THE DAILY HEY NOW!

Honestly, I am so over vampires and I know a lot of you are too- so when I was camping out in the YA Fantasy Romance section of Barnes and Noble I was skeptical about a lot of the stuff I was looking at. However, something about this book called to me. Firstly, it’s Holly Black and I’m uncertain I can dislike anything Holly Black writes. Secondly, the premises was intriguing and while we live in a post Twilight world finding a Vampire Book that doesn’t sound like a complete rip off is very hard. However, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown surprised me yet. It was intriguing, clever, and contained a female character I didn’t want to stab in the throat ninety-nine percent of the time. 

The story is about Thana. She’s got that typical YA book heroine thing to her. She’s tragic, doe eyed, and tough all at the same time which works for her without coming of as irritating and Mary Sue (most of the time.) Tana wakes up at a party with everyone around her dead/dying, her  dopey ex boyfriend Aidan on the edge of turning into a vamp, and another vamp chained down. Thana has to race against the clock to get Aidan to a Coldtown (it’s pretty much a ghetto for vamps and weird humans who’ve gotten stuck there.) She packs up Aidan and Gavriel the sexy, mysterious, and somewhat kind vampire and hits the road with them. On their way there they meet some friends and foes and all in all it’s a fun journey. 

The love story is definitely between Gavriel and Thana and contains one of the best vamp kiss scenes I’ve seen in a YA book (tongue biting and blood licking, it’s hot, gave me a bit of an early Sookie Stackhouse vibe.) What makes Gavriel and Thana so refreshing is that they both have secrets that keep their feelings hidden from everyone except themselves. The attraction is there immediately and I was very impressed with how compatible they were as characters without having been shoved down everyones throat. 

Despite how great the story was one thing didn’t sit well with me and that was the fact the POV’s changed from time to time but there wasn’t any particular pattern to and when it changed from Thana to another character the first time it felt very jarring and slightly unnecessary. A plot device could have been used such as a text or a phone call. The only switches I did enjoy were the ones to Gavriel’s past with his maker that reminded me of Angel and Spike in a wonderful way. 

Despite the point of view switching I did whole heartily find this book entertaining and was actually sad to find out it was a one shot and not part of a series, although I will say the ending was open ended enough that a series wouldn’t feel like something out of left field and I hope this might go on because I’m not quite ready to fully ready to say goodbye to Coldtown just yet. 

(Image courtesy of the BBC)

My celebration of the 50th started at the beginning of the year. I’ve been busy experiencing the events leading up to today beyond the TV and laptop screen. I attended as well as organized conventions and meetups held in honor of the 50th Anniversary. Every once in a while I would try out watching Classic serials to deepen my appreciation of the past. All of this was in anticipation of seeing The Day of the Doctor at yesterday’s Times Square 3D simulcast.

I realized it it impossible for me to objectively analyze The Day Of The Doctor and the specials leading up to it. The happy tears of joy, nostalgia, and excitement are what made the 50th so meaningful to fans. This list an attempt to highlight some the moments from the particular moments from The Day Of The Doctor, The Night of the Doctor minisode, and An Adventure in Space and Time that stirred something deep in our Whovian souls:

PLEASE DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU ARE AVOIDING SPOILERS!!!

1) Four’s Return

The collective screaming, clapping, and sniffles was intense and could be heard whether it was a post on social media or the person next to you at a screening. I was so excited because I thought it would never happen. Tom Baker hasn’t filmed a Doctor Who scene since his regeneration. Whether fans were seeing their childhood come to life again, appreciated Four’s importance in Who history, or were glad to see their favorite Doctor again this was the moment with the most emotional impact. 

2) Ten’s Return 

Ten is my favorite Doctor. I couldn’t help but scream when I first saw David Tennant appear on screen. Many people came of age with or recently discovered Doctor Who thanks to Ten. Although Ten’s appearance was not a surprise, fans were still eagerly waiting in anticipation. 10’s interactions with 11 were perfectly written and much better than what I imagined. Not only did the Tenth Doctor get a fitting tribute, several unfinished plots from his series finally received closure. 

3) The Night of The Doctor

This minisode did more filmed justice to the Eighth Doctor than the entire 1996 made for TV movie. Six minutes cemented years of Big Finish audio drama productions starring the Eighth Doctor as Doctor Who canon. Fans loved seeing Paul McGann return to the spotlight after years of neglect. Seeing Eight regenerate into the War Doctor was another fitting closure ending years of fan disappointment. I’ve never got around to listening to the Eighth Doctor Big Finish adventures but now is a great time to start!

4) One’s Monologue & One Meeting Eleven

An Adventure in Space and Time was a fitting tribute to the First Doctor, William Hartnell and the crew that brought Doctor Who to life on November 23rd, 1963. The special not only included the moments of nostalgia fans would expect but also the struggles and uneasiness of the earliest days of Doctor Who. As soon as David Bradley recited this quote from the Five Doctors everyone cried: “One day I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.” One’s vision to the Eleventh Doctor was another tearjerking moment. He realized his work has lasted much longer than anyone ever expected. 

5) The Deconstruction of the Time War

Every Doctor helped to save Gallifrey from destruction. Ten, Eleven, and the War Doctor brought together the Classic Doctors through flashbacks as well bringing Peter Capaldi in from the future. This moment was an excellent combination of nostalgia and excitement from the future. Although the end of the Time War is a game changer for the mythos of Doctor Who, there’s an entire new dimension open for exploration. Yesterday was just as much a celebration of the past but a stirring of excitement for the next 50 years.

In efforts to avoid essay writing, we had to leave a few more moments out. What were your favorite emotional moments from the 50th Anniversary?

I am always fascinated by the process that brings my favorite books, television shows, and movies to life. On Wednesday night, I traveled to the Upper East Side Barnes & Noble to get the inside story on the program that brings Americans the best of British drama. 

Making Masterpiece, written by Executive Producer Rebecca Eaton is part tribute and part memoir of one of the longest running shows in US television history. The book combines her reflections with interviews and anecdotes from Masterpiece actors and staff of the past and present. She describes it as “a story of family sagas”. 

Her discussion focused on stories about the past and pieces of the present. Everyone who wanted spoilers on upcoming airings were very disappointed. She fondly remembered Alistair Cooke’s marathon introduction writing sessions and Diana Rigg sharing the best of London gossip. Along with these anecdotes she told parts of her own story. Eaton’s mom was an actress, and she inherited her passion for the theater.

Eaton also explained what goes into making a Masterpiece production. In the earlier days, already completed UK miniseries would be reviewed and picked for licensing. Today, pitches, pilots and scripts are judged carefully for their ability to capture the core of Masterpiece’s audience. Throughout the years, focus groups and complicated market research never contribute to programming decisions. 

Some productions were instant hits such as the backing of the 1980’s costume epic The Jewel In The Crown. Others started out rough but turned out well in the end. Eaton initially turned down Downton Abbey due to concerns over US success but got a second chance to back the production. Unfortunately, many pitches for American costume drama sink due to the incredibly high cost of production. Some projects have unexpected results. Eaton did not expect Sherlock to become a runaway hit with viewers in their 20’s.

Although I am only halfway through Making Masterpiece, I highly recommend it. I find my appreciation for my older and newer favorite Masterpiece shows growing as I read. Fellow fans will definitely enjoy reading Eaton’s impressions of their favorite miniseries and actors. Her insider’s view of Downton Abbey and Sherlock can help ease the pain of the final stretch until January. People interested in television history and media studies will enjoy the chapters on the production process. Eaton’s narrative often strays from strict chronological order, however this keeps the reader engaged with her story. I expect the rest of the book to follow the same pattern.

I asked Eaton about her plans for the next 40 years, especially in regards to the younger audience for Masterpiece. There was not enough time to flesh these thoughts out, but I’m already looking forward to seeing the next 40 years of Masterpiece unfold.

I love taking pictures of my own cosplay and of those from my own fandoms, but I also enjoy seeing what other people come up with. Narrowing down the favorites out of hundreds of photos was not easy. These cosplayers are my favorites because they made me laugh really hard, creeped me out, reminded me of childhood, or wore costumes I haven’t seen many people wear:

(Feel free to reply if you see your picture here and I’ll credit your cosplay page!)

US Presidents Gang:

Aladdin On The Walls Of Agrabah West 34th St:

Kelly from Misfits:

Gollum:

The Road To El Dorado (with special guest Eleventh Doctor):

Mr T vs. Villain:

What were your favorite cosplays from NYCC? There’s more con coverage to come, so keep checking back!

 

After many years of exclusive panels in Los Angeles; Paley Fest turned attention to the best of current TV productions in New York. Saturday night’s Elementary panel featured Jonny Lee Miller (Sherlock Holmes), Lucy Liu (Joan Watson), Aidan Quinn (Captain Gregson), Jon Michael Hall (Detective Bell), Carl Beverly (Executive Producer), Robert Doherty (Creator and Executive Producer), and Craig Sweeny (Executive Producer). 

 

SPOILER LINE- DO NOT CROSS IF YOU’RE NOT CAUGHT UP!

 

Episode 2: The audience were treated to a complete screening of Thursday’s episode. Without ruining it all, look out for Holmes arguing on the internet. Although he case has heavy elements of current events references, but the producers stress Elementary is not a “ripped from the headlines” show.

The Elephants In The Room: Elementary has to contend with two other incarnations of the world of Sherlock Holmes as well as adapting the original canon. The cast admitted to having reservations about starring in yet another Holmes adaptation, but they were won over by the script and the new ideas it contained. The goal of the producers and cast is to take the source material and adapt it in ways not seen in previous versions. Miller’s copy of canon “looks like a hedgehog” due to all of his notes on Sherlock’s personality. The elements that are kept from canon are the ones that work with the story the writers want to tell.

 

A typical Holmes and Watson conversation

No Hookups: Doherty strongly believes it is too easy for Holmes and Watson to develop a romantic relationship. Although some fans who spot them filming on city streets believe it should happen, the idea is off the table. Liu doesn’t feel the sexual tension and sees the relationship accented with caring and other emotional connections.

"… A Hammer In The Back Pocket": During the Q&A session, an Asian-American female fan praised Elementary for featuring a diverse cast of main and supporting characters. Liu stressed that her career has been a continued struggle against discrimination. The producers believe in promoting diversity by writing characters that cross boundaries and casting a wide net in casting. New York has many different varieties of people, and this comes through in the show.

The Season Ahead: Mycroft will appear in several more episodes, and will even cross the Atlantic. The cast filmed more scenes in London than what we saw in last week’s premiere. Bell’s brother will make a comeback as well. Moriarty will also be back to mess with Sherlock’s mind and heart. The producers are hoping Lestrade can also appear again. Filling a 24 episode order means the writers must think ahead to some extent.

This panel was not only entertaining, it was also highly informative. I left with a new appreciation for the show. Elementary fans, what are you looking forward to this season?

               

 

 

Over the last year there have been several YA Adaptations brought to life on the big screen and every time I read an article about it I read the same thing over and over again: “WHAT IS GOING TO BE THE NEXT TWILIGHT?” “WILL THIS BE THE NEXT TWILIGHT?” I have an idea? SHUT UP AND STOP COMPARING EVERYTHING TO TWILIGHT BECAUSE THAT IS AS UNORIGINAL AS YOU CLAIM THE MOVIES YOU REVIEW ARE.

 

Here’s the thing, I’m not going to sit here and say Twilight didn’t set a standard for YA adaptations because it did. Just because I am not crazy over the series doesn’t mean I’m not going to give credit where credit is due. The Twilight craze took on the world by storm and it helped create the current set of YA Paranormal Romance books that are being written and adapted.

 

Essentially it did help introduce the YA genre to a wider, more adult audience. However, Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga is not the first Paranormal YA series to make its way to other mediums and it wont be the last. The latest slew of films that are based off of Young Adult books are original in their own way, but the only thing that causes them to fail are the people that constantly try to seek out the new Twilight. 

