Nerdlove

In what way, Evilandproud? I was a lot more freaked out by Brandon's behavior during the show. There was something sort of "off-kilter" about him, something unsteady that *might* have resulted in a scene more unpleasant than the vomiting. (Which was already really unpleasant. Thanks, editors, for including all those lovely sounds! That's what I tune in to RPDR for -- highly mic'd vomiting!)

I feel ya, Lachesis. Of course, my heart really only beats for Tate from last season. The vast majority of the contestants on this show are just so likeable!

I never thought I'd find anyone else who hated Susan Lucci's acting! In interviews, Susan seems more or less just like Erica. Sure, she has a different personality and a far different set of motivations in life, but in terms of her line delivery, body movements (that head shaking thing she does), and so on, Susan = Erica, for all intents and purposes. She seems like a kind, likable person, and she obviously has found a wonderful way to balance aging and um, not-aging, shall we say -- she must be doing SOMETHING but she has avoided scary Botox face -- and she is fine for the job she does, but there may have been a reason she didn't win that Emmy for so long.

If he has to reuse guest judges, why not reuse that actress from "Community"? She's such a fan of the show she'd probably be delighted to come back every week, and even if she doesn't have specialized drag knowledge, she's smart and more importantly, she's game.

In honor of our fallen Glitter Kitten and her One Necklace to Bind Them, I just had to share this gif, courtesy of the brilliant and lovely Petra at Bland Canyon (and if posting images is against the rules tell me and I shan't do it again)....

I guess he wants to remain head judge since whoever wins will be hired by his company, and he likely wants to retain control on that. But I agree -- he'd make a Michael Westmore caliber mentor to these artists. The way they always react to his tips just makes me wish he had time to offer more of them.

I think it's a shame that Lex went home, considering that the reason she failed is that she was basically doing EVERYTHING while Jake just sat there wasting his time on the head. If Jake had actually spent his time better and took on his share of the challenge, Lex wouldn't have been forced to do the work of 1.9 people and probably would have been far more successful. The lesson seems to be "Don't be the one who's willing to take on a challenge" because if you fail, you will be sent home.

Good point, Heckkitty. I remember Courtney saying to Darienne, "Or you could get a man right now, the way you look right now" and something similar to Adore about her "hog body" ("maybe you are strangely proportioned, and maybe that's all right."). So certainly we've even seen her being super sweet. I guess there's something enchanting about seeing someone like Bianca, who is so incredibly capable of cutting the mightiest giants down to size with just a perfectly timed remark, choose instead to be kind to someone. Maybe that's why Bianca is getting to be such a favorite with so many -- she has the power, but doesn't always use it. That, and the fact that she's immensely talented.

The thing that kills me about McKenzie is how she always says, "If you could please return to the work room, pack up your kit, and go." It's the same every time -- complete with the "If." I think that's the weirdest way to phrase a request. "Waitress? If you could please bring me a glass of water." ...? I know she's reading a script but what IS that? And yes, Michael Westmore is the best thing about the show. Now when I watch old eps of DS9 and see his name in the credits I think, "aww, there he is!"

Well, this may or may not be the right place to say this, but Tara, that article/conversation you had with Dave about why Face/Off and the Jim Henson design show are so much fun was so funny and fun to read. That bit at the end about Glenn's um, love, let's say, for robots was brill. I wish that the comment system for the articles was the same as the comment system for the forums -- I have problems with Disqus for some reason. Anyway, just wanted to say that somewhere -- hope this reaches you. :) And if anyone out there hasn't read the article, go look through the Jim Henson Design Challenge Recaps and find it -- it's a hoot.

I had the feeling during this episode (I rewatched it last night before the finale) that they had already decided to eliminate Nico and just decided to be really nice to him in their praise. The praise was so over-the-top that it almost seemed condescending, at least to me. It was as if they figured, "Ah, throw the guy a bone." Anyone else get that feeling?

I use a utility on my firefox that reads things out loud for me (I just prefer listening to reading sometimes), so I just listened to this whole thread and did a lot of giggling and nodding. You guys made a lot of great points. One thing about this show that I don't get is that they're asked to come up with a story for their creations, and it's generally a pretty silly one. It really shouldn't be part of the judging, I don't think, to ask creature designers to come up with a storyline. Did Michael Westmore write the storyline of the Cardassians and the Bajorans? Most likely not. He was told that there would be an evil but precise alien species and an underdog, religious species -- a sort of Nazi and Jew parable. And he and his team envisioned a reptilian look for the evil Cardassians, and a generally human look for the likeable Bajorans. I think it's much more the point of the show that the artists can create a visual that goes along with a story, not a story to explain a visual.

