Faulkner

I had posted this in the Y&R thread but it might be appropriate here: For a while, it seemed like almost every show with a black family did the goody-two-shoes striver with the “hood” sibling they were responsible for keeping in line. Y&R: Olivia/Dru, Neil/Malcolm OLTL: Hank/RJ GL: Gilly/David ATWT: Ben/Isaac I guess they could argue they were undoing an ugly stereotypical story? It certainly didn’t feel that way at the time.

Oh dear. I remember how pathetic both of them looked. (Not gonna deny D.J. Lockhart-Johnson was attractive but still...) Oh here’s the clip of Margo salivating over him: Saw you covered “Kong” in the Y&R thread...

Couldn’t he have just listened to Dan for once?

A full Spotify playlist of Drag Race lip sync songs: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0JOiknngUoGssGYWVH2pPT?si=1do5z-T4Tg6XVuFJVjbQng

Like a lot of Western culture, soaps have often had problematic relationships with race and depictions of people of color. We’ve spoken about this many times in different contexts on different soaps over the years, but what are the moments that leap to mind as particularly egregious? We talked a bit about Mamie as “mammy” in the classic Y&R thread. Recasting biracial Asian-American Mia Korf with white, Kentucky-born Kassie Wesley (later DePaiva) as Blair on OLTL, essentially erasing a key part of her history, ranks up there for me.

Lady Gaga’s collaboration with Ariana Grande debuts at No. 1. It’s Gaga’s 5th and Ariana’s 4th.

From Atlanta 🇺🇸

I think the weird arts-and-crafty thing was what Crystal was going for, but I do feel it needed something else. Like a big full-costume reveal at the end as mentioned. Ru seemed like she loved Jaida (in addition to how her win speaks to the moment). But if Gigi did indeed attempt to cheat, I can imagine that sealing Ru’s decision.

I think Jaida’s edit this season laid her out as the favorite, although they provided arcs for Crystal (finding her quirky voice) and Gigi (early front runner rediscovering her confidence after several shaky weeks) to try to make them seem competitive. (To be honest: The mostly white Drag Race fan community have often diminished the black queens, so I’m not surprised if there’s controversy beyond the usual “my favorite didn’t win,” but I see a good bit of support for Jaida.)

Flo added so much dimension to Nina, as Doris did for Sharon. Part of it is budgetary, I know, but I miss when recurring family members were integral and constant influences on characters who weren’t part of core families.

From Delhi 🇮🇳

In her new NYT advice column, Roxane Gay went off on a privileged woman asking if it was still safe to employ her housekeeper during a pandemic, and Times readers are *triggered* (read the comments). Plus, this, tying COVID together with the protests:

Protests as far away as Tokyo...

From Memphis 🇺🇸

From NYC 🇺🇸

This actor from HBO’s Insecure (he plays Nathan) got shot by rubber bullets and hit with batons while doing an IG Live from a protest in L.A.

From Los Angeles 🇺🇸

Winner was never in doubt. She’s amazing. I loved Heidi’s little sketch in the middle of the finale. She’s so much fun. Sad about the longtime Drag Race producer who passed away. That was a lovely tribute to her from the queens throughout the seasons. They really created a vivid picture of who she was. Much better finale than the lackluster reunion.

Ok, watched the latest NYC episode. Everyone except maybe Luann was obnoxious. Leah is indeed exhausting, but Elyse, while insightful in a lot of ways, comes across very stuffy and self-righteous. I’d love to know more about Dorinda’s comment that Elyse isn’t in the position to judge. I’m glad that Luann put Ramona in her place. Again, Luann is perennially the MVP on trips, even when she’s not the center of attention.