Drag Race Thoughts on Lady Camden

I was watching a best of clip of Drag Race season 14 this morning and I realized that there was no chance in the world that Lady Camden was going to win Season 14. Could she have won a future Season like Season 16? Probably, but because she was introduced on this show before two events happened: The Vivienne was properly introduced to casual VH1 viewers of Drag Race on All Winners, and Blu Hydrangea won UK vs. the World.

It would feel unfair to have a British winner before saying hello to a proper British Queen. Even in the big Entertainment Weekly article, The Viv mentions that winning Drag Race UK doesn't get you any money and Camden has won significantly more than she has, and this was even before the announcement that the runner up got money.

I believe that Lady Camden did a great job on the show, especially in a season with dynamic characters, but she still was in the background. When queens like Cornbread and Angeria bring great sass and wit, Daya being a rootable villain, Bosco having to prove she's worth the gold chocolate bar save, and Willow having a silent but deadly approach where she's scheming in her talking heads, Camden comes off...just there.

Then I think production had something that could work: the falling down Freddie Mercury inspired runway.

Once she fell, and got back up Camden saw RuPaul's reaction, production's reaction, and eventually the audiences reactions. I think Camden needed to create more memorable scenes, but instead at the finale depended on that one scene as a gimmick.

I can't really fault her for her song "I Fell Down" since production created the song for her, but it was her decision to put a similar fall into her finale lip sync. Kinda sucks to sing about winning when you didn't win. I guess losing is the new winning...

The camera even tried their best to recreate the camera angle and the dramatic music. Not sure if that was necessary. 

Side note: Willow was also thinking a few steps ahead and production and Ru loved Willow.

In the long run, I think Camden did a great job and should definitely return. I hope for a regular All-Stars first, but in the future it'd be funny for her to represent the USA in a (Insert Country Here) vs The World season. Here's a youtube video of all of Camden's looks before the finale and it just reminds you that she was never dinged for repeating silhouettes and she used several hair colors and looked great in all of them.

 

Review - Tomorrow, Make Me Yours

Sometimes you want a relationship that happens quickly and with promise. Tomorrow, Make Me Yours feels like that to me. This manga is your basic premise: a high school slice of life romance. Yuki likes Hayato but is very introverted and is too nervous to take action, but it turns out that there are some mutual feelings as Hayato seeks Yuki out.Eventually the two get to know each other and after one minor misunderstanding, honest feelings are revealed and the two connect. There are a few twists and turns along the way and it allows both characters to be less one-dimensional.

I've recently watched both Sasaki to Miyano and Given, and both of those had relationships that were built over a much longer period of time. Tomorrow, Make Me Yours, to it's benefit, speeds up the process and is a fully contained story within it's five chapters. The story is light on it's premise but it's a good one-off read.

Just as a reminder, this book is 18+ and does have mature scenes. I'm not sure if it was just me being unlucky in high school or not as sexually charged, but i'm mildly jealous how easily this relationship came together. These two characters know themselves and were ready to follow a seme/uke position and were performing in their assumed roles.

Tomorrow, Make Me Yours is author and artist Kaoruko Miyama's first piece and it shows a lot of potential. The art style is good, a little standard in the genre, and the writing has room to grow. This manga was like a pilot episode, where I'd read it and see there's a lot of promise with Kaoruko Miyama and I hope to see more in the future. If you're looking for a BL that's a one-shot, quick read, and quick resolution this one is perfect for you.

Grade: C+

More information about Tomorow, Make Me Yous, is available on TokyoPop

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Ya Boy Kongming - Extra Music

 Don't worry, this song is still stuck in my head. To keep it in your head, I've also found some creative people that have mixed the song. First, the 8-bit (I guess one could call it Chiptune) version of the intro song. 

The second one is an extended edm version. Because party. And it brings the song closer to 2 minutes from it's 1:30 opening credits. The longer I can listen, the better. 

