1. "A Little League coach went viral for his dad joke on the mound. It taught a bigger lesson" (NYT) quotes Jake Riordan, a Little League coach in Kentucky: "I don’t really take anything in life too seriously. It’s like, it’s Little League baseball. But I think consistency when you’re a coach is pretty important. So I’m consistently loose and goofy, and they play that way. I think that one of the best things we can do as a coach or leader is just to be authentic — to be yourself. I think, believe it or not, kids or players of any age can see through the bull crap."
2. "Jeff Probst Reflects on ‘Survivor’s’ Resurgence After 2025 Emmy Nominations" (Entertainment Now): "While Probst has been open about his friendly rivalry with the other competition series hosts in the past, he argues that [Alan] Cumming and RuPaul 'take on a more performative role' for their respective shows.
'It’s not their true selves,' said Probst, referring to Cumming’s 'dandy Scottish laird' persona on 'The Traitors' and RuPaul’s extravagant drag transformation on 'Drag Race.' Alternatively, Probst said that the man viewers see on each and every episode of 'Survivor' is his authentic self. 'That’s me,' he said. 'The vulnerability is that I’m exposed and vulnerable in the same way that the players are because I don’t do do-overs.... '"
3. "Ding Yuxi’s Tear‑Filled Gaze Goes Viral, Highlighting Authenticity and Shifting Masculinity in Chinese Reality TV" (Trending on Weibo): "Actor Ding Yuxi – known to his growing legion of fans for his curly hair, gentle demeanor and the boy‑ish charm that has anchored his rise in dramas such as “十年一品温如言” – was caught on screen with what Chinese netizens have affectionately called “酒汪汪的大眼睛”, literally 'wine‑soaked big eyes'... a playful twist on the more common “水汪汪的大眼睛” (big watery eyes).... Fans celebrated the moment as a rare sign of authenticity in an industry often accused of presenting polished, pre‑packaged personas.... viewers reposted the clip with captions praising his 'authentic vulnerability,' while others dissected the scene, wondering whether the tear was spontaneous...."
4. TO COME! I SAID I'D DO 4. DO YOU DOUBT MY SINCERITY?
"Parents teaching their kids about safe spaces, and 'I feel uncomfortable'... It’s, like, You know what? The world is not a safe space. You have to find the comfort. It’s mostly uncomfortable.... I don’t like kids."
Later, RuPaul seemed to want to revise that "I don't like kids" remark. He's quoted as saying that he'd "be a great parent" and that he "fucking love[s]" the "white noise of joy" of kids playing outside in the schoolyard near his cottage.
Farrow tells us RuPaul is "a proponent of psychedelics":
"With its 'fun-house-mirror magnification' of social codes, 'Drag Race' is a bonanza for scholars.[*] It’s been the subject of multiple academic anthologies. Jeffreys teaches a semester-long class called 'RuPaul’s Drag Race and Its Impact.' Students study the history of American drag, going back to vaudeville, and spend weeks examining how 'Drag Race' handles topics such as gender, race, class, body image, fashion, and ethnicity. They unpack slang terms like 'hog body' (an unfeminine physique) and 'hunty' (a term of endearment). The course lasts fifteen weeks, but, Jeffreys said, 'We’re really just scratching the surface.'"
From "Can 'RuPaul’s Drag Race' Save Us from Donald Trump?" by Lizzie Widdicombe in The New Yorker. The headline promises more than the (short) article can deliver. All there is about Trump is the observation that he contributes to the impression that American politics is a reality show and — at the end — the assertion that "Growing up in the Trump era is 'forcing kids to mature much faster.'"
I'm more interested in the idea that college students are taking semester-long courses on the topic of drag, taught by academics who are finding enough material to write about in a scholarly way, and that the writing has piled up to the point where there are multiple anthologies. I don't think the article states a single idea that sounds academic.
___________________
* Ironically, "Bonanza" is a drag race for scholars. This footnote is not part of the New Yorker article but an original insight by me, Ann Althouse, and I note that the characters on "Bonanza" were famous for always wearing the same clothes and that these were stereotypically manly clothes (other than, perhaps, the high heels worn by Little Joe, who was considered, at 5'9", too little even to be the one with the name "Little").
