fake award. Congratulations(?), Mr. Gershwin.
1938
Nominees: "Thanks for the Memory"from The Big Broadcast of 1938, "Always and Always" from Mannequin, "Change Partners" from Carefree, "The Cowboy and the Lady" from The Cowboy and the Lady, "Dust" from Under Western Stars, "Jeepers Creepers" from Going Places, "Merrily We Live" from Merrily We Live, "A Mist over the Moon" from The Lady Objects, "My Own" from That Certain Age, "Now It Can Be Told" from Alexander's Ragtime Band.
Winner: "Thanks for the Memory"
Who Should Have Won: The most nominees ever! And this will start a trend that will go through the Forties of extremely bloated nomination lists until they got the category under control after the War. Irving Berlin makes it on the list twice here for two very different songs. "Change Partners" is a very sweet, quiet song sung by Fred Astaire in his penultimate film with Ginger Rodgers. It's the kind of song that would be sung by a lonely piano-man near closing time, or by Rowlf the Dog, for that matter. It seems of a piece with Berlin's earlier nominated work, the lovely "Cheek to Cheek." That's why it's so surprising that this is the same songwriter who gave us the puffed up "Now It Can Be Told" about the self-proclaimed "great love story" that can now be talked about (show, don't tell, Irving). Of course, this Berlin would go on to give us the hideous "God Bless America" in the 40s. I wish the Berlin of "Cheek to Cheek" and "Change Partners" had written the patriotic song so that good Americans attending baseball games would not be subjected to so much horror in the 7th inning.
"Jeepers Creepers" is a great song from the horse racing film, Going Places. That film is mostly notable for being a B-movie with two icons of the 20th century (Ronald Reagan and Louis Armstrong) in supporting roles. Armstrong's name isn't even on the movie posters for the film, and he performs "Jeepers Creepers as a racially stereotyped trainer singing to a horse. I'm not kidding. It's pretty awkward to watch from the 21st century. Despite all that, though, it's a very nice song, and it's the runner up, in my mind, to the Academy's correct choice of "Thanks for the Memory."
"Thanks for the Memory" is sung by Bob Hope in the variety musical movie Big Broadcast of 1938, which also starred WC Fields. Incidentally, the plot of the movie is insane. Here, read it. I've tried to do it justice in a sentence or two but I just keep failing. The song itself is about the lost relationship between Hope and one of the ex-wives that sent him to "alimony jail." (Seriously, read the plot.) Despite it's presence in a zany cash-grab variety musical, it actually feels very true and sad. The lyrics are clever and beautiful, and it makes for a magical movie moment. I can see now why it became Hope's signature song for the rest of his life.
1939
Nominees: "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz, "Faithful Forever" from Gulliver's Travels, "I Poured My Heart into a Song" from Second Fiddle, "Wishing" from Love Affair.
Winner: "Over the Rainbow"
Who Should Have Won: "Over the Rainbow." With apologies to the other nominated songs, not only is "Over the Rainbow" clearly the best original song of the epochal movie year of 1939, but it lays a strong claim to being the greatest movie song of all time. There are a number of reasons for this. First, is the high quality of the song itself. Ostensibly about a 16 year old girl from Kansas' daydreams, the combination of Judy Garland's haunting voice and the symbolic, archetype-laden lyrics lend the song a transcendent quality that has made it meaningful to every generation that's heard it. Second, is the song's presence in the most beloved, iconic film in American history. If this song had been in Gold Diggers of 1939, it would have still been a well known song, and probably Garland's signature (as "Thanks for the Memory" was to Bob Hope). But it's "Over the Rainbow's" presence in the Wizard of Oz that made it one of the touchstones of American culture.
