RuPaul's Drag Race: Reviewed & Analyzed

I don't need to tell you that I love "RuPaul's Drag Race".  I've written about it before.  For a while I've been wanting to write a post, reviewing and analyzing all the queens who have been on the show, seasons 1-4.  We're now in a new season (the fifth), so I want to finish this up before another season passes and I have new queens to review.

Without further ado...

Most-Loved (By Me) Queens: 

These are the queens who I've enjoyed the most.

Ongina & Nina Flowers (s1), Pandora Boxx, Jujubee, Raven (s2), Yara Sofia, Alexis Mateo, Manila Luzon, Raja (s3), Jiggly Caliente, Chad Michaels, Sharon Needles, Latrice Royale (s4)

“Moment” Queens:
These are queens who had their moment on their respective seasons.  I liked them well enough, but they had one particular moment where their light really shone brightest.

Jessica Wild - Jessica was a great queen, but her best moment had to be her appearance as the chicken in the episode where they had to do a commercial.  Unlike Raven (who really sucked in this episode), Jessica went all out and her chicken character was hilarious!

Stacey Layne (Bryant) Matthews - Stacey never really impressed me, except when she was Monique on the Snatch Game.  The character couldn't have been a better fit, and thank God she ended up doing Monique instead of Anna Nicole Smith.  She stayed in character perfectly.

Dida Ritz - I thought Dida was an overall pretty sickening (good thing) queen, but her best moment was when she had to lip synch for her life and turned it out to "This Will Be" by Natalie Cole.  She worked it out and showed her true fierceness.  It was a great moment.

“BLAH” Queens

These are the queens who I neither hated, nor loved, nor loved to hate.  They were just blah and never left much of an impression.

Alisa Summers, The Princess, Victoria “Porkchop” Parker, Akashia, Jade, Nicole Paige Brooks, Mystique Summers Madison, Sonique, Venus D-Lite, Phoenix, India Ferrah

Less “BLAH” Queens
These are the queens who made an impression, and were fierce, but still don't fall into the "Most Loved (By Me)" category.

Morgan McMichaels, Sahara Davenport, Mariah, Delta Work, Carmen Carrera, Willam, Milan

Bitchy/Whatever Queens: 

These are the queens who made a lot of noise, threw a lot of shade, had huge personalities, but never made themselves all that likeable... at least not by me.

Shangela Laquifa Wadley - I know Shangela made a lot of noise on her season (especially with her dramatic return to the show after being the first eliminated on season 2), but she just didn’t really excite me on season 3.  She had her catchphrases and some decent moments, sure, but having heard so much about her (from friends who'd watched this season before me)olujhyi, I definitely expected more.  And for the record, I don’t consider her a Bitchy Queen as much as I think of her as a Whatever Queen.

Tatianna - Ugh, Tatianna.  She had a few decent moments, too (case in point: her Britney Spears impression on Snatch Game was pretty good), but she really bugged me throughout most of season 2.  She was bitchy, not always that fierce, and just relied on her fishyness.  Oh, and her dumb segment on All-Stars, “T with Tati”, was extremely stupid, too.  Whatever!  I’m so glad she didn’t make it into the top 3 like Rebecca Glasscock did before her.

Speaking of which…

Rebecca Glasscock - Rebecca Glasscock… just plain bitchy, and made it far but just never got me especially excited.  Whatever.

Phi Phi O’Hara - Phi Phi WAS bitchy, though I found I was more sympathetic to her than to Tatianna and Rebecca.  She was young, clearly putting up a front, and had some tender moments (for example, giving Chad her phone call so he could call his partner).  And then, as a queen, I saw her have some amazing – never mind fishy – moments on the runway.  However, she overall gave me a "whatever" feeling.  She deserved to be in the top 3, but I was just kinda bored by her at that point.

“AAAGGHHH” Queens

These are the queens who you just wanted to slap across the face and say "Snap out of it!"

Tammie Brown - Occasionally I found Tammie Brown inexplicably magnetic, but the same moment I would realize she's bat s**t crazy.  She has got some kind of bizarre drag, and I was happy to see her go (both times... how she made it on All Stars is beyond me).
Mimi Imfurst - She is just plain annoying!  A weird queen, a bad actress, a cry baby, and a general annoyance.
(Kinda but not really) Madame LaQueer - Reminded me of Mimi Imfurst in some ways.  Her acting skills were also brutal (remember when she tried a British accent... hers was almost as bad as Yara Sofia's, but 10 times less funny).