I just had this thought occur to me and now it seems like a pretty good guess as to what will happen for the next two eps. Next ep, they'll have Darienne and Dela in the bottom two, so the producers can finish that particular subplot, per script instructions on page 78. Dela will win, because obviously, he's going to be top three, along with Bianca. Then the episode after that, Courtney and Adore will be in the bottom two, battling for the last spot in the top three, thus fulfilling Ru's daydream of Idol Against Idol, only this time... to the DEATH! But my crystal ball isn't sure who wins between Courtney and Adore.

Fair enough! :)

Looking around online, it seems like Adore's LSFYL is controversial -- some people loved it, some hated it. One thing I noticed, though, is that during the Untucked, the feeling in the untucked lounge while they watched the LS (so far as I could tell) was that Adore was winning. Joslyn's couple looked uncomfortable and miserable and defensive, while Adore's couple looked cheerful and satisfied. When Adore was declared the winner, Josyln's couple's defense of her seemed more... well, defensive, like I said, rather than indignant, as if even they knew that she had lost. I know that this was, of course, edited too, but.... Maybe there was something to seeing the whole unedited LSFYL that would make it more clear why Adore won. And of course, poor JF had been in the bottom enough times, so like I said above, it probably didn't really matter who won the LS -- it was her time. :( Bye, glitter kitten!

"Remember when you were really little and you sometimes stayed up way past your bedtime? And everything that happened past, say, 11 PM started to seem like it was happening in another dimension, because you were so tired and none of the TV shows were familiar? That's how watching this mini-challenge made me feel. Did it happen? Was Bianca really wearing those granny glasses? I just don't know." -- Mark's recap, speaking for ALL of us I think. Everyone go read the recap! :) Tiny comment/correction -- a lot of people are saying "gay marriage" and it's better to say "same-sex marriage" because that will include bisexuals. For example, Alan Cumming is married to a man, but is still bisexual -- see what I mean? :) Just something to try to remember -- I forget sometimes too but I'm working on it! Gotta say, I actually really liked Adore's LSFYL. The look on her face, the fire in her delivery -- she got me. I knew that she was going to win anyway since it was well past poor Joslyn's time (I love the girl, but let's face it), so it almost didn't matter, but that was a very committed performance. And yeah... most of the "transformations" this week just made me uncomfortable. Most of the guys turned queens just looked... yeah. Not so good. I think Darienne didn't do any work teaching her queen how to stand -- the hunching of the shoulders really killed that look for me. Men, women, whatever in between, you always look better with your shoulders back and your head held high. I think Dela was the only one who worked on the walk, or at least, the only one that it SHOWED.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to suggest this, but maybe we could have a thread about the political side-aspects of RPDR -- things like whether or not the term "fishy" is offensive, whether it was the right idea or overkill to get rid of the "you've got she-mail!" thing, etc? It's really relevant to the show, but I understand if the guidelines would forbid something like that.

Best LSFYL song ever. And when RuPaul said "womp-womp" and bumped up one of her boobs I almost fell out of my chair. Well actually I just let air out of my nose kind of louder than usual but you know what I mean.

I'm on the Bianca love train, too. She has the polish of Chad Michaels, twice the humor of Manila or Shangela or Pandora, with all the likability of Jujubee or Latrice. He's a cute boy (those dimples!) and can do gorgeous woman when she feels like it -- she can even sew! I mean, she's everything! I know her nightclub act is really... mean, I guess I'll say... but she can do kindness and heart too. Like a lot of you, I honestly think she can carry her own show -- she can do a late night talk show, maybe late nights on Logo. She's amazing.

It's funny -- in some ways, this season is so well cast, with very little cannon fodder. Even Kelly Mantle had a lot to show and I would love to see more of her somewhere else. Vivacious wasn't really right for the show, but she's the kind of queen I'm glad to have gotten to know -- something new (or old, I guess, but new to me), like something straight out of Paris is Burning! Gia and Langa were annoying, but fun to have around for a while. Trinity had moments that made me wanted to push her off the stage, then others when I wanted to invite her over for a family dinner. And on and on -- there was something worthwhile to everyone (except Magnolia). And yet... the winner seems obvious to me. Bianca del Rio in my opinion is the real thing, you know? A star, someone who can go on to something far beyond this show. She's so much more confident, put together, and capable than I think anyone we've ever seen on the show before. I guess I'll go on to rant about her in her own thread but god she's just amazing! So... yeah, for me in some ways this season is just waiting for Bianca to win, kind of like how the All-Stars season was just waiting for Chad to win. But the fun is in finding out who will make it to the top three and what other crazy things Adore and Joslyn will say along the way.