These two characteristics have helped "Over the Rainbow" age very well; it's only become more poignant as the years have passed. The sad, hopeful song became synonymous with the tragic life of Judy Garland, whose time on the planet seemed one long hopeless search for the place she sang about in her youth. It is the deep sadness in Garland that made the song great. One could imagine a less talented or less troubled performer making the place over the rainbow sound like something that would be almost inevitably be found, rather than something that would always be slightly out of reach. (In fact, you don't have to imagine it....here it is) That interpretation isn't true to life, even if it is literally true for Dorothy. It's the sadness that makes the song so deeply true.
It's also the sadness that lent the song it's other major place in history: the unofficial anthem of Gay America. It's true that this is a cliche. For me, and perhaps for every gay man, the song began as a cliche. But if you've lived the unique sadness of being young and gay, the song stops being a joke and turns into a strange hopeful lament. Gays, as a rule, are among the most cynical members of the population, because even the most spoiled among us has had a little bit of emotional hardship to toughen us up. But when "Over the Rainbow" is played on the piano or sung by a Karaoke singer or blasted over a loudspeaker, it is listened to with great sincerity. At particular pregnant moments, you may see a tear pass down the face of someone that was just bragging about their threesome in graphic detail. That, my friends, is a song.
But I really can't help it. While it's not as good as "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Cheek to Cheek," "They Can't Take that Away from Me" is a lovely George and Ira Gershwin number performed beautifully by Fred Astaire. Of the crop here, it's the best and so it should get my alternate universe Oscar. I don't like to give all these prizes to the Astaire and Rodgers musicals, but I can console myself with the fact that I'm giving George Gershwin his only Oscar by making the switch. He was posthumously nominated at the time, so I guess this is a double posthumous fake award. Congratulations(?), Mr. Gershwin.
1938
Nominees: "Thanks for the Memory"from The Big Broadcast of 1938, "Always and Always" from Mannequin, "Change Partners" from Carefree, "The Cowboy and the Lady" from The Cowboy and the Lady, "Dust" from Under Western Stars, "Jeepers Creepers" from Going Places, "Merrily We Live" from Merrily We Live, "A Mist over the Moon" from The Lady Objects, "My Own" from That Certain Age, "Now It Can Be Told" from Alexander's Ragtime Band.
Winner: "Thanks for the Memory"
Who Should Have Won: The most nominees ever! And this will start a trend that will go through the Forties of extremely bloated nomination lists until they got the category under control after the War. Irving Berlin makes it on the list twice here for two very different songs. "Change Partners" is a very sweet, quiet song sung by Fred Astaire in his penultimate film with Ginger Rodgers. It's the kind of song that would be sung by a lonely piano-man near closing time, or by Rowlf the Dog, for that matter. It seems of a piece with Berlin's earlier nominated work, the lovely "Cheek to Cheek." That's why it's so surprising that this is the same songwriter who gave us the puffed up "Now It Can Be Told" about the self-proclaimed "great love story" that can now be talked about (show, don't tell, Irving). Of course, this Berlin would go on to give us the hideous "God Bless America" in the 40s. I wish the Berlin of "Cheek to Cheek" and "Change Partners" had written the patriotic song so that good Americans attending baseball games would not be subjected to so much horror in the 7th inning.
"Jeepers Creepers" is a great song from the horse racing film, Going Places. That film is mostly notable for being a B-movie with two icons of the 20th century (Ronald Reagan and Louis Armstrong) in supporting roles. Armstrong's name isn't even on the movie posters for the film, and he performs "Jeepers Creepers as a racially stereotyped trainer singing to a horse. I'm not kidding. It's pretty awkward to watch from the 21st century. Despite all that, though, it's a very nice song, and it's the runner up, in my mind, to the Academy's correct choice of "Thanks for the Memory."
"Thanks for the Memory" is sung by Bob Hope in the variety musical movie Big Broadcast of 1938, which also starred WC Fields. Incidentally, the plot of the movie is insane. Here, read it. I've tried to do it justice in a sentence or two but I just keep failing. The song itself is about the lost relationship between Hope and one of the ex-wives that sent him to "alimony jail." (Seriously, read the plot.) Despite it's presence in a zany cash-grab variety musical, it actually feels very true and sad. The lyrics are clever and beautiful, and it makes for a magical movie moment. I can see now why it became Hope's signature song for the rest of his life.
