Drag Race RuCap: “Werq the World”

Nick Taylor and Cláudio Alves are following and recapping RuPaul’s Drag Race season sixteen. This week, it’s time for episode ten…

Sapphira is our Lisan al Gaib. All others are false prophets.

CLÁUDIO: It’s been quite the week to grumble about robbed queens, but enough about the Oscars. In RuPaul’s Prison Experiment, there were no such robberies. Indeed, there isn’t even an elimination to discuss since Mother Reverend Charles blessed us with a non-elimination episode. I’m not sure how I feel about that last bit, but I can’t help but cheer as Sapphira cements her claim on the crown. As we’ve discussed off-record, this chapter feels like the moment when a winner comes into their own, the place where, in retrospect, the narrative solidified and their Golden Path came to be. God Empress Cristál has risen, while both the Banana Queen and the bitchy aircraft fumble - false Kwisatz Haderachs, the two of them. Now, will you indulge my Oscar/Dune nonsense, or is it time to get serious? 

NICK: Listen, I’m used to just nodding along while people say things I can barely grasp in context, so go off diva...

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Drag Race RuCap: “See You Next Wednesday”

Like last year, Nick Taylor and Cláudio Alves are following and recapping RuPaul’s Drag Race season sixteen…

In design challenges, these two are unbeatable. They're dressmaking monsters!

CLÁUDIO: Another design challenge! What’s this, season 3? 

Regardless of repetition, it’s time for this year’s batch of queens to refamiliarize themselves with the sewing machines, for Drag Race has devised a challenge to celebrate Neo-Goth style. But of course, it’s closer to a Tim Burton lovefest, complete with Wednesday references and whatnot. Indeed, as much as I appreciated Kaia Gerber’s presence on the panel, MTV should have found a way to nab Colleen Atwood as the episode’s Extra Special Guest Judge - now there’s someone who knows how to make magic happen with black fabrics and a spooky outline. But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself...

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Drag Race RuCap: "Snatch Game"

Like last year, Nick Taylor and Cláudio Alves are following and recapping RuPaul’s Drag Race season sixteen…

That's Emmy-worthy production design, right there.

CLÁUDIO: Well, it seems miracles can happen. We closed last week’s Rucap by casting doubts on Mhi’ya’s ability to survive Snatch Game, and wouldn’t you know it - the bitch thrived. She might not have won the challenge, but Miss Le'Paige won the episode, proving she’s more than the queen of flips while finally showing some much-appreciated personality with her sisters. Overall, this was an entertaining hour, even though this bunch’s snatches could have been better. Sometimes, you don’t need amazing performances to make good reality TV or just a showcase of drag excellence. Were you similarly entertained or does “Snatch Game” get a boot from you?

NICK: I am mixed, but mostly happy with it. We had two of Drag Race’s most iconic challenges today, and though the best turns were definitely entertaining, I wanted more from this cast. . . .

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Berlinale #6: Kirsten Stewart in "Love Lies Bleeding"

by Elisa Giudici

LOVE LIES BLEEDING © Anna Kooris

A young woman hitchhikes along the edge of an American road, wearing shorts, a T-shirt, and carrying a backpack with her belongings. Jackie or Nomi? It's just one of the passages in Love Lies Bleeding that brings to mind Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls. The two films have a lot in common, starting with a rare attitude in American cinema: looking at an "unpresentable" American reality from within, while completely abstaining from any kind of judgment, morality, or dramatic commentary. Other similarities include the dream of the Vegas show (Jackie wants to participate in a bodybuilding competition) and a constant male presence as a judge and dangerous force. Director Rose Glass demonstrates the same ability as Verhoeven to make such bold and decisive choices, with a certain taste for the quip, that the film will inevitably be divisive.

With this introduction, I don't mean to say that Love Lies Bleeding is looking to reference Showgirls...

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Drag Race RuCap: “The Sound of Rusic”

Nick Taylor and Cláudio Alves are following and recapping RuPaul’s Drag Race season sixteen. This week, they’re joined by extra special guest Nathaniel Rogers…

THE SOUND OF MUSIC sure looks... different.

NATHANIEL: I’d love to waltz into the werq room in a stylish gown with a big soundbite but the truth is I’m sick so I’m bundled up in bed and preserving my voice. But [whisper voice] heyyyguirls. Excited to talk about these queens and this challenge. As a proud musical theater queen (sorry not sorry Dawn) I was excited for “The Sound of Rusic”. That said the Rusicals aren’t really the musical theater challenge people make them out to be. The Rusicals owe way more spiritually to Carol Burnett’s classic Gone With the Wind curtain dress sketch than musical theater...

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