Queens who didn’t deliver on “All Stars” like I wish they had: 

Self-explanatory.

Latrice Royale & Nina Flowers

It was really a shame; considering how much I lived for these queens while they were on their respective seasons, I really expected more from them on AS.  In Nina’s case she had a brutal partner (Tammie), but Latrice had no excuse.  Oh well!  That's what separates fierce queens from All Stars.

Queens I wish were on All Stars:

Ongina

Queens I wish were NOT on All Stars: 

Shannel (even more so than Tammie & Mimi, because at least they were eliminated quickly... only Chad could carry Shannel that far).

Winning Queens I didn’t get too excited about:
BeBe Zahara Benet & Tyra SanchezDon't get me wrong - both of them are fierce queens, and I'm not saying they didn't deserve to win, because I think they probably were.  Both of them were fierce, funny, and delivered consistently.  However, they just didn’t excite me in the way someone like Latrice or Jujubee did.

Most-Deserving Crowned Queen

Sharon Needles – I wasn’t always a Sharon Needles fan during season 4.  First I didn’t know what to make of her, and then even when she was consistently amazing, I was still more excited by Latrice (mostly personality-wise).  But as it became clear that Latrice wouldn’t – and didn’t deserve to – win, I was rooting for Sharon.

Runner-up: Raja – Raja was just so incredibly fierce.

FAVOURITE QUEEN OF ALL

If it wasn't slready clear...

Miss Latrice Mothaf**kin Royale – Latrice hands-down gave me the most joy, happiness, laughter, and emotion of all the queens to grace the runway.  I realized – especially during “All Stars” – that she wasn’t the fiercest queen of all.  She had her rough moments, bad wardrobe choices, etc., but she was the realest queen on the show, and I loved her.

FIN.

RuPaul's Drag Race: Start Your Engines

I'm kind of shocked that I've only referred to "RuPaul's Drag Race" once so far on this blog.  Then again, I suppose it's a somewhat recent obsession.  My best friends J & W have been into it for a while and I tuned in to an episode with them here and there, but it was season four where I really caught my RPDR stride.

You can click the link to the wiki page above to learn about the show, so I won't waste your time with that.  I'd like to discuss this show beyond the details...

What is it about RPDR that appeals to me so much???

The campiness.  I realize that I love camp.  There, I said it.  And I ain't talkin' 'bout summer camp (though I loved it, too), I'm talkin' about what dictionary.com defines as "something that provides sophisticated, knowing amusement, as by virtue of its being artlessly manner-consciously artificial and extravagant, or teasingly ingenuous and sentimental".  It may seem over-the-top to some, but that's what I love about it.  Extravagance, hyperbole, silly, cheesy to the point of almost hating it, but then loving it anyway.

Let me tell you, RPDR is dripping with camp.  I mean, it's a drag queen competition after all, but it's so campy you find yourself giggling against your own will.

The humour.  Campiness is humour on its own, but the drag queens' individual senses of humour are pristine.  Whether it's poking fun of each other, which it usually is (and by the way, it's not called "poking fun", it's called "reading" or "throwing shade"), commenting on pop culture, or just being themselves, I'm laughing for the better part of the show.  And they're full of brilliant slang and one-liners: "sickening", "the shade of it all!", "loca", "halleloo", "werrrkkk", "eat it", the list goes on.

RuPaul.  It's unfair that RuPaul be stuck in the middle of these reasons, but they're not in any particular order, really.  RuPaul Charles is perfection.  In and out of drag she is funny, witty, stunning, fashionable, sweet, cute, honest, real, silly, and everything in between.  She is a true queen.  Her own classic lines on the show are amazing, too: "Hello hello hello!", "Gentlemen, start your engines, and may the best woman... win!", "If you can't love yourself, how in the heellll are you gonna love somebody else?  Can I get an amen up in here?"  I love RuPaul.