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Jesus—was a friend of mine, you Whovians are not a bunch to be reckoned with. So many Doctor Who fans have really surged in the U.S. as well as their cosplayers, so you get your own special post, especially special for you guys. Jerks.

But the Doctor Who cosplayers far surpassed those from last year and stepped it up, so take it away, maestro.

He even committed to David Tennant in the FACE. That’s true fandom.

Just off the night shift at the H&R Block, getting ready for some cocktails and John Coltrane records in his rec room.

I just liked his swagger.

Loved this sophisticate (adjective purely functioning in my mind) gentleman on the left who just had a certain air to him. As the next day, he was fully prepared…

…With another costume!

You can get it, girl.

Chill early-20s Aladdin professional seeks to share a 2 bedroom apartment above a dim sum restaurant or noise d.i.y. performance space. Must love cats.

Now I know people think jumping into photos like Gordo trying to get into every club picture in the school yearbook is cute (I made a Lizzie McGuire reference, handle it) but as a reporter, we want to murder you and every milkshake you ever intend to enjoy in your life. Yeah, that.

GORGEOUS, also had a missed connection before it was removed. Totally deserved.

This adorable young doctor had a sister with non-descript fuzzy cat ears who was mad that nobody wanted pictures of her, only her sibling.

Better to learn it now: We don’t want to see your cat costumes, ladies. Also learn, I have no guilt that warrants me to be nice to kids.

I guess they get My Little Pony in Heaven.

For more photos or close ups of some of these costumes, check out our facebook page and “like” us: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.362266443874963.1073741825.205982746170001&type=1&l=9823ac33f0

Remember when you’d watch television and your favorite show came on? You’d be able to hear it from anywhere because that song would start to play, you know, the one you just couldn’t help but sing a long to? Well pardon me for a asking a lot of questions, but where the heck did that go?

 

I recall when I was younger being able to watch any show on TV and know exactly who was in it and the tone of the show as a whole just based on the opening credits. When I was younger and really into Smallville, I used to watch the opening credits over and over again and when a new season came out I was excited to see which scenes they would put into the opening title sequence for the new season, what order the cast would be in, how they would line up certain scenes to the lyrics, etc.

 

Lately, there seems to be less and less opening credits on television. I get why, mostly because it gives the show more room to pack actually story and a lot of credits end up being cut when the episode is no longer due to ad space and other circumstances. However, there some shows out there that you have to ask yourself “WHY DON’T YOU HAVE OPENING CREDITS?” One such show was LOST, I mean the show was full of plane crashes, sadness and “WE HAVE TO GO BACK!” but ABC even felt the same way I did because back in 2009 they had a theme song contest for the show.

 

One of the essential qualities of a good theme or opening credits sequence for a show is that it tells the story without actually telling the story. A good theme song can have you singing all day, and just like Jack Shepherd it will make you want to go back; watch the show over and over again. 

 

It’s a lot different these days, shows seem to incorporate opening credits less and less through the years and have replaced them with simple title cards and just watching actors names appear while you sit through a scene which if fine and all but I want to hum a tune, I want to be able to get pumped when I see my favorite actors on the scene. It’s an adrenaline rush at time and a great piece of nostalgia.

 

True story: I was watching Pete and Pete a few years ago and I hadn’t seen the show in YEARS, the moment the opening credits came on I almost cried, I felt like a child again and it brought me back to those Saturday nights when I would watch the show on my couch. I could watch episodes of the series but without the sound of that theme song I don’t think I would have felt for it as much as I did. A great theme song can bring back memories like no other. To those of us who remember our lives through the shows that we watched the opening credits bring us back, whenever we hear them we grow entranced, it’s just something that happens. So why can’t all shows just bring them back?

 

In honor of my love for this art I thought I’d share some of my favorite opening credits of all time. Agree, disagree, I couldn’t fit them all into one place so maybe a second part of this essay will be in the works soon enough. 

 

So without further ado in no particular order… 

 

 

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****NO SPOILERS. JUST A BLOG ABOUT MY LADY BONER FOR PACIFIC RIM. NOTHING TO SEE HERE. ****

I first heard of the highly anticipiated Pacific Rim at a live taping of a Nerdist Podcast I went to back in October during New York Comic Con where director Guillermo Del Toro was a guest. I mean, I’ve heard that it was Del Toro’s newest movie but I wasn’t sure what the hell was happening or who was in it, or what it was even about. Once I did further research I saw it was a Robots VS Monsters movie and immediately said to myself: “Oh boy! Here comes the backlash!” Despite the early rumblings of nay and people quickly comparing it to Evangelion, the trailer for this movie was really damn good. I don’t go gung-ho over IMAX 3D but that trailer was just WOWZERS. Imagine my luck when my friend Jess sent me at text Saturday night that said “Hey want to see Pacific Rim the Monday before it comes out?” What does one say to something like that except,“HELL YES!”

As of late it’s been rare to find a movie that has both heart and is aesthetically pleasing. The premises of Pacific Rim is simple—Alien monsters attack earth, they live somewhere under the Pacific and are named Kaiju which is Japanese for “strange beast” although Japanese Science Fiction has made us adopt it to mean Monster, as it’s English Translation. These bad boys are categorized the same way a natural disaster would be (category 1, category 2, so on and so forth…)

At first we didn’t have much to fight them with until the world created Jaegers—robots that are super bad ass and are initially operated by solo pilots, that is until they find out the radiation and the neural damage could kill them. After the failure of the initial Jaegers operation with the solo pilots, the project figured out having dual pilots that forge a drift together would be more efficient and the success of the program helped fight the Kaiju for a good period of time. The pilots themselves would mostly be relatives, siblings, parents and children, lovers, etc. The plot essentially deals with the world getting together to stop another force, but there is still no real peace because we are still fighting. Humanity is at a cross roads, fight or be destroyed.

Upon first glance Pacific Rim can seem like any Robot movie, lots of cool effects and not a lot of plot. Pacific Rim defies that and not only has a compelling story to accompany all of its action, it also delivers on three aspects that help make a movie solid for any type of movie goer: action, drama, and heart. I know I might be the wrong person to say this but I would totally see this movie as a date night type of thing, or even a girl’s night out which is what I did the night I saw this movie.

Pacific Rim was beautifully directed, wonderfully written, amazingly acted and definitely one of the best movies of the summer thus far. Everyone in this cast sold this movie from beginning to end. There isn’t a moment through out this film that your jaw isn’t on the floor, don’t even bother picking it up because it’ll be right back in a few minutes. Also expect to clap a lot, because watching those fight scenes are brutal and perfect. I wish I could come up it more words about how much I love it, but I can’t. It’s solid from beginning to end I think I’ll just let my tweets from last night do the rest of the talking because I can’t even fathom how else to describe my love for this movie. I am anticipating a lot of people comparing it to pretty much every alien/monster movie in the universe, but probably won’t be able to understand any hate that I see for it, because man-oh man, it was just off the charts FUN.

Pacific Rim hits theaters this Friday, July 12^th. See it, you wont regret it. I swear it.

What is a convention without cosplayers!? There were a great deal of moonies who were not afraid to show off their lovely frocks:

What would be a con without vendors? I thought this needed its own post since the vendors at Senshi Matsuri were unique - they were independent artists, designers, or online stores catering to the fandom.

Everyone had really nice, high quality stuff!

Hitomi is a vendor specializing in colored contact lenses, eyelashes, bows, and fukus.

Lil Hevn was selling trinkets ranging from earrings to plush onigiri!

There was something for everyone!

This booth, Hikari wo Sagasu, had lots of japanese themed trinkets ranging from silver earrings to origami hair pins and clips. These girls were really sweet and I bought a pretty pair of earrings that remind me a bit of Sailor Pluto’s staff. Looking back, I wish I bought an origami hair pin as well.

All of their stuff is available online I’m told, so maybe I will eventually get an origami rose hair pin.

Did you buy anything interesting from any of the booths at Senshi Matsuri?

After New York Anime Fest was gobbled up alive by New York Comic Con, it is nice to see a small event focused on a specific fandom that was pulled together by real fans instead of some corporate machine. Senshi Matsuri, hosted on Usagi’s birthday (June 30th) brought together over 200 Moonies under the roof of the tiny event hall in the Amsterdamn Houses next to Lincoln Center. It wasn’t overcrowded and it was far from empty - the perfect combination because I really can’t stand the sweaty and rude crowds that plague most big conventions.

Senshi Matsuri 2013 opened up with Twinkle Twinkle Sailor Stars presented by Lilith Oya:

After which was followed by a Senshi Fashion Show by Lil Hevn. Unfortunately the participants walked by so quickly I couldn’t get any individual shots.

The fashion show was followed by Uncle Yo’s standup geek comedy routine. For any readers who are unfamilar with him - he is basically a normal person making normal jokes. No, actually his humor is quite topical - if you don’t play video games, watch anime, or engage in other ‘nerdy’ or ‘geeky’ activities I don’t think you’ll understand anything he’s talking about. Today he poked fun at Big Bang Theory (a show I happen to like) and how it’s a very poor representation of geek culture but allows ‘outsiders’ to claim they understand us because they laugh at us from a safe distance. Of course he was funnier and I’m just going all English degree on a comedy routine.

His comedy act was followed by an event titled, “So You Wanna Be a Starlight” where some brave moonies took to the stage to show off their skills. Various acts involved singing and dancing.

The event wrapped up with one last performance and a cosplay contest.

The panels were engaging and well thought (descriptions taken from Senshi Matsuri 2013 agenda):

Sailor Moon & Feminism: It’s no secret that Sailor Moon is all about “girl power”— but just how much does this beloved anime measure up to feminist ideals? This panel looks how Sailor Moon deals with female empowerment, LGBTQ issues, body image, and more!”

Sailor Moon Cosplay 101: Lilith Oya brings you info and DIY tips on making the perfect Senshi Cosplays.

Basic Guide to a Magical Girl’s Wardrobe: There is no question that the gifted have a specific style, this is also true for the heroines of manga * anime.

Overall, I am happy with how the event turned out. I really do hope the turnout this year will allow the event to continue on next year and perhaps outgrow the small event center so it can find a home at the Hilton on 57th street or another very nice place suitable for a small convention. There are a few things that I would change for next year - but hopefully the crew who made this event happen will send out a survey asking for suggestions and comments. As I stated previously, it is really nice to go to an event that is truly about the fandom and not about lining the pockets of huge corporations.

We had the pleasure of attending The Wizard World Comic Con Experience here in NYC this year and it was a lot of fun. It’s more of a classic Comic Con experience then say the something more media infused such as NYCC or San Diego, but it’s still a con none the less. Lots of cos play and celebrities, I can say I had a good time. I only had the pleasure of attending one day due to the fact that I am poor because of SDCC and the fact I spent a ton of money on an actual camera, but I digress. 

There were quite a few celebrities to take photo-ops with and my friend Clara who is a big Photo-Op fan girl too quite a few, but this wasn’t her first time at the rodeo, she’s been to other Wizard World events and even shared her experience with us last year. 

This time around I chose to rome around aimlessly and just go with the flow. Although I don’t have Cos Play pictures I thought I would share some  from the awesome panels I went to with Michael Rooker, Norman Reedus and the ever amazing Wil Wheton. Honestly, Wil was one of the best, he’s one of us and he just get’s it. Everything that came out of his mouth during the panel about geek/nerd culture was on the money. I’m going to stop yapping now and share some pictures with you folks, because that’s what matters anyway. 

KHALEESI GONNA CATCH THEM ALL, YO! (This was a print we got from the lovely folks at TeeTurtle, who were super awesome and their designs are sweeeeettt. ) 

I have tunnel vision when it comes to Dana Scully. 

Mmmmm. Star Trek 

Michael Rooker was super awesome. 

Norman Reedus! ::fans self:: 

Happy Wil Wheton. 

Shades of Evil Wil Wheton. 