TheLukeP, yes, I watch that one too (Wilma Fingerdoo), of course! :) It took me a few episodes to get into his/her style of humor but once I got it, I loved it :) And Gringa, we should go talk about Milk on the Milk thread... I totally agree.

Hi, all. Nice to meet you! I'm sort of here from TWOP, too. My username didn't used to be Nerdlove -- it was based on my real name, which these days I'm thinking I'd rather not announce to the world. In any case, I'm 99.9999% sure that no one would remember me anyway. "Nerdlove" comes from my tumblr user name, which is based on the idea that my tumblr is about things that nerds would love, not that I am a loveable nerd (though perhaps I am, on my better days... ~_^). Anyway, under my old username, I used to spend a lot of time on the Fame Tracker forums back in the day, then switched over to TWOP when FT died. After a while, the harassment from TWOP Howard and the constant warnings and stuff over the most minor of infringements started to wear on me, and I scaled back to just lurking. And now, I'm really excited to be here in a place with SARS and all the wonderful original crew/mods, minus, I dearly hope, Howard. (If any mods from PT would like more info on why I feel so strongly about this, I would be happy to discuss it offline - I just don't want to put any more negativity out there right now, as this is already probably way more than enough, sorry!) But yeah, big fan of RPDR. I even watch/read a hoard of youtube "recaps" after every episode -- lessee, I have to check in with Tom and Lorenzo, the Throwing Shade girls (Isis and Coco), Pandora's Dragcenter, Raven and Raja's fashion rundown, the extra lap recap by John whatshisface, sometimes the "what's the t?" with james maddux (but they're sooooo negative), Afterbuzz TV aftershow, of course the TWOP forum, and... I think that's it? I spend an absurd amount of time each week on RPDR! Good thing it's basically the only tv show I actually watch week-to-week (besides two shows on Syfy -- FaceOff and Jim Henson's Creature Shop, the latter of which I'm not 100% sure of but am giving a chance as a FaceOff substitute).

Ben would be my pick for a winner if it weren't for Jinkx winning last year. Just like last year, when Alaska didn't have a chance because of Sharon... RuPaul doesn't like to give the win to two similar queens two years in a row. (Unless maybe you count Bebe and Tyra, as both of them are glamorous dark-skinned queens -- but Bebe was so dignified and elegant, and Tyra was so.... Tyra. Sigh.) In any case, he's going top-three, for sure. I can't believe how different he looks in drag. My brain keeps telling me that he's two different people, that there's a Ben and a Bendela. Male Ben is a cute, quirky sort of nerd, completely adorable in that way. And female Bendela is beautiful and more than a little sexy. The illusion is so complete, especially because when he's in drag, he... or she, I guess... changes her voice and then stays in that character until the makeup comes off again, even behind the scenes. I have a theory that he deliberately scared Ru during the werkroom walkthrough before Snatch Game so that his amazing performance would seem all the better. Someone who is as campy as Ben, who comes from a theatre background, who is friends with Jinxk, and who already showed his chops in the other acting challenges, would seem to be a lock for Snatch Game. I was surprised as heck when he said that it was the challenge he was most worried about. I wonder if that was sincere? I would have guessed that someone as put-together as Ben would have prepared thoroughly for the Snatch Game. (Though if he had pulled back just a little on his Alyssa Edwards that could have been funny too.)

I really like JF now, especially for her deadpan Theresa, but I always hate it when drag queens feel the need to express their disgust about the female body, specifically, the female set of genitalia. I get it; you don't want to have sex with women. But if you're going to dress up in a parody of women as a way of "expressing yourself" artistically (and sometimes get famous), you could at least be polite about the female body. Disgust about vaginas is misogyny in its purest form. If you don't know where I'm getting this from, it's from the untucked when JF said "Ew, what if it's a vagina?" about what could be in the mysterious pink box, in the horror movie episode -- as if a vagina is the single grossest thing she could think of. I get it, it was a joke, but it was based in that thing where drag queens feel like they can get away with casual misogyny because they "are women too" or something.