1939
Nominees: "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz, "Faithful Forever" from Gulliver's Travels, "I Poured My Heart into a Song" from Second Fiddle, "Wishing" from Love Affair.
Winner: "Over the Rainbow"
Who Should Have Won: "Over the Rainbow." With apologies to the other nominated songs, not only is "Over the Rainbow" clearly the best original song of the epochal movie year of 1939, but it lays a strong claim to being the greatest movie song of all time. There are a number of reasons for this. First, is the high quality of the song itself. Ostensibly about a 16 year old girl from Kansas' daydreams, the combination of Judy Garland's haunting voice and the symbolic, archetype-laden lyrics lend the song a transcendent quality that has made it meaningful to every generation that's heard it. Second, is the song's presence in the most beloved, iconic film in American history. If this song had been in Gold Diggers of 1939, it would have still been a well known song, and probably Garland's signature (as "Thanks for the Memory" was to Bob Hope). But it's "Over the Rainbow's" presence in the Wizard of Oz that made it one of the touchstones of American culture.
These two characteristics have helped "Over the Rainbow" age very well; it's only become more poignant as the years have passed. The sad, hopeful song became synonymous with the tragic life of Judy Garland, whose time on the planet seemed one long hopeless search for the place she sang about in her youth. It is the deep sadness in Garland that made the song great. One could imagine a less talented or less troubled performer making the place over the rainbow sound like something that would be almost inevitably be found, rather than something that would always be slightly out of reach. (In fact, you don't have to imagine it....here it is) That interpretation isn't true to life, even if it is literally true for Dorothy. It's the sadness that makes the song so deeply true.
It's also the sadness that lent the song it's other major place in history: the unofficial anthem of Gay America. It's true that this is a cliche. For me, and perhaps for every gay man, the song began as a cliche. But if you've lived the unique sadness of being young and gay, the song stops being a joke and turns into a strange hopeful lament. Gays, as a rule, are among the most cynical members of the population, because even the most spoiled among us has had a little bit of emotional hardship to toughen us up. But when "Over the Rainbow" is played on the piano or sung by a Karaoke singer or blasted over a loudspeaker, it is listened to with great sincerity. At particular pregnant moments, you may see a tear pass down the face of someone that was just bragging about their threesome in graphic detail. That, my friends, is a song.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Ru Paul's Drag Race Power Rankings (Week 2)
Well, it's nice to see them follow up a rather lackluster first episode with a really good one this week. We got to see a lot more of all of the queens, and I am a lot more excited for this season than I was a week ago. First of all, does anyone have a time machine so I can show 1979 Olivia Newton John a tape of this episode? "First, Olivia, the bad news, when people watch Grease in the future, they will mostly not be talking about your amazing voice or tremendous looks, but the ugly weird gay man that ate John Travolta and now ruins every Oscar ceremony. But the good news is that in 2015 there will be a long running show about drag queens on television, and you will still be beloved enough to be invited on as a guest judge. Your favorite will be the one named after a spiced vagina. Here, let's watch."
Second, I'm so happy with the way Carson is working out as a guest judge. He is so much better than Mumbles Santino, whose comedy repertoire consisted of a few bad puns. And was it me or was his outfit coordinated to the lighting scheme? I wouldn't put it past the Fashion Gay. Question: When all the Queer Eye guys put their rings together, who would they have summoned? Has to be Ru Paul, right? Has to be. Anyway, on to the rankings:
13) Sasha Belle (OUT)- The funniest part of her brief career on Drag Race was her statement at the end "I went for the win." That was going for the win? It looked like he stole his runway outfit from a Kristen Wiig character, and his performance in the flight attendant skit made it look like he was playing one. This was an easy call. Did anyone think Katya was going down to Sasha in Lip Sync For Your Life? Vegas had taken that one off the board. Good riddance.
