Archives for 2022

Music Monday: “The Wrong Year” – The Decemberists

July 18, 2022 by krisis

I can fall in love with a song because it means something specific to me.

Other times I fall in love with a song because of something it only implies – because I can find so many different meanings inside of it.

“The Wrong Year” by The Decemberists is one of the latter category. Every time I hear it I want to cry, and I’m not sure if they are tears of joy, of grief, of relief, or some other emotion entirely. There’s some unquenchable ache it creates in my chest that feels like only my tears can fill or expel it (maybe both).

The Decemberists write hyper-literate chamber-pop that’s also hyper-specific – and, often, historical. For a long time I assumed there was something obvious I loved about the lyrics to this song that I simply didn’t recollect between listens.

Diving more deeply into it, there’s very little to the lyrics. Each verse is about some ungraspable fey person – first “Grey Jane,” then an unnamed “he” who is “struck down as a summerchild,” and finally the author themselves – sleeping like a ghost all winter.

Yes, “Grey Jean” could be referring to Lady Jane Grey, the teenaged so-called “Nine Days’ Queen” of England who was swiftly dethroned and not too long after beheaded. And, in fact, “struck down as a summerchild” could even refer to her brief rule in July of 1553.

However, that’s not what has drawn me in all of this time. I didn’t know about any of it until this very moment!

So, what is it that makes “The Wrong Year” make me ache deeply in my soul every time I hear it.

First, the chord progression. It couldn’t be simpler or more common: G D(7sus4) Em Cmaj7. At first when I hear them played with this jaunty rhythm it evokes the verses of Ben Folds’ “Rockin’ The Suburbs.” However, after a few listens just now I realized that these are also the chords to something much more familiar: the first line of “Don’t Stop Believin'” raised a minor third!

In fact, the first line of this song closely echoes the first line of “Don’t Stop Believin'”! [Read more…] about Music Monday: “The Wrong Year” – The Decemberists

Drag Race France Season 1 Episode 4 – Snatch Game: Review & Power Ranking

July 17, 2022 by krisis

Welcome to my review and power rankings of the fourth episode of Drag Race France Season 1 – the inaugural Drag Race France Snatch Game!

There are a few elements of RuPaul’s Drag Race that get imported to every international franchise – including Snatch Game, “lip sync for your life,” the ball challenge, and the library mini-challenge.

Of those, Snatch Game can be the one that translates most awkwardly. Even countries that have their own history of drag queens impersonating celebrities do not necessarily have the same history of campy “fill in the blank” TV game shows.

Snatch Game is obvious enough that audiences can easily push past that unfamiliarity, but it puts queens at a disadvantage. If you’ve never seen your local celebrities in a purposefully-parodic setting like the original Match Game or Hollywood Squares, it can be hard to find the right rhythm and tone for impersonating them inside of it.

International Snatch Games also pose a challenge for audiences watching from abroad! So much of Snatch Game involves cultural references and double entendres that even with the best set of captions a lot can be lost in translation. There were points in this episode where even after I read the English and French captions I still wasn’t in on the joke.

That means that international viewers can sometimes have a very different take on Snatch Game than local ones, and in these cases we should always defer to the opinions of the local viewers on who produced the best and funniest impersonation. I took a shot at digging into them by watching videos of all of the people the queens parodied this episode, but my French skills just aren’t strong enough to render any definitive opinions on their performances.

What I can render definitively is that there is a certain streak of aloofness to Drag Race France that is culturally French but casually cruel. Between Lolita Banana’s breakdown, La Big Bertha’s obvious frustrations, and the exclusion of Elips, the lack of a warm heart to this franchise became obvious in this episode.

Sometimes that can be down to the scrappy nature of Season 1 – we also saw Canada struggle with metaphorical warmth in its first season. Yet, for other franchises it has become a theme, as with the helter-skelter quality of Drag Race Holland.

That made for a strong challenge and runway, but an episode that left me feeling sad for several queens who are giving this their all.

If you want to watch Drag Race France you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. (Note that if you’re in the US you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see the US Franchise.)

With my somewhat somber first impressions out of the way, let’s get to my Power Rankings for the first Drag Race France Snatch Game! This episode seemed to emphasize a specific top three that is different from my my week three power rankings, as a clear divide emerged between the finalists and every one else.

Lecteurs, start your engines. Et, que la meilleure Drag Queen gagne!

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 7, Episode 10 –The Kennedy Davenport Center Honors Hall of Shade recap & power ranking!

July 16, 2022 by krisis

Welcome to my recap of the tenth episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 7 – The Kennedy Davenport Center Honors Hall of Shade, a roast where the comedy barbs are directed at the rest of the cast, plus an unusual light-up runway.

One of the first things I ever wanted to be as a child was a comedian, long before I ever set foot on stage to discover my love of performing.

Mostly I think I appreciated it when adults were laughing with me instead of laughing at me because I loved watching stand-up specials from all-time greats like Robin Williams and George Carlin.

Later, I realized that being intentionally funny is an incredibly hard task – much too difficult and unpredictable to pin career aspirations upon.

Many drag queens have a similar realization during their runs on Drag Race.

While a sense of humor is essential for almost any queen to survive her early days performing for tips in local bars, that off-the-cuff self-deprecation isn’t the same as the improv and roasting required to make it through a season of Drag Race. We’ve seen many a queen arrive on the show assuming they are hilarious who then fall flat in comedy challenges.

