Everyone is entitled to their own feelings about the newest Ahsoka ep, but what we aren’t going to do is body-shame Lars Mikkelsen

The Sip: A GNR Modern Name AU

Chapter 7: An Award Show Interview

Previous Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Taglist: @str4nge-haze

Chapter Summary: Alanah still has doubts that Duff likes her. Sandy is getting annoyed with how stupid Alanah is.

“What do you mean it only takes you a couple of minutes to get ready?” I stared at Duff in bewilderment as I continued to get ready. I had already finished my hair, and was currently attempting to do my eyeshadow,

My stomach performed backflips as his laughter filled my bathroom. I smiled as I looked at my phone. I wished we weren’t FaceTiming. I wished I was sitting on his couch next to him giggling at his stupid jokes.

It had been two weeks since he came over to the apartment and helped me cook for my livestream. The first week was filled with hopeful texts of hanging out that were quickly canceled because Axl had scheduled time for them to work on some band related stuff. The second week was mainly filled with text and late night calls with no attempt at meeting up.

I didn’t ever ask him to elaborate because he seemed rather...frustrated by it. After the second time he canceled our hangout time (or as Sandy teased, our date), he left me a couple of voicemails that consisted of him drunkly telling me about how his day was or some crazy shit him and Izzy got into. There was always an apology though, he always apologized for canceling our plans.

“I just take a quick shower and then throw on some clothing,” He casually replied. How could this not be a big deal to him.

“Hey Alanah, do you have a sec to zip up my dress?” I froze when I heard Sandy call from the other room.

“One sec, I’ll be back in a moment or two,” I said to Duff as I went to Sandy’s bedroom.

Sandy had been freaking out for the past month about this event, and the fact that it was actually happening didn’t feel real. A few months back YouTube had asked us to perform some red carpet interviews at the AMAs, and we quickly agreed. A little while later Mark, my ex boyfriend (which still feels weird to say), informed me that he was the reason we received the opportunity.

Was it because Sandy and I were borderline influencers? Nope.

Was it all our hard work, late nights, and taking multiple jobs to get the YouTube channel to where it is now? Nope.

According to him, it was because his manager was having sex with some high up at YouTube manager, and was able to pull some strings to get us the opportunity.

I never found out the real answer to if we got it because of him or not, and part of me doesn’t want to know it.

“You okay?” I turned to Sandy as she spoke.

“Yeah why? This is a huge huge opportunity for us!” I faked a smile as if I had Vaseline on my teeth.

“God, you’re a terrible actress,” I could feel Sandy’s eyes on me as I tried to avoid her gaze.

“You’re thinking about Mark?” I continued to avoid looking at her not wanting to tell her she was right.

She leaned in close and whispered, “you are so much better off without him. You two were barely even dating for crying out loud. Thanks for zipping up my dress and say goodbye to your tipsy future boyfriend. We have an awards show to get to.”

I felt a smile cross my face as I walked back to the bathroom to say goodbye before heading out.

“Hey stranger,” I giggled as I spoke into my phone hoping to pull his attention from talking to Slash who also sounded tipsy.

“Hey, what does your dress look like so I can easily find you at the after party?” My cheeks felt like fire as he spoke.

“Umm I’m not invited to the after party,” my heart was racing from embarrassment as I admitted to him I wasn’t invited. He was a rockstar and I was practically no one.

“Wanna come as my plus one?” My heart skipped a beat. We were finally going to hang out in person again.

To say he caught me off guard was an understatement. I was screaming at myself to say yes, but words couldn’t come out.

“Or...” before he could continue talking I interrupted him saying, “yeah, yes, of course! I’d love to.”

My heart melted as a smile crossed his face.

FRIENDS.

He just wants to hang out. If it was he would have called it that. Friends, remember? There is a difference between being called a plus one and a girlfriend or date for the night. Plus I don’t have any feelings for him, not a single ounce. We were just friends, plus I just had a messy breakup. I should for I on my work right now.

I heard him shush someone who was in the room with him which only made me giggle. It was cute. It was cute, not him, it.

“So that dress? What does it look like, so I can find you?” He asked again, his smile never leaving her face. He was excited which only made my stomach, once again, perform backflips.

“I’ll give you three hints, okay? It’s sparkly, long and tight,” I grinned as he I watched him jokingly put on a thinking face.

“I like the choice. Can’t wait to see you in it,” he wasn’t helping the whole friends thing with comments like that, but he was a rockstar. Aren’t all rockstars just flirty? He probably had some groupie or supermodel he was spending time with as well.

————

“Who are you looking forward to performing tonight?”

Sandy and I stood at the red carpet for the non A list celebrities interviewing an up and coming indie artist. She was sweet, and it was a lot of fun interviewing her. I was defiantly going to buy her album when I got home.

“I would have to say I’m excited to see Motley Crue perform tonight...I can’t explain it, but something about bag boys,” my interviewee giggled as Sandy sent me a teasing look.

“Yeah, we get what you mean,” Sandy then smirked while looking at the camera.

Jesus Christ, I swore that she shipped Duff and I harder than our fans after the Duff’s and my cooking video.

“Good luck tonight,” I smiled as she left heading off to get her picture taken.

“So I take it you have been reading the comments on some of our videos?” I watched as a smirk formed on her face.

“We are just friends,” I whispered back as we waited for our next interviewee.

“Honey, are you in Egypt right now?”

I turned towards Sandy in confusion as she spoke. What was she getting on about?

“Because you’re in De-Nile! Get it because denial sounds like the Nile River,” Sandy laughed as if she thought it was the funniest joke in the world. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

“If Duff has said that you would have laughed,” she teased as she playfully pushed me.

“Speak of the Devil...” I looked over to see Duff and Slash at the fork in the carpet traffic. From what I gathered there were two paths. The first path was the one that the A list celebrities would take like Motley Crue, Beyoncé, Ed Shereen or even the Kardashians would walk down. Anybody who was anybody went down that path. We were standing on the second path where the minor internet stars, influencers, and smaller artists were sent.

I smiled as Duff sent me a small wave and weaved through the pack of people despite people clearly telling them to go down the other path. He looked excited to see me which didn’t help the nerves that filled me.

He looked hot. Did rockstars not need to wear a shirt under their jackets? Was that a thing?

FRIENDS, Alanah, FRIENDS.

Oh God I was staring, was it okay to stare? Were people noticing I was staring?

“Hey, ‘Lanah,” Duff smirked as he wrapped his arm around my waist.

FRIENDS

F R I E N D S.

He is just being flirty because he is tipsy.

“Hey Duff, hey Slash how’s it going,” Sandy cut in as I slowly began to panic on the inside. She could read me like a book.

“Can’t fucking complain, how about you?” Slash responded. I could barely focus as I felt Duff’s eyes undressing me as Sandy continued to interview Slash.

I wasn’t thinking when I touched his ass. I don’t know why I did it, I just did it. I looked up at Duff, worried to see a confused look on his face. I felt a smirk grow on my face as I saw Duff’s reaction. He liked it.

I was pulled from my thoughts as I felt Sandy lightly bump into me, prompting me to actually participate in the interview.

“Congrats on being nominated for two awards, favorite heavy metal artists and best heavy metal video. What do you think of your competition?” I asked earning a smile from Sandy who was growing tired of interviewing a drunk Slash who was borderline rambling. He was still a sweetheart thought.

“Well, if Axl was here he would say something cockily and condescending like...we don’t have competition. We’re in a league of our own, or we don’t pay attention to our competition,” Duff said with Slash joining him in laughter.

I sent Sandy a quick glance before Duff continued talking, “All joking aside, we are here for music, not the awards. We do what we do because we love what we do.”

“The nominations and awards are nice though,” Slash added before a security guy came by.

“Look like we’re getting kicked out, it was nice seeing you girls,” Slash commented as he watched the security guard walking directly towards them.

“I love the dress, can’t wait to rip it off you tonight,” Duff whispered in my ear sending goosebumps down my spine before his hand grazed across my ass. He sent me a smirk and followed Slash towards the security guard, so we wouldn’t get in trouble.

“Yup...just friends,” I turned to Sandy as she wore a smirk that would put Nikki Sixx’s smirk to shame.

766

My dad is starting to gear me up for ~adult life~ and has made me start a Paypal, a social security number, and all that jazz and it’s making me immensely anxious, so expect more surveys than usual in the next few days lmao.