12.) Kandy Ho-We didn't see much of anything from her this week and I have to think that's a bad sign. I would think they'd want to build her up a bit after a rough week, as it is, she's kind of bitchy and I wouldn't mind seeing the back of her, and not in a good way.
11.) Jadyn Diore Fierce (-2 from last week) Ginger Minj didn't seem to be a fan and now we know she's playing with a gimpy knee. The runway look was pretty terrible as well. I am not optimistic.
10.) Trixie Mattel (+1) I'm still not sold on Trixie, who seems a little blah for a comedy queen, and it astounds me how it looks like she just got hit by a truck when she's in drag. I know there may be a comedy angle to it, but it doesn't play as comedy on the stage, it plays as sloppy. Also, Ginger Minj was right about his choice of queens for the skit. Did he think it was Triumph of the Will week on Drag Race? I can't imagine either Ben Delacreme or Jinx Monsoon, his comedy queen predecessors, making such a mistake. And I think he paid for it with a lackluster wooden performance by the models.
He also might have a thing for Miss Fame, he got very touchy feely when he started to lay out his family photos. YOU'RE NOT HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS, TRIXIE.
9.) Jasmine Masters (-1) Reluctantly moving Jasmine down a peg here because of Kasha Davis' good performance this week, but I still think Jasmine could move up in a hurry for all the reasons I expressed last week.
8.) Kasha Davis (+1) I'm moving her up but I don't have a ton of confidence. That performance in the skit was pretty good, but I wasn't inspired by the runway. I'm happy to be proven wrong, but I think this is her high water mark.
7.) Katya (-1) I may be giving Katya too much credit here but the thing for which he was put up for elimination seems to be a one time deal: he forgot the words. It happens. He happened to nail both the outfit and the lip synch, which are much more indicative of his overall talent according to my metrics.
6.) Miss Fame (-3) Rough week for Miss Fame, who seemed to be a prime competitor in the Season 7 opener, but this week he revealed himself to be an airhead and performance averse. Also, way too early to bring up murdered father! Roxxy Andrews showed us the right way to bring up childhood traumas, right before you're about to be eliminated as the heat is turned on.
By the way, Miss Fame, thank you SO MUCH for igniting the great "Is Drag more about performance or looks?" debate which is a long running dispute back through the drag centuries. On it's face it sounds like a very simple question, but it's actually more like asking whether grapes or time are more important for wine or whether Jesus is more human or divine? The latter question sunk into the brains of the poor old Byzantines until they collectively went insane, came up with something called monothelitism, and had riots in Constantinople over whether Jesus had two persons and one nature or one nature and two persons.
So, Ru, if you're listening, my point is that I think after this season you need to call an ecumenical drag council like the Christian Emperors of old to sort this question out before we go through another season of pointless esoteric debate.
5.) Max (-1) Max didn't do much this episode but had a good runway look, so he treads water in the rankings this week.
4.) Violet Chachki (-2) It's very fluid at the top and while Violet is a strong contender, I do not think he's near the top in terms of talent. In fact he may find that his lane (bitchy skinny street-smart queen) is being taken by Pearl.
3.) Pearl (+1) Speaking of which Pearl had a great week this week. He showed my earlier diagnosis of "no personality" to be incorrect, he is bitchy and he doesn't take anyone's guff. Did you see him smack down Violet in rehearsals? Also he appears to be an early favorite of the community because he is the most attractive queen on the show since I have been watching.
2.) Kennedy Davenport (-1) Kennedy had a quiet week this week but I still think there a lot there. She had the 2nd best outfit (behind Katya) on the runway and she was solid, if not spectacular in the skit.
1.) Ginger Minj (+6) Ginger Minj had an absolute tour de force week, which earned him possibly the biggest jump in the rankings ever. I constantly found myself laughing at his comments and agreeing with his assessment of the progress of events. And his performance in the airline skit....if there is ever an all-drag Hairspray, he would be a more than serviceable as Tracy Turnblatt. He's not a watered down Darien Lake, has just has all of Darien's cutting wit with none of his insecure ugliness.
