Theater Thursday: Buffy, Drag Queens and Angelina Jolie

Oh, the pangs of actually having to work and getting caught up so I can't post during my lunch hour... Anyway, so I'm a little late with the post. Y'all just get a less formatted version of the post because I get to write it on my iPhone!

Television

Two gynormous TV events for me this week! First, the premier of Ru Paul's Drag Race season 3! I am pumped for the show. We actually started watching the first two episodes last night and I only made it through the first and half way through the second before I fell asleep. Not that it was boring, but I was T-I-Red. I'm excited for the competition this year though, much more so than I was for last years cast, so you can bet you'll see plenty updates from me as the season goes on!

The second big event was that I finished my re-watching of Buffy season 2. I forgot how important this season actually was: Angel's curse revealed, The cementing of the scoobie gang's roles (Xander the protector, etc), Willow dabbling in witchcraft, hearing the familiar refrain that Buffy really is alone... Those are all things that become themes throughout the rest of the series. And still, more than a decade later, the show can find a way to pull at my little heart strings.

On a less monumental scale, let me just state, for the record, that Scott Caan is one sexy, furry, little man. I had avoided Hawaii 5-0 for as long as possible, but when it came on this Sunday I just couldn't resist... And now I may be hooked. Not because it's a great show or anything, but I will take any opportunity to ogle that man shirtless or in tight, ass-hugging slacks.

Movies

We didn't really watch much. The husband watched Salt while I played on my laptop, but I wasn't too drawn in to the movie. He enjoyed it though. Action, Angelina, Liev Schreiber (ok, that part I did enjoy), those all spell "movie husband enjoys." I just didn't get pulled in to the story.

I did make it half way through some super indie (read: no budget) gay flick called Issues 101. The "plot" was some kid going off to college, realizing he's gay, then rushing a fraternity. But when it became a poorly executed soft-core fantasy porn, I cancelled the play back and went back to gaming. I guess that should teach me that an average 1 star review on Netflix is probably more accurate than not.

What Did You Watch

So, what was on your weekly viewing plate? Any of your stories start up this week? Let me know in the comments!

Once Again, It's Time To Lipsync... For Your LIFE!

Oh, I am so ready for some new TV! And first up is the new season of Ru Paul's Drag Race!

Yes, I am so frakin' ready to show the world my Curage, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent… er, rather watch other people's C.U…. Ok, well, you get the picture.

I have not gone out to see the pre-season videos this year, mostly on purpose. I know the type of drag queen I enjoy seeing perform so if I just look at the girls' pictures I know I'll form a bias right off the bat. I'd like to go into this season with an open mind, learning about the performers as the season progresses.

And I'd just like to point out that the show is always available right from the Logo website, so everyone that complains they don't have Logo you've got no excuse now! That's actually how me and my husband watch the show, so we're familiar with the whole she-bang. The player kind of sucks, but it's definitely workable.

In any case, y'all better get ready, because the divas are back!

Theater Thursdays: Memory Lane Edition

It's been a slow television watching week, but that doesn't mean we haven't dug in to a few things here and there. Once shows start to come off their winter break I'll be a bit more involved in Stories, but until then here's what I've been watching.

Television

I'm still making headway through Buffy Season 2. I'm getting up near the end of the season now and although I remember most of the story lines, it's great to see it through again so that I can remember some of the smaller details. This week brought some pretty classic moments: Angel telling Buffy he loves her, Angel turning evil again after he and Buffy do the dirty nasty, and learning that Oz is a werewolf. It seems to me that the second half of Season 2 is really where the show caught it's stride, with the trademark humor and the whole cast finally clicking into character. I may have also convinced the husband to watch the show with me too!

We also caught an episode of the new Restaurant Impossible, which is a blatant and total rip-off of Tabatha's Salon Takeover… except in the restaurant world. I admit that I actually like Tabatha's show (though not so much her), but this episode of RI failed to impress. This is a guy who is suppose to be rejuvenating a restaurant to make it profitable again, yet he turned around and ordered plastic lawn chairs for the new dining rooms? Really? Plus he's no where near as genuinely condescending and confrontational as Tabatha. This guy, Robert Irvine, is just a whiny prick that throws temper-tantrums. If I wanted to see that, I'd watch Flipping Out… but I don’t.

Finally, I watched a few words of The L Word with the husband. I think it's more of a "him" show than a "me" show, but I have enjoyed the episodes I've seen so far. Poor guy has to explain to me what's going on whenever I catch an episode, but we've nicked-named one of the girls Pixie… and that's about all I can remember of the characters. Pixie is crazy possessive and also kind of my hero for being out and proud insane.

Movies

The A-Team came in the mail from Netflix. My husband is a huge action fan. If there's explosions and bad acting, he wants to see it. And even though we successfully dodged A-Tem in the theaters, it was only inevitable we'd watch it at home. And watch it he did while I tried my hardest to bury myself in World of Warcraft. The thing with A-Team is that Bradley Cooper is so hot that I can't help but stare at him, so I ended up watching it a little. I'm pretty horrible about movies because I'm that guy that goes "that is so not real, it could never happen!" Of course I never say that in movies I'm liking, but still… In any case, I had to remind myself that The A-Team never purported to be realistic, so saying whatever action shot just happened isn't real was pointless.