How frequently are you inclined to read, and how much? Not frequent at all. I’ll read only if I have to; and when it comes to reading for leisure, I’ll only reread books I’ve already read in the past. I find it sad considering how big of a bookworm I was as a kid. When was the last time you questioned the direction your life was taking? Right now, what with the Covid crisis. My life would have been mapped out ever so neatly if my life’s schedule went as expected - finish the sem, finish my thesis, graduate, travel for a bit, get a job. Now that that has been thrown out the window I essentially have to start from scratch and go into the world blind. And if you've been reading my surveys, you’ll know my least favorite thing to have to deal with is big change. Would you say that your personal views align with society's, generally? Not the society I have no choice but to be surrounded by, which is mostly Catholic, homophobic, sexist, and just very backwards in general. But when it comes to people I voluntarily choose to be with, like the friends I make and the people I follow on social media, I make sure their views are as liberal as mine so I don’t go completely crazy. ^ If not, in what ways do your opinions drastically differ? I just said it, but yeah Filipinos continue to be very resistant to more open-minded, modern views. Girls will still often be told to cover up, religions other than Christianity are viewed as wrong and of lower status, abortion is the most scandalous thing a woman could do, drug addicts must be handled with bullets and not rehab, etc. Basically everything you can roll your eyes over, that’s what Filipinos will tend to side with; and it’s very difficult to want to have your voice heard here because you will be ridiculed and thrown Bible verses instead of legit arguments. What small things have the ability to get under your skin? People who only start picking their orders once they’re the ones at the cashier, drivers who do have their turn signal on but will go THE OTHER DIRECTION, finding out there’s a car accident and I find out traffic has been building up only because drivers slow down to look at the crash site. The last one makes me especially mad every time it happens lol.

When was the last time you were caused to be upset with someone? I haven’t been upset with anyone in a while. If I’m upset these days, blame it on the weather. ^ Have you made up with that individual yet, or will you ever? I will never be ok with the summer climate over here. What is something small that has the ability to cure a bad mood? Hearing a favorite song on the radio as I’m driving, hitting all the green lights while driving, finding a parking spot near the mall entrance... man I really miss going out :(( What beverage is best capable of quenching your thirst? Water. What was the last big change through which you went? It hasn’t happened yet but I’ll be graduating and will officially be done with school forever in a few weeks. I mean, that’s the case unless I decide to take up a master’s but honestly the chances of that are super blurry as I’m over school at this point. ^ Do you deal well with change, typically? Have you always? I am honestly terrible at it and as much as I’m excited to get my first real job, I’m also scared to see how my adjustment pans out. I’ve had a pattern for not being able to adapt well to a new phase – I didn’t adjust in high school until my junior year, and I didn’t adjust in college until the latter half of my sophomore year. I really wish the trend doesn’t continue in the workplace because I can’t handle another mental slump. How do you feel after spending a great quantity of time online? I feel nothing? I mean I need the internet to do almost everything so it’s just become a part of daily routine; it’s normalized already. I would tend to feel some shame if I’ve been unproductive online when I could’ve been doing much more important stuff, but I’ve been avoiding that - I’ve been working on my thesis again, working on stuff for my org, participating in my other extracurriculars, etc. I feel relatively productive given the current circumstances. What do you consider to be the biggest drawback to being you? Like I said, I’m terrible with change. It takes forever for me to warm up to new conditions, and in that period I tend to feel very alone and miserable. I don’t know why I’ve never learned to just get out and make friends earlier. What do you consider the best part of being who you are? ^ Related to said drawback, once I have adjusted to the change, I do very well. I make lots of friends and am back to being my bubbly, social self. I just wish She could come out more easily. What kinds of things do you have on display in your room? Several Audrey Hepburn frames, a couple of paintings, and a poster of a Korean actor. What do you think your room and its contents say about you, if anything? I think more than anything you’ll see how my interests have shifted over the years haha. There’s tons of old WWE magazines, Paramore albums, Beyoncé albums and DVDs, crafty stuff like painting sets and coloring books, etc. When was the last time you felt insecure about something/some situation? Half hour ago when my dad was encouraging me to register for a bunch of grownup stuff. He doesn’t pester me a lot in small bits everyday (which I would really prefer); he’s more of a I’ll-dump-all-this-shit-on-you-in-one-go kind of person, which pressures me even more. I mean I’m excited for this new chapter but I wish he didn’t tell me to start a bank account and a Paypal and a social security number and a TIN all at the same time. What is something about which you are very confident or self-assured? I pride myself on being a good worker/co-worker. Do you ever stop to contemplate infinity? No. Are you comfortable amongst nature, or does the wilderness discomfit you? Sure, it makes me feel at peace. When was the last time someone or something caught you off guard? Andrew did a buuuunch of progress on our thesis this afternoon after a few days of passive-aggressively telling him that I’ve been doing all the work in the last week. How much time do you put into maintaining your appearance and hygiene? I don’t want to take a lot of time since I’m usually on a tight schedule but I do put enough effort to look and smell nice, if that makes sense. Like I wouldn’t take hours to do my makeup and put up an intricate hairdo, but I will still make sure I don’t exit the house looking shabby. Are there any foods you eat daily? . . . Or wish you could? I have rice and some sort of meat everyday. When was the last time someone new entered your life? Start of the semester when we had a new wave of applicants joining our org. ^ What was your first impression of that individual? They all seemed nice and fun to be around, and I’m glad their batch has had amazing chemistry from the get-go. But because of the lockdown I never got to know them all that well so I’m a little sad about it, since I’m already graduating. Do you put much thought into your handwriting? No? It’s not really something I can control anyway haha. What are some of the top priorities in your life right now? Ugh I’ve talked about this so much on here that it’s almost stupid because I take these surveys to begin with to distract myself from my current anxieties only for the surveys to ask about said anxieties ksksksks. Can I say pass for now? Lol In general, how do you feel about romantic relationships? They’re nice, and it feels good to have a person you can share everything to, be affectionate with, who supports you in everything, etc. I’ve been used to being in one for so long now I honestly can’t imagine being single. Which emotional sensation inconveniences or bothers you the most? As if I haven’t talked about it on this single survey enough, anxiety. Are you capable of consoling others in their grief? It depends on how bad is the thing they’re grieving and how accepting they are of help. I don’t know if I’m capable of talking to someone who has lost a parent, but I’ll be able to talk to a friend who’s going through a breakup. Do you ever find it awkward to compliment another being? No. I can give compliments, but I’m unable to take them. When was the last time you had a new experience? What was it? Earlier this afternoon when my dad made me make a Paypal hahaha. Skskss plz stop reminding me of scary things Do you dress more for yourself, or to the expectations of others? A little bit of both. I want to look nice, but I also make sure I keep up with the trends so others think I look nice. What kinds of things tend to stress you out? The stuff I’ve mentioned throughout this survey... What is one way you cope when you feel like crap? I watch videos, I eat whatever I’m craving, I talk about it with my girlfriend, I hug my dog... I have a lot of coping mechanisms.

Name an insult you regularly receive, if there is one? My mom tells me so many insults on a regular basis I can put each one of them in a spinning wheel and give you whatever comes out lol. Name a site that takes up a lot of your time? YouTube. What is something you used to believe about life that you no longer do? That money was easy to acquire. It was certainly so easy to fantasize about as a kid. What is a lesson you have recently learned? I don’t recall picking up anything new lately. Realizations, sure; but I’m not sure about lessons. Do you have a tendency to look on the morbid side of life? Sometimes. When was the last time you went shopping? What did you buy? A weekend before the quarantine. I bought a couple of new tops. When you shop for clothing, how long does it take you? 10-15 minutes tops. I just pick out whatever looks pretty. What is something fun you have done within the past week? It’s been a horrid week. I can’t answer this question. What is something you hope you never have to do again? Stay at home with nothing to do for this long. How does the rain affect your mood, if it does? It makes me feel happy and at peace.

M.I.A., Fariha Róisín, and the rhetorical triumph of passive listening

I’ve been thinking about the rise and fall of M.I.A., the might-aughts musical sensation who was briefly the most celebrated alternative pop artist in the world. 2004’s Piracy Funds Terrorism and 05’s Arular generated some of the most positive press I’d ever seen from outlets like Pitchfork (which, back then, still kinda counted as an alternative to dominant culture). 2007’s crossover hit Kala was one of the most genuinely dangerous and experimental records ever to enter the mainstream of American culture. Then... she just kinda went away. 

M.I.A.’s politics were miles beyond the limp, bland positivity of the era’s liberalism. She was literally militant, lending her support for the Tamil Tigers. A lyric on her song “Sunshowers,” (“Like the PLO I don’t surrender”), was considered dangerous enough that it got her banned from entering the US for several months.  This was not the fuzzy, feelgood liberalism of Obama, nor even the “fierceness” of someone like Beyonce, whose material accomplishments are considered a substitute for actual politics. This was a literal refugee woman telling the world that, actually, things really fucking suck, and if you want them to get better you you’re going to have to fight.