Second, I'm so happy with the way Carson is working out as a guest judge. He is so much better than Mumbles Santino, whose comedy repertoire consisted of a few bad puns. And was it me or was his outfit coordinated to the lighting scheme? I wouldn't put it past the Fashion Gay. Question: When all the Queer Eye guys put their rings together, who would they have summoned? Has to be Ru Paul, right? Has to be. Anyway, on to the rankings:
13) Sasha Belle (OUT)- The funniest part of her brief career on Drag Race was her statement at the end "I went for the win." That was going for the win? It looked like he stole his runway outfit from a Kristen Wiig character, and his performance in the flight attendant skit made it look like he was playing one. This was an easy call. Did anyone think Katya was going down to Sasha in Lip Sync For Your Life? Vegas had taken that one off the board. Good riddance.
12.) Kandy Ho-We didn't see much of anything from her this week and I have to think that's a bad sign. I would think they'd want to build her up a bit after a rough week, as it is, she's kind of bitchy and I wouldn't mind seeing the back of her, and not in a good way.
11.) Jadyn Diore Fierce (-2 from last week) Ginger Minj didn't seem to be a fan and now we know she's playing with a gimpy knee. The runway look was pretty terrible as well. I am not optimistic.
10.) Trixie Mattel (+1) I'm still not sold on Trixie, who seems a little blah for a comedy queen, and it astounds me how it looks like she just got hit by a truck when she's in drag. I know there may be a comedy angle to it, but it doesn't play as comedy on the stage, it plays as sloppy. Also, Ginger Minj was right about his choice of queens for the skit. Did he think it was Triumph of the Will week on Drag Race? I can't imagine either Ben Delacreme or Jinx Monsoon, his comedy queen predecessors, making such a mistake. And I think he paid for it with a lackluster wooden performance by the models.
He also might have a thing for Miss Fame, he got very touchy feely when he started to lay out his family photos. YOU'RE NOT HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS, TRIXIE.
9.) Jasmine Masters (-1) Reluctantly moving Jasmine down a peg here because of Kasha Davis' good performance this week, but I still think Jasmine could move up in a hurry for all the reasons I expressed last week.
8.) Kasha Davis (+1) I'm moving her up but I don't have a ton of confidence. That performance in the skit was pretty good, but I wasn't inspired by the runway. I'm happy to be proven wrong, but I think this is her high water mark.
7.) Katya (-1) I may be giving Katya too much credit here but the thing for which he was put up for elimination seems to be a one time deal: he forgot the words. It happens. He happened to nail both the outfit and the lip synch, which are much more indicative of his overall talent according to my metrics.
6.) Miss Fame (-3) Rough week for Miss Fame, who seemed to be a prime competitor in the Season 7 opener, but this week he revealed himself to be an airhead and performance averse. Also, way too early to bring up murdered father! Roxxy Andrews showed us the right way to bring up childhood traumas, right before you're about to be eliminated as the heat is turned on.
By the way, Miss Fame, thank you SO MUCH for igniting the great "Is Drag more about performance or looks?" debate which is a long running dispute back through the drag centuries. On it's face it sounds like a very simple question, but it's actually more like asking whether grapes or time are more important for wine or whether Jesus is more human or divine? The latter question sunk into the brains of the poor old Byzantines until they collectively went insane, came up with something called monothelitism, and had riots in Constantinople over whether Jesus had two persons and one nature or one nature and two persons.
So, Ru, if you're listening, my point is that I think after this season you need to call an ecumenical drag council like the Christian Emperors of old to sort this question out before we go through another season of pointless esoteric debate.
5.) Max (-1) Max didn't do much this episode but had a good runway look, so he treads water in the rankings this week.