That’s all I could post here with out TUMBLR having a fit, but for more pictures from the event check out our facebook album here!  and make sure to like our page too. If we hit 100 likes by the end of this there just might be a nice little present for our 100th liker which I hope might be incentive enough. Oh-hoho! 

 

Dear Orphan Black,

How do I put this lightly without sounding harsh and probably needy?

But please come back because I miss you?

I turn on my local BBCA station every Saturday night and anticipate your arrival but you never show up, my heart shatters and I become weak. I know you’ll be back and all but I loved you and all of those good times we shared. I know you’re probably wondering why I love you so, and here are some reasons. 

1. Tatiana Maslany is perfect in every way. The woman plays a ton of characters and sometimes you forget it’s just her. I wish science fiction got more action in the Emmy world because this woman needs a statue with her name on it STAT. She goes from bad ass punk Sarah to Ukrainian, tail cutting Helena. (No, really, she cuts off this dudes tail, I died.)

 Half the time the woman is pretty much acting against herself. She has with everything and everyone including herself. She is flawless and no one should ever forget that. Ever.

2. Paul. I mean a picture speaks a thousand words so I’ll just leave that there.

3. Mystery and a cool story. I don’t think I never stopped giving a shit the first season. I didn’t stop not even for a second because everything was moving at such a great, fast pace and once you think you’ve figured it out you feel like a fool because you are WRONG. ALL WRONG. It really reminds me a bit of Fringe, The X-Files (the episode with the Eve’s anyone?)  and Nikita. All those shows mixed into one show has to be awesome right? Then that’s why it’s awesome. 

4. And the best part? Felix. 

Best best friend ever. He shares his house with all of the clones as needed and he is the definition of ride or die. He is also sassy and wonderful. 

Now that I am done explaining my obsession, as you can see I really miss you and I’m anticipating when you hit my TV screen again. I appreciate the second season for which I am both anxious and crazy over but when you come back you’ll soothe my soul. You’ll make everything just right. Just right. 

Love,

Diane

***FINALE SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!***

Unlike our resident Mad Men fan Amanda who has a great relationship with the series I have one that has been rocky to say the least. Mad Men is like an estranged significant other in my world. The breakup wasn’t bad, we just kind of left it as is and moved on, but I still check up on it from time to time. Mad Men was my favorite show until it’s fourth season, my Sunday night would be devoted to the series, (as was True Blood, but that’s a story for another day.) After a while my heart was discontent with the series. I fell out of love with the characters and the story lines. I would still peek to see what was going on but I decided I wouldn’t come back to it, and it was heart breaking because I loved it so as evidenced here: 

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Our coverage of Book Expo America continues with Saturday’s most popular event. Hundreds of fans packed the panel room to get a chance to see Neil Gaiman in person. Standing ovations, cheers, and enthusiastic applause welcomed his entrance into the panel room. He shared details about his new releases, upcoming projects and fodder for philosophical thoughts. Here are the highlights:

"I Felt Guilty About Dads…"

His new children’s story coming out in September Fortunately, the Milk, features a dad who went on a simple errand and ends up saving the world from alien domination. This work is righting the wrongs of a previous children’s story about a boy who traded his boring dad for two goldfish. “I needed to do something dads could be proud of,” Gaiman said. This book was written in small sections over the course of a year.

 

Why Fiction Is Dangerous

Gaiman declared “fiction is dangerous because it gives people empathy.” He also stated fiction can cause people to go into the minds of others and learn about alternative ways of thinking. Fiction can give people ideas about what in the world needs to change and the imagination to make it happen.

 

These ideas were supported by two related anecdotes. The first was about attending a science fiction convention in China a few years ago. In the past the government banned or restricted access to science fiction due to criticism of communism, but times were changing and new ideas were being introduced. The second was about the reading material of the world’s movers and shakers. Many of the leaders of Google, Microsoft and other technology companies grew up reading science fiction.

 

 

 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Later this month adult fans can get their hands on his new novel. The story is told from a 7 year old’s point of view. Gaiman started writing in 2003 after speaking to his father about a brief childhood memory. A gambling addicted lodger who stayed with Gaiman’s family killed himself by driving the Mini off a cliff. The tone of the novel is much darker than his previous works. The concept was originally planned as a short story but it evolved over time.

Works In Progress

The script for the TV version of American Gods is still under review by HBO. He started writing the script by inserting everything not featured in the novel. HBO sent it back wanting more material based on the original story. In terms of novels, he is working on a fictionalized account of the life and times of the Jack Benny radio show. For fans who are wishing for sequels to older work, the wait continues. Gaiman said "…there are sequels I would love to write and then I go ooh shiny." 

 

Gaiman’s appearance was definitely the highlight of my experience at BEA this year. I had no idea what to expect because I have never heard him speak before. His talk was a wonderful mix of serious literary lecture and easy going storytelling. If you ever have a chance to see him in person, go. You will not regret it.

 

Ever the tepid and steadfastly-almost dedicated reporter that I am, I hoisted up my disgruntled disposition towards strangers and held them down until I got a photo. Just for you guys. You’re welcome. Buy me a snow cone.

I got excited for this and jogged a little. I like manga, okay?

If a certain fancy photographer weren’t going around with his special polaroid camera, I would’ve gotten a side shot of her majestic mohawk.

Kirsa didn’t get her photo with Jason David Frank, so she needed this.

Ramona Quimby, your hair has changed over the years…

Maybe I only care about girls who look like they’d be in a Clamp manga.

Unquestionably terrible lighting but this Sherlock was pretty sweet.

This Tina had an Erotic Friend Fiction book in her backpack, superkuhyute.

The Doctor Who cosplayers are getting their own post, so stay tuned for that!

For more photos or close ups of some of these costumes, check out our facebook page and “like” us: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.362266443874963.1073741825.205982746170001&type=1&l=9823ac33f0

Exactly a week ago, the Paley Center in Manhattan featured a panel with the cast of Mad Men. Fans and the media filled in every sold out seat in the main theatre and the second floor. Despite seeing the festivities through a screen, this was one of the best panels I have ever attended anywhere.

Mad Men’s ensemble cast and crew was represented by the creator Matthew Weiner as well as actors Jon Hamm, Jessica Paré, John Slattery, January Jones, Vincent Kartheiser and Kiernan Shipka. Brian Williams, best known for anchoring NBC Nightly News), shed his serious side and showed his fanboy colors as moderator. Very few secrets for future episodes were revealed, but here are the questions and comments fans will be most interested in:

"White men in suits did just fine"

This quote from Weiner stuck with me long after the discussion turned away from the way 1968 will be protrayed this coming season. The social unrest, anxiety over the future of the country, and the growing anti Vietnam sentiment will be important themes in the rest of Season 6. Most of the characters will be insulated from the worst of the social turmoil, but they will still feel the anxiety of the times.

 Pete the Skunk

Kartheiser tried very hard to defend the indefensible parts of Pete’s personality and actions. He believes Pete is seeing behind the curtain of Don’s work habits. This season for him is more about controlling Don than becoming Don or exceeding his achievements. 

The End Of Mad Men

Weiner knows how the show will end next year, and has told a few select people. “Everyone thinks it will be a disaster”, he joked. These negative opinons mean he will proceed with the current idea.

Don’t Rank The Mistresses

Jon Hamm refused again to answer which of the many women Don has had affairs with was the best or the favorite. He believes Don himself doesn’t even have the ability to judge his experiences in that way. Hamm did point out that many people believe Rachel Menken from Season 1 was different from the rest. Rachel was the only one who did not know Don was married.

The Big Mistake

Mad Men’s writers rarely make factual errors, but a throwaway line in ta recent episode ended up making headine news. Joan tells a friend she will make reservations at Le Cirque, but the iconic Manhattan restarant did not exist until 1974. Weiner apologized profusely for the error and also noted that the reaction shows how much of an impact Mad Men has on current pop culture.

“Why Did Lane Have To Die?”

This was the first question from the audience, and it is by far my favorite because it was the same question I would asked Weiner if I had the chance. He revealed that Lane’s tragic suicide at the end of last season fit with his cultural background. British expatriates were under enormous pressure from family and others to suceed in whatever venture they pursued. Failure was unacceptable, and those who failed could not go back. Lane chose death before facing the consequences of his mistakes and dealing with expectations that that did not match the results.

Sunday’s episode already highlighted some of the trends mentioned at the panel. I’m defnitely looking forward to the rest of Season 6 as well as to the next major Paley Center event. 

Every few years or so comes a teen show that reaches into our jaded adult hearts and pulls out the inner adolescent in all of us. Before our biggest concern was the bump and grind of every day life, we had friends, uur small problems were the size of the universe and nothing else mattered in our lives except for us and our friends. Parents were evil, teachers knew nothing, but the world was still ours. 

E4’s My Mad Fat Diary is that show for me. The series  centers around Rachel “Rae” Earl (Sharon Rooney), an overweight teenage girl whose just left a mental ward. Rae is a character that rings true to a lot of us, and for once she’s a main character that doesn’t fall into the guidelines of central casting. With story lines that range from binge eating, BFF Jealousy and first crush’s My Mad Fat Diary is one of the first shows to come around in years that actually feels like a day in the life of the average teenager, a wonderful mix of My So Called Life and Bridget Jones Diary this is a show that I don’t think I’ll ever stop adoring and here’s three reasons why you wouldn’t either. 

1. Intricacies of Female Friendship.  

From the moment you meet Rae you get this feeling that she doesn’t know what she’s worth. She comes off as shy and restricted but as the series moves along we get to understand something that Rae doesn’t see in herself, and that’s her fearlessness. She worries about what other people think about her, predominantly her friends, but mostly her childhood best friend Chloe who is actually jealous of Rae’s engaging personality and over all coolness. Chloe does things that set Rae up to look like a complete ass because she see’s that the gang likes her a lot, and on a more fundamental level have a lot in common with her. This upsets Rae sometimes too, because the boys treat her like one of them and she just wants to be seen like a girl, where as Chloe seems to want to be accepted by the guys and not just as a cute girl. Rae and Chloe are constantly at odds with each other and you get the feeling that these two just shouldn’t be friends with each other because it’s clear the friendship is fueled by their jealousy of another and they have moved on. Luckily, this show understands the intricacies of female friendship and definitely knows how to write to it, how many of us have that friend that always gets the guy? The one that is so pretty that everyone turns their head when they walk by? Or on the other side of the realm, we have that friend with that electric personality, the one that all the boys run to when they have relationship problems? This show does a fantastic job at showing both of these perspectives of the girl world and its rare that we see it. Although we don’t hear Chloe’s thoughts a lot we understand that whenever she sets up Rae for a fall or treats her like a jerk it because she doesn’t know what else to do, Rae’s the one that gets invited to the concerts, who the boys treat like one of their own. So while you might find yourself feeling bad for Rae and Chloe’s treatment of her, you get that jealousy is a two way street in this one and in a lot of girl friendships it usually is. 

2. Mothers, Daughters and Psychiatrists. 

Rae has two adults on the show that she turns to and they are both as broken as she is, although one hides it better than the other. 

First you have her mother, she’s a middle aged woman that acts like she wants to be Rae’s friend than her mother, and while that’s great, a balance is needed. Whenever her mother tells her to do something she rarely ever takes it seriously because her mother does inappropriate things like keeping her illegal immigrant fiance in the trunk of her car because she is afraid that immigration will come looking for him, or having sex in the middle of the night so loudly that her teenage daughter could hear. In the end Rae and Rae’s mother both love each other deeply and one day when Rae is older she’d definitely appreciate all that her mother is done for her, and you get that their relationship will be shaky and solid all at the same time. 

Her second adult relationship is with her her therapist Kester. Kester is by all means a nice man and he tries to take care of Rae, but their relationship tethers dangerously close on the professional and personal scale. Rae almost begins to value Kester as a father and he as a daughter and when Rae finds out his life isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be she doesn’t see him as such a great therapist after all. Whenever Rae is feeling down her thoughts immediately jump to her therapy sessions and she gets her strength back and that’s the most important part of it all, but because their relationship is so blurred Rae wants Kester to open up to her and when she doesn’t she gets upset and does things she shouldn’t because he isn’t there to guide her along the way. 