Of course, this engendered pushback--first and foremost from the “liberals” at Pitchfork. M.I.A. complained, rightfully, that music reviewers tended to give far too much credit to the male collaborators of female musicians. No one would attribute the genius of Purple Rain to Wendy and Lisa, so why did all of her reviewers spend so much time talking about Diplo? Pitchfork responded by viciously smearing her next album and accusing her of uneven and naive politics. Other outlets followed suit, and by the turn of the decade she had fallen out of mainstream favor.

And so you’d think, with recent developments, that the liberal-leaning press would have switched positions in regard to M.I.A., maybe even apologize for the horrible treatment she received. After all, the meat of her criticism is now practically unquestionable. And so I was confused by this article from affidavit.art, which is a rather woke-leaning website. The piece’s author, Fariha Róisín, purports to demonstrate herself taking a nuanced and forgiving tack toward M.I.A., but in doing so she reinforces some of the most reactionary and regressive impulses of our current social justice paradigm. In reading through it, seeing how deftly it continues to smear M.I.A. for the crime of being a genuinely dissident artist, we can get a good bead on the self-destructive tendencies of wokeism.

Róisín’s article is a personal reflection upon her relationship with M.I.A. as an artist, starting with her infatuation with the M.I.A’s early work, and moving into political disappointment that culminated in her asking hostile questions to the artist at a MoMa panel. She frames things by explaining

I hadn’t listened to Maya’s [M.I.A.’s] work in a couple of years, after she somewhat embarrassingly responded off the cuff to a question about Black Lives Matter: “Is Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar going to say Muslim Lives Matter? Or Syrian Lives Matter? Or this kid in Pakistan matters?”

MIA’s comment, I would argue, is tone-deaf. Within the context that Róisín presents it, it certainly comes across as insensitive. The US criminal justice system is a world-historic atrocity that has ruined countless lives. It should be discussed in stark terms, and it’s fine to criticize someone who appears to not regard it with the severity it deserves.

But let’s look at MIA’s full quote, as it appeared in The Daily Standard:

“It’s interesting that in America the problem you’re allowed to talk about is Black Lives Matter. It’s not a new thing to me — it’s what Lauryn Hill was saying in the 1990s, or Public Enemy in the 1980s. Is Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar going to say Muslim Lives Matter? Or Syrian Lives Matter? Or this kid in Pakistan matters? That’s a more interesting question. And you cannot ask it on a song that’s on Apple, you cannot ask it on an American TV programme, you cannot create that tag on Twitter, Michelle Obama is not going to hump you back”

Knowing anything about MIA’s personal history makes it clear that she did not intend to diminish the horrors of American judicial violence. When one reads the full quote (oh, the horror of having to parse an entire paragraph!), it’s clear she’s stressing a bigger picture here, criticizing the fact that the vast majority of US liberals still refuse to criticize US militarism, even as they’ve become near-pathological in defining themselves as social justice crusaders. She is, in short, criticizing the ineffective and narrow politics of people like Róisín.

I cannot speak for Kendrick and Beyonce in specific, but I have known dozens of putatively woke people--people who consume all the right cultural artifacts, who would never speak over a black person in a workplace meeting, who have been very vocal critics of police violence for upwards of 4 whole years--who still proudly celebrate the armed forces.

Through direct military action, support for brutal dictatorships, and otherwise meddling in the affairs of other countries in pursuit of our own financial interests, the American Military Industrial Complex has been the single biggest purveyor of human suffering worldwide for the past 70-odd years. They have killed literally tens of millions of people, ruined the lives of a few hundred million more, and immiserated billions. US foreign policy spends trillions of dollars killing brown people and enriching a handful of elites. And, to most American wokeists, that constitutes at best a complicated situation worthy of consideration and debate--unlike, say, someone who supports the wrong movie to win best picture, or who doesn’t celebrate Cardi B--these people deserve uniform and unambiguous condemnation. This perplexing mindset is what M.I.A/ was criticizing.

Of course, those who operate within this mindset are going to reject this criticism. They will refuse to just listen to those who question their approach to social justice. They will speciously declare such criticism as evidence of the evil nature of the person who uttered it, demand the “cancellation” of said person, and use all criticisms of their condemnation as proof of their own righteousness--if what they were saying wasn’t good and true, then why did so many bad and wrong people disagree with it?

Unless, that is, they take so-called “nuanced” route outlined by Róisín. In the face of overwhelming evidence of the vicious self-certainty of her peers, Róisín  attempts to deflect such criticism by introducing a new plane of equivocation. MIA isn’t evil, she says. The artist is just deeply ignorant, a defect born of her inability to listen in the correct manner:

Cancelling people is exhilarating, especially when it’s done by marginalized folks, those who so often experience the world through white supremacy—sometimes as a soft and subtle barrage, other times through vicious and terrifying means. The ability to dictate someone’s fate, when you’ve long been in the shadows, is a kind of victory. Like saying “Fuck You” from underneath the very heavy sole of a very old shoe. But while outrage culture has its merits, nuance has evaporated. So often it involves reducing someone to their mistakes, their greatest hits collection of fuck-ups.

This does not mean that we should simply forgive an untoward statement. It certainly does not mean we should try to understand where that statement came from. Nor does it even mean we should read a statement within the context of the full paragraph in which it appeared. Oh no. It means, instead, we should ascribe that statement to ignorance:

What I believe Maya is trying to say is that American issues have become global. What she lacks the language to say is: how do we also care about the many millions of people around the world who are dying, right now? Why does American news, American trauma, American death, always take center-stage?

It’s pretty fucking insulting to insist that M.I.A. “lacks language.” But Róisín makes the exact same assertion again, a few paragraphs later.  She ends the lead-in to her description of the moment in which she calls out M.I.A. (which is interminably long and ponderous) with the following, deeply chilling quote: “You can understand Maya’s perspective without agreeing with her, but I had another question. How do you hold someone you love accountable?” Indeed. Even if you try in earnest to understand someone’s perspective, that does not absolve you of your duty to punish them for their word-crimes.

During the talk, M.I.A, rightfully, defended herself against accusations of racism. We can all agree that’s a mistake. In reality, it’s a mistake because wokeists considering defending oneself to constitute proof of guilt. In “nuanced” woke framing, it’s a mistake because it reveals a refusal to just listen:

Her incomprehension that people could be upset by her remarks reflected her naivety about how the internet kills its darlings. Two weeks prior to our meeting, Stephon Clark was murdered, shot twenty times in the back by two police officers. To this she responded: “Yeah, well no-one remembers the kid in Syria who is being shot right now either. Or the kid that’s dying in Somalia.” It made me wonder if she was unwell, not on a Kanye level, but just enough to lack the mechanisms it takes to understand perspective.

[ … ]

Laconic and aloof, I remind Maya on stage that anti-blackness is not an American issue, it’s universal. Perhaps it’s ego, or shameful anger, but I know she cares. Before she begins to speak I realize that you have to build empathy when someone fails you. That they’re not yours to own. You have to try your best to talk to them, and that it’s never helpful to reduce them to a punchline. I believe in Maya’s possibility to grow. I believe in the possibility of change. Maybe that’s my own naivety, but it’s also my political stance. It’s not about compromising ideology, or even making space for the existence of those ideas. It’s about creating dialogue. She begins to speak, and I listen. Holding space for her when I can without biting my tongue. But, mainly, asserting myself as hard as I can, with as much compassion as the situation deserves. We are sisters in this fight, and we’re butting heads—but both critique and accountability are important. So I remind her with a glance, with an interjection, that I’m here to talk, too.

Ascribing an ideological disagreement to one side’s refusal to listen to the other side is perhaps the laziest form of argument. It is, after all, the preferred tactic of Jordan Peterson’s idiot fans. The assumption is that one side is manifestly correct, and so the only way someone could disagree with them is they didn’t bother to listen to what that side had to say. Even if they claim to have listened, they must have listened incorrectly. Otherwise, they would certainly agree with what the other person was saying.

Róisín takes this process well beyond the Peterson fans’ simple wailing of “you need to watch more of his videos!”  She instead crafts an ethos of false humility out of a long and detailed description of attempting to not dismiss MIA’s viewpoint even as she does exactly that, of announcing how little pleasure she’s taking in describing the manifest evil of the horrible, ignorant pop star.  