The homage it pays to "Paris is Burning".  You already know that I've been deeply moved by the documentary "Paris is Burning", and I love how much respect is paid to this film and the culture it documents on RPDR.  Occasionally episodes have ball-like competitions, categories ("Executive Realness"), vogue-offs, etc., but more than that there are subtle PiB lines regularly inserted into the show... "Cheesecake", "overgrown orangutangs" (misspelled on purpose), "touch this, touch all of this", "you own everything, everything is yours", etc.  Ru is cleary committed to honouring the queens who came before (and not just those from PiB but also queens like Marsha P. Johnson) and it shows, and I love spotting the references.

The anthropological side of it.  I realized that it's not just the humour, the entertainment, the competition, Ru and the queens, etc., or rather those things become even more interesting by way of looking at the show anthropologically.  I'm a gay woman.  I'm part of the gay community so in that way I feel that gay men's worlds intersect with mine, but drag culture is a whole other chestnut.  I don't feel totally separate from it, per se, but I clearly am not and could not be a true part of it, as much as other drag queens or other gay men can be.  I don't consider this a bad or sad thing, nor does it make me feel excluded.  However, it does make the experience of looking in at this world very fascinating. 

And that brings me to...
The gender play.  I spent some time in university thinking a lot about gender and the performance of gender and the illusion of it, but I haven't dedicated much thought to it since.  However, RPDR brings those thoughts back to the forefront of my mind.  I mentioned to my friend W. that sometimes the queens do things or say things that seem more feminine than anything I could ever do or say.  That led to an engaging conversation between the two of us about what femininity is, and how real or important it could possibly be based on the fact that some make-up and a dress on a biological male makes me perceive him as more feminine than me.  Very interesting...

The joy.  When I talk to people about the show, the word that always comes to mind is "joy".  I feel joyful when I watch RuPaul's Drag Race.  It's about fun and wittiness, camp and performance, music and fashion, queerness, creativity, comraderie, and more!  The queens are fun and good-spirited (most of the them/most of the time), and it's a happy show!  That's really what I love about RPDR.

Give it a try!  Let me know what you think!!


Posts to come... the disappearance of the physical book and what it means in terms of first impressions.
Currently reading... Lennon Revealed by Larry Kane & High Fidelity by Nicholas Hornby

Life in TO

Guess what?!?  For the past 10 days I have been, and moving forward I will continue to be, an official resident of the city of Toronto.  I haven't truly lived here since 2005... it's pretty wild how time flies.  5 years in Waterloo, 2 in Port Hope, and now I'm back... and I couldn't be happier!

Was it hard to leave Port Hope?  Not really.  My two years in PH were formative and important and happy and satisfying, but the time was right to make the move, and I was just flat-out excited when moving day (June 30th) finally came.  But it's important to note that I really did love my apartment in PH and it was somewhat sad to say goodbye to that great place, but onwards and upwards!!!

At least, it will be upwards soon... temporarily I'm living at my parents' place, and likely will be until September.  It's a pretty sweet gig for the meantime, and I'm grateful that I have a place to stay.


So how have I enjoyed my time back in the city???  FULLY.  The weekend I moved home just happened to be: Toronto Pride + the Canada Day long weekend + my sister's 30th birthday.  Does it get any better???  On June 30th, once all the moving craziness was done, I spent the evening celebrating 3 decades of my sister's life at the historic Lambton House (built in 1847) in the west end of Toronto.  She rented out a room at this great venue for a private party with a bar and her own DJ.  It was awesome - great music, great friends, quirky drinks (including "The '82" and "The Extra Dirty 30"), a dress code theme ("indie darling"... I was inspired by Hannah from "Girls"), and generally a lot of fun!


On Sunday, July 1, I woke up, showered, wore my finest combo of Pride and Canada Day-appropriate clothing, and headed down to the Church-Wellesley village to celebrate the gorgeous weather and the special day.  3 friends and I started the day off at Lola's Kitchen, which I believe I've mentioned before.  We were lucky enough to get a table on their patio and we took our sweet time enjoying many summery drinks (mimosas, Caesars, sangria, and watermelon spiked lemonade), their delicious food (I had the day's special: grilled cheese Benedict - delightful!), and the perfect combination of summer sun and heavenly breeze.  