4.) Violet Chachki (-2) It's very fluid at the top and while Violet is a strong contender, I do not think he's near the top in terms of talent. In fact he may find that his lane (bitchy skinny street-smart queen) is being taken by Pearl.
3.) Pearl (+1) Speaking of which Pearl had a great week this week. He showed my earlier diagnosis of "no personality" to be incorrect, he is bitchy and he doesn't take anyone's guff. Did you see him smack down Violet in rehearsals? Also he appears to be an early favorite of the community because he is the most attractive queen on the show since I have been watching.
2.) Kennedy Davenport (-1) Kennedy had a quiet week this week but I still think there a lot there. She had the 2nd best outfit (behind Katya) on the runway and she was solid, if not spectacular in the skit.
1.) Ginger Minj (+6) Ginger Minj had an absolute tour de force week, which earned him possibly the biggest jump in the rankings ever. I constantly found myself laughing at his comments and agreeing with his assessment of the progress of events. And his performance in the airline skit....if there is ever an all-drag Hairspray, he would be a more than serviceable as Tracy Turnblatt. He's not a watered down Darien Lake, has just has all of Darien's cutting wit with none of his insecure ugliness.
Tuesday, March 03, 2015
RuPaul Drag Race Power Rankings (Week 1)
Hi all, I'm excited to be back to be your personal chronicler of Drag Race. I'm like a gay basic cable version of Venerable Bede or whoever it was that was writing Theophilus. I don't know that I've ever done a week one power ranking, but since we're on a new platform (welcome back to those of you who followed World of Dennis in the early aughts) I thought I'd show my determination to get out there early.
I thought the first episode was slightly flat, which explains the dearth of excitement I saw on twitter and Facebook for the first episode. In terms of personality, it does not seem like there is a Bianca Del Rio or Jinx Monsoon in the bunch to grab our attention. And the first challenge was an over-promise. I know we don't necessarily want to see some of the girls naked in drag, but enough of them were pretty that it would have been a positive What was totally deflating were the weird George Costanza bodysuits most of them were wearing. Don't promise me naked and bring me Body Suit Man! DENNIS IS GETTING UPSET!
I am, however, happy with the new blood in the judge's booth. Carson is great and the real life Only Gay in the Village will bring more excitement than Santino has. (Frankly, I thought Santino was a little dull.)
Anyway on to the rankings:
14.) (OUT) Tempest DuJour- Tempest, we barely knew ye, and maybe it was for the best. He had a weird Tory Spelling thing going on when he was in drag and if he ever got anywhere on the show there would be a semi-infuriating think piece on Salon.com about how his weight loss constitutes fat shaming and is actually an attack. I know we can't live our lives trying to avoid infuriating Salon think pieces but at least this puts this one out of bounds....
INFURIATING SALON THINK PIECE: ONCE AGAIN THE FIRST PERSON OFF RU PAUL'S DRAG RACE IS NOT YOUNG WHITE AND ATTRACTIVE....WHEN WILL RU PAUL BE PUT ON TRIAL FOR NOT COMBATTING PRIVILEGE
God Dammit!
13.) Sasha Belle- I was actually confused during Sasha's runway walk as she seemed to be wearing a sports bra of some sort. First of all, why do you need a sports bra?!? You're a boy! Second, how was it not clear that you had to come out naked on the runway? They actually went through the trouble of bringing out a naked Pit Crew to demonstrate that this was a naked challenge. My only explanation was that this was a strategic play to set up her tearful confession that she is a never-nude when she is on the verge of elimination a few weeks from now.
12.) Kandy Ho- Kandy jumps Sasha here because of that actually-not-bad Lipsync. Otherwise it was a train wreck. She seems extremely catty and has a terrible attitude.
11.) Trixie Mattel: If Ben Delacreme was a poor man's Jinx Monsoon, then Trixie is a homeless man's Ben Delacreme. What happens if you're supposed to be the comedy queen and nobody laughs? Believe me, I've been there and it's not pretty. Also, I may bring a jaundiced eye to Ru Paul's drag race, but I am pretty sure that that boyfriend story was made up. It all seemed very generic.