I saw that because I went to the Cory Booker Twitter feed looking for something that Sarah Hoyt at Instapundit called "too stupid for words." But she linked to a Washington Examiner article about it and though that article displayed the tweet, the video in the tweet didn't play and I wanted to hear it. Is it stupid? Watch the whole video before reacting:
This is amazing. When we talk about ending the school-to-prison pipeline, this is exactly the kind of thoughtful, innovative and commonsense practice to we need to adopt. https://t.co/ilVp4BTfT9
“Performing is the only excuse for my existence,” she said during her last Broadway appearance, in the 1995 revival of “Hello, Dolly!” “What can be better than this?”
AND: Channing had a style that invited impersonation, and here you can see her personally thank Bob the Drag Queen:
... but 2 of the things that I actually watched this past year won. There's RuPaul (for best reality show), seen here in a press conference after winning, and displaying great moderating and marketing expertise as well as a nice Statue-of-Liberty suit and bright orange shoes:
And "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" won for best comedy, best comedy actress, and best comedy supporting actress. Here's Rachel Brosnahan picking up the best actress award:
Don't know why I picked 2 shows that those who watched all the shows picked, because those are about the only current shows I watched.
Last week, we watched as Aquaria, a contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10, performed a skit as Melania Trump for the series' celebrity impersonation challenge: Snatch Game.
Aquaria nailed Melania's looks, was super funny, while being respectful of our nation's First Lady. Saturday Night Live has had some great Melania impersonators before, but Aquaria would be a cut above the rest.
I watch "RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10," and I picked Aquaria as my favorite in Episode 1 and I blogged last week about how much I enjoyed the performance as Melania.
But! "SNL" has had a long-running problem giving adequate representation to its female cast members. Through much of its history, it has been outright sexist, keeping the women cast members down and boosting the men. In recent years, things have been a lot better, and that progress is something "SNL" should want to protect. You might think that it would be a great way to scream PROGRESS!!! to put a drag queen on the show, but to do that for the role of Melania would be to take the role away from castmember Cecily Strong. Here, you can look at the clips of all 19 of her performances in that role. Unless they write a sketch based on the concept that there are somehow 2 Melanias, there will be a progressivism clusterfuck if Aquaria is given the Melania role.
"SNL" bumped castmember Taran Killam to give the Donald Trump role to Alec Baldwin, but Killam is a man — and thus a member of the group long favored by "SNL" — and Alec Baldwin is kind of a big deal, a biiiig, biiiiggg deal, the biggest, most beautiful deal that you have ever seen, believe me.
Now, one thing that so interesting about putting Aquaria in the role is that it mocks Donald Trump in a way that Cecily Strong cannot. It critiques his taste in women, possibly at the expense of transgender women, which Aquaria is not. Everything about Trump is fake, etc. etc. They could run with that and work in the 2 Melania's idea maybe.
I wish I had some good video to go with this post, since I doubt if many of you watch "RuPaul's Drag Race," but I must post to say how much I enjoyed Aquaria's impersonation of Melania Trump on last night's show. I was especially amused by the handing over of the Tiffany box which, opened by RuPaul, revealed a handwritten note, "Help me!"
— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) May 4, 2018
ADDED: I've only started watching "RuPaul's Drag Race" recently (and only because I wanted to understand what Tom and Lorenzo were talking about in their podcast, which I greatly enjoy). So I'd never seen the "Snatch Game" competition before. But it's been going on long enough for there to be 87 items on "Every Snatch Game Impersonation on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Ranked." #1 is this Mae West, who delivered this memorable (NSFW) one-liner:
"It's quite silly," I wrote in the comments to the post about the trailer for the high-action, special-effects HBO movie based on "Fahrenheit 451." My comment was inspired by a comment from Ron Winkleheimer:
I'm surprised that HBO made this movie since the people in charge are all leftists. I suppose they are still flattering themselves about being the side that's in favor of knowledge and learning and free speech and all that.
What are the movies about reading that cater to this vanity I'm imagining exists?
Here's "25 best movies about books" (Stuff), but many of these are about writing books. The central character is a writer, not a reader. "Neverending Story" "The Princess Bride," "Fahrenheit 451," "Misery"... those fit my search.
[A] fun and playfully shady conversation between several of the queens has Asia O’Hara reading Vixen for wearing someone else’s wig during last week’s Best Drag runway. It’s an understandable thing to pick at, and the Vixen responds good-naturedly about it. Until Aquaria butts in.