Once we finished, we headed down Church St. from about Charles all the way to Carlton, checking out the vendors, people-watching, and generally taking it all in.  We crossed Carlton, down the subway stairs, and up to the corner of College & Yonge, and found a good spot to watch the parade out front of Hoops Bar, just north of College on the west side of Yonge.  It was a great spot to watch from, and despite feeling complacent about Pride every year when it comes around, once again I was overwhelmed by my own pride while watching the parade - pride for my city, my community, myself, and the amazing people I saw marching for various causes, all in the name of acceptance and gay pride.  Yes, I may be proud all year long, but what's the harm in marking a day to celebrate it in particular?  Nothing.  In fact, it's wonderful!!!


After about an hour or so of parade-watching, my girlfriend and I headed back up to her house for a Canada Day BBQ.  We ate snacks, drank beers, watched the Jays' game, sampled some delicious summery cocktails her sister put together (all tea-based... very cool), and then dug into the feast -- home-made burgers, corn on the cob, salads... TO DIE FOR.  Kudos to Steph for all her labour.  It was very well-received.


THEN we had the holiday Monday, on which we celebrated my sister's birthday again: the family edition.  We had a great little lunch in the backyard and then went to Canada Square movie theatre to watch "Take This Waltz", Canadian director Sarah Polley's second feature film, starring Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby, and Sarah Silverman.  I don't want to go into too detailed a review of this film.  My feelings about it are complicated which makes me feel like Sarah Polley did exactly what she intended, which I respect and appreciate.  I loved how unashamedly she highlighted Toronto - it was such a thrill seeing the city displayed without trying to pretend it's somewhere else, presumably in the states.  The acting was really incredible, and there were some extremely powerful moments.  Overall I liked it and I'm glad I saw it.


The rest of the week was pretty uneventful.  I'm working part-time from a home office in Toronto which has been a great new routine to adjust to and I'm finding it to be a very productive situation.  I saw some apartments and actually applied for one yesterday (stay tuned!).  Then on Friday night I went to Mississauga for the evening with some of my very besties and had a very chill time, eating Thai food and watching "The Comeback".  

Saturday morning I woke up relatively early, my sister picked me up from my friend's in Mississauga, and we drove down the 401 + the 402 to Sarnia, ON, my mom's hometown, and where some of my aunts, uncles, and cousins live.  We spent 24 hours at my uncle's place, which used to be my grandparents' house, so I've been there many times before.  He's done some incredible work on the interior and it's so amazing to spend time there, filled with memories of the time spent there as a kid, but then to be surrounded by a beautiful variation on the place I've known so well.  We arrived around 3:30, spent some time relaxing and catching up with my aunt and uncle, and then my aunt tucked me into the hammock where I read Mockingjay and took a snooze.  [Aside: I'm finally getting back into Mockingjay.  I'm determined to finish it this month and move onto something totally new.]  After a snooze and a shower, I joined more family and friends for a perfect summer dinner: BBQ'd ribs.  It was a delicious meal with fabulous company and I went to bed fully satisfied and fell fast asleep with the sound of the waves in my ears.


Sunday morning we woke up early and after some breakfast down by the lake, we took 3 dogs (my sister's, uncle's, and aunt's) for a long walk down the shore.  The combo of sun and breeze was delicious and we took our sweet time walking.  When we got back to the house, I went for a swim.  The lake was more wavy than you would imagine, and I felt like a kid again - turns out 15 years later it's just as fun to jump into the waves as it was before.  After that we had sandwiches by the beach, a little more reading and sunbathing, and then we packed up the car and headed back to TO.


So - needless to say, life in TO is off to a wonderful start!  I can't wait for whatever comes next...

Birthday Week!!!!! / Discovering T.O. #7 / Port Hope Showcase

Last Monday, May 28, I turned twenty-five years old.  Quite a milestone, really.  I keep wishing I had some sort of letter from my younger self to my 25 year old self to see what I was expecting / hoping for.  The truth is though that it doesn't matter.  I couldn't be prouder of who I am and where I'm at in life, so letter or no letter, I'm one happy 25 year old...

...made happier by the fact that I had the most wonderful series of mini-celebrations of the day of my birth.  I'd like to tell you about them.