This displays the bizarre definition of “listening” as the act of simply remaining silent while another person speaks. You’ll notice that Róisín doesn’t bother to cite anything M.I.A. said--it’s unlikely she retained anything, other than perhaps appropriate pull-quote that would, outside of context, allow her to present the artist as an ignorant racist. Listening remains, by definition, a unidirectional affair. But turning it into a completely passive act turns it into a powerful rhetorical tool. Listeners need not attempt to understand speakers (that might actually go against the spirit of proper Listening). It’s still okay to demonize someone for something they never actually said. The power of passive listening is that it allows us to feign humility and claim its mantle of righteousness, to disguise dismissal as empathy.

Those who have actually studied race theory might notice a pretty incredible contradiction in Róisín’s penultimate paragraph. Her belief that anti-blackness is a universal constant is perhaps ascendent now, at least within middlebrow woke media. But this is by no means an accepted understanding within actual scholarship: Adolph Reed, Barbara and Karen Fields, Asad Haider, Walter Benn-Michaels, Stephen Steinberg, and Kenneth Warren would all strongly disagree with such an assertion.

Broadly, these scholars (and dozens of others, all erased by Róisín) argue that such a conception of anti-blackness is actually incredibly regressive, as it is based on an understanding of race that cannot be combatted through personal or political action. If Róisín had bothered to actually listen--in the sense where she not only received but actively engaged with what other people were saying--she might not have made such a comment. But that’s not what she does. That’s not what is safe. That’s not what is possible. What is safe, and possible, and popular is exactly what Róisín does in this article: she presents an incredibly imperious argument in the guise of pathological humility; her perspective becomes validated precisely because of its dismissiveness. Nevermind its self-contradictions. Nevermind its profound inefficacy. She’s right, her critics are wrong, and that is all that anyone is allowed to say.

Translation of Alex Turner’s interview in ICON magazine 

Alex Turner, leader of Arctic Monkeys, the biggest rock band of the 21st century, and perhaps its last hope

"What the hell is this?"

We've just arrived at the location of our interview with Alex Turner, leader of Arctic Monkeys, who is absolutely awestruck. It's the first floor of the Bethnal Green Town Hall Hotel in London, an ancient Edwardian building with touches of art deco, converted, of course, into a hotel. In a room of the first floor, a photoshoot has just taken place.

"Well, I don't know, I think the people are getting married," says the press agent, attempting to explain some of the excitement it's provoked in Alex being in the space, without getting too carried away: we still have a job to do. Alex begins to run through the hall, the site of council meetings of the Bethnal Green since 1910, when the building was constructed. Nearly all civic government buildings in Spain are smaller, and certainly not as lovely as this place.

The writer of Fake Tales of San Francisco has already seated himself in the chair we suspect belongs to the mayor.

"What do you want? A fine or a wedding?" he jokes.

The press agent leaves, but the leader of the band formed in the era when teenagers no longer wanted to form rock bands can't keep still. He runs between the benches until he's standing in the spot meant for the speaker.

"A hundred pounds! Look here's £100!" He procures two rosy £50 notes. I suggest to him that we should keep them. He laughs. I decide not to insist. I say instead we should start the interview, after all we are here to talk about Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, the sixth album by the band, not to get married or chat. He stops laughing. It's a shame that Alex Turner becomes such a timid person, careful and cautious, when the tape recorder starts. Before he assumes the role of frontman of the group that launched AM four years ago and made it the best selling vinyl record of the 21st century, he permits himself one last question.

"Would you get married here?" We look around - myself still thinking about those £100 - while we get cozy in two benches in the last row. I answer no, that's it's all very interesting, but not at all romantic.

"I agree. Motion denied," he decides.

Rising to fame in the middle of the last decade, Arctic Monkeys have become a phenomenon thanks to a handful of songs a friend converted into mp3 - they say that they, despite being part of the digital age, had problems even turning on a computer - which soon began to spread on the Internet. It was the raucous, intelligent, and British response to The Strokes. Seeing them on the stage in those early days, before the premiere of their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not, which would see the light of day in 2006 and would become the fastest selling debut album ever in Britain within in its first week of release, was a tremendously peculiar experience. Four kids at 3 a.m. making a spectacular noise in the Sala Razzmatazz in Barcelona, but who could barely reach the bar counter to order a drink.

More than a decade has passed and they've recorded four albums more. A brilliant sequel (Favourite Worst Nightmare), another risky, rapturous and rocking (Humbug, recorded en the California desert with Josh Homme), a delicate and underrated return to pop (Suck It and See) and a million-dollar beast, a sex-soundtrack record called AM. And then, they stopped.

"When we stopped touring in 2014, nearly everyone in the band was about to get married, or having kids, or another kid. The end of those concerts was much like the end of another chapter. We were all 28 or 29 and it felt like everything was about to change. During this neverending tour I thought that record would be with me forever. It was the longest tour we had ever done. Now I think we extended it because we knew that when it ended it would be the end of something bigger than just a series of concerts. I expected everything to change, well, I felt that even though the numbers said the opposite, in the end we had less than we started with," remembers Turner, about the final days we would see the band together in public.

Now all living in the U.S., each of the band members went on his own path. Alex returned to The Last Shadow Puppets, a band loved by Arctic Monkeys devotees. There Turner splits responsibilities with his friend Miles Kane, a guy with impeccable taste but with terrible ideas. In 2016 the pair played the mainstage at Primavera Sound, where they were the headliners. That performance was grotesque. The image of Turner, who looked like a mix between an actor in Rebeldes and a finalist in an Elvis impersonators competition, had only a semblance of Arctic Monkeys of AM. In that context he made a bit of a joke of himself. Compared to the boy who, as an adolescent, was rejected by a second-hand clothing shop in Sheffield because he was too shy, it had gotten out of hand.

"That was..." His words are halting, he speaks very slowly, he leaves sentences unfinished and even stops a joke short if he finds the punchline isn't as funny as he'd thought. "I think what I wanted to say with that image and that attitude have been said. It's over."

Now Turner sports long hair and a beard which has been the object of controversy among his fans, who even launched a Change.org campaign for him to shave it.

"There's a lot of scrutiny around our next step, I know. We've always tried to be discreet with what we do, where and with whom. It's normal, but I don't think we do it on purpose. In this age, it's hard to keep secrets. With this record we tried and even just getting to the studio, the sound engineer goes and posts a picture of us. Everyone is so crazy these days, they act like they're Columbo. 'I saw this, I spotted that guy...'" explains Turner when asked how it's possible that a band as big as his, who will be the headliners at Primavera Sound and at MadCool, has managed to make sure that, even with only a month left until the record's launch, no one knows absolutely anything about it.

"I don't know if not getting involved in social media is something we do on purpose to protect the band, but it helps," says Turner, introducing the topic of being offline. "Maybe it's not in our DNA to expose ourselves. I've put so much into the music that I don't know what more I can do with that. I can't open a Twitter account because I think everything's there, in the songs. I'd make a fool of myself if I started tweeting. See, social media doesn't bother me, truthfully, but when you become the version of yourself you've created in the virtual world there's something there that allows people to do their worst against you. And you can also do your worst against them. The consequences of that I can't even imagine, but I don't want them."

We've had to listen to Tranquility Base in a version that downloads and is scheduled for automatic deletion the next week. The band have asked us not to ask anything personal, days after an encounter Alex had with a journalist from The Times. There is no single before the release, but there is a new logo for the band's image. The only photograph of Turner is the one taken by a guard in an airport days before this meeting and which has reactivated the fierce debate with respect to the Sheffielder's beard. It's a record release like the ones before, but Turner hardly seems like a global superstar. I tell him that one time I interviewed Beyoncé and they sat me at one end of a massive table and told me that I shouldn't even think about touching her, and that, on another occasion interviewing Chris Cornell, I had to go into a hotel room that was completely dark and had to confirm that the voice answering my questions was actually the grunge singer's.

"Would you like some water?" Turner interrupts, and, before I can respond, fills my glass.

During the hours after our meeting, the first new photo of the band is made public (they look as though they're dressed for a wedding in December of 1972 in Iceland) and they publish the details and tracklisting of their latest record, which was recorded in Paris, London, and Los Angeles, where the band members now reside. But what most strikes me is the first line. "I just wanted to be one of The Strokes, now look at the mess you've made me make," sings Turner on “Star Treatment”, a gem of a song that marks the tone of an album destined to confound all those who expected something bombastic, expansive, and hormonal. The LP has songs with titles as fabulous as The Ultracheese, Batphone, or The World's First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip. Imagine Richard Hawley going on tour with comedian Andy Kaufman and performing only in Sheraton hotels located in state capitals, or Scott Walker in the pub, singing after a Sheffield United match. It's deliciously decadent and promises to polarize the opinions of millions of their fans. Is [Turner] nervous? And, more importantly, is he confident?