I've yet to figure out if the title of the song is "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" or "Chicky Chicky Ban Ban." I've also seen it as "Ciki Ciki Bam Bam." That's the original spelling of the Turkish song it came from.

Review - The Language of Roses

The tale of Beauty and the Beast has been interpreted multiple ways in different formats, for example the recent film Belle takes aspects of the classic tale and puts it into an internet age. The Language of Roses by Heather Rose Jones takes the tale in a direction that explores the aspect of what if the Beast had a sister that was also cursed.

The general premise of The Language of Roses is that Alys has taken the place of her father as punishment for trying to steal a rose. The “beast” Philippe needs the power of love to lift his and his sister Grace’s curse. Alys is taken care of, however doesn’t love Philippe. The Disney kid in me sees the immediate parallels between Belle and Maurice, but again, there are several differences. There are a lot more female-led characters, along with Philippe’s sister Grace (who also reminds me of Elsa from Frozen), Alys has two sisters, and you meet other female characters along the way.

It’s almost unfair of me to have a baseline in the back of my head because Heather Rose Jones twists the story and by the halfway point, Langage is a completely different story from the Disney interpretation. When Alys finds the titular Language of Roses the story really takes off into interesting directions introducing a non-verbal communication and messages via dreams. The realm that was created sparked my motivation to continue reading. Heather Rose Jones uses the English language in such a creative and descriptive way, that even sometimes I was left confused. I will shout out that I loved the description of the night sky as, "Pearl studded velvet black.”

I caught a minor tinge that the two men included were generally perceived as bad, whereas the women made the better decisions. Philippe was providing, but did nothing to really to Alys’ liking. Her father also gave me these vibes like women were more property, especially when the idea of having brothers was brought up. He also has a bit of ignorance, whether that’s due to Alys’ hesitations or his own personal twisting of narratives. I understand that this book has a queer undertone with lesbian emphasis, as a male, I’m rolling my eyes in embarrassment to both male characters.

On a technical level, this book’s chapters jump between first and third person. When I read the book, I’d read a few chapters and came back to it in a few days. Because of the structure, I’d forget who was narrating or which character I was following. Generally it was Alys, but sometimes we followed Grace, sometimes we followed other characters that I don’t want to spoil. The Language of Roses also follows a lot of female characters and once in a while I was stuck playing the pronoun game where I didn’t know who “she” was referring to. 

The complexity of the characters and the book is both it’s advantage and disadvantage. The flowery language of the book is interesting, but if you weren’t a person who loved European mythologies with fairies, you may be confused. It took me a bit to realize what a “palanquin” was. 

I’m fairly new to the concept of Aroace (which means aromantic asexual). One of my favorite YouTube Animators, Jaiden Animations, just made a video explaining her being Aroace. She does a better job explaining it than I ever will. I can see a character like Alys being Aroace, but I’m not the one in charge of labeling people. That being said, if you are Aroace, you may see a little bit of yourself in Alys, which can help you create your own path to your identity.

Overall, I think The Language of Roses has an audience out there that will love this book. Fairy Tail European setting with Magic and Mystery following Alys. For me, the language barrier of the book and the constant changing between first and third person between chapters made this book difficult to read.

Grade: C

A big thank you goes out to NetGalley and Queen of Swords Press for giving me the chance to read this ARC!

The Language of Roses is available on Amazon, both in Kindle and Physical forms.

Initial Thoughts - Ya Boy Konming (aka Paripi Kōmei) Episode 1

There's normally an anime every season that feels like it drifts from your standard action, romance, sports, or slice of life and surprises the anime watching community. A few seasons ago it was OddTaxi, which had an interesting art style and a little bit of a who done it style. I think that Ya Boy Konming is going to be that anime for the Spring of 2022 season. The quick synopsis is: after dying in China around 234AD, genius strategist Konming was resurrected in modern day Japan (I'm just going to shrug that it's Japan because "reasons"). He is entranced by aspiring singer Eiko and decides to use his stratagem to help Eiko succeed. 