1) The Beamish House: locally just called "The Beamish", unfortunately this great pub and restaurant doesn't have a website.  Once a year the school that I work for throws a huge reunion weekend for its alumni celebrating 5, 10, 15, and so on reunions.  The weekend peaks with a dinner on the Saturday night on campus followed by an evening of debauchery, traditionally at The Beamish.  This small, quaint pub is taken over, and although its interior doesn't have much space, its patio is sprawling.  It's a great night, and two of my besties ventured out to Port Hope to enjoy the evening with me.  This was on May 26, but it kick-started birthday celebrations in just the right way.  Before they headed back to the city the next day, we indulged in the classic greasy spoon breakfast at Dimitri's in Port Hope.  I had the Grand Slam breakfast.  It may not have dill-infused hollandaise sauce drizzled all over it, but it did the job.

2) Jim's Pizza & Pasta: this is another classic Port Hope establishment that I highly recommend.  The truth is that this wasn't particularly the highlight of birthday celebrations, but I find that restaurants are a good anchor in this blog for other stories.  The real highlight was having my girlfriend come to PH on May 27 to have dinner, chill times, and then be there with me first-thing on my special day.  That said, grabbing dinner at Jim's Pizza is ALWAYS a delight.  This is my GF's favourite spot in Port Hope, and we always each get the pizza & salad combo.  With this combo, you get a small, 4-slice personal pizza with any 3 toppings you'd like PLUS a huge serving of delicious Caesar salad (Greek is also a choice, but I mean, really).  After our delicious dinner we bought some snacks and went home for a viewing of "Best In Show".

3) My Special Day itself: the authentic birthday day was no exception to the fun already had.  I woke up with the GF and opened a gift from her and from other family members who had sent theirs in advance.  Then I made us breakfast (she would've made it, but she likes the way I make eggs best!) and we lazily enjoyed the morning (I took it off from work), and then I drove her to Oshawa where she took the GO train back to Toronto.

I had a great day at work, complete with cheesecake shared with my colleagues!

When the work day was done, my Mom and sister came to Port Hope to take me to dinner.  And what a dinner it was!  We ate at Trattoria Gusto (finally a PH resto with a website).  I've eaten here 3-5 times before and it's very delicious.  I find that's a bit of an anomaly about Port Hope - not a lot to do, but 3-4 incredible restaurants!  We went all out, sharing a beet salad, calimari, and carpaccio to start, and then for my main I had the chicken parmesan, which was succulent.  We finished it off by sharing a decadent, rich brownie with a candle on top.  It was fantastic!!!

4) Old school gay village celebration: Even though I'd had my fair share of celebrations, I wanted to do it up right with a night out in Toronto, which went down this past Saturday, June 2.  I hemmed and hawed over how I wanted to celebrate, and it dawned on me - when was the last time I had a night out in the Church & Wellesley neighbourhood a.k.a. the gay village in Toronto?!?!  I came of age in that neighbourhood and came into my proud, gay self, and I have great memories (nostalgic already?) of drag queens and dance parties, so I thought - it's about time I go back.

This evening started with appetizers and drinks at Smith on Church St.  I'll be very honest with you -- I didn't really do my due diligence on Smith.  I basically looked for a restaurant in the village that had a few classy-looking/sounding appetizers and said, why not?  Full disclosure: all it took was seeing that Smith had a charcuterie board.  Charcuterie = class.  Thankfully my lack of research didn't result in 11 friends and I dining at a dive.  Smith had us seated at a long table set for 12 upstairs at the restaurant, with a big window, a fireplace (too hot for that though), and a view of the goings-on of Church St.  It had a great vibe and the drinks and food were great!  For the record, I did order the charcuterie board and I loved it.  I didn't look to see what was on it, but I did eat cow tongue and I enjoyed it!

After 3 lazy hours eating and drinking at Smith we head off to Zelda's new location on Yonge St. for a drink.  I ordered the "Proud Mary" (for its name only) and we left shortly after that.

Where did we go?  Where else does one go when they want an old school gay village celebration?  Buddies in Bad Times.  Buddies has such great music and so much sweaty and fun dancing on Saturday nights, and this past Saturday was no exception.  We danced and drank and had ourselves a great time until about 2:30 when last call was made and it was time to catch the late-night Yonge bus home.

Being 25 is off to a fabulous start, and many thanks to the friends, family members, and Port Hope/Toronto establishments that made my birthday celebrations so special!!!

Happy St. P's & 2 films to see

Happy St. Patrick's Day, readers!  I hope you're out celebrating your Irish heritage or at least pretending to be Irish for the day.  Whether it's enjoying a green beer, fryin' up some spuds, or wearing a ridiculous shirt that says, "Kiss me, I'm Irish!", I appreciate your support of my heritage today.