9.) (tie) Jaidynn Diore Fierce- I don't really remember much good or bad about Jaidynn. Pencil her in for a week 5-6 exit once they've eliminated the above.
9.) (tie) Kasha Davis- Ditto.
8.) Jasmine Masters- Jasmine was near the bottom this week but my experienced Ru Paul eye senses some upside with her. First, she has a great attitude and a distinctive personality, so it will be difficult to eliminate her. This is an underrated quality in life, you should at least make it hard for people to throw you overboard. It might not save you in the end but you will make it out ahead of the sourpusses and boring people. Second, I think she showed some imagination and creativity in her runway look, even if it wasn't totally successful. It was a failure but a good one, which is why Ru didn't make her sweat.
7.) Ginger Minj- As it stands she seems like a bland version of Darienne Lake. She didn't do anything to hurt herself in the first episode, though.
6.) Katya- This wasn't really Katya's week to shine. I, of course, loved the Soviet Union opening outfit and the highly developed Russian schtick. Also how could I hate a Boston girl?! I expect she'll be moving up in the rankings once she gets some screen time as she actually gave some hints that she could be funny.
5.) Pearl- Pearl had some very interesting looks and could be a strong contender. The only drawback seems to be personality, but I do think she'll threaten for the final show in a Courtney Act-esque boring way.
4.) Max- Is it me or is Max kind of interesting? His personality is hard to pin down and I find his aesthetic to be unlike anything we've seen on the show thus far. The choice to come out as a Polio victim on week one was daring and I really like it. However, if there's anyone in this top 5 that could be eliminated before the two boring queens tied for 9th, it's probably Max.
3.) Miss Fame- Like Katya, she had a strong opening volley with that purple supervillain costume in the opening. Otherwise she had strong looks and managed to get in the top three.
2.) Violet Chachki- I really wish Props Eric had been around when I saw her transform in that fall look to a Plaid Archangel of Death. I feel like there would have there would have been a full five minutes of shouting followed by the proclamation: "PLAID IS IN, HONEY!" That was really fantastic, and it was the most memorable thing about the first episode. Also, I really appreciated the nerve to go naked on national television your first time out. That shows....guts.
1.) Kennedy Davenport- First impressions are always imperfect, but my instinct is that Kennedy is the person to beat. The way she banged out all the elements effortlessly is a tell as to how much talent she has, as is the way Jasmine reacted when she entered the competition. Jasmine seemed star-struck, so clearly this is someone with some juice in real life. Last year Courtney was that person, and Kennedy seems more interesting than that finalist. So I'll declare Kennedy our week one FAVORITE.
I thought the first episode was slightly flat, which explains the dearth of excitement I saw on twitter and Facebook for the first episode. In terms of personality, it does not seem like there is a Bianca Del Rio or Jinx Monsoon in the bunch to grab our attention. And the first challenge was an over-promise. I know we don't necessarily want to see some of the girls naked in drag, but enough of them were pretty that it would have been a positive What was totally deflating were the weird George Costanza bodysuits most of them were wearing. Don't promise me naked and bring me Body Suit Man! DENNIS IS GETTING UPSET!
I am, however, happy with the new blood in the judge's booth. Carson is great and the real life Only Gay in the Village will bring more excitement than Santino has. (Frankly, I thought Santino was a little dull.)
Anyway on to the rankings:
14.) (OUT) Tempest DuJour- Tempest, we barely knew ye, and maybe it was for the best. He had a weird Tory Spelling thing going on when he was in drag and if he ever got anywhere on the show there would be a semi-infuriating think piece on Salon.com about how his weight loss constitutes fat shaming and is actually an attack. I know we can't live our lives trying to avoid infuriating Salon think pieces but at least this puts this one out of bounds....