I'm a little behind, but I just watched the first episode and I'm intrigued. It's captured my attention wholeheartedly. Firstly, as a show that's focused on music, I really like the three songs that were presented in the first episode. I'm just hoping that the music continues being strong. As a singer/musician myself, there's a tone to this anime that pulls at my heartstrings. I had a similar tug coming from My Dress-up Doll last season with my burgeoning cosplay. Eiko feels likable. She's already been given several rejections and has shown that she had a lot of pain in her high school years; she's bounced back but she's still unsure of herself. Konming is also really likable; he's smart and dedicated. As long as the two don't fall in love, I'll accept this show.

Along with the music, the art style is really great. The first episode started on Halloween, which allowed everyone to be dressing up and have Konming show up in such an outlandish outfit and still be accepted. I'm kinda obsessed with Konming's fan. I may work on it as a random prop even if i never cosplay as him. The bar scenes had wonderfully bright party lights. Eiko's apartment felt really personal; lots of musicians' items ranging from her guitar and keyboard, to all the posters on the wall.

The first episode felt like the right kind of pilot episode, it introduced all the characters quickly and succinctly, and the momentum felt really well paced. I'm really excited for this show. On the gay note, I don't think any of the characters they introduced (Konming, Eiko, or Eiko's boss Kobayashi) were gay. This isn't really one of those anime that have any queer undertones. Maybe we'll meet other musicians that may be, but again I'm not here doing something like the Gay Bechdel Test, I'm just here to watch a good show. And this feels like a good show already. It kinda sucks that this show is only available on HiDive for the US. 

Episode 1 Grade: A

Season Verdict: Watch full season

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Review - From Gay to Z: A Queer Compendium

Today's Review is  From Gay to Z: A Queer Compendium by Justin Elizabeth Sayre

Life experiences are hard to compile. I'm living my life so my influences, my history, my inspirations all can be different from someone miles away from me, in a different state, or a different country. From Gay to Z: A Queer Compendium to me is like an adult version of the atlas books I read as a kid about history and science. Instead of teaching me what NASA was or who George Washington is, the Queer Compendium does it's best to cover a general scope of queer topics. Whether it's artists, writers, politicians, entertainers, or just terminology, the Queer Compendium provides facts with wit.

This book can tell you the difference between Fortune Feimster and Ross Matthews. Now you'll know the difference between your Chelsea Handlers from your Chelsea Mannings. For me, I learned some random facts like how Annie Proulx wrote the original short story of Brokeback Mountain. Or that former porn star turned mainstream actor Brent Corrigan is pretty much the same age as me (I'm a month older and look what I've got to show in my life... *sigh*...).

The book is a cute read, one of those types where you can flip through pages, read one topic, and go, "oh yeah, that's so and so." Then you could put the book down and go back to it in a few days. There are moments where this book's author Justin Elizabeth Sayre shines with some classic gay wit and sass. Generally they succeed. Once in a while they fall flat. One example I have is there is a entry for "black girls" and it says that it's the originator of gay culture. I'm pretty sure that gay men were the originator of gay culture. I imagine gay Romans or Egyptians being weirdly gay. Or that rumor that Da Vinci was gay and I doubt black girls had anything to do with them. The "Black Girl" entry is just one of the points where the jokes miss.

My challenge with this book is two-fold. The first challenge is: when do you stop writing about a person? I understand succinct, but then when is short too short. Is that a gay stereotype of bigger is better? For example, I think Anderson Cooper is an amazing guy. The book mentions that he hosted the reality show The Mole, but then decides not to mention that he's been a contributor for 60 minutes. Remember that time Anderson asked Lady Gaga if she had a penis?  How is his time on 60 minutes not iconic enough to be mentioned.