And just for shigiggles, we also watched X-Men 2. That has to be my favorite of the three actual movies, so I always enjoy spending a couple hours watching that flick.

What Did You Watch

So what's on TV that I'm missing, or what movies do I need to add to the queue? I'm excited for Ru Paul's Drag Race to start up again soon, and of course our regular stable of shows will be back shortly, but what are you looking forward to starting back up?

Drag U: First Impressions

The husband and I sat down to watch Ru Paul's new show on Logo, Drag U, last week. Being big fans of Ru Paul's Drag Race, we were very excited to see the new show, if only because it brings some of our favorite queens back to the mix like Ongina and Nina Flowers. While the show was fabulously campy and perfectly low budget, I have to say that it rather annoyed me at times, but I'll get that in a moment.

The basis of the show is that Ru Paul has recruited his favorite (or the fan favorites at least) drag queens from the past two seasons of Drag Race to give biological women drag make overs. In the first episode they transformed three deliciously tomboyish ladies into wonderfully draggy divas! As I said, it's campy, as a show about drag queen performers almost has to be, and fun, as a makeover show should always be. But what was missing was the chance to focus on real human drama.

Some of these women had some serious psychological issues with being feminine. One wanted to spice up a failing marriage and another blamed her former femininity as the reason for being sexually assaulted. And while the producers made mention of these things, they chose not to focus on what their drag transformation might do to positively impact these women, which is a HUGE missed opportunity. That is real drama and the chance to show that these drag divas are more than just stereotypical drama queens was completely missed. Instead the producers focused on made up, scripted, trite "drag drama." "This bitch stole my wig," or "that gurl called me fat" were unnecessary additions to this show and only served to undermine the potential of it.

I was also slightly bothered by the judge's panel. These women are trying to make themselves feel better about themselves and having the judges rate them afterward really undermines that ultimate goal of helping these ladies. If they feel the need to judge anyone, they should judge the queens assigned to the women, as they are the ones ultimately responsible for the new look.

What is great is seeing the family and friend's reaction to their loved one's transformation. Getting a make over from a drag queen is quite different than getting a make over from the Queer Eye team. I also really enjoyed the bits of human drama that were tossed in. I also really like that this is a show that has the potential for a full season filled with cast members I actually like. Speaking of, I do really LOVE seeing my favorite divas again without having to look at that vicious Tyra Sanchez again.

All in all, it's a decent show. I hope to see more variety as the season progresses and I hope they take the time to change up the focus, but I'll give it a few more episodes before I give a final verdict.

It's Time To Lip Synch For Your Life... Again!

Just wanted to drop a note saying that the new season of RuPaul's Drag Race starts tonight on Logo! For those of us out there that don't have Logo (or have the desire to pay for the damn channel because it never seems to be included in the basic cable package…), last season was available on Logo's website to stream usually the day after episode aired, so I'm hoping they'll do the same this year.

I loved last season. It was just a brilliant show and they did A LOT with the bare bones budget they were given. It looks like they were given a much bigger budget for the show this year after the break-out success of the show last year. Certainly they've put a lot of ad money behind it because I've seen tons of ads for the show here in Chicago. Even the bus stop in front of our condo has a giant poster advertising the show, which is both awesome and inspiring. It's also the first show from Logo that I've seen a major ad campaign for, which is great news for the show and the network.

In any case, I'm certainly looking forward to the insanity of this year's show. I have a feeling I'll be posting quite a bit about this year's competitors!

It's Time To Lip Synch For You LIFE!

The boyfriend and I watched the finale of RuPaul's Drag Race last night, and I absolutely loved it!

STOP NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS!!!!

OK, with that out of the way, I have to say that although I really like Bebe Zahara Benet, I enjoyed Miss Nina Flowers more. So did the boyfriend. Not that either of either did not like Bebe, and not that we aren't happy for her, it's just that I felt Nina had more range and stage presence, and in general was just an all around nice, humble, unassuming person. Add to that I prefer the more androgynous look in my drag stars, and Nina makes a natural choice for me. Of course, Ongina was my personal favorite with her androgynous style, bubbly personality and outrageous costumes.

I'm really glad that this show made it to the air waves. It was campy, it was silly, it was high gloss on a dime (a rusty ass dime at times…), but that's drag. Drag is such an important, yet dismissed, part of gay culture and I'm very glad to see drag get it's day in the sun again. Sure, we've had movies like Bird Cage and To Wong Fu, which were great in their own rights, but the both explored characters. RuPaul's Drag Race opened up the doors to the actual people and everything that goes in to being glamorous.

I know there are some queens out there that will say that drag isn't all the gays are about and that it shows the gay community in the wrong light, etc., etc. I've heard it all. It's all BS. While not every gay man dresses in drag, the fact is that drag is a very huge part of the community. Drag queens lead our parades, host our parties, spice up our dance floors and provide outlets for us that we couldn't otherwise explore. And they are outright glam!

I'm also happy to see that LOGO has picked up the show for another season. The show has been a bit of a break-away hit too, since it's also broadcast on Logo's sister station VH1. I know plenty of people have been watching it, and from my Facebook feed, it's not just the gays. While this season was fantastic, I'm hoping the next season is a bit more polished and definitely longer!