“Can we talk about how your best drag is someone else’s wig, though? That’s confusing.” Game over. As the Vixen prepares to go fully in on Aquaria in response, a spider crawls its way up someone’s tulle and wreaks total pandemonium* with its mere existence....
To tell someone about themself, mostly used by gay black men.
"That was a read honey!"
"Don't do it hone[y], I will read your ass"
Great slang. Perfect!
___________________________
* Pandemonium — originally "The abode of all demons; hell, the infernal regions" (OED) — is now usually "Utter confusion, uproar; wild and noisy disorder; a tumult; chaos." Like this:
Lionel Ritchie flips the concept of confusion, when a former contestant, Adam Sanders, returns to audition in drag as Ada Vox. As Gay Times put it: "Vox then slayed the mother-tucking house when he performed a stunning rendition of House Of The Rising Sun by The Animals."
Come on, The Animals didn't write "House of the Rising Sun." There was another contestant (Zach D'Onofrio) who said he was singing "'Cry Me A River' by Michael Buble." This is crazy talk. "House of the Rising Sun" is an old folk song. The Animals recorded a fine and memorable rendition, but unless you're them you're not singing "House of the Rising Sun" by them... or unless you mean to say I intend this to be heard as an Animals impersonation, which was certainly not the case here. Vox intended to be heard as a female and not as the unusually macho Eric Burdon:
And it wasn't The Animals who dug "House of the Rising Sun" out of the old folk archive. It was Bob Dylan, getting the jump on Dave Van Ronk [correction below]:
In late 1961, Bob Dylan recorded the song for his debut album, released in March 1962. That release had no songwriting credit, but the liner notes indicate that Dylan learned this version of the song from Dave Van Ronk. In an interview for the documentary No Direction Home, Van Ronk said that he was intending to record the song and that Dylan copied his version. Van Ronk recorded it soon thereafter for the album Just Dave Van Ronk.
So there's no reason to attribute "House of the Rising Sun" to The Animals. No good reason. The bad reason is, the show tells contestants to introduce the song that way to maximize the chance that its (presumably dumb) audience will have a glimmer of familiarity.
As for "Cry Me a River," it became popular in 1955 because of a recording by Julie London, not that she wrote it. It was written by Arthur Hamilton, who seems to have invented what is now a cliché:
"I had never heard the phrase. I just liked the combination of words... Instead of 'Eat your heart out' or 'I'll get even with you,' it sounded like a good, smart retort to somebody who had hurt your feelings or broken your heart." He was initially concerned that listeners would hear a reference to the Crimea, rather than "..cry me a...", but said that "..sitting down and playing the melody and coming up with lyrics made it a nonissue."
The Michael Buble recording was a minor hit in 2009, and many people have recorded the song over the years, including Shirley Bassey, Dinah Washington, Barbra Streisand, Lesley Gore, Joe Cocker, Crystal Gayle, Diana Krall, and Etta James. That is, it's more of a song for a woman to sing. Which is maybe why Zach D'Onofrio didn't make it through (and I don't give a damn about Michael Buble). Aerosmith also recorded "Cry Me a River."
Hey, that reminds me. We have already seen an "American Idol" performer in drag:
It was Steven Tyler, a former judge on the show, doing a faux audition for comic effect.
All the performers are wearing costumes, even the guy in khakis and a checkered shirt. As RuPaul said — and I quoted here a week ago — "We're all born naked the rest is drag." And speaking of RuPaul, his show is really popular these days, so it's not surprising that the struggling "American Idol" wanted to get in on the action. I think Adam Sanders as Ada Vox seems old-fashioned and depressing compared to the drag queens on "RuPaul's Drag Race," but Ada Vox has a good vox, not to my taste, and who knows what TV pseudo-drama they'll crank out of that story? They already did drag as burlesque comedy with Steven Tyler, which, as I said at the time, was a throwback to Milton Berle, who was the biggest star in the (short) history of television, back when Julie London was thrilling us with "Cry Me a River."
... Julie London was my father's favorite singer. As a child, I had reason to believe that she was the most compellingly beautiful woman in the world. As I heard her singing, she was whispering. That was the gimmick: Whispering. Listening to it now, I hear how sexy it is intended to be to a man. I'm not sure whether it's completely subtle or a sledgehammer of sex. It's trying to be both in a way that would seem ridiculous or naive today, unless you could convince yourself that it's ironic. But it's not ironic.