Ultimately having these two people in her life set her on the right path to be an awesome woman. 

1. Realistic First Love. 

Highschool boys are mostly all the same, right? They all care about one thing and they always go after the prettiest, tiniest thing in a skirt. Not Finn. When you first meet Finn he comes off as a shallow sort, he’s very quiet and dream boat like, but Rae doesn’t see it because she thinks he thinks highly of himself but it’s not like that at all. Finn is a very classic Austen Man. He’s got a shy, quietness to him that is mistaken for arrogance, when in reality he’s just a sweet boy who loves his grandmother and doesn’t just fall for any girl that comes his way. Finn treats Rae with the kind of respect that she should be treated with and his infatuation grows with every thing she says. He sees that tough girl that lives inside Rae and he admires that, it takes her a while to realize it but he’s not the best at words.. or speaking. Their relationship would make anyone gush. 

I could go on and on about this show, when I initially set out to write this I thought it would be better if I talked about the characters, but this show is more than that. If you’re looking for something to watch to understand the difficulties of being a teenager again, hanging out with a core group of friends that are awesome  or just something to get your mind off life this is a great show to watch, and something we can all learn from whether we want to or not. 

My Mad Fat Diary  airs on E4 and will be back for series 2! 

So there has been something that has been grinding my gears and that is the new proposal by NYC City Councilman Peter Vallone to crack down on costumed humans. The legislation introduced is intended to crack down on costume characters or ban them outright. According to CBS, “One bill would require registration, as well as a permission slip proving that the character involved has been licensed, for anyone appearing as a costumed character. The other bill would go farther to ban costumed characters outright.” More from CBS, “Clearly, the situation can’t continue to exist the way it does, and the laws we already have don’t deal with the situation,” said Vallone, a Democrat from the 22nd District.

This is in response to a December episode in which a Cookie Monster by 42^nd Street Times Square shoved a little boy, allegedly for not getting tipped by the mother. Vallone has really thrown this out of proportion – mentioning an anti-semetic Elmo, a peverted Mario, and a violent Spider Man. “Something needs to be done” he thinks and so he has proposed banning costumes that have not been licensed by their respective copyright holders.

What does this mean for cosplayers strutting their stuff to New York Comic Con? What does this mean for Halloween parties? Hell.. what does this mean for New Yorkers and tourism? This legislation infringes upon free speech and can only open the flood gates for controlling how people choose to clothe themselves. If Disney wants to sue someone for wearing a Cinderella costume without license then fine but keep the government and MY tax dollars out of it. Who is to stop a police officer from arresting me for wearing a Sailor Moon costume if a ridiculous law like this is passed?

New Yorkers, I encourage you to write to your representatives and let Peter Vallone know that this legislation is unconstitutional. http://council.nyc.gov/d22/html/members/contact.shtml

Vallone, this one is for you:

If you live in Astoria in District 22, vote him out!

Doctor Who kicked off the second half of Series 7 last night with The Bells of Saint John. Clara moves from being the mysterious guest star to being the main companion. I watched this episode with a view of assessing Clara as a character as opposed to the plot as I have in past episode reviews.

 Although she is established as the same person as Oswin from Asylum of the Daleks and Victorian Clara from The Snowmen, she is a bit different in The Bells of Saint John. This Clara is less snarky and she has no previous memories of the Doctor or anything about the world beyond modern day Earth. By the end of the episode, my overall view of Clara was quite positive. However, the loose threads from the first half of the season can become a point of fan contention if certain writing decisions are made.

Clara is a very relatable modern day woman. She’s in the awkward period between finishing college and starting a career. Many people can sympathize with her situation. Her interactions with the Doctor are not passive, and she used her knowledge of the enemy to help the Doctor save the day. Her lack of current knowledge of the past means she only sees the Doctor as a friendly stranger. I am a firm believer in each companion bringing something unique and different to the TARDIS. Tying Clara’s personality too much to her affection for the Doctor or too many similarities to others will make many fans unhappy.

Clara exists in three different timelines due to some sort of alien intervention, which has been a boon to conspiracy theorists. While it is too soon to figure out which of the many loose threads from previous seasons will end up becoming her origin story, there are already ideas being formed. The best way to avoid a pitfall would be to avoid the most obvious choice of resolution. Many people are predicting she is River’s daughter. Not only would that cause unnecessary criticism if the Doctor is indeed her father, it would also make the ending much too predictable. On the other hand; if Clara’s mystery resolves past plot holes, fans will become much more attached to her. 

In the episodes to come, Clara’s character development can either go down the path of a new puzzle to solve or the road of predictability and fan criticism. The ideas established in this review will be revisited in future reviews when additional details of Clara’s background are revealed. I’m looking ahead to the rest of the series to see what adventures the Doctor has in store. 

The second season of Girls ended last week, but the talk of next season hasn’t stopped. (Seriously, people don’t shut the hell up about the show.) It doesn’t get viewers like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones, but it has just about the same amount of hype.

Being a female in my mid 20s, I would be the target audience watching. The problem is I still haven’t figured out if I love it or hate it. A lot of people like to hate-watch things, but wouldn’t call myself a hate watcher. Another thing I haven’t figured out was if I even like any of the girls. The beginning of the series, I think I might have been rooting for Hannah, especially since Adam seemed like such a dick. Then he changed, and seemed as the best boyfriend ever. Then she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. I was all like girl, you cray.

Most of this season, Hannah annoyed the shit out of me. She came off as very selfish, lying to the police about calling 911 on Adam’s ass, and seeming like a huge cry baby by calling up her parents to make her boo boo all better. But the doctor episode midway through the season, Hannah opened up about her problems about being victim to sexual abuse as a child and having OCD. I thought I was going to have a heart attack when she punctured that other ear. I really do love the pairing of Hannah and Adam, and was happy to see them get back together, even though it was such a rom com fashion. (But Adam totally would run down the streets of Brooklyn shirtless, at any cost.) Adam had some issues this season too, he started drinking again and had a horrific sexual encounter with new girlfriend Shiri Applby. This episode brought up many arguments that is it was rape or not. I’m on the not side, as horrific as the experience was.

I think the character I had the most problems with was Marnie. Yes, it was crappy that she lost her awesome job and had to become a hostess. All the story lines with Charlie were completely unessessary. Her relationship with Charlie ended because she was bored with him. Now that he created some awesome app she wants him again? Bitch please. As much as I enjoyed seeing Jorma Taccone’s ass, I don’t know why she would go near Booth Jonathan. She mostly came off as a train wreck stalker, what the hell was with that weird ass performance of Kanye’s “Stronger”? Marnie and Hannah had such a strong friendship, but haven’t talked for a food chunk of the season. I’m looking forward to their reconnection and reuniting in season 3.

Finally, Shoshanna. Yes, the young delicate flower will not always be so innocent. She had a make out session with a sexy doorman without telling Ray, even though she broke up with him. She’s young and needs to live a little, but all I’m saying is they better keep Ray on this show because he might be my favorite character next to Hannah’s parents. It’ll also be interesting to see how Jessa will come back after leaving Hannah stranded upstate. She was missing most of the season due to Jemina Kirke’s real life pregnancy so that should be fun to see her return full time.

I respect Lena Dunham for writing and directing most of the season. Yes, she has gotten fully naked in some episodes, and you know what? Good for her. I would not have to balls to show my bare ass to all of those HBO subscribers. It shows that not all lead actresses have to be a size 0 to be successful or famous. I’m still not sure if I’m in love with Girls, but I don’t hate it. I find myself tuning in for season 3.

Random Remarks:

- I see Shoshanna turning into Laurie from Cougar Town in 10 years. They would have matching pink croissant purses. 

- Ray realizes he’s a grown ass man, and was offered a manager position for a new Grumpy’s in Brooklyn heights, and it is classy. I also enjoyed Colin Quinn as the possible Mr. Grumpy. 

- I really do hope to see more of the Horvaths. I love them so much. Follow the advice of Hannah’s mother regarding Q-tips: “Nothing bigger than an elbow!”

- I’m also going to miss Andrew Rannells, who probably won’t be coming back due to The New Normal. Thanks a lot, Ryan Murphy!

Droppin’ babies at da club

Vivienne dryly flips her invisible wig hair to the girls simply having too much personality. Though Roxxxy would easily get on my nerves, I’m not a drag queen who deals with large personalities on a weekly basis. And “big personalities” usually means “I don’t know how to stand out and I’m worried.”

Let’s skip the mini challenge which was more of a goofy montage and go to the entree.

Main Event:

Though it’s a cute idea, wasn’t expecting to be all that excited about this challenge. Aside from self contained tributes to the Greek gods (i.e. last week) not being all that interesting of material, ballet is a very technical and restrained style of dance. Of course I went in knowing they were doing a bastardized version, and saying that very forgivingly, which was carried off relatively well with classic campier elements, but aside from the obvious highs and lows, it all kind of blended together.

Alaska clearly would’ve went bolder if she weren’t worried about judgement of the choreography and being first. But thems the breaks of RPDR where you’ve got to be the best at things you’ll never do in your career again.

To see Ru and her opera glasses was all my heart could bear. If Ru said she just wanted to make a challenge to accessorize for, I would easily concede to that.

Somehow Alyssa’s testing-new-nasal-spray faces paired with her dance training worked to her advantage. Ballet involves giving a lot of face but usually not THAT much face. Like the lip synching mini challenge, this was really more a test of who despite all mechanical restraints could still be a star.

The girls are clearly getting tired or pretending to be excited about the guests. We only want to see the choreographers during rehearsal, but who wants to hear them confirm what was already seen? Chaz Bono is also a fine young man, but he’s [somehow] just a normal guy [despite] having a famous mother and being dragged into television.

Jinkx is slowly being given Pandora Boxx status inevitably but I think Pandora had more a dowdy style with reference which Jinkx’s has yet to show.

Ivy Winters, I gotta give it to her, is slowly turning it out better and better each week even if I’m still not all that invested in her.

Honey Mahogany found out it’s not all about being comfortable in drag sweatpants every week and when she’s at JoAnn’s to at least buy a Simplicity pattern to go with those folded over yards of fabric in the dancewear section. The battle of the Diana Ross(es?) was more of a melted popsicle vs. the sidewalk: Nobody was eating it.

For all of Vivienne’s “I’m finally stepping out” talk, girlfriend was not even in the camera frame. She was wearing her Time Square club girl 2008 look surrounded by showgirls and models. She’s cute but not nearly as fishy as she thinks, but look around the room with the same sentiment.

Lip-Sync:

…Well you saw it. Vivienne kept patting her shoulder and Honey looked up to the light. I could’ve gone and watched the microwave. We all mourned for Britney who was probably at home waiting for Amanda Bynes to tumble further into the abyss.

Untucked:

Everyone reads Honey’s fashion or ability to find enough curtains and
I have laundry that involved more effort. Then the tables turn on Alaska and suddenly fashion faux pas is within context. But luckily the show can keep milking her for Sharon Needles updates.

Vivienne hates attitude and also hates camaraderie. Clearly none of us should buy the brand of pantyhose she wears. RuPaul’s Backstage Race is in the bag.

I don’t think it’s uncalled for for Alyssa to call Jade out if she thinks she’s not bringing anything to the table though it’s also understandable to see why Jade would be bothered that she didn’t get to say her peace. At least Alyssa was honest and didn’t pretend that everything was kosher.

Notes:

- Apparently Thomas Jefferson went through the portal with Bill and Ted because that is clearly his child with a Christie doll. Presidential erection.

- Roxxxy Andrews was looking like a lamppost in Boystown but somehow more painted and Jetsons hair.

- Does anyone know where Jade’s Little Ru outfit came from? I’d swear it’s a costume designer in LA who used to make baby clothes for adults but I can’t recall.