If you’ve ever thought that queens tend to be funnier when they return for All Stars, that’s because they are cheating. It’s an open secret that while queens are prepping outfits for their return runs, they are also turning to their funnier peers and to actual career comedians to supply them with a stock of jokes about other queens most-likely to return to the show. Many queens who have cleaned up in an All Stars library session or roast challenge were working entirely from pre-written material.

That’s why I’m not surprised that this challenge is not about roasting a random honoree, like Lady Bunny or even the titular Kennedy Davenport. This season has taken every opportunity to let its winners be well-prepared for the challenges, and this is no exception. Even if the queens didn’t have a single back-channel source on which other winners to expect, the pool of possible queens was small and mostly full of friendly faces.

Did Monét workshop her set with Bob? Absolutely. Did Shea ring up Peppermint or Miss Cracker? I wouldn’t be surprised. Even a powerhouse like Jinkx might’ve ran some lines with Ben de la Creme.

That means I went into this episode with incredibly high expectations. An All-Winners roast should be all hits, and no Farrah Moans. Did every queen rise to the challenge? Find out in my full-episode recap, below. Plus, at the end of the recap I have a deep game theory update to my Episode 9 rankings to explain who can make it into the finale and how. (Want to skip right to the power rankings? Go for it!)

Readers, start your engines! And, may the best drag queen… win! [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 7, Episode 10 –The Kennedy Davenport Center Honors Hall of Shade recap & power ranking!

Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 Episode 1 – Sidewalk to Catwalk: Review & Power Ranking

July 15, 2022 by krisis

Welcome to my review and power rankings of the first episode of Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 – “Sidewalk to Catwalk”!

Canada’s Drag Race often feels a little more real than the American edition. It could be the editing style. It might also be that Canada’s queens come from a smaller pool of performers and have fewer expectations of fame and fortune from being on the show.

This debut of Season 3 kept this feeling of realness, but it also compressed a lot of action into one hour. We had entrances, a runway mini-challenge, the ritual “first de-dragging,” a full-on design challenge, mirror chats, a final runway and judges critiques, and miniature Untucked segment back in the workroom.

While this isn’t radically different than the tight schedule of debut episodes from RuPaul’s Drag Race Seasons 3-5, here it felt rushed. It’s not unusual for the safe queens in a debut to get very little camera time, but it felt as though we didn’t even get to know two of the queens in the top three!

Adding to that lack of balance, it felt like two of the safe queens were dominant narrators despite not being featured outside of confessional, and one of the bottom queens wound up the star of the episode despite having the least to offer.

That made this episode feel unsatisfying, even if this cast of queens are all distinct characters with memorable personalities. I’m not sure I’ve ever committed everyone in a cast to memory so quickly! It’s a group of artists heavy with talent and, past a handful of struggling queens, light on obvious weak spots.

What does that mean for the eleven surviving queens’ chances for winning the crown? Below I break down my reaction to their initial challenge performance and re-rank them from my Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 Pre-Season Power Rankings from earlier this week.

If you want to watch Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 outside of Canada and the UK you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. I don’t get any kind of cut off of that – I just want you to watch Drag Race! (Note that if you’re in the US you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see the US Franchise.)

Readers, start your engines! And, may the best Queen (of the North) win!

the customer is always angry (in America)

July 14, 2022 by krisis

Image by Reimund Bertrams from Pixabay

After half a decade of living in New Zealand I can finally see how abnormal it is to assume that the customer is always right, and that they always have a right to get angry about it.

As an American can claim you are immune to these expectations and behaviors. I promise you’ve engaged in them hundreds of minor times. That’s true even if you are someone who is often on the receiving end of that same rage. As with many things in America, the cruelty is baked into the system.

Your dish came out a little bit wrong at the restaurant? Rage and ask for a discount. Service on your car didn’t quite repair the problem? Rage and demand an immediate fix. You received an online shopping order with an incorrect or slightly-dinged product? Unleash your fury and require free return shipping.

Some people manage to make these demands without demeaning the person who has to accommodate them, but just as often we assume that absorbing our accumulated fury is part of the job. If someone wants to be able to afford health care they have to be willing to soak up an amount of capitalist vengeance.

That’s American life. It’s part of the sickening caricature that “American Exceptionalism” has become, where everyone is encouraged to be their own plucky protagonist expecting perfection at all times. It’s the land of the Karens.

For most of my life I didn’t think too hard about this. In fact, my viciousness as a consumer always seemed like a fun feature of my perfectionist personality rather than a major bug. I was infamous amongst my friends and colleagues for causing a scene and storming out of retail situations gone wrong. I learned it by watching the adults in my own life as a kid. I wasn’t trying to be specifically cruel to any employees. I just needed to get exactly what I thought I was paying for (even when that wasn’t what I actually ordered or was ever offered).

It never seemed abnormal to me in part because my own clients demanded the same level of perfection from me all of the time. I built up a thousand little defenses and extra processes to deliver things flawlessly every time, as many Americans do, and so I expected perfection from everyone else.

Becoming a people manager changed that. The first time one of my direct reports got yelled at – I mean, really screamed at – by a client radically altered my approach in a way that being yelled at myself never did. I understood how ridiculous I had always been. I “fired” several clients for the misery they caused my team not being worth their subscription fee.

Yet, if someone made similar demands with a smile, we kept them around.

I adopted the same personal approach. No more cruelty, no more storming out. Yet, my demand for perfection didn’t change. I would complain sweetly, kindly, patiently, and with many compliments to the manager of the person I was speaking to… but, I’d still get my way in the end.

Our move to New Zealand turned my last vestiges of twisted American Exceptionalism on its head. [Read more…] about the customer is always angry (in America)