INFURIATING SALON THINK PIECE: ONCE AGAIN THE FIRST PERSON OFF RU PAUL'S DRAG RACE IS NOT YOUNG WHITE AND ATTRACTIVE....WHEN WILL RU PAUL BE PUT ON TRIAL FOR NOT COMBATTING PRIVILEGE
God Dammit!
13.) Sasha Belle- I was actually confused during Sasha's runway walk as she seemed to be wearing a sports bra of some sort. First of all, why do you need a sports bra?!? You're a boy! Second, how was it not clear that you had to come out naked on the runway? They actually went through the trouble of bringing out a naked Pit Crew to demonstrate that this was a naked challenge. My only explanation was that this was a strategic play to set up her tearful confession that she is a never-nude when she is on the verge of elimination a few weeks from now.
12.) Kandy Ho- Kandy jumps Sasha here because of that actually-not-bad Lipsync. Otherwise it was a train wreck. She seems extremely catty and has a terrible attitude.
11.) Trixie Mattel: If Ben Delacreme was a poor man's Jinx Monsoon, then Trixie is a homeless man's Ben Delacreme. What happens if you're supposed to be the comedy queen and nobody laughs? Believe me, I've been there and it's not pretty. Also, I may bring a jaundiced eye to Ru Paul's drag race, but I am pretty sure that that boyfriend story was made up. It all seemed very generic.
9.) (tie) Jaidynn Diore Fierce- I don't really remember much good or bad about Jaidynn. Pencil her in for a week 5-6 exit once they've eliminated the above.
9.) (tie) Kasha Davis- Ditto.
8.) Jasmine Masters- Jasmine was near the bottom this week but my experienced Ru Paul eye senses some upside with her. First, she has a great attitude and a distinctive personality, so it will be difficult to eliminate her. This is an underrated quality in life, you should at least make it hard for people to throw you overboard. It might not save you in the end but you will make it out ahead of the sourpusses and boring people. Second, I think she showed some imagination and creativity in her runway look, even if it wasn't totally successful. It was a failure but a good one, which is why Ru didn't make her sweat.
7.) Ginger Minj- As it stands she seems like a bland version of Darienne Lake. She didn't do anything to hurt herself in the first episode, though.
6.) Katya- This wasn't really Katya's week to shine. I, of course, loved the Soviet Union opening outfit and the highly developed Russian schtick. Also how could I hate a Boston girl?! I expect she'll be moving up in the rankings once she gets some screen time as she actually gave some hints that she could be funny.
5.) Pearl- Pearl had some very interesting looks and could be a strong contender. The only drawback seems to be personality, but I do think she'll threaten for the final show in a Courtney Act-esque boring way.
4.) Max- Is it me or is Max kind of interesting? His personality is hard to pin down and I find his aesthetic to be unlike anything we've seen on the show thus far. The choice to come out as a Polio victim on week one was daring and I really like it. However, if there's anyone in this top 5 that could be eliminated before the two boring queens tied for 9th, it's probably Max.
3.) Miss Fame- Like Katya, she had a strong opening volley with that purple supervillain costume in the opening. Otherwise she had strong looks and managed to get in the top three.
2.) Violet Chachki- I really wish Props Eric had been around when I saw her transform in that fall look to a Plaid Archangel of Death. I feel like there would have there would have been a full five minutes of shouting followed by the proclamation: "PLAID IS IN, HONEY!" That was really fantastic, and it was the most memorable thing about the first episode. Also, I really appreciated the nerve to go naked on national television your first time out. That shows....guts.
1.) Kennedy Davenport- First impressions are always imperfect, but my instinct is that Kennedy is the person to beat. The way she banged out all the elements effortlessly is a tell as to how much talent she has, as is the way Jasmine reacted when she entered the competition. Jasmine seemed star-struck, so clearly this is someone with some juice in real life. Last year Courtney was that person, and Kennedy seems more interesting than that finalist. So I'll declare Kennedy our week one FAVORITE.
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