April 30, 2018

"Lisa Loopner got me this week: She was the only person to embrace the ancient charms of Disney, dress for that occasion like a 4-year-old in love with the Walt vault on Halloween..."

"...  and bring us back in time like an old theme-park ride. She wasn’t above the occasion. She dove into it with that fierce, strange color-guard-captain commitment. Points for picking (1) a song that doesn’t immediately scream Idol-worthiness, and (2) a style of song that tells us something new about Catie herself. Face it, she’s a cunning competitor and a real talent. I’m wary of people who like hugs too much but she’s working this karaoke derby right."

That's Louis Virtel at Vulture, rating the 10 performers on last night's "American Idol" and putting Catie Turner in second place with her lovely "Once Upon a Dream":



"Idol" did something completely new last night: It required viewers to vote during the show and announced the outcome at the end of that very show. It ran live, at the same time in all time zones, which meant it started at 6 p.m. in the Mountain Time Zone and at 5 p.m. in the Pacific Zone. Who knows how that affected the outcome, but the drag queen contestant, Ada Vox, was one of the 3 contestants eliminated. It was drastic to cut 3 all at once. The top 10 is normally dragged out, with only one cut per week, and a very nice send off for each, with a review of that person's "journey" through the contest and one last song. Last night, we learned that 3 were leaving as the time for the show was running out. Suddenly, 3 whom we'd been made to care about were sort of stunned and wandering aimlessly on stage, and that was it. Brutal!

That said, Vox deserved to be in the bottom 3. Virtel ranked her 9th, and she chose to sing "Circle of Life." Not a great choice, and it sounded pretty unpleasant.

19 comments:

madAsHell said...

Lisa Loopner? Wasn't she also a character in a SNL skit, and portrayed by Gilda Radner?

Mark said...

Lisa Loopner. There's a 40 year old reference for you.

I'll bet that old geezer thought he was being funny, but the joke's on him.

Ann Althouse said...

Virtel is in his 30s. He’s just up on his pop culture references. He does a great job with these recaps.

Bill said...

Lovely choice of song.

Sprezzatura said...

These yutes don't knows what we golden gals n' guys (i.e. Meadehouse, et. al.) knows.

More Alice Lon. Less hidden shlong.


the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

"That said, Vox deserved to be in the bottom 3. Virtel ranked her 9th, and she chose to sing "Circle of Life."

I know that Vox is the Drag Queen dude, and I see that Althouse refers to him as 'she'. And this got me confused, because I thought that, even though he was a Drag Queen and shit, that he was still a dude, and that the transgender dudes who identify as female are the ones that are 'she.'

And, like, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and shit, sometimes being an asshole just means you're an asshole.

So I looked it up on Google, and it seems like pretty much everyone is confused on this, even the people on the gay websites. Some say he's a she when she's dressed like a she, and some say, no, he's a he if he's not transgender, and now I don't even know if I have this sentence right because I don't know what pronouns to be using and shit.

On one site Patrick Cinderflame, Drag queen, performing as Cinder Flame, says:

"When writing about drag queens, most manuals of style will tell you to use their biological gender, unless that performer has publicly identified as transgender or you're specifically referencing their persona as opposed to the performer. (i.e. Patrick is male while Cinder is female.)"

Which makes sense to me, but I don't know what manuals of style he is referring to, where I work most of the manuals are, like, technical and shit. I got enough tech problems, and 'it' pretty much works in most usages with equipment, along with 'motherfucker' and 'cocksucker'.

Like I said, the gay websites have all kinds of opinions and shit on this, and if they can't figure it out and agree on this shit, then I know I'm, like, pretty fucked no matter what I say.

One piece of advice I saw a lot of was that you ask the Drag Queen what he or she prefers to be called. Which sounds reasonable, but I'm not quite sure how you introduce yourself to someone by saying 'should I call you a dude or a chick?', without sounding like you're trying to be a dick.

So then I came across a quote on RuPaul and I figured it might be the best answer, because RuPaul is, like, to Drag Queens what Richard Simmons was for closeted gay dudes back in the day, when old women watched him exercise in those totally gay shorts and even they knew he was gay, but they liked him anyway. So the quote says:

"RuPaul is noted among drag queens for his indifference toward the gender-specific pronouns used to address him—both “he” and “she” have been deemed acceptable, as stated in his autobiography: “You can call me he. You can call me she. You can call me Regis and Kathie Lee; I don’t care! Just as long as you call me.”"

And I'm thinking, like, that's a relief. But then I figure it can't be that easy, because nothing is easy anymore about this shit, and sure enough I see a Washington Post article where someone is pissed off at RuPaul because RuPaul supposedly said you can't be both a drag queen and a trans-woman, but this chick says she is, and she sounds pretty pissed off about it.

So now I'm thinking that if even RuPaul can't get it right then we're beyond fucked, because saying RuPaul doesn't know this shit is like saying Walt Disney didn't know fuck about cartoon mouses.

I mean, is everyone, like, a Teletubbie now? Because maybe rather than saying 'he' or 'she' can we just say tinky' or 'winky' and be done with it, because then it can mean whatever people want it to mean and shit? Because otherwise I think it's just going to be easier to set alone in a cabin in Montana and write my manifesto.

I post my shit here.

mezzrow said...

Lovely. Real.

mezzrow said...

Question -if there is room for Lisa in the 21st century, is there still room for Todd?

mezzrow said...

Oh, and don't take that color guard captain lightly. She'll be running her own business someday.

"Alright, ladies!! One more time, 6, 7, 8..."

Mike Sylwester said...

Thanks for posting that video. What a beautiful performance!

I'm going to listen to it again.

tcrosse said...

Question -if there is room for Lisa in the 21st century, is there still room for Todd?

Not to mention Chas the Spaz.

WisRich said...

I think America got the top seven right and yes, the ending was abrupt.

MayBee said...

They do something similar on most of the UK talent competition shows-- and Eurovision. The show takes place, the voting happens, and the winner is announced right then (or after a half hour filler show).

Big Mike said...

I liked the way the one fellow turned “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” into a 60s vintage country & western song. We need some more good country singers right about now.

gadfly said...

The contestants make up the stupidest nom de plumes ever invented starting with Christiana Danielle otherwise known to be Christiana Hicks when she attends R. Nelson Snider High School in Fort Wayne.


Enthusiasm Quotes said...

Interesting post
https://greatquotesonlife.blogspot.com

gadfly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Curious George said...

Thanks, Althouse. I've had that "Brand New Key" bouncing around in my head for the last week.

Known Unknown said...

Idol sucks with Cowell. Very little tension. And true creativity demands tension.