"Let's see, I think I remember feeling a bit like that with this last record. I wasn't sure if it was the right album. Are we going down the wrong path? It always happens. When I showed the first songs to my manager, to the people from the record label and my colleagues, a lot of the reactions were 'It's very unique.' I thought it was unique, but not that much. I doubted whether it was the right record for the Monkeys. So, Jamie came to my house and stayed with me for two weeks while we recorded. His enthusiasm for the songs confirmed to me that it was the right choice. If this is what comes out of me, that's what it is. I think we can do what we want to do, it's our band. So there's no reason to worry about whether it's a hit or not," he says about a record that, from time to time, evokes loneliness.

"Yes, a little bit," concedes Turner. "There's always been something in me that has made me isolated in life. But until now, I don't know why, I've avoided touching upon that on a creative level. The words passed through a very long process of refinement. It's been complicated getting here. For example, that first line about The Strokes. I fought hard against it, I wanted it but I didn't want it. I thought, "Hell, I'll leave it, because I know I'll change it because it's impossible that I'll end up saying this nonsense." And it got to a point that I thought, "If I feel like this, why not say it? I should be honest."

country singer bitty accidentally writes a hit about nhl player jack

Based on this post about the inspiration for Dolly Parton’s Jolene, which is somehow even gayer than the song itself. Bless you, Dolly.

It had started out so innocently.

Bitty had been tired after hours of this meet n’ greet, and when that tall drink of water walked up to get his autograph, Bitty couldn’t help the words that tumbled out of his mouth.

“Gosh, well aren’t you the most handsome fella I’ve ever seen,” he said, reached for the outstretched CD--CD! Who even bought CDs anymore?--and readied his Sharpie. “What’s your name, hun?”

“Uh, Jack,” the man said, pretty eyes going wide. If he’d been more awake, Bitty might’ve felt bad for making a fan uncomfortable. But if this Jack really were a fan, then he certainly wouldn’t have a problem with another man complimenting him. And besides, he was handsome, with his wide shoulders and high cheekbones and eyes as blue as the summer sky.

“Jack,” Bitty repeated, signing the CD with little flourish. “Jack. That’s a nice name. Jack. Jack. That sounds like it should be a song, like a good, ol’ fashioned folk song or something. Blue-eyed Jack. Jack with the blue eyes.” He chuckled at his own Beyoncé joke, fatigue weighing heavily on his shoulders. “Here you go,” he said, handing Jack the autographed CD case and smiling widely at him. “Have a great day, Blue-Eyed Jack.”

“Thanks,” Jack said, giving him a shy grin. “You, too.”

Bitty sighed as he turned and left, watching a little too intently as he walked away. So it wasn’t just his face that was beautiful. Bitty would leave that out of the song.

The next fan stepped up, a preteen girl with a bad case of brace-face, and Bitty greeted her with a tired smile, all thought of Jack gone from his mind.

  Despite his fatigue, Bitty couldn’t sleep that night. He rarely could on roadies. It wasn’t the proximity to his band that was the problem--Bitty found the sounds of Chowder snoring to be comforting--but more the act of travelling that made Bitty antsy. He kept a small, potted fern next to his bed, hoping that it would make him feel rooted, but it rarely worked. With a sigh, Bitty pulled out his phone and scrolled through Instagram, hoping the ridiculous myriad of selfies from his guitarist, Ransom, would lull him to sleep.

When he enlarged the first photo on Ransom’s page, however, Bitty nearly dropped his phone. There, squeezed between Ransom and Chowder, was Blue-Eyed Jack. He looked even more handsome in this photo, eyes brought out by whatever filter Ransom had used. Met this mofo today, the caption read. #gofalcs #providencefalconers #zimmboni #bittyandthebiscuits

“Falconers,” Bitty murmured to himself. That was the hockey team his band loved, the one whose games he watched from time-to-time. The only player he could name was Alexei Mashkov, however, because of the shrine to him the boys had built over Ransom’s bunk. He wondered if Blue-Eyed Jack was one of Mashkov’s teammates.

Jack, Bitty thought, closing his eyes against the glare of the phone. Blue-Eyed Jack, don’t walk away. Blue-Eyed Jack, I’m here to stay. Lovely boy, can’t you see? Blue-Eyed Jack, come back to me.

“Oh.” Bitty sat up straight, smacking his head against the bunk. “OW.”

“Mmgh-” The bed above him rustled as Ransom woke. “You okay, Bits?”

“Hit my head,” Bitty whispered. “Thought of a song.”

“Cool,” Ransom muttered, clearly still mostly asleep. “Have fun.”

Bitty didn’t respond; he’d already pulled open his Google Docs app and was jotting down everything he could think of, brain whirring away, jumbled up with thoughts of pretty eyes and shy smiles.

  Bitty and Ransom wrote the song in a week. By the time their roadie was over and they were back in L.A., the entire band knew Blue-Eyed Jack and their manager, Lardo, got them into the recording studio as soon as she could.

The song was a bigger hit than Bitty ever could’ve imagined. Though he was out--and one of the first publicly gay country singers to not be dropped by his label--Bitty rarely sung directly about men and being attracted to them. It seemed risky, in the past; fans might not care what he did in his personal life, but that was a far cry from listening to two minute and forty-three seconds of a man loving other men.

Blue-Eyed Jack met plenty of resistance, of course, but the support was what totally overwhelmed Bitty. He cried every day that the song stayed at the top of the charts, and was met with merciless chirping from his bandmates. At the end of the day, though, they’d all pull him into a big group hug and let him cry with happiness.

“Dolly Parton’s been tweeting about you,” Ransom said one day, a few weeks after the single had been released. “Dude, I think she wants to duet with you. Dude. Dude.”

“I think I’ve died,” Bitty said, flopping back dramatically on the couch, head landing in Ransom’s lap. “Am I dead? I feel dead.”

Ransom looked up from his phone. “Very possible. Let’s write a song about it for the CD.”

And, yes, their label was now working towards a brand-new album, to feature and be named after Blue-Eyed Jack.

“M-kay,” Bitty hummed, closing his eyes as he thought about a fun twist on death for the next song. The support of fans has slain me dead, tell Dolly to sing at my funeral-

“How’d you even come up with Blue?” Ransom asked, tossing his notebook onto the coffee table. “It’s simple but, like, genius.”

“Oh, ha,” Bitty said, rubbing at his eyes. “You remember that stop in Boston? Where we met with fans for hours before the concert? I met the most beautiful man in the world, there, named Jack, and I was so tired I told him I’d write a song about him, he was just so pretty.”

“El-oh-el, Bits,” Ransom said with a snort. “He was really that pretty?”

“You should know,” Bitty retorted. “You met him, too. On your Insta.”

“Wait…” Ransom scrolled through his phone again, brow furrowing. “Are you talking about Jack Zimmermann?”

“He’s in the pic with you and Chowder,” Bitty said with a shrug. “Hashtags about the Falcs.”

“JACK FUCKING ZIMMERMANN?”  Ransom lept up from the couch, hands in the air. “BLUE-EYED JACK IS ABOUT THE LEAD SCORER IN THE FUCKING NHL? THE FIRST PLAYER TO OPENLY DATE A MAN? BITTY, WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?”

Bitty sat up, a little taken aback. “He’s gay?”

“Not the point, Bits,” Ransom hissed, grabbing Bitty’s shoulders. “He’s Bad Bob’s son. He’s magical.”

Bitty shrugged, wondering if Chowder and Dex would have the same reaction. “He’s also very pretty.”

“I’m tweeting about this,” Ransom said, scurrying to the door. “I’m tweeting this. This is epic. This is- I don’t even know what this is.” “Rans!” Bitty lept up, chasing him out of the room. “What’re you doing? Stop that!”

Bitty felt his phone buzz, knowing it was a Twitter notification without having to look.

Justin Oluransi @canadianbiscuit

Apparently @omgittybitty wrote Blue-Eyed Jack about @jlzimmermann1 and didn’t realize it???? EVERYONE SHAME BITTY W ME #shame

“You’re such a dick!” Bitty shouted as Ransom high-tailed it up the stairs to Dex’s and Chowder’s bedrooms. “I swear to Jesus I’m gonna replace you! Just you watch, you traitor!”

All he got in response was Ransom’s laughter and indignant shrieks from Dex and Chowder in response to the tweet. Bitty sighed and stalked off to the kitchen to bake, knowing already that he would be donating the pies that came out of this to the lovely couple nextdoor.