The second challenge is that there are still a lot of topics missing. Everyone growing up has different things influencing and inspiring them and what people think are important topics and what are not. Personally, one of the biggest blaring omissions is that author Augusten Burroughs is not mentioned. I read Running with Scissors and watched the film adaptation and that novel should be part of the LGBT Library of Congress. I mean, my favorite Young Adult book of all time Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan gets a shout out, why isn't Scissors?

Here are two other omissions:

Daniel Franzese is mentioned but not Jonathan Bennett. Jonathan Bennett was also in Mean Girls in a bigger role, has prominently hosted baking competitions and married a gay Chippendale that competed on the Amazing Race.

Tim Gunn is mentioned but not Christian Siriano. Probably the most successful designer to come out of Project Runway and he became the new Tim Gunn when Tim and Heidi moved to Amazon.

Don't worry, I have at least eight or nine other topics or people that I thought could also have made the book and I'll mention them in the podcast review.

Again, this book is a good overview, but I think it's more of a starting point than an "end all, be all" book of Queerness. I thought there would be a page with a chart of what the Hanky Code was, but there wasn't. That's so gay, with coding for safety. There was a chart of successful RuPaul's Drag Race Contestants. One other phrase I'm surprised wasn't here was "friend of Dorothy." I could have sworn that made it in. I'm thinking more of Queer terminology (I can only think of gay terms as a gay man) could have helped bolster the helpfulness of the book.

I applaud Justin Elizabeth Sayre for making the attempt and Justin notes in his introduction that trying to get every little bit of information of Queer culture would be impossible. It's just impossible to get everything in one book without it becoming the size of a house. Justin is a humorist and some of the jokes land, some don't. Some of the history lands, and some do not.

Grade: C+

(Full audio review will be coming out on Episode 19.)

From Gay to Z will release on May 10th and is available on Amazon. 

Initial Thoughts - Dance Dance Danseur Episode 1

 It's the beginning of the Spring 2022 Anime Season and the first anime that's caught my attention is Dance Dance Danseur. I was intrigued because it was a MAPPA production; they have produced some pretty visually stunning anime hits (Jujutsu Kaisen, Banana Fish, Yuri On Ice all come to mind) and while their track record isn't perfect (The Yuri On Ice Movie is in some weird limbo - completely missed the Winter Olympics potential crossover), I generally am pleased with their shows.

As a gay man, DDD's first episode really drives the idea of "what is manliness?" Junpei is the main character and he was inspired to do ballet at a young age, but then the pressures of society (his fellow students calling ballet "only for girls") and his father's legacy forced him to stop and instead pick up martial arts, which his father enjoyed and did for a living (he was a stunt...coordinator?). He does a spin for his friends at class to showboat and passes it off as a Jeet Kune Do move, his one classmate Miyako knows better and invites him to her mother's new ballet studio.

Junpei is at an impasse, does he continue this course of manly-man martial arts, or does he go where his heart wants, the sparkles of joy in dance?

I'm pretty invested after the first episode. I'm reminded of two different anime, firstly, the I'm sure there will be direct comparisons to Welcome to the Ballroom, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Just because both shows falls under the "other sports anime" category, doesn't mean they are the same. But I can see the similarities. The other anime I'm reminded of is My Dress-up Doll. Gojou, in that anime was ridiculed for liking (and designing) traditional Japanese dolls but continued his craft and his grandfather's legacy. It was only his classmate who brought him out of his shell to experience the world.

Clearly, there's a what if where Junpei could have gone Gojou's route, but his father's legacy kind of forced him at a young age to pivot. Now he's 13 or 14 and again at that life pivot point.

I'm definitely intrigued by this show, not only with the premise, but I think MAPPA did a good job on episode 1. I hope the quality level stays high the rest of the season.

Episode 1 Grade: A-

Season Verdict: Watch full season

Remember, you can keep an eye out on what I'm watching by following my MyAnimeList profile. I don't really read manga, but I pick up the odd issue here and there at the library.