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Remembering Our Rich Cinematic Drag History

Lifted from a posting on Tumblr…

Not like that film was a one-off either.

I would like to add The Birdcage (1996) to this list of drag queen movies (mind you, it’s based on La Cage Aux Folles, a French stage play from 1973 that was later made into a 1978 film*).

Which starred Nathan Lane as a drag queen just two years after he had voice Pumba in The Lion King:

And we ESPECIALLY need to remember Victor Victoria from 1982 (during the REAGAN administration), an absolutely joyful film is SET IN THE 1930S and stars everyone’s favorite curtain-sewing nanny as a struggling soprano who decides to pretend to be a boy doing drag (DOUBLE THE DRAG FOR YOUR MONEY). I mean look at this photo:

* I love the Birdcage, but to this day I think the original La Cage still outshines it for the sheer comedic timing of the leads.

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News of Cap’n Sundowner In Montana

From Mock Paper Scissors:

The 78-year old convicted felon and noted dotard Donald Trump doesn’t know the meaning of the word metaphor (or many other words for that matter).

We enter into evidence:

Donald Trump’s campaign team sparked unintentional hilarity after blasting out the theme song from Titanic at a Montana rally Friday.

Some political pundits on social media felt the song a metaphor for the Trump campaign’s flagging momentum, which comes just weeks after a victory in November felt all but assured.

What a dope.

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SMDH…

It’s easier if I present this in reverse order…

The CD itself…
Wrapped in plain brown paper and sealed with the seller’s seal…
The CD, wrapped in brown paper and sealed, wrapped in bubble wrap…
The CD, wrapped in brown paper and sealed, wrapped in bubble wrap and wedged between two pieces of cardboard (not shown) and two pieces of 3/4″ thick styrofoam, bundled together with rubber bands…
And the entire thing, sealed with a kiss and shipped in a recycled padded Amazon mailing bag.

Having bought and sold enough CDs online, I know that occastionally the shipping company/USPS handles them a bit roughly and they arrive with the splines in the jewel cases broken off. That certainly did not happen in this case, but still…

P.S. You couldn’t have bent this thing if you tried!

Considering the amount of waste this one CD generated, I can’t help but wonder if the seller works at Amazon.

And in case you’re curious…

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We Got Us a Presidential Buddy Movie!

From Gregfallis.com:

“Alright, buddy, I’ll see you soon.” That’s how Democratic POTUS nominee Kamala Harris ended her phone call asking Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate. She calls him ‘buddy.’

Buddy is one of those familiar terms with a murky etymology. It’s thought to have evolved from butty, an 18th century term for ‘work-mates’ associated with Welsh coal miners. It’s a wonderfully informal word describing close but informal friendships. Buddy has been mostly associated with men, but these days gender is a lot more fluid than it used to be. Oddly enough, that cultural shift has been supported by popular culture in the form of buddy movies.

Buddy movies are basically male rom-coms. Romantic comedies between hetero men. They’re not sexual (usually), but they’re about two people who are intimately close to each other, engaged in some sort of adventure. And people, that’s what we’ve got with Harris/Walz. We got us a buddy movie. Kamala and Tim’s Excellent Adventure.

Sure, in some ways it’s a non-trad buddy movie. I mean, we’re talking about a whip smart mixed race woman former DA from California and a classic Midwestern Dad who’s a balding former social studies teacher and high school football coach. But in all the ways that matter, it’s an absolutely classic pairing. Most buddy movies revolve around two people from different backgrounds with different personalities who go through episodic shit and in the end gain mutual respect and a stronger relationship.

And Coach Walz is perfect casting. He’s the polar opposite of the GOP notion of masculinity. He’s not loud, he’s not a bully, he’s not aggressive, he’s not domineering, he’s not suffering from testosterone poisoning, he’s not brutally competitive. He’s compassionate, caring, practical, thoughtful, considerate, helpful. Walz is the kind of guy who’s not only loan his neighbor a hedge trimmer, he’d also offer to help trim the hedge. And he’d know HOW to trim a hedge.

The Adventure Begins

Tim Walz appears to be a sort of counter-Kamala, but he’s not…and that’s much of what makes this buddy team work. He’s what Kamala Harris would be if she’d grown up a white boy in Nebraska. And she’s what Coach Walz would be if he’d grown up a mixed race girl who moved frequently as a child. They bring together a weird melding of experiences and cultures that work perfectly together. (Editorial Note: yeah, I don’t know if that whole ‘who they’d be’ business is accurate in any way, but it like it so I’m keeping it.)

I’m telling you, we need a campaign poster in which Harris and Walz are dressed in Men in Black suits and shades, with the tagline “Protecting the earth from the scum of the universe.” We need a poster of them in ordinary clothes and the tagline “The Not-So-Odd Couple.” We need a poster of them in Wyld Stallyns t-shirts, standing outside a phone booth, with the tagline “Be excellent to each other. And party on, dudes!”

This presidential campaign is going to be different. Yes, it’ll get ugly at times, and yes we’ll probably be disappointed by something Harris or Walz does, and yes yes yes we’ll still have to see Trump and JD being creepy and hostile and mean-spirited. But buddy movies are all about two people overcoming that shit by being supportive of each other. And the very best buddy movies, like the very best rom-coms, have happy endings.

And let also say this: we fucking deserve a happy ending.

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