Drag Race RuCap: "Grand Finale"

No one had a better time at the DRAG RACE finale than Daddy Nurve.

NICK TAYLOR: The seventeenth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race has come to a close, and with it our third year of RuCaps. Sadly, it’s a pretty deflating limp across the finish line. Our repeated comments about this season’s success as reality TV carried by the queens through brute force has proven true via an episode which showcased its contestants as little as possible. No RuGirls from years past in the audience, no group numbers with the cast, paeans to live performance that are 200% per-recorded, it’s all just weirdly hollow. Last week’s LaLaPaRuZa had much better momentum, plus it got to lean on the personalities of the queens in a way this episode simply couldn’t. At least the right queen won in the end, plus we got a lovely tribute to Liza. The Oscars couldn’t fucking do that. What did you think? 

CLÁUDIO ALVES: Meh…

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My Oscar Completism Project: An Introduction

by Cláudio Alves

Sadly, my Best Actress journey may never be complete as THE BARKER, starring Betty Compson, only exists in the UCLA archive.

Are you an Oscar completist? I'm trying to be, having already seen all the winners in the big five categories and making my way through the rest. However, this year, I'll focus more on the acting races and the nominees that didn't get the gold. After talking with some friends, I realized I'm only 133 films away from having watched every performance ever nominated for an acting Academy Award, from 1928 to 2024. So, that shall be my challenge until December 31st, to check those titles and, hopefully, share my journey with you. This won't be a regularly scheduled series but something more erratic, bound to unravel in fits and starts, free-wheeling to the very end. What matters is that deadline and writing about everything I see until then. To start things off, I decided to take a sample of each category…

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Nora Aunor (1953-2025)

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Nora Aunor in MIRACLE (1982)

World cinema has lost an acting legend. Yesterday, the passing of the Philippines’ Superstar - a multi-hyphenate performer across film, television, radio, theater - was announced by her family. With a career that spans seven decades, 180 films, 260 singles, multiple genres, and hundreds of awards, Nora Aunor’s impact as an artist transcends the boundaries of Philippine cinema. Her longevity is not only astounding in quantity - she starred in 18 films in 1970 alone! - but she has been a central figure in some of the best works Philippine cinema has ever created.

Personally, Aunor is my favorite Filipino actor - male or female - of all-time. Her talent puts her up there with the world’s best like Meryl Streep, Isabelle Huppert, Liv Ullmann, Gong Li, Viola Davis, Sophia Loren, Setsuko Hara, and Fernanda Montenegro. If this is the first time you are reading about this thespian, trust me on this one: she's up there with the best of the best...

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Drag Race RuCap: "LalapaRuza Smackdown Reunited"

Let Bruno's behind bless you with its beauty.

CLÁUDIO ALVES: Like last year, the LalapaRuza Smackdown is a season highlight. The format is simple enough, but it works because it puts drag skills at the forefront while also allowing for a pseudo-reunion that’s more about celebrating artistry in a sisterly way rather than airing out insecurities and the same old mess as before. For season 17, the producers were extra smart, shooting this lip sync extravaganza after most episodes had aired, allowing for growth and the queens’ honest reactions to how they’ve been portrayed and received. If the battles weren’t as spectacular as what we got with Megami, Morphine, and company, the final result was enough to make up for whatever deficiencies the reality TV hour might have had. The right person won, and the entire thing was edited around her journey across three drag duels. So, by the end, you really felt a sense of closure, of victory, of the best that Drag Race can offer.

NICK TAYLOR: It was such a fun episode! You’re not wrong exactly about no one topping last season’s LaLaPaRuZa finale, and nobody brought the drama of a surprise narrative like Megami, but the sheer quality of performance from almost everyone was so delightful to watch. A few of these battles could have been double shantays, which I wouldn’t say about almost any of the season 16 matchups. And fuck, everyone looked great...

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Who deserves Emmy nominations from The Pitt?

by Cláudio Alves

THE PITT | © Max

Have you been Pitt-pilled? I have fallen in love with the Max original series about a single extended shift at a Pittsburgh ER that spans fifteen hours of near-real-time storytelling. It's old-fashioned and not especially high-concept, a bit preachy but balanced with feeling, interspersed character studies within a professional setting that leans on bloody melodrama without ever toppling away from medical and labor realities. A critical and popular hit, the series is well poised to dominate the next Emmy Awards, prompting many questions about what honors it'll get and, perhaps more interestingly, what it deserves. When it comes to the cast, these matters are particularly tough since the show relies so heavily on its actors' ensemble dynamics, from The Pitt's main doctors to patients who only show up for a couple of episodes.

Following Nathaniel's example with The White Lotus, I propose a vote to see what the readership thinks. But, of course, I need to add some commentary of my own…

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