  The tweet went viral.

Ransom was banned from pie for weeks.

  They ended up on the east coast again to promote the new album before its release. Bitty had eventually forgiven Ransom, and the hockey community as a whole seemed to find the event more funny than offensive. The Falcs had replied to the tweet excitedly and Alexei Mashkov had followed them all on various social media platforms -- as did his teammates Birkholtz, Nurse, and Knight -- much to the excitement of the band.

Bitty told the story over and over again in different interviews that week as they bounced around TV studios, radio shows, and promotional events. He was starting to grow tired of talking about Jack Zimmermann--there were several songs on the album he was really excited about, but no one cared about that when they could chirp Bitty for his crush on a stupid hockey player.

They had a night off after an event in Boston, and Bitty was looking forward to finding some nice restaurant and turning in early, but the boys kidnapped him and pulled him into an Uber before he could protest.

“We’ve got plans, Bits,” Ransom said, slinging an arm around his shoulder. “You’re gonna love ‘em. Promise.”

“You’re still on thin ice, Justin,” Bitty sniped. “Watch yourself.”

The boys and Lardo just laughed and they rode away from the city, through some truly impressive traffic, until they hit 95. Then they were cruising, making smalltalk with the driver and chirping each other like little kids.

It wasn’t until Bitty noticed the signs on the side of the road that he realized just where they were heading. “Providence?” He asked, eyes narrowing. “Is this some sort of joke?”

“No joke,” Chowder said simply. “They’re playing the Flyers tonight. We’ve got tickets!”

“Really great tickets,” Dex added. “Lardo got in contact with their PR people-”

“Who’ve been loving the publicity from Rans’ tweet,” Lardo added.

“-and they sent us seats right up on the glass. It’s gonna be wicked ‘swawesome.”

‘Ugh, I hate you all,” Bitty said, crossing his arms. “The internet’s gonna eat this up and make my life miserable.” “Yep!” Ransom agreed. “Also, we’ve got passes to meet the team after.”

“Driver,” Bitty said, leaning over the console. “Driver please unlock the door and let me throw myself from the vehicle, thank you.”

Sadly, the driver just laughed, and Bitty resigned himself to his fate.

  Admittedly, the game was great. Even if the announcer did introduce Zimmermann as “Our very own Blue-Eyed Jack,” much to Bitty’s chagrin. But now, as they waited in a back room to meet the team, Bitty wondered if he still had time to escape. Ransom’s arm around his shoulder was tighter than he’d like, and meant running probably wouldn’t be an option.

“Holy crap, dudes!”

A very large man--Birkholtz--burst into the room, grinning at them all. “If it isn’t the band that made Zimmer-dick legendary!”

“That’s us!” Ransom said cheerfully. Bitty fought the urge to hide his face in his hands.

Behind Birkholtz came Nurse, Knight, and Mashkov, all greeting them exuberantly. Mashkov pulled Bitty into a tight hug, lifting him straight off his feet.

“Jay-Zed’s on his way,” Knight said easily, shaking hands with Lardo and Dex. “He’s been itchin’ meet you guys again since the song came out.”

“Oh, Lord,” Bitty whispered. “So he doesn’t hate it?”

Knight and Nurse exchanged an incredulous look. “Hate it? Dude,” Nurse laughed. “He loves it.”

“Oh.” Bitty felt his cheeks flush. “Well. That’s good.”

“You guys wanna get drinks once Zimmboni gets here?” Mashkov asked.

“Yes!” Ransom and Chowder shouted at the same time. Dex shrugged and nodded, trying to look cool. Bitty just sighed.

“What about me?”

Bitty felt his heart skip a beat. There, in the doorway, stood Jack Zimmermann, his eyes as blue as ever and his cheeks pink from the game. Lord, if Bitty hadn’t already written a song dedicated to this man’s beauty, he’d be writing one right now.

“Oh,” Jack said, a small smile blooming on his face. “Hi, again.”

“Hi,” Bitty said, forgetting basic human language as he drank in the sight of post-game Jack, freshly showered and glowing.

“Alright, we’ll meet you guys at the exit,” Birkholtz said, ushering the others from the room. “Have fun, use protec-”

He was cut off by Knight, who all but shoved him out the door, winking at Jack.

Then they were alone and Bitty thought he might pass out.

“So, um.” Bitty scratched at his neck. “I hear you like the song?”

Jack nodded, eyes cast down at his shoes. “I do. A lot. You really...wrote it about me?”

Bitty nodded quickly, not trusting his voice. Jack looked pleased, and the light of it in his eyes made them look even bluer and prettier.

“The guys mentioned getting drinks right now,” Jack said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “But, uh, I could really go for some food right now. Euh, dinner. With you? Tonight? Now?”

Bitty chewed on his bottom lip, nodding with every word Jack added. “I’d like that,” he said.

“Great.” Jack just smiled at him for a moment, then seemed to remember he needed to say something else. “I know a great Italian place not far from my apartment…”

Bitty felt his body burning at the implication, and nodded again. “That sounds perfect.”

“Perfect,” Jack repeated, and he held out his hand. Bitty took it and let Jack lead him from the room. They were almost at the parking garage where Jack’s car was kept when Jack paused with a wicked grin and asked, “So, you really think my face is that pretty, eh?”

Bitty pouted. “You keep up that chirping and you’re eating alone, mister. Teasing’s reserved for the third date.”

Jack laughed and kept walking, squeezing Bitty’s hand. “Guess I’ll have to wait until then.”

Bitty nodded, unable to hide his smile. “Guess you will.”

[READ PART 2]

[My writing tag]

[OMGCP Country Singer AU]

[My online novel, The Discourt Knife]

ONLYFANS: Has The Pandemic Been Responsible For A New Sexual Revolution?

The new revolution It's safe to say that no one is more surprised that Sonja Morgan is the fourth most popular star on OnlyFans than Sonja Morgan. After all, she's 57-years-old and most famous as longstanding 'Real Housewife of New York.' Not the sort of person you'd expect on a platform comprised mainly of nudes and homemade soft-core porn. But Morgan, who is always looking to expand her empire (toaster ovens and even a Nigerian football team are among the doomed enterprises known to 'RHONY' fans), thought there might be room on OnlyFans for her brand of middle-aged flooziness. 'I'm known on the show as "Sexy Sonja" or "Sexy J",' she told the Post: 'I'm always the first to go naked in the pool. I date younger guys. I have all these videos running around naked at swimsuit parties.' 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On the other hand, Vaughn is her own boss - a role that women in sex work have never had before. 'OnlyFans is no different tan the peep shows,' says Marina Adshade who is a Professor that specializes in the economics of sex and love. But with peep shows there were still owners, typically men, who controlled the hiring, salaries, frequency of work and hours, to say anything of some of the abysmal unsanitary conditions. Any sex worker in 2021, liberated by modern technology, would ever put up with any of that. 'OnlyFans and cam girls can only bee seen as a good thing,' Adshade said: 'If someone is a sex worker of their own accord - I see now downside to this.' Stephanie Michelle has been on OnlyFans for about four years, after her former platform Patreon stepped back from sexual content, and she said the pandemic has been more profitable than she could have predicted. 'I'm like, "What's happening?" I'm just posting my boobs on the internet, but business has been booming, and all of us are at home bored out of our minds.' She won't divulge her age (because when you're a sex worker over 30, you lose half of your clientele), or her monthly income, but her base rate of $14,00 per month has helped support her husband, who is an out of work cinematographer, as well as their three cats. 'I don't do penetration,' she says: 'But then I learned you could literally crochet scarves on OnlyFans.' Which then brings us onto Bella Thorne, and though you can post whatever you like to OnlyFans, from cooking to decorating videos, it's known for it's sexual content. So obviously, when Bella Thorne joined, fans flocked thinking they will get to see the former Disney star gone bad in the nude, but she remained fully clothed. In the wake of a really big backlash to what some users had considered false advertising, OnlyFans put caps on what creators can charge, as well as what the user can tip, per day as well as other restrictions. As of August 2020, $50 is the limit for exclusive content per month (Its like paying for an additional streaming service), with $100 cap on tips. 'Bella Thorne made promises and didn't deliver, and that makes sex workers look bad,' Michelle says: 'She's making us look like we don't care about our fans, or that we're liars and cheats. The price cap didn't affect my business - however, that doesn't make me any less pissed off about the cap. I'm very upset for my friends' - other content creators who suffered as a result of the caps. Michelle sees OnlyFans as a net positive, one that is forcing society to reconsider what it means to sell one's image, likeness, or body. She said why is it, that it's more harmful to sell oneself virtually than in the real world, and why do we consider some forms of commodification valid and good, but not others? 'Athletes sell their bodies,' she argues: 'Footballers and boxers get brain damage. In my opinion that's more harmful than me putting my tits online. No one is forcing me to post nudes or make content that I don't want to make. I'm basically an entrepreneur.' Michelle also has direct conversations with individual subscribers, many of whom, she says, are looking for a way to feel less anxious and lonely in lockdown. Relationships have been stripped from us for a full year, said Michelle: I'm so thankful I was able to help people de-stress in a year that was only stress.' And as for Morgan, who has a new season of RHONY due to premier on 4th May 2021, OnlyFans has become part of her brand: 'Bravo is my lifeline, but I do OnlyFans for the same reason I get on Twitter every night - I like to connect with my viewership. And I can tell you: you make good money.' Plus by 2030, OnlyFans will seem quant to the point of innocence, what, with the rise in sex robots... Read the full article