Personally I celebrated today by finishing Frank McCourt's memoir, Angela's Ashes.  10 weeks into 2012 and 3 books down.  Only 17 more to go! ...Anyway, on to the point of this post...

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently saw two films that I think are really important:

1. Almost a year ago I saw that a documentary called "Miss Representation" was playing on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).  I was at my parents' house at the time so I PVRed it and then forgot about it.  Recently I was flipping through their PVRed shows and saw it there.  I was relaxing with my Saturday morning coffee, so I thought, why not?!  I spent the next two hours watching a documentary that really shook me.  In the simplest terms, the film is about the negative portrayal of women in the media and how that leads to a shortage of women in the government and other high-powered positions in the corporate world.
   
   A barometer for my world is my Facebook news feed.  I was an active volunteer in university in the LGBTQ community and as a result crossed paths with queer activists, feminists, and the like.  Now, my news feed is in large part made up of videos, articles, and personal statements about issues of homophobia, sexism, misogyny, etc.
   
   I am wholeheartedly against these things.  However, when they are the bulk of what I see on Facebook, I have become very desensitized and find myself with compassion fatigue.  So, I stop thinking about the problems and how they impact me and those around me.  When I sat down and watched "Miss Representation", it was like a smack in the face -- these are real issues!  There is a real problem!  I watched esteemed women like Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Rachel Maddow, and Gloria Steinem talk about this real issue, and I felt overcome with an urge to weep for women everywhere.  I know this sounds dramatic, but it felt dramatic!  I felt like I had totally forgotten that these are real problems affecting me and every female in my life and the world.  It was a wake-up call.  It was a very powerful & important film, and I strongly recommend it.
   
2. The day after I watched "Miss Representation", I went over to my sister's place for a delicious brunch and another engaging film.  She and I watched "We Were Here".  This doc is about the AIDS crisis in San Francisco in the 80s.  It really outlines the spread of the virus, both physically and also the social spread of information; from the early days hearing about the "gay cancer" to learning about potential meds to help those with AIDS.  The story of it all was told by artists prominent in the area at the time, individuals who had partners die of AIDS, and nurses who helped comfort patients in hospitals during their final days.  It was well-made, well-told, and emotional.  Another one I highly recommend.

Discovering T.O. #4

The 4th "Discovering T.O." post (preceded by this one and that one... oh, and that one, too) comes in perfect time as it can be paired with an exciting announcement:

I'M MOVING BACK TO TORONTO!!!
WOO HOO!!!!!!!

Where am I moving from?  Well, I've been living in the wee town of Port Hope, Ontario for the past (nearly) two years.  I moved here for work and it's been quite the learning experience -- I've definitely enjoyed elements of it, but the small town life is decidedly not for me... at least not long-term... but more on that in another post.

What do I mean I'm moving back?  Good question, because I haven't been living in Toronto for the entire time I've been keeping this blog.  I haven't actually lived in Toronto for nearly 7 years now.  Wow... time flies!  I lived in Waterloo for 5 years, and now Port Hope for 2.  I've spent tonnes of time in Toronto in between -- summer of '06, holidays, and every weekend since I moved to PH -- but I haven't really lived there.  As of July 1st, I'll be living there.  For real.

Beyond just living there, it'll be my first time living in Toronto on my own.  Any time I've lived in TO up until now it's been with my parents.  This will be Sugar & Gravy's first place of her own in Toronto.  That's about a million times better.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted during the moving process, but moving on...

Discovering T.O. #4

I get the sense that even if I live in Toronto for the rest of my life, there will always be places to discover.  My dad has lived in Toronto for almost his whole life, and my Mom for over 30 years, and they still find new places, so I'm optimistic.

Not this past weekend but the one before, I found two new spots I would recommend:

(1) Bar Volo -- as you likely know already, I'm an avid reader of Toronto Life.  In this wee town I live in, it's my little slice of Toronto, and it helps guide me in making my weekend plans.  They recently put out their annual "Where to Eat Now" issue, which includes a Restaurant Guide.  I love this guide.  I kept my 2011 edition at my office year-round and would mark it up with a highlighter (for the ones I'd been to) and mark with pencil the ones I wanted to go to.  