We’re learning more about the newest installation to the franchise faster than expected - does Ubisoft want this stuff leaked on purpose? I’m thinking it would make sense given that the game is supposed to be out on October 29th. The newest trailer confirms that Edward Kenway, a pirate trained by Assassins, is indeed the star of the show. Since we’re going back in time and this is a prequel to Assassin’s Creed III, I hope the gun loads faster… since, you know… Ezio’s hidden gun from Renaissance Italy reloaded faster than Connor’s gun centuries later.

Check out the leaked screens here: All Games Beta

and don’t forget the new trailer before that is gone over at: Nintendo Everything

Gallifrey One for those of you who don’t know is one of the biggest Doctor Who conventions in the US. It’s held in Los Angeles during President’s Day weekend. This was my first Gallifrey One ever, and I loved every minute of it. Each day I made sure to jot down and photograph the best parts of my experience. 

The first event of the con is the line to pick up your badges. While we were waiting, the remote control Dalek came out to play:

 

Thursday night is the unofficial pre party known as Lobbycon. Everyone hangs out in the hotel lobby until the small hours of the morning. Lobbycon for me was all about seeing old friends and meeting online friends for the first time. For those friends I have never seen or heard on Skype, the first impression was quite surreal. 

Cosplay is a huge part of Gally, and some people didn’t wait until Friday to start wearing costumes.: 

The Bad Wolves

Captain Jacks

It’s not a Doctor Who con until you see someone in a TARDIS dress:

 

Check back tomorrow for Friday’s diary! 

(Photo Courtesy of TNT) 

When we last left off on Dallas, the Ewing’s were facing yet another apocalypse when Bobby took the fall for his good wife Anne and confessed to shooting Harris. Anne was feeling guilt for poor Bobby taking the fault for shooting Harris, who by all means deserved it. Elsewhere Elena’s brother was off doing scheming things and Cliff made sure Pamela didn’t go to jail for killing Tommy Sutter, who quite frankly also deserved it, by allowing for his “son that he never had” and ultimate backstabber Frank to kill himself in court while confessing to Tommy’s death.

On tomorrow nights episode “Trial and Error” we pick up where we left off last week and  here’s 5 Super Spoilery tid bits about the episode under the cut. Read at your own risk! 

Read More →

I’ll be live tweeting/live blogging the awesome happenings at Gallifrey One in Los Angeles this weekend. This convention is one of the largest Doctor Who specific cons in America. count.

Follow our Twitter and track the hashtag #TDHNGally1Diary. These posts will be a fan’s eye view at the panels, special guests, cosplay, and other events. Keep checking our site for long form posts as well. If you’re going to be at Gally and you want to find me, leave a message in the general ask box.

Allonsy!

I could see how you’d feel that way.

Editor’s Note - RPDR sometimes goes blurry on my computer so the screencaps are blurry at moments, forgive me.

Damn Queerty using the the title I already had planned. It’s what I get for waiting to your reading schedule, children.

Pre-Drama/Overall:

Surprise! Serena is gone and Monica has declared her ultra-special-top-secret-secret to everyone so we need a new thing to be a tizzy about. It’s back to the Coco and Alyssa arc for 80s soap drama, rhinestones and all.

For the most part I can’t call sides yet since we only have superficial details in the aftermath. Admittedly, I related to Alyssa in Coco wanting to start something and then couldn’t finish it. It reminded me of this girl who borrowed Frank McCourt’s 'Tis from me, because I was a sad child, and returned it without mentioning her younger brother drew all over it & tore out pages. I hadn’t confronted her but when she came to me, I asked her to buy me a new book. The girl broke down in tears in front of everyone and lamented how sorry she was to make me look like a tyrant when she in fact had made the mistake.

Granted that situation was different but Alyssa had no intention of bringing anything up, but when she tried to make her argument Coco suddenly brought in the head nods and waterworks. It was childish. It doesn’t help that she decided to throw unnecessary shade in the mini challenge, but wasn’t it just delightful anyway? If we wanted to see girls get along we’d watch Santino’s old show with Austin Scarlett.

Mini Challenge:

Smile for mama, you’ll be doing this for police lineups soon.

This was a cute little amuse bouche to the episode. Coco seemed to think Alyssa was modeling the doll after her (which she probably was) but I doubt she meant “former Miss America” in the 10 minute lap sense.

It’s always strange when queens go the “serious” route, why would anyone want to see real pageant girls unless they get Logo in prison? Of course beauty is welcomed but you can’t rely on something to be funny that is already a joke.

Luckily Alaska knew exactly what they wanted and picked the camp route as well as a partner who had immunity and was just in it for the close ups.

I hope for the future makeover real people challenge, it’ll be pageant boys. If they thought the dog dress up was a bitch last season, just wait until they deal with the boys’ mothers who are clearly trying to raise their sons as drag divas.

Main Event:

The Mightyyy Buuuush/come, away with me

Alyssa Edwards was the dirty girl in the yard this week during kickball picks, though again decisions based on personality rather than talent. Of course she didn’t enjoy having an ugly character and the team resented that she didn’t like a decision made for her.

Honey Mahogany's motherly mellow personality was not reining in Coco's dissatisfaction with “not being the star.” If she'd ever seen an episode of Will & Grace she’d know everyone really watches for the side characters and the main character is about providing continuity. Or even any ventriloquist show ever. The fact their routine was so bad that Michelle had to pity clap, oof, felt that heartbreak.

As suspected, Lineysha is not a comedy queen but was just in the right part at the right time last week because this week she clearly didn’t give a goddamn. Her wig at least paid tribute to Miss Yvonne, although that was more a coincidence than anything. Her runway outfit was fug, she’s like Tyra Sanchez played by Jessica Wild.

I actually really liked Ivy's challenge outfit considering her previous wares of “unconventional” materials (i.e. high school fashion student who watches Project Runway) were not so polished. It channeled the 90s DIY children’s show aesthetic perfectly.

Did anyone else go “huh?” when Detox won this challenge? Aside from the aspect that she wasn’t getting a winner’s edit. I enjoyed there was Raven in her chicken but l wasn’t blown enough to start handing out scholarships. At first, I agreed with Paulina and knew she was going for that Elizabethan burlesque but it just looked like that mom on our block who won’t stop doing Top Model poses at the local pizza joint. It did look slightly better when I watched the Untucked. But her outfit was streets ahead of Jinkx's craft table Antoinette and as we all know about RPDR, it's fashion over poise-nality.  Once I re-watched I came to terms with the decision, she was one of the few that made a joke and a good one.

Usually the judges have been resistant to more alternative genderfuck drag which I never agree with, but I understood what they meant about Alaska. I enjoyed that Pee Wee meets Beaver Clever (seriously, nobody made that easy reference?) but she probably should’ve had the influence of a little boy wearing his version of drag: a plastic princess tiara, put waves in her hair and wore a purple overall dress. Then she probably wouldn’t have been called out and might even have won. It was an acting challenge but as Jade said, within the confines of drag, not them as an actors. 

Roxxxy looked sweet and her makeup right thought the proportions in the bust line was a tad bulky (the fabric, not her breasts.) There was just so much pink on the runway and the same tones of it that my eyes got tired, not sure if the looks warrant further discussion. Feel free to leave feedback if you disagree or find my evaluating necessary, I highly doubt it’ll be missed.

Ru brought it this week on the runway though the lighting kind of dresstroyed the details of the garment. The hair shape was a bit awkward, mixing up the texture a bit more due to the harsh lighting probably would create better definition.

We learned that Ice-T’s wife is apparently on a one name basis which seems like setting the standard low. Don’t get me wrong, adore her, any woman who posts a photo of her sexy posing while her sister is hysterically giving birth in a wading pool is my kind of lady. Let’s just assume the audience knows which Coco I’ve been talking about in context at all times.

At least Santino got a cute remark in, you can do it Hat-tie Jacques! (I’m desperate for a pun at this point, submit at your leisure in comments section.)

Lip-Sync:

I know it’s a drag staple, but ugh Pussycat Dolls. Personal preference again, I know. The young people do not want to just hear Cher and Aretha songs forever. (But I do.) However this is one of those songs to bring epilepsy realness, as in don’t have any iron and actually convulse on stage like Robin Williams in a thunderstorm.

Coco’s creepy Virgin Shirley Temple quickly grew up into Mouseketeer Britney on the rocks which was wise, due to the overt sexuality of the song. She knew to turn it on and Monica did the general moves from last week which didn’t work to her advantage.

At least Monica walked away cuter, even if her mismatched bra straps were exposed and was serving up forehead.

Untucked:

Jade proves she could get a pink box clue, ask her former straight boyfriend. Ivy proves, however, she still doesn’t know anybody’s names or get wordplay.

Normally Untucked is almost the best part but all the she-said she-said business of vague recollection was kind of tedious. The reveal is losing more steam. Wasn’t motivated to rewind, sorry.

Notes:

- The JLo Wishes Foundation: Bringing Bedazzled Apple Bottoms and caramel weaves to all the children in need.

- Can we STOP the emotional declarations on the runway? The catwalk is a happy place, darling. Plus none of these reveals are all that hidden.

- Vivienne Pinay looked EXACTLY like Jujubee in Country only regular hair and duller attitude. Hell this whole episode was the Country Queens episode without accents and the dolls were bigger.

- Though Jade Jolie seems like she’d detest children like every almost-stepmother Jane Sibbett has ever played, her voice and stature seems so appropriate.

- I was surprised how on point Paulina was considering she’s usually such a sleeper on ANTM. As a model, she knows all about stealing the spotlight in a group so Coco [Montrese] better not make Vegas excuses or she’ll have to Shannel her way out.

- Why didn’t they have Pee Wee Herman or Julie Brown as judges? Paulina doesn’t talk to children outside of work and Coco is banned from being near them. Just someone who understood that sort of alternative young culture they were aiming for.

- Obviously they planned the runway for Valentine’s Day broadcast but they could’ve had shades of red or bluish pinks or something. The colors are unexpected for drag which could’ve worked in one queen’s favor to actually stand out.

If you want to read my recap of last week’s episode: http://thedailyheynow.com/post/42511951742/rpdr-episode-2-recap-lip-smackers

Or RPDR’s Basic Bitch Guide to Performance Art: http://thedailyheynow.com/post/42354544041/rpdrs-basic-bitch-guide-to-drag-in-performance-art

Series 2 of Upstairs, Downstairs takes place between 1908 and 1910, which is still two years before Downton officially begins. (If you missed the first Upstairs vs Downton post, click here.) James and Elizabeth drive most of the drama in this series, and their boundary pushing correlates nicely with events from Series 2 of Downton. [Cast photo courtesy of Upstairs, Downstairs Webpages]

James starts off Series 2 by continuing his affair with Sarah. At this point, Sarah has moved on from domestic service and 165 Eaton into Vaudeville. At this point in time, actresses are still far from acceptability. He also blows his allowance on gambling and alcohol and parties so hard that he misses regimental appointments. The relationship ends with Sarah’s pregnancy and James forcibly reassigned to an army outpost in India. Their relationship has only an uneven similarity with Sybil and Branson. World War I loosened some of the class divisions that were rigidly enforced in the pre war period.

In addition, gender disparities factor heavily into the comparison. Unmarried upper class men had lovers of lower social rank, but marriages and illegitimate children were out of the question. Leaked scandals showed a lack of self control, a disregard for society’s standards, and a lack of discretion. On the other hand, Sybil’s relationship placed her in much greater danger of a damaged reputation. Society placed a much higher value on the virginity of upper class women. A successful marriage to a suitable gentleman was incredibly important. Marrying well ensured the birth of more male heirs and passage of money and/or property to the next generation. Sybil in series 2 told Branson they can only kiss until their marriage was finalized. Between the lines, it is safe to assume Sybil wanted more but played it safe.