Great podcasts by Black women and non-binary people

Strategem: the Podcast

https://www.welcometostratagem.com/podcast

Stratagem: The Podcast is an audio party hosted by your favourite femmes where we discuss all things equity, inclusion and social justice. This podcast is part of a larger digital resource and virtual conference that you can find at http://welcometostratagem.com, brought to you by professional social justice warriors at Cicely Blain Consulting.

@cicelybelle

Secret Life of Canada

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/secretlifeofcanada

The Secret Life of Canada highlights the people, places and stories that probably didn't make it into your high school textbook. Join hosts Leah and Falen as they explore the unauthorized history of a complicated country.

@secretlifeofCAD

Seen

https://audioboom.com/channels/4997581

Black and brown women have not been allowed to exist in the world as the fullest expressions of who we are and who we can be. Violence, deprivation, and oppression have ruptured our connections with our bodies, our spirits, and each other. But healing and liberation are possible. We feel this possibility when we’re together - just us.

Through the eyes of Black and brown queer women, Seen explores how we choose to live at the intersection of personal healing and collective liberation work. Nic and Lala co-create space where healing becomes possible. Where we see ourselves through our own eyes. Where we learn what freedom feels like. Where we look inward for our paths forward.

https://www.facebook.com/seenthepodcast/

Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray

https://undisclosed-podcast.com/episodes/miniseries-2/

Dr. Chatelain (@DrMChatelain) was a co-host for a 16-episode arc about the killing of Freddie Gray in April 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. She provides the historical context for this nationally renowned criminal justice podcast. This podcast debuted in March 2017. http://undisclosed-podcast.com/

The Waves

https://slate.com/podcasts/the-waves

The Waves is a biweekly conversation about news and culture examined through the lens of gender and feminism. Every other Thursday, join the hosts—including Slate’s June Thomas, Slate staff writer Christina Cauterucci, Marcia Chatelain of Georgetown University, and Thirst Aid Kit’s Nichole Perkins—for frank discussions about the ways gender shapes everything. Our new name reflects generations of women from the various waves of feminism, the sound waves that carry us to your ears, and the waves we intend to make.

Code Switch

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/

What's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for! Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race head-on. We explore how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and everything in between. This podcast makes ALL OF US part of the conversation — because we're all part of the story.

@NPRCodeSwitch

Still Processing

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/still-processing/id1151436460?mt=2

Step inside the confession booth of Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham, two culture writers for The New York Times. They devour TV, movies, art, music and the internet to find the things that move them — to tears, awe and anger. Still Processing is where they try to understand the pleasures and pathologies of America in 2020.

@jennydeluxe and @Wesley_Morris

Yo, Is This Racist?

https://yoisthisracist.com/

Yo, Is This Racist?, hosted by Andrew Ti, creator of the popular blog of the same name, is now a weekly podcast! Every Wednesday, Ti, co-host Tawny Newsome, and their guests answer questions from fan-submitted voicemails and emails about whether or not something is, in fact, racist. @yoisthisracist

Call Your Girlfriend

https://www.callyourgirlfriend.com/

Call Your Girlfriend is a podcast for long-distance besties everywhere co-hosted by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, and produced by Gina Delvac. Every week, Aminatou and Ann call each other to discuss the intricacies of pop culture and the latest in politics. Since launching in 2014, we’ve built an audience of hundreds of thousands of listeners per episode. We’re highbrow and lowbrow, fiercely opinionated, and not afraid to realtalk each other about everything from menstrual cycles and body shaming to the Cheeto in Chief and workplace drama. We highlight women who are agents, creators, movers, and shakers who have smart, interesting things to say. We also care deeply about the lived experiences of non-famous women who are just trying to get through the week. We’re here for every facet of women’s humanity.

@callyrgf

And for a pop culture fix:

Thirst Aid Kit

https://thirstaidkitpodcast.tumblr.com/

Join Bim Adewunmi and Nichole Perkins as they dig deep into the various ways women express their thirst, asking: Why do we desire who we desire? At a time when men are Not Doing Great, Bim and Nichole want to keep asking questions about Hollywood inclusion and opportunity, through illuminating and hilarious conversations with special guests, original fan fic designed to make you sit up, and of course [REDACTED]. Bring a straw… and come thirst with us.

@thirstaidkit 

The Read 

http://thisistheread.com/

Join Kid Fury and Crissle for their weekly podcast covering hip-hop and pop culture's most trying stars. Throwing shade and spilling tea with a flippant and humorous attitude, no star is safe from Fury and Crissle unless their name is Beyoncé. (Or Blue Ivy.)

@ThisIsTheRead

Keep It

https://crooked.com/podcast-series/keep-it/ 

Each week, Ira Madison III, Louis Virtel, and Aida Osman are joined by comedians, journalists, actors, musicians, activists, politicians and more to discuss the latest ways pop culture and entertainment are intersecting with politics and society. Expect accents (is that Catherine Deneuve?!), Oscars trivia, and endless amounts of shade. New episodes drop every Wednesday.

Waiting to X-hale 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/waiting-to-x-hale/id1472529148

A Gen X-themed show with podcast veterans Wynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh and Karen Tongson (Pop Rocket). W2X revisits the pop culture & social issues that defined Generation X from a (queer) woman-of-color perspective in a way that sheds new light on the pop culture from both then, and now.

@waiting2xhalepd

Comedy and Life:

Why Won’t You Date Me

https://headgum.com/why-wont-you-date-me

Nicole Byer is single and has been for decades. She’s smart, funny, has a fat ass and loves giving blow jobs. So the question is why is she perpetually single? This podcast is a quest to find that answer. Every week, Nicole invites a comedian, friend, or ex-fling to interview their dating life and figure out her own.

@nicolebyer

Best Friends Podcast

https://www.earwolf.com/show/best-friends-with-nicole-byer-and-sasheer-zamata/

Gayle & Oprah. Bonnie & Clyde. Nicole & Sasheer. Enter the pantheon of best friendship. When you’re forced to change your number, are sick of being single, or want to take a pole-dancing class, you’re going to need a best friend…and if you don’t, you can still have this podcast.

On Napster, the NPG Music Club, and the Nature of Internet Commentary

No artist has battled the music industry quite like Prince. With the help of the Net, no artist has a better chance of winning his war

By  Bilge Ebiri Yahoo Internet Life June 2001

Y-LIFE: You’ve been very outspoken against the music industry, going so far as to change your name and write slave on your face in protest.