One of the hot spots according to the 2012 edition is Bar Volo, which I'd read about on websites and in other mags, so I figured it was worth checking out.  I went there for a few beers with a new friend and absolutely loved it.  It's obvious that beer and other alcoholic beverages is "their thing" because the options are endless.  It had a good vibe, relaxed atmosphere, and I really enjoyed myself.  Check it out -- on Yonge, between Bloor & Wellesley.

(2) The Power Plant -- This is another Toronto Life-inspired visit.  Way back when (November or December, I think), I saw an item in the TL events pages for an exhibition called: Coming After.  You can click the link to read more about it, but in short it focusing on artists who grew up in the shadow of the mid-1980s to early 90s' queer experience.  Artist Sharon Hayes puts it best: "What marks me generationally is that ... it wasn't my friends who were dying, it was the people I was just discovering, people I was just beginning to model myself after, people I longed to become."

The exhibition sounded great to me, so I snapped a photo of the ad and forgot about it.  

Later I was flipping through photos on my iPhone and found the ad.  I realized then that the exhibition was ending in about a week's time, so I asked a friend to join me, and on Saturday, March 3rd (the second-last day of the exhibition), we headed to The Power Plant (contemporary gallery) on the harbourfront to see what it was all about.  It was a really great exhibition; diverse media, powerful imagery, and some incredible video installations.  My best way to describe it is that I had never seen anything like it before.  I was very engaged, and would very much recommend it... if it wasn't already over.

Posts to come -- my experience living in a small town & two films I saw recently that I think are important.

California Gays!

Was just reminded of how fantastic this video is:



ENJOY!

Naomily: Ultimate Satisfaction

Well, I promised I'd follow up when I was done watching the season, so here goes:

I was careful to preface my last post - in which I sang my praises of "Naomily", the perfect on-screen lesbian union - with the fact that I hadn't seen the full season, and so I couldn't be sure I'd always feel the way I expressed in that post. In saying that, I also hoped with my whole heart (yes, I'm being intentionally dramatic) that my feelings for this perfect couple would always remain the same. Once again, if you're planning on seeing this series, then things may be spoiled for you with this post, though I'm really not going to go into specifics.

What I will say though, is that I was fully satisfied by the beginning-to-end portrayal of the relationship of the characters Naomi and Emily. It was thoughtful, realistic, on-point, well-written, well-acted, and every other positive adjective you can think of. The writers nailed it, the actresses nailed it, and even the behind-the-scenes footage nailed it. One of the B-T-S clips in the special features showed the two actresses (Lily Loveless [Naomi] & Kathryn Prescott [Emily]) speaking about their characters, and there was no over-the-top "It was an act of courage for me to play a lesbian character"..."It was weird, but a great learning experience"..."Kissing Lily was funny"... none of that! They didn't even make any references to the fact that their characters were gay, or that they were/weren't in real life. They just said that both of them discussed their characters in real life, were moved by the scripts, and that they did their best to find the humanity in the characters even when they were doing bad things..... Oh, Kathryn & Lily, if only Ilene Chaiken had created a show about lesbian teens in L.A. and cast you two in it..... actually, I take that back. She could've never written a show as good as "Skins" (case in point: need I even say?).

In conclusion: It was perfection. I couldn't be happier about how this relationship played out.


In other news, anyone know whether I should watch "Skins" s.5? I hear it's not great, but then again another friend told me that s.4 wasn't that great and I loved it!!! I guess it's all relative.

Some thoughts on "Skins" (Potential Spoilers)

I'd like to speak about the BBC television show "Skins" for a few minutes, if I could. I'd like to preface my comments on "Skins" by saying that I'm 2 episodes into the 4th season, so I haven't seen it all, and perhaps my feelings about the show will change when I have seen it all, but bear with me in the meantime (and I'll try to post again when I do finish this season)...

Okay... so I'm pretty sure I've spoken about the show before. I watched the first season a few summers ago, and then the second season more recently. For those of you who don't know the show, there was a (nearly) brand new cast in 3rd season, with (nearly) all of the characters from the first two seasons no longer on the show. I believe the same thing happens in 5th season, though I don't know if any characters at all stick around from 4th to 5th.

When I started watching 3rd season (very recently), I was reluctant and skeptical. I loved the first cast and didn't know how I would feel about the new cast.