James ends the season with another class bending relationship. While he was in India, he met and then got engaged to Phyllis, an army pensioner’s daughter. His match was approved because a marriage would ensure he stayed out of trouble. In the Edwardian Era, service in the colonies via the military, colonial government, or private companies served as an opportunity for the working and middle class to gain money and influence. This trend created tension when colonial elites returned to England expecting the same elevated treatment they had in the colonies from the hereditary elite.

Elizabeth matched her brother in scandal quite well. Her marriage to Lawrence Kirbridge started off well, but went downhill quickly after the honeymoon. She went into the marriage with unrealistic expectations and it did not end well. After feeling that Lawrence was not performing his marital duties, she had an affair which resulted in the birth of an illegitimate daughter. She moved out and returned to 165 Eaton. Once she moved back home, she joins a group of women engaging in forceful protests for women’s voting rights. The servant’s quarters at 165 Eaton became a base of an operation to vandalize the home of a rich man who refused to support their cause. Rose tried to stop her but both of them are arrested. A rich social climber named Julius Karekin found Elizabeth’s purse at the scene and paid her fine. In exchange for working to release Rose, Elizabeth agrees to become his mistress. The season ends with her trying to break things off with Karekin because he refuses to give up his philandering ways. 

Although Elizabeth and Mary live with the short end of the stick with romantic scandals, damaged reputations, the threat of public knowledge is much more real for Mary. Elizabeth has help from Rose and the rest of the household. In terms of politics, Elizabeth and Sybil have similar ideologies but Elizabeth is much more haphazard with her actions. She appears to engage of rebellion for rebellion’s sake. If Karekin wasn’t there to bail her out, she would be out of sorts with the seasoned suffragettes happy to go down for the cause. Sybil’s work as a nurse show she’s ready to reject her pampered life for a middle class one with Branson. 

Karekin and Matthew represent the growing tension between the established elites and men who have made their fortunes through business and other means. Although some may look down at Matthew because he his a lawyer, he is in a better position because of his family connections. Karekin grew up in Armenia and can only use his cash to gain power and a title. If we knew more about Cora’s motivations when she married Robert, an additional comparison could be made with outsiders attempting to assimilate into the British upper class.   

Overall, Series 2 of Upstairs, Downstairs combines an account of every day life with drama and scandal. The plots not analyzed here due to incompatibility were just as interesting as what was included. I look forward to Series 3 for the plot as well as how historical events are portrayed.

Since I tricked some RPDR fans into reading, I figured (begrudgingly) that I might as well do a recap. Normally I try to be diplomatic but I’ll have to be harsh this kind of show, but know there are things I’m holding back. And I love you all, darlings. Cop out preface done.

Challenge:

It was refreshing to not have to skip through the usual recap reel about the prizes, keep mixing up the formatting RPDR editors so you don’t become ANTM. When Serena was trying to be all cute and “you guys wanted me here, right?… right?…” it was the equivalent of a homeless dude offering pamphlets and a handjob on the train, everyone was looking away because they didn’t have a quarter or a god. So comforting.

The new Heathers of the season decided to define themselves early while they had their t-shirt printers ready with stencils. Why do people suddenly need to become conjoined siblings and give us the afterbirth of their conjunctive name? Rolaskatox was trying a little harder than our mouths are willing to catch up to. It’s like people and their followers on twitter, just say “fans”, we already know your name and don’t need to be involved in a practice for Justin Bieber lovers.

Ru found another way to seamlessly hock his music (well, as subtle as tattooing “now on itunes” on his youthful forehead) into the challenge. It’s fantastic to still be surprised by such smart challenges that relate to drag as well as continue reference of reality tv competitions and reverence to a good ‘ol fashioned tacky gay humor. As Tom and Lorenzo bring up in their recaps, it can’t all be “it gets better” and hetero-normative couples of the federation, we need to keep some Charles Nelson Reilly and a little gloryhole here or there.

RuPaul threw Serena ChaCha a bone, er, cake lollipop and picked her for technical finesse, Detox for spunk (I swear this isn’t intentional) and Ivy Winters for… I don’t know, even lip application. There were a lot of mouths on screen at once, l wonder how Ru was able to do it in between twerking.

The challenge though. I seriously couldn’t even figure out what was happening or the challenge itself until judging. It was a lot of stuff going on, especially since we saw that extra stage performance in the untucked that literally never gets mentioned in judging or beyond that clip. The self referencing was little boring, when Lypsinka does it in her act it’s more in the vein of Joan Crawford, doing music and the old Hollywood acting that could be done from a single expression. So watching the girls act like hamsters on cocaine (i.e. any season of Bad Girl’s Club) was sometimes more jarring than humorous.

The runway/group performances:

Team Ivy Winters - Not sure I agree with this group win. I suppose as an overall group they had the most harmony between knowing their lines and being dramatic.

I’m guessing RuPaul just wanted to make sure that Lineysha Sparx a got a win this time before she headbutted the cast with her wig out of revenge.  I know she’s one of the fishier queens but her makeup comes off a little more outlined than it should be (she’s already got a killer canvas as it is.) She did a great job so no qualms with this individual win.

When Honey Mahogany disclosed she thought she had it in the bag this week, I admittedly scoffed openly. I mean, you did a’ight girl, but just okay. Tape them tities on tight next time, they’re not low riders (although they are.)

Vivienne Pinay did a spot on Tatiana with all the hair-grabbing as well as aptitude of lip sync. Though girl? Stop just being that cute girl at the club, turn it out on the catwalk.

Ivy was okay albeit too understated, though didn’t her Morgan McMichaels look more Dynasty than anything else? I did love her runway jungle starlet look though the wings and stilts were incongruent with the dress, a little Carnivàle porch decor, next time just make them stylized trees with carvings in them or hot glue some glitter, it’s all good.  Interesting that this circus trick was okay when the judges were livid about Shannel juggling.

Team Serena ChaCha - All that needs to be said about Serena has been said about Serena. I don’t love when the queens gang up on one person usually but this was totally warranted. Her runway outfit would’ve been fine if she just wore a yellow bikini bottom and ditched the flag.

I agree with Kristen Johnston, who by the way said everything l was feeling at all times and then some, Jade Jolie's impersonation of Delta Work was simplistic and crunchy. To quote Delta herself “a fat joke, that's so obvious.” Her runway look was cute, the girls are going to absolutely tear her apart in the future. As soon as she walked in the workroom with her innocent Southern belle drawl, we all knew she was trouble. I kind of adore that?

Roxxxy Andrews was spot on with her Mariah especially her haughty “over it” attitude Mariah would showcase. She gave mature Raquel Welch on the runway which was fine with me, I don’t mind mature as opposed to aged. There is a difference.

Jinkx Monsoon had me at her deranged cough-smile. I was eating her broke down showgirl version of Mimi Imfurst, smugly camp and appropriate. Her concept for Gaga meets Ava Gardner was striking but damned in the details. Just gotta spend a little more time at the MAC cosmetics counter at Macy’s. She’s so endearing, one of my favorites this season.

Alyssa Edwards was so Shangela, halleloo, end of catchphrases. From look to mannerisms, absolutely top 3 of that challenge. Girl is a professional even if she gets a little face crazy on the runway, but her use of posing did work in the group music number. I love how soap opera her and Coco Montrese get, it should be exhausting but so far it’s kind of fabulous. I doubt the crown snatching secret is all that exciting much like Willam and her boot from last season. Alyssa is the only one who since the first episode has been contextualizing Serena’s actions and turning the other cheek to her remarks. That takes serious prudence.

Team Detox - Coco's was by far the winner in my eyes, she was the only one who was natural with her speech without flubbing up and had the proper amount of drama-to-dialogue ratio. She's also the only one consistently pulling out memorable looks on the runway. But how she officially snatched my heart was her Mama Whoopi role she played for Monica as well as in handling Serena-gate. Tough love sprinkled was essential and delivered gracefully. Her studio responses of “I don't even know you like that” were killing me. Keep it up, dollface (but please let go of those fucking contacts.)

Detox did well though I think she’s capable of more. Loved her runway look which I would wear in a heartbeat. She got in her two cents on the Serena debacle and yes, educated does not necessarily imply college graduate. Look again at Willam. As my friend commented during the episode “when has anything good come out of a Florida university?” State.

Alaska, I admittedly knew was going to be problematic before she got to the show. She’s funny and relatively fashionable (albeit a bit safe on her looks), but she’s going to have Solange Syndrome forever.  I was okay with her Phi Phi but it seemed a bit easy. The end made so much sense, as if a girl-on-girl make out hasn’t been used to save careers before.

Monica Beverly Hillz and the drama. On a personal level, good for her. On the RPDR soap opera secret component, enh. Shouldn’t we save that kind of exploitation for one of those Housewives shows? The second she said “I have a secret” I thought, “she better have a drug problem because if she’s trans I’m gonna be so pissed.”
Apparently the internet has been losing their shit about her status being against the rules or something. It’s a “drag” competition before it’s a “female impersonation” one, plus the transgender community has been intricately connected to the drag queen community since its inception as an artform. Plus 2 RPDR alum came out as trans on the show and nobody bat an eyelash. It’s cool, girl. At least she turned it out in the lip-sync and we could say BGB to Serena before her eyes were gouged out with Iron Fist platform stilettos.

The Lip-Sync:

Boy, does this photo explain a lot.

I was surprised by Monica, she was totally fluid and appropriate with the song. It was deliberate and no waffling around. Serena was doing the desperate dance girls who know they’re going home do although she at least kept her wig on. My friend noted she’s the Milan of this season.

Don’t love this Rihanna song but they made up for the travesty of what they did to Miley Cyrus. The fact you could hear Detox shout “Yes Monica!” was the nail in the car on fire for Serena.

Untucked:

Disdain sponsored by Absolut Mandarin Vodka

Ivy Winters reveals she cannot remember Serena’s name. Coincidence since I don’t remember her unless a high schooler going to prom with a DIY duct tape purse walked by or for the confusing Jimmy Neutron drag king hair he sports. All that stands out is the fascinating woodchuck voice that Ru uses to pronounce her name (seriously, WHAT is that a reference to? It’s lost even on me.)

Predominately necessary shade during the guess-the-queen game and the word “banjee” is brought back again from the archives.

This ain’t grammar school, put yo arm down

Support for Monica and a crack at Serena that broke the room and sound barrier. Instead of waiting until the laughter died down, Serena had to scream and force herself to be heard i.e. say more nonsense that was gonna make people want to murder her and toss her body in a swamp, never to be discussed again. She was getting so close to being that stereotypical blond white girl racist in black teen films who tries to flip her uneven layers for punctuation. “I mean, let’s speak like intelligent people, I don’t speak ‘gangster’,” her character would say while making air quotes, her thick French tips bouncing off the morning sun. Does anyone feel guilty for enjoying the ravenous “ghetto” fest that went down? Also, what books should I be reading? I’m thinking this or this.

It was a pile on that will remain infamous.


Notes:

- I’m glad Jinkx kept it 100 and didn’t have to try to do a ridiculous bodysuit that made fun of the juicy gals. Drag is often a plus sized bitch world which the show doesn’t reflect that (or at least most of the famous broads.)

- Can someone tell Honey Mahogany to work on the midday shade that is casted on her face? At least it was intentional this time but it’s coming off a little SVU at the ICU. At least the makeup was intentional because normally she looks like a middle aged Daphne Maxwell Reid if an eraser were dragged across her face.

- On judging Mz. Coco’s outfit, “Because there are so many mirrors that catch up with the light.” …Serena, when has that ever been a bad thing in drag? This isn’t RuPaul’s Outdoor Photography Lighting Technician Race

- Kristen Johnston Season 6 judge to replace Santino if he doesn’t stop worrying what people think about him and getting back on his game.

- Juliette Lewis and her “can we say whip on television?” was adorable, though when her “I dabble in acting” joke was not followed by laughter, it brought me immense pleasure. Still love you, girl. Her little dance along warmed some of my very dead soul.

- RuPaul’s boy outfits have significantly overshadowed her girl outfits. I get your tailor is tired for having to draft patterns so fast, but damn, turn up the volume.