CORRECTION: I should not give Dave Van Ronk credit for dragging "House of the Rising Sun" out of the archive. He deserves credit for a distinctive arrangement of the song, as a careful reading of the Wikipedia article I've already linked to would make clear. Woody Guthrie recorded the song in 1941, and Lead Belly recorded it in 1944 and 1948. There are also recordings by Glenn Yarbrough, The Weavers, Pete Seeger, and, yes, Andy Griffith in the 1950s. And there's also Miriam Makeba and Joan Baez in 1960. So it was standard for folk singers before Bob Dylan's famous supposed affront to Dave Von Ronk.
"I started playing guitar when I was 13. I grew up playing guitar and writing music and I always wanted to be a songwriter and a singer and play the guitar. But while I was finishing college, my drag became lucrative, so I had to pursue what was going to pay the bills — and doing comedy as Trixie was something that I was able to market. Being a white guy with a guitar was, as it turns out, not that special."
Says Brian Firkus, talking to NPR. Here's a video of Firkus as the white guy with guitar that he is and as his drag character Trixie Mattel (who won the just-concluded season of "RuPaul's Drag Race"):
Also from the interview:
Country and folk are genres where characters are really central — you get really into the heart of a person in a song, or there's a very specific story being told. I feel like there's a little bit of that in your drag too.
With Trixie, people like that I look like this fabricated painted creation, but all my comedy and my songs come from a place of reality. It's like the man behind the curtain, it's the crying clown — that's what works for people with Trixie. It's the dichotomy of someone looking like a toy, but then, you know, speaking and singing like a real boy....
In terms of country and folk music — it feels like you're bringing this very explicitly gay perspective into genres that aren't necessarily known for embracing those perspectives.
I think my music is not so much about being gay; my music is about being a human being. It's not about gay relationships; it's about relationships. It's not about feeling like an outsider because you're gay. Maybe it's just about feeling like an outsider. It's funny selling records of this type in this world ... if you look at those publications or those websites, I'm nowhere to be found. It's very weird to be, like, infiltrating....
We are all just, like, hot gluing our clothes on every day to go out into the world and do a job we're not sure we're supposed to be doing. RuPaul says we're all born naked the rest is drag. We're literally all just pretending to be someone — we don't realize how much we're all exactly the same.
"Nancy Pelosi? I'm dying. I just want to say thank you to her, I want to hug her, I wanna be like, 'Kick their ass.' [She] is spear-heading the way through," Morgan McMichaels, the drag persona of Thomas White, said.
"For 30 years, she's been a champion for LGBT rights," RuPaul added, and Pelosi raised a fist to reveal a rainbow bracelet on her wrist. Pelosi also got a customary "Halleloo!" greeting from Shangela.
But the queen most enamored with her appearance was Trixie Mattel, who visibly teared up while the politician was speaking. "Every time you get into drag, you make a political statement," Trixie explained in her confessional segment. "We live in a world where a high power politician will walk in the workroom, and it makes me feel hopeful."
"The workroom" = a set on the show.
Pelosi, for her part, told The Hollywood Reporter that she admires queens like Trixie deeply. She even suggested that politicians could learn a thing or two from Ru's girls: "Authenticity. Taking pride in who you are. Knowing your power—that’s what I talk about on my brief segment on the show."
IN THE COMMENTS: Everyone jumps on that word "authenticity." "I mean, I'm all for people doing what they want -- except for misusing words like "authenticity'" (fivewheels); "Authenticity? A man dressed as an over-the-top woman is authentic?" (Annie C); and the inevitable "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means" (Ignorance is Bliss). Yeah? Well, when a person putting on a show is in costume and makeup, you could say he's an authentic showperson. And, anyway, what makes you think you're so authentic?
chameleons changing colors while a crocodile cries
people rubbing elbows but never touching eyes
taking off their masks revealing still another guise
genuine imitation life
people buying happiness and manufactured fun
everybody doing everybody done
people count on people who can only count to one
genuine imitation life
Covered by Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons — listen here.
"... which is really the most political you can get. It has politics at its core, because it deals with: how do you see yourself on this planet? That’s highly political. It’s about recognising that you are God dressing up in humanity, and you could do whatever you want. That’s what us little boys who were maligned and who were ostracised figured out. It’s a totem, a constant touchstone to say, ‘Don’t take any of this shit seriously.’ It’s a big f-you. So the idea of sticking to one identity – it’s like I don’t care, I’m a shapeshifter, I’m going to fly around and use all the colours, and not brand myself with just one colour."