2 episodes into 4th season, I might say that I like this cast even more than the first one. I could go on talking about every character and every storyline, but I'll keep it simpler than that and discuss two characters and a storyline in particular that has tugged my heartstrings very intensely.

Naomi and Emily (pictured above). Naomi Campbell (ha! but seriously...) played by Lily Loveless & Emily Fitch played by Kathryn Prescott are two high school-age girls in Bristol, England. Their sexual orientations aren't discussed at length, but my sense is that they are both lesbians, or maybe bisexual. The two have feelings for one another and the audience sees their relationship played out in a variety of ways -- sometimes on again/off again, sometimes cute and head-over-heels, sometimes dramatic... in many ways, typical of any on-screen romance, whether gay or straight.

What do I like about it?

• The make-out/sex scenes are incredibly real, and don't seem (to me) at all to be staged for a straight male's viewing. I find them moving and sexual and realistic and hot and everything in between! They aren't overdone, and appear in just the same way as all of the straight sex scenes do.
• The whole topic of a same-sex relationship isn't dealt with in the typical way. The topic is revealed, there's some conflict, but then it just fades into the show as with every storyline. It doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. It's addressed, and then it just is.
• I find the writing of this relationship to be better than any girl/girl relationship I've ever seen, including "The L Word". It puts The L Word to shame, to be frank. You could say they're not comparable because it's adolescence vs. adults, but I'd say that's a cop-out. It is just better than I've ever seen.
• It makes me feel like I'm in high school again. Not that I had the same sort of relationship as Naomi and Emily do, but the way they act, aspects of the things they go through, and just how adolescent it all is (in a good way!) reminds me of what it was like to be a gay teen, what it was like to be a teen in general, and the sort of concepts of relationships you would have... it's just... it's sooooo good.
  

Now, as I said - I don't know how this season and cast finishes, so my feelings may change, but I've never been so moved by a relationship and show like I have with this one (except maybe Six Feet Under, of course). I strongly recommend the show. You won't regret it!

Well, alright!

First thing's first -- Adele's album has been released!!! Maybe not in North America yet, but all I care about is that there's a torrent available. Her new album (and sophomore, as they say) is called "21" and I'm 5 tracks in and already melting with awe, love, inspiration, emotion... the whole gamut. She is really bringing her "A" game with a new groove and sound, a little more jazziness, but also just the ballad-belting Adele Adkins that we fell in love with in "19". I can't wait to work my way through the rest.

Secondly -- I saw "The Kids Are All Right" yesterday and feel the need to speak on it.

I loved the movie. I really did. I thought it was funny, emotional, sweet, and honest. It was, and it also wasn't about the fact that Nic and Jules were lesbians. I mean, certainly that fact was unavoidable, but they didn't draw undue attention to it. They weren't a spectacle; they were a couple. And the drama that happened... I don't think it was dealt with in the wrong way. I thought it was real and honest and genuine. I loved it.

Here's what I will say about the fact that the main couple were lesbians...

When I used to meet on a regular basis with a LGBTQ university student-based discussion group, we used to talk about the portrayal (or lack thereof) of queer characters in the media. Often people would talk about wanting to see their lives within TV shows and movies and that it was hard to do that without queer characters.

Well, I've never had a problem relating to anyone, gay or straight, that seems at all like me on a show or in a movie. However, when I saw this movie, "The Kids Are All Right", I felt something different for the first time. I really felt more connected to the movie because of the fact that the main couple were lesbians. I really did. And the thing is that this movie is not my favourite movie - it doesn't rival "Apollo 13" or "Mean Girls" or "Good Will Hunting" - but it offered the portrayal of something more personal to me, and I felt it.

This doesn't mean that straight people or gay men shouldn't be able to see their relationships/experiences within the portrayal of a lesbian relationship, but it did mean that I took something personal out of it.

Bravo to Julianne Moore & Annette Bening for playing the shit out of those 2 characters. Especially Annette Bening. She deserves the Oscar nod because she brought such realness and rawness to the character of Nic. Well done!

Sugar and Gravy for Obama!

Sheer brilliance.

Look at that logo! AWESOME! I'm a very impressed queer right now.

Additionally:

I know I'm not American, but we will ALL be affected!

I hope it's him!