Girl, I feel you.

I’ll try to be nicer in the future…

I feel as if the hype surrounding Assassin’s Creed is finally dying down and I have a variety of emotions swirling around me. I feel regret not jumping upon the cosplay bandwagon, for one thing, because maybe I’d be famous like all of the other scantily clad Ezio or Altair chicks who decided cleavage and legs were essential to their interpretation of fully clothed men. Who doesn’t want their photograph of a poorly constructed, inaccurate  skanky cosplay circulating the internet!?

The other thing: I believe Assassin’s Creed II and Ezio were the climax of the series, and like any good book, we can only go downhill from there. Assassin’s Creed III was not a bad game - obviously! It won several awards and sold millions of copies. A hundred hours later I’m still playing the game in an attempt to platinum it. I swear, these trophies have gotten insanely hard since Assassin’s Creed II. My big gripe with the series at the moment is that they really created some huge shoes to fill. Seriously HUGE shoes. Altair wasn’t so interesting and so it was easy to surpass his character with someone else; however, Ezio was bigger than life. He was a womanizer, intelligent, determined, and powerful. Connor is austere like Altair and angry like Ezio but the damn kid just can’t control himself. He makes irrational decisions and doesn’t do much to move the plot. He is simply a boy following fate. 

So now we have some DLC that portrays an alternative universe. What if George Washington didn’t step down? What if he became a king? Well, we could tell where this DLC is going simply by playing the game. Haytham, the only character who actually has a strong sense of justice and morality, really revealed who Washington was. Too bad Connor just can’t handle the truth and offs Haytham like a toddler having a fit. I’m sure this DLC is very fun and most interesting - I won’t insult it because I haven’t played it… but I don’t want to play it because I don’t want to be Connor. I’m just not that interested in his character to throw down another 30 dollars for two more hours of gameplay. I need to note, in my own defense, that I own all previous Assassin’s Creed DLC - including that dreadful Desmond DLC where you’re trapped in the Animus. That DLC just felt like a really bad version of Portal.

 

How can Ubisoft get me to buy into the series again? Drop Connor like a bad habit and bring me some more Haytham Kenway gameplay. 

Or end the series before it turns into another Resident Evil. 

Relieved I decided to take the early premiere option that Ru has been offering for the first episode of the last 2 seasons because I was having some SERIOUS feelings. But I gave her two episodes in case she turned things around. Enh.

Serena ChaCha came in and as soon as I heard “art school" and "performance art" coming out of her mouth, I knew I’d want to smack her behind and not in the playful Bettie Page-inspired sex tape kind of way. Though performance art is really thriving in the visual art world right now (i.e. trendy), I know that it’s still not a commonly understood term and thus gets dragged around like a bag of children in a river only to be pulled out and put on display for the mother to get on the after school news. Having the nerve to put that outfit up there as genderfuck or art or whatever you like, the point was it was decidedly NOT cute and not art because you say so. But there is a scene for that she’s attempting to reference and I’ll give you the update.

She’s right about the art form of drag as performing gender and playing with fashion. But how she thinks she’s doing that better than the girls, I’ll never know. To intellectualize what you’re doing vs. the action of actually doing are not the same thing, the number one rule of drag if there were any would be to put on a motherfuckin’ show and that is the bottom line. I’m not gonna go all etymology of queer and Paris Is Burning on the readers, but I won’t completely Stonewall those who aren’t of this decade. I’ll keep it quick and sloppy, just the way you guys like it, with bitchcaps in between.

First off, “soft sculpture" is Claes Oldenburg and Eva Hesse, not a melted draggy mess.

Second, of course drag isn’t just relegated to the gay male community, drag kings like Murray Hill, Shelly Mars, Dred and lots of WOW Café Theater members that have been doing it for themselves for years. As well as transgendered individuals who we’ve seen in Carmen Carrera and Sonique. Straight women occasionally can be involved in drag, as Heather Haneman has written a book about it, but we just watch them from afar like Beyoncé and Tyra Banks in the thunderdome.

I’m also not including straight male drag in the discussion because it’s an incredibly layered topic to which the majority of it is done simply to derive humor, especially out of seeing men perform the gender role of women as inferior and silly. I’m not saying they aren’t allowed to, as RPDR has done it twice, but generally speaking it’s uncommon outside of an Eddie Murphy or Robin Williams situation.

Vaginal Creme Davis, (who will actually be at Art Institute of Chicago in April, as my ass will be in the third row center) is intersex and uses male & female duality in her work while bringing the low-fi attitude of San Francisco’s DIY zine culture. She’s educated but also manages to imbue relatable characters who aren’t reciting textbook lines of gallery privilege. She’s in a Le Tigre song which should say enough about her.

The updated youtube version of this language would be Ryan Trecartin's I-BE AREA tween drag queens who works in a complicated language all his own that captures the ineffable essence of youth internet culture and the translation of self reference. Gender is transcended by form and emotion in these curated environments.


If you want to check out some of the more performance art angle of drag, try the monthly “Clump” party by Chez Deep in NYC:

Colin Self, who I disclose was in the graduating class before me, brings that raw edge young drag that I presume Serena Cha Cha speaks of. Him and his band of thieves (I use that term to mean gang, not to imply actual stealing) are bringing back the obscurity of life-and-art club kids spirit and elevating it to blur the line of drag as well as the audiences who enjoy it. They had an installation at Art Basel Miami which I believe was had choreography from RPDR favorite, Ryan Heffington.

The most recent permeation into popular culture would have to be Ssion (who is associated with a ton of groups, including Chez Deep) who make popular music as well as being an art collective. They stock a number of people in the LBGTQIA supermarket of humans led by Cody Critcheloe.

I could name drop tons of people: Kalup Linzy, Verka Serduchka, Switch N’ Play, House of Ladosha, etc. There’s a ton of people who fit the criteria of drag and trying to do more than gender impersonation, know their history and subvert image, but it requires more than declaring your knowledge as an assumed identity of being “different”.

If my tone is pointed, it’s because Serena Cha Cha is spitting out terms that are personally important to me and was lording them over everyone rudely and improperly. As soon as she heard the reaction to her bougie declaration of everyone being “ghetto”, Ms. Cha Cha knew she had to face up to the accusations in the room. Girl, there’s a difference between “ghetto" and "hood”, which was a “lexic” use as opposed to “lexicon”. I’m glad she was realizing the defense mechanisms she was deploying in order to deflect from the not-so-stellar performance. Unfortunately, then she ruined it in the ending. It’s an edited reality in a pressure cooker situation, but some meat had to be contributed to that stew.

Just gonna put a Rucap on this recap and be done with this. Coming from someone “educated” in a top tier fine arts school and majored in performance art, I understand miss thang, “pick up a book,” but it ain’t an excuse for what you’re doing, boo.

I’m sure you’re one talented queen in your own life, I wish you the best of luck, you’re young and you’ll figure it out eventually.

<3

To do some more homework, I suggest to “pick up a book” with:

Bike Boys, Drag Queens, and Superstars: Avant-Garde, Mass Culture, and Gay Identities in the 1960s Underground Cinema by Juan A. Suárez

DRAG: A History of Female Impersonation in the Performing Arts by Roger Baker

or for you lazy bitches who want to hear more than his herstory, online sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/14/drag-kings_n_2118975.html#slide=more260967

http://www.glbtq.com/arts/drag_queens.html

Michelle runs into a a familiar face in Paradise- her brother, Scotty (and real life brother to Sutton Foster). It’s always fun when we meet some family member of the main character of a show. We don’t know much of Michelle’s life before Vegas, and Scotty let’s us in of the world before the showgirl. There’s no question that Scotty and Michelle have that sibling chemistry, and all the scenes that they share together are gold. Scotty stumbles into Paradise and has been married 4 times, doesn’t seem to have his life together. Michelle had similar issues before moving to Paradise. This involves a classic sibling collision at the end, about where both characters are in their life. 

One thing that threw me off: the dinner with Ginny’s parents. This is the first time I believe we’ve met them, and they’re divorced. The father is getting remarried, and the mother hates her. Even Ginny’s stepmom makes her wears a hideous dress that hides her chest, cause it reminds her of her mother. Melanie also had to sit through that dinner, and Ginny needs her to stand by the wedding photo shoot, which is not the same day of the wedding. Turns out, Ginny’s mom goes apeshit and ruins things. Melanie forgot due to her roller derby-ing. Ginny goes off at Cozette blaming her for being the coolest, I guess. Melanie apologizes for keeping the roller derby a secret from her, she was feeling stressed over starting to look at colleges, and that seemed like the right thing at the moment.

Boo and Carl become parents- but not really. Boo is full time babysitting while her mother is on bed rest awaiting her new little one. Between work, school and ballet, she reaches out to Carl for help. When he is running late, Boo must bring the kids to one of her ballet classes. Unfortunately, Jordan is taking over some classes and treats his class like a boot camp. He yells, puts people in time out and is just all around unpleasant. Boo uses her mommy ways in telling Jordan that he needs a time out and should treat the class nicely. Boo and Carl are going to be excellent parents.

Random Remarks:

-Melanie’s derby name: Cleo Smacktra. 

-No Sasha this week, I wonder where she’s going to end up after her mom was just like, later!

-After the sibling fight, there is a ukelele sing-a-long which was adorable. 

-One of the kid’s names is BEAVER. And no one can believe it!

-Scotty asks Michelle what she did to the barista. Call back from earlier in the season!

Sunday night’s episode marked the halfway point for Downton Series Three with the saddest episode yet. Although this review combines the events of 3 episodes, keep in mind each of these events takes place weeks or months apart in the internal time line. (Photo of Highclere Castle courtesy of PBS on Facebook.) 

SPOILER LINE DO NOT CROSS IF YOU’RE NOT CAUGHT UP!!!!

 

Episode 4 brings Sybil and Branson into the center of attention. After Martha Levinson’s visit, they return to Ireland. In Episode 3, Branson is suspected of being an accomplice to destruction of property and must flee before he is arrested or questioned by the police. At this point Sybil is pregnant but must make the trip to Downton alone. Robert intervenes and makes a deal with the government exchanging Branson and Sybil’s ability to ever return to Ireland in exchange for the end to any charges or suspicion. This naturally puts an end to any chance of Branson joining in the fight for independence.

Sybil gives birth towards the end of Episode 4. Complications threaten her life and the ability of the baby to survive. There was an intense argument between within the Crawleys and the doctors in charge of Sybil’s care over preventative surgery. A lack of decisive action to treat the complications made her condition much worse. The decision was made to forgo surgery and deliver the baby naturally. A few hours after giving birth to her daughter, Sybil died of enclampsia. (It should be noted that Sybil’s death is the result of Jessica Brown Findlay leaving the show.)

This subplot not only shows how much women were at the mercy of their male legal guardians, but also how much medical knowledge doctors lacked at that time.If Sybil was giving birth in 2013, she would have been able to consent to prenatal care as well as have access to treatment before severe symptoms developed. Unfortunately, women still die of this condition despite medical advances.

While Sybil’s death does not change the inheritance order, it will change the plot trajectory for Branson, Robert, and Cora. Branson’s stay at Downton will probably become permanent one despite his desire to participate in the final push for Irish independence. Robert and Cora disagreed on the best medical course to take during Sybil’s labor. Their grief could either draw them closer together or pull them apart.

Edith’s unlucky streak continues in these episodes.  Although Edith has said and done many questionable things in the past two series, you can’t help but feel bad for her. Episode 2 ends with her older fiancée dumping her at the altar. She longs for the happiness her sisters have but isn’t able to find the right match. Out of a desire to do useful work and make a difference, she writes a column advocating for women’s suffrage in episode 3. Her work turns into an offer for a permanent position. Unfortunately, Edith’s efforts are met with disapproval and fear of scandal.