RuPaul speaks very carefully and cagily about transgenders. The interviewer (Decca Aitkenhead) guesses that "he doesn’t want to offend anyone by explicitly acknowledging the contradiction between his playfully elastic sensibility and the militant earnestness of the transgender movement." RuPaul responds:
“Ye-es, that’s always been the dichotomy of the trans movement versus the drag movement, you know... I liken it to having a currency of money, say English pounds as opposed to American dollars. I think identities are like value systems or currencies; there’s not just one. Understand the value of different currencies, and what you could do with them."
The interviewer expresses puzzlement about how a transgender woman could have been permitted to compete on the show, because "if transgender women must be identified as female, how can they also be 'men dressing up as women'?" RuPaul literally looks around the room for an exit:
“Well, I don’t like to call drag ‘wearing women’s clothes’. If you look around this room,” and he gestures around the hotel lobby, “she’s wearing a shirt with jeans, that one’s wearing jeans and a T-shirt, right? So women don’t really dress like us. We are wearing clothes that are hyperfeminine, that represent our culture’s synthetic idea of femininity.”
The interviewer snatches the opportunity: But then why not allow a biological woman to do the show and transform herself from everyday look to hyperfeminine? RuPaul demurs:
“Mmmm. It’s an interesting area. Peppermint didn’t get breast implants until after she left our show; she was identifying as a woman, but she hadn’t really transitioned.” Would he accept a contestant who had? He hesitates again. “Probably not. You can identify as a woman and say you’re transitioning, but it changes once you start changing your body. It takes on a different thing; it changes the whole concept of what we’re doing. We’ve had some girls who’ve had some injections in the face and maybe a little bit in the butt here and there, but they haven’t transitioned.”
That's as far as it goes. I'd like to hear much more about the "playfully elastic sensibility" versus "militant earnestness" dichotomy. Looking back at the article, it's full of references to seriousness and fun. I think seriousness and fun can go together, and the best real-life situations and entertainment offer both.
"For all the show has done to challenge its audience’s notions of masculinity and femininity, it has shied away, until the most recent season, from any serious discussion about the ways the drag community intersects the trans one. There have been trans queens on the show, but the topic is a touchy one in the drag community. For most drag artists, the point is the performance; it is not their sole identity. But for those queens who identify as trans or nonbinary, their stage persona is not necessarily a performance. The centerpiece of the show is the contestants’ transforming themselves into queens, and then, after each competition, taking off their wigs and removing synthetic breasts to reappear as men. For years, 'Drag Race' prioritized entertainment over any nuances of the culture. Much of the queens’ vernacular, body language and movements come from the drag world’s — especially white queens’ — interpretation of black femininity. I’ve always been uncomfortable with that phenomenon, despite how much I enjoy the show. In his essay '"Draguating’ to Normal,"' the academic Josh Morrison argues that by using the bodies of women, people of color and other marginalized groups, 'through an often loving, well-intentioned impersonation of them,' drag 'unintentionally does them discursive violence.'"
What, exactly, is "discursive violence"? "Discursive" means "Of or characterized by reasoned argument or thought; logical, ratiocinative. Often opposed to intuitive" (OED).
1667 Milton Paradise Lost v. 488 Whence the soule Reason receives, and reason is her being, Discursive, or Intuitive; discourse Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours.
It can also mean refer to going "from one subject to another, esp. in a rapid or irregular manner; extending over or dealing with a wide range of subjects; expansive; digressive," like:
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1774 I. 440 Such a discursive exercise of his mind.
Or — and I suspect this is what roils the mind of "the academic" quoted in the NYT — "Relating to discourse or modes of discourse." This is a meaning that took flight in the 1960s:
1961 Philos. Rev. 70 80 The word ‘God’ looks the same in any discursive context, whether narrative, factual, or formal....
And the most recent quote is this, which I can't help but think the OED intended to laugh at:
2011 C. West in G. Rockhill & A. Gomez-Muller Politics of Culture & Spirit of Critique vi. 114 Deploying that voice in..a variety of different discursive strategies, a variety of different modes of rhetorical persuasion as well as logical argumentation in order to make some kind of impact on the world.
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