Changing expectations also affects Daisy’s trajectory. In these episodes, she gets a chance to work on the farm belonging to her in laws. Part of her still believes any benefits from her extremely short marriage to William are undeserved. Back downstairs, she is upgraded to Mrs. Patmore’s assistant after a new kitchen maid. She must decide between the traditional domestic service life and a career where she makes decisions for other people.

For the rest of the servants, there are some ongoing plots and one new development. Anna is still playing Sherlock Holmes in the fight to free Bates from prison. She must find witnesses willing to testify Vera was up to no good. Mrs. Hughes is still unsure if her illness is due to cancer or another condition. Carson notices something is wrong, but he still has no idea what it is. O’Brien is still scheming and plotting behind the scenes. The new footman Jimmy brings in good looks as well as potential problems for Thomas in Episode 3. Thomas likes him, but it is too soon to tell if Jimmy feels the same way.

The financial fate of Downton weighs heavily in episodes 2-4. Letters from the estate of Reggie Swire indicate Matthew is indeed entitled to a large sum of his money. In a similar fashion to Daisy, he also feels unworthy of the money. After a through investigation of the account ledgers in episodes 2 and 3, he decides that the money is indeed necessary to reform Downton’s finances. Years of waste and bad decisions leads to a desire to clean house. Matthew has an uphill battle ahead convincing a very unwilling Robert and an angry estate manager to change course.

Overall, episodes 2-4 are filled with enough interpersonal tension to keep Downton fans craving more. Sybil’s tragedy should not stop fans from watching more because there’s more good and bad in store for the rest of this series.  

                    

 

I noticed that I was behind on my 2013 book list and was very upset. I decided that it would be a good idea to pick up a book and just read it in a few hours to catch up and be on point with 2013 goal of nearly 100 books. I’m not sure if I’ll make it but I hope I will. Picking up The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick was an easy choice; I’ve heard so many amazing things about the movie that I had to read the book it was based on first. I’ve heard many things about Quick’s book, mostly that the movie was a lot better which is rare to hear this day and age when most folks are constantly bickering of how much the movie sucked compared to the books. So I did something I’ve never done before, I read the book (it took me 2.5 hours, almost 3, it’s not a long book, depending on who you ask of course, but at 244 pgs. it wasn’t too hard to read fast.) and then I decided to see the movie IMMEDIATELY after. Doing this made it so much easier for me to compare and contrast and see if what all of my friends were saying was true; that in fact the film was better than the book. So instead of making a decision right away, I decided to do a compare and contrast list of what was similar, what was changed, and just which is better.

Below the cut is my comparison of The Silver Linings Playbook, a book about a man who is lost and completely dumbfounded after being released from a mental facility for what he thinks is a few months, but it actually a few years. A man who isn’t quite sure about himself and his life, and the other is Silver Linings Playbook, a movie about a man who is lost and completely dumbfounded after being released from a mental facility after a few months.  Both are similar enough that you can still enjoy the source material enough if you are a movie fan, and different enough if you are a fan of the book you can ultimately understand that the film should be regarded as a stand- alone. Be warned there are heavy spoilers for the book and the movie so only read it if you’ve seen it, read it, or just don’t care.

 

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Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Author: Laini Taylor

Pages/Format: 355 pages on ebook

Rating: 3/5 Hey Nows

            

 

Fantasy young adult books aren’t that easy to come by, especially ones that stick to the true form of fantasy with creatures, magic, and all that good stuff. So when I heard about a story of a demon girl that falls in love with an angel boy I had to pick it up, it seemed like it would be great; especially since the reviews were raving, “I couldn’t put it down!” they said, “it’s one of the best books of the year” they raved.  I on the other hand could not pick it up and thought it was one of the most over hyped books I have ever read.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is about Karou, a blue haired art student who has a few secrets in her closet. She lives with her family, who are a bunch of underworld creatures who take care of her, all the while keeping something very important from her. Then there is Akiva, an angel, who is an atypical YA guy, he’s hot, he’s smart and totally out to get Karou until something stops him dead in his tracks. Ultimately, the story is about an angel who falls in love with a devil.

Maybe it’s just me, maybe I just don’t get it, but I can’t stick with a book that takes forever to get to the story. Normally if a book likes to exposition for a whole 26 chapters, it should at least make you fall in love with a character, but I wasn’t feeling much attachment to our heroine, Karou. I think I liked Akiva, the little we saw of him more. This is an immediate no, in my book. If the book’s main character is a girl, I better like this girl (looking at you, Bella Swan!) and I just felt nothing for Karou until the middle of the end when she became all badass and then the book starts to wrap up and I’m sitting there spitting out  my tea screaming “OH GREAT!”

 The reason I didn’t completely give this book a total fail was because I actually enjoyed the last 100 pages or so , If the last 100 pages were what the whole book was like I might have actually given this a 5/5  and gushed about it all day and night. I was enthralled by the twist and the story that came with it, but it was mostly Akiva that was sparking my interest and his interaction with Karou. If the story was told a bit more from Akiva’s perspective rather than Karou’s I think I might have liked the book more.

 

 However, by the time I did actually not want to put the book down, it ended and I wasn’t filled with much of a detachment from it. I am hoping that with all of the exposition over and done with in Daughter of Smoke and Bone that its sequel Days of Blood and Starlight will be better.  

Last week, Raylan found out that his new gal pal was married, or at least they were. Lindsay explains that they used to be a couple of grifters, but Randall was extremely jealous of Lindsay’s flirtatious ways with their victims. Raylan stirs some trouble while visiting Randall in the gym by mentioning that Lindsay was in his bedroom last night, and Randall challenges him to a fight. Of course, Raylan accepts. It doesn’t happen this episode, but maybe Ray Ray will get into some more trouble next week. Also, his apartment was a mess, assuming Lindsay was in there, probably still apart of Randall’s schemes. 

Raylan and Tim continue on with the Drew Thompson case, by finding his widow, Eve Munro. She is in danger by the Tonin crime family, so if she spills anything she knows about Drew, she is done for. She claims to be a psychic, by telling Raylan that he was going to do something stupid later. (Tim says that’s everyday.) When someone knocks on the door, Raylan tells Eve go to in a room without a window, which she fails to do, as she climbs out the bathroom window. The man is FBI Agent Barnes, who goes to recheck old leads in case Drew Thompson was alive, but Agent Barnes is also being pressured by the Tonin’s, from criminal Mason Goins, who kidnaps Eve. I recognize the actor Michael Graziadei, from The Young and the Restless (My mother’s favorite show), but he played a crazy killer guy really well. 

On the Last Chance Holiness side of the episode, there is a snake attack. As Jimmy and Colt attempt to destroy LCH’s tent, Jimmy gets bitten by one of the snakes in the cheek, while Colt shoots it off. But the snake’s head is still on Jimmy’s face! (It was a great sight gag, kind of.) Boyd refuses to send him the the hospital, so they bring the doctor to him. Boyd also has another stand off with Billy (while looking good in a vest), but the more interesting scene was with Boyd and Cassie. Billy clearly is a follower of the Lord, but Cassie is just playing the part of his holy sister. He sees new brothers and sisters, and she sees a wad of cash. I would like to know what her involvement is going to stir up. (Can’t wait to see her unleash some cray!)

Random Remarks:

-Rachel gets in trouble losing a suspect for not calling backup, although Raylan gets away with it all the time. 

-Art makes another stiffy comment. I’d be ok if Art continues with the stiffy coments each episode of this season.

-Johnny visits Wynn Duffy for an exchange: killing Boyd for a piece of the Dixie Mafia. We’ll see where this ends up.

Bunheads seemed a bit all over the place this week, just like it’s sister show beforehand, Switched at Birth. All the characters all involved in some story, but none of it comes together. Last week, Sasha was told she needs to choose to move with her mother or father, but she hasn’t packed a thing. Her mother just gives her the keys and leaves. (How a mother could just leave behind her 16 year old daughter is beyond me, but anyway….) She has an empty house for 2 weeks until the next family moves in, but where is she going to live? How is she going to support herself? I figured she would just go to Michelle, but we’ll probably find more about that next week. 

The accountant still has an issue with Fanny and Michelle: They are losing money. Fanny is still not charging half her students, and all of this land is just sitting there. Accountant suggests to make profit somehow like pony rides or something, just to get some income. So Michelle and Fanny have some crazy idea of building an amphitheater, and Millie wants in on it. WIthout consulting Fanny, Michelle agrees, because Millie has the money to invest, but it upsets Truly in the mean time. Millie always wins, but Michelle pointed out that she wasn’t her friend, just merely a business partner. Also, she never got Hubell. Man, that guy’s presence will always creepily be there.

Guess what? Hottie bartender GODOT returns. But, I really don’t care. He and Michelle shared a kiss, and the bunheads ant her to go for it again, but Michelle messes it up. After finding out she was a few credits shy of a diploma, she is down in the dumps. She also assumes GODOT is a high school dropout, but he has his masters in oceanography. I don’t know why she would assume that he’s a dropout because he bartends at a crappy restaurant. 

Boo is missing this week, so we get more time with Ginny and Melanie. The kids at school are still interested in Frankie and Cozette, but I am so done with them. They are so popular and interesting because everyone says they are. They know sign language (They should have went to Carlton), and even win trivia night! The show makes it seem that the Frankie/Ginny thing might happen, but I still don’t care. 

Also back: Melanie’s annoying brother, Charlie. Turns out, he was a really sweet guy to his girlfriend who publicly dumped him in the school hallways. This upsets Melanie and shows that she actually cares for her brother, she yanks his ex’s ponytail and knocks her to the floor, which was the funniest thing I’ve seen all day.She knocks down GODOT as well, too bad he didn’t have a ponytail.

Random Remarks:

-Millie named Sparkles. Truly was right, woman gets everything!

-Melanie’s yank made The Soup’s clip of the week. 

-Cozette suggests Melanie to try out for the roller derby. 

-Michelle refers to junior college as “baby college”.

-“We won’t be long, we talk fast!”

A lot was happening on this week’s Switched at Birth, but there was a little too much of going on. Bay and Natalie are still having problems, including Bay trying to cover up the ‘hearie bitch’ graffiti on her locker. Emmett lets his mom knows what’s going on, and schedules a mandatory retreat so all the students can figure out their problems. Yes, because forcing all your students into the forest on a weekend is going to solve everything. Melody is the guidance counselor, does she even have the authority to call the shots?

Well, that happened, and Emmett asks Daphne to cover for him so he can get some alone time with Bay, but Bay seems to have some feelings for Noah, one of the other hearing kids at Carlton. Although he is hearing now, he could lose it due to Meniere’s disease. he sometimes has some dizzy episodes, and that worries Bay. Emmett wants to know why she’s so concerned about this guy she just met, but I guess Bay is just trying to fit with other hearing students and meeting new people. Obviously Bay and Emmett aren’t going to get back together, they have to drag it out for the shippers like us to make things more interesting.

Regina hears some news that is worse than the whole Angelo situation: her hand isn’t going to get any better, and she won’t be able to sign or cut hair again. Daphne sees it as a slap in the face, and even Melody accuses her of lying. In the end, it’s hurting Regina even more that she can’t communicate with her daughter in her on language. Also her salon career comes to an end, and that’s the only thing she knows so she must go back to square one. 

Kathryn is interviewed by some magazine to talk about recipes and other womanly things wives do, but turns into a conversation about illegal immigration. The conversation makes it seem like that John is ok with hiring illegal immigrants. This upsets John that it may go into a mini scandal, but John needs to realize having Kathryn will benefit him during this election.

The last storyline that was completely random was Toby and Angelo’s pregnant med student. They both happen to be at the same auto shop, and Toby offers to give her a lift. He also just happens to get into a mini accident with the pregnant woman in the car, so he takes her to the hospital. She also tells him he could stay, cause this is how most teenage boys want to spend their afternoon. Was Nikki at church or something?

Random Remarks:

- Looks like Daphne and Travis are finally going to happen? This is exciting!!

-Hearie Bitch is pretty harsh, Natalie. Kids are cruel!