PRINCE: I don’t have any hate for these people. Ultimately, what people don’t know is what they end up focusing on and misunderstanding. If I’m changing my name and writing on my face, they assume I’m crazy. And then they’ll say that I’m not capable of distributing my own materials. My first Warner Bros. contract was huge—full of terms, restrictions, that sort of thing. We need to stay out of the way of that. If it’s the music business, then the musician should get the lion’s share. And when artists figure that out, there’ll be an uprising. Right now, if you resist their kind of thinking, what do they do? They’ll kick you out to the curb. Y-LIFE: Aren’t all industries like that, to a certain extent? PRINCE: At least in the movies, a successful actor can get $20 million. It’s not like that in the music business. Destiny’s Child brought in $93 million last year. How much do you think they themselves actually got? It’s totally unequal. Record executives will say, “Destiny’s Child made $93 million last year.” You ask them, “Why did Destiny’s Child themselves only get $4 million of that money?” I mean, have you heard Beyoncé sing? Puh-leeze! She ain’t even 20, and she’s got a voice like that! Let’s kick it up to $30 million. Is that fair? They won’t answer. They’ll say, “You don’t understand....” When you talk to record executives, you’ll hear an arrogance that’s astounding. They’re under the assumption that artists don’t know the way the industry works. Sheryl Crow has this saying; she refers to people as having “no Midwestern common sense.” So they’ll say something like, “We have 85 percent failure expectations on new acts,” meaning they expect the vast majority of them to fail. You’ve got 85 percent failure expectations, and you’re signing them to long-term agreements? “Well, they might not fail.” What does that mean? This system makes $40 billion a year. And it’s all based on this type of logic. Y-LIFE: What’s your position on Napster? PRINCE: I always ask people, “Are you pro- or anti-Napster?” Now, the record companies see Napster as troublesome. Napster is a mirror. How you see Napster says more about you than it does about Napster. The fans visiting Napster, they would want everything the artist puts out. They wouldn’t want to pay for it. What’s up with that? But the same goes for the recording industry. How you see the recording industry says more about you and your priorities than it does about the recording industry. Napster was inevitable—a file-sharing program that allowed the user to be a part of the process—especially given the general arrogance of the music industry as a whole. I mean, $18 a CD. Where are they getting that? The production costs aren’t going up, that’s for sure. People are getting hip to that. This is a wonderful time, because everything is shifting. Everybody can be an artist—and there are good and bad consequences to that. But people who control their own work will succeed. Look at Bill Gates. The man is unstoppable. He never sold out. He never sold the rights to his software. Y-LIFE: Have you ever used Napster? PRINCE: No. Of course, I’ve had people go on to see if they’ve got our stuff, and they definitely did. Now, NPG Music Club is a subscription club. If the songs we put up on the club end up on Napster, is that copyright infringement? Y-LIFE: You asked your fans that same question on the site. What do you think? PRINCE: I’m asking you. The record industry said that Napster caused them to flat-line. Are you pro- or anti-Napster? Y-LIFE: Personally, I’m pro. PRINCE: Now, why is that? That’s interesting. Y-LIFE: I discovered more new music through Napster last year, and I bought the CDs. I’ve paid for more music last year than I’ve ever done, thanks to Napster. And I think people will still buy CDs; we like objects. PRINCE: Do you think individuals who spend all day on the computer will care about CDs? I’m trying to see if I can sway your opinion. How many users does Napster have—60 million? Do you think all those people are buying their CDs? Y-LIFE: Probably not. PRINCE: See, there you go! Now we’re coming to some kind of agreement. I’m not pro- or anti-anything. I just sit back and watch the whole thing. We’ve got an institution here at Paisley that cares for the artist. And that’s the way it should be. I’ve spoken to Shawn Fanning. He’s just a kid. It’s a real shame what has happened to him. He’s in a lot of tough water. He’s scared. When Fanning got up onstage at the MTV awards, the audience started cheering and booing. First they were booing Metallica; now they were booing him. And he’s thinking, “Why did this happen to me?” If I was worried about booing, I’d think I had to change. So you sign up with one side or the other. And Napster, BMG—these people aren’t musicians. Shawn knows the deal. [A month after this interview was conducted, Prince reached an agreement with Napster to release a new track from an upcoming album on the file-sharing service. —Ed.] Y-LIFE: In February, you started the NPG Music Club on your site, a paid subscription service that allows fans to receive new songs from you every month. Was the club an alternative, or a response, to the Napster controversy? PRINCE: Napster had nothing to do with the NPG Music Club. Anybody who has followed my career knows how much technology has meant to me. When it was three o’clock in the morning, and I’d try to get [Revolution drummer] Bobby Z to come out to the studio, sometimes he’d come, sometimes he wouldn’t. But I’ve had this Roger Linn drum machine since 1981. It’s one of the first drum machines ever created. It takes me five seconds to put together a beat on this thing. So from the very start, technology gave me a direct result for my efforts. I’m a very simple person. If somebody wants my music, I’ll give it to them. Y-LIFE: Don’t you worry that if your music is distributed only on the NPG Music Club, you’ll lose potential new listeners? PRINCE: Why would a 13-year-old be at my concerts? There’re tons of them there. One night I asked them, “How many of y’all have seen me before?” Half of them cheered. “How many have never seen me before?” The other half cheered. So I see how this is going. Somebody old brings somebody new. Things get passed down—it’s like oral history, the way it’s supposed to be. Like you and me talking right now. I’ve wanted to have a direct one-on-one with people for a long time. If you see the Net as a tool to eliminate the middleman, you define it. And that reflects your personality. You get in and say, “I want to use it to get to more people"—that says something about you as well. NPG audio gives you something new. We’ve called the NPGMC “the experience for those who know better.” Because right now, if you listen to the radio, all you’ll hear is packaged pop stars. Sometimes I want to ask those people, “Do you even know a D-minor chord? Come here, play one. Good. Now step away, please. There’s nothing to see here.” (Laughs) Y-LIFE: Will you still release albums from now on, or stay digital? PRINCE: I’ll probably release albums, but what’s cool about the club is that the shows and the tracks change every month. So if you go in every month, you’ll get to storehouse all these tracks, and by the end of the year you’ll have enough for maybe three albums. I could probably release five to seven albums every year if I wanted to-polished stuff that I’m really happy with. But the market can’t deal with that. So this seemed like a natural alternative. Y-LIFE: How did you first get online? PRINCE: Instantly, the thing that attracted me to the Net was the idea that I could reach a lot of people without going through a matrix. Unfortunately, the Net is a reflection of what’s going on in the world. School shootings, things like that. It reflects that kind of violence. That’s why I don’t live there. Here in Paisley, it’s a very isolated environment. You can’t just see all that pornography and deceit and mendacity all the time. That’s what the world has become. There are pockets of beauty out there still, though. Y-LIFE: Where are those pockets of beauty on the Net? PRINCE: That’s a tough one. I’m not one to judge what is beautiful. I do know what isn’t beautiful. Everybody’s a critic. People are flaming each other without any knowledge of the effect it has on others—the kind of physical, psychological effect it has on them. Y-LIFE: Have you been in chatrooms devoted to your work? PRINCE: A couple of times—not much. When I first started, I tried one time to unify a group splintered by whether I was still “funky” or not. That question still goes on, obviously. But what ended up happening was that I got a webmaster out of it—Sam Jennings, who runs the NPG site out of Chicago. But I guess what I find beautiful on the Internet is wherever I find agreement. That’s beautiful even to people who are full of hate. Y-LIFE: There was a quote on your site recently, saying “Beyoncé can sang!” Was that from you? PRINCE: The tidbits of information on the site don’t come from me. Sometimes people will ask me a question, and I’ll give them a quote. My end is shipping out the music. But it’s evident that Destiny’s Child is an industry act. We want to keep the focus on why they’re successful. And that’s because of the people in the group, not because of the label and the marketing. That’s why you’ll see tidbits like that, about Beyoncé and other performers. The people that are here at Paisley with me—we’re all like-minded. They stay free—and free means free. And that’s what the club is about. It’s a haven for anybody who’s got their music and is free. We’re all very down-to-earth. No matter what the press likes to write about me. Y-LIFE: So what kind of Web sites do you like to visit?

PRINCE:

I go to the educational ones. I like to study history—especially Egyptian history. I don’t want to start endorsing any sites right now, but I like the ones that go back the furthest. ’Cause I’m interested in how we got in this predicament in the first place. You can talk about symptoms all day long. But I like to talk about solutions. (Source)

Opinion: In defense of Taylor Swift...

Authors Note: I was going to publish this on a news site called ‘The Youth Journal’ but unfortunately the site focuses primarily on politics and international affairs. Regardless, I will be posting the piece here but I encourage you all to check out the Youth Journal here: X

Heartbreaking lyrics followed by the sweet voice of Taylor Swift can be heard by my bedroom door just about all year around since I was 11 years old. Although I am 17 and about to start University in the fall, my love for the singer hasn't changed and naturally, you can always count on me to recite all of her songs by heart as I've memorized the lyrics countless times. Some things never change.

However, talent and love comes with the price of paparazzi advertising your every move and mass scrutiny every time you try to date someone.  That hasn't changed either, as Taylor Swift is currently in the middle of a messy lawsuit with former Colorado DJ David Mueller , who claims that Taylor Swift cost him his 150k salary job.

For context, Swift claims that during a met and greet during her RED tour, DJ Mueller lifted up the skirt of her dress and groped her bare butt. During the incident, Swift pulled away from Mueller and leaned into his girlfriend at the time. Following the incident, Swift alerted her security detail as Mueller was escorted off the property shortly before the concert was supposed to start. Additionally, Swift's team reported the incident to Mueller's employer along with the photo and he was fired 2 days later. In 2015, Mueller sued Taylor Swift for causing him to loose his job under what he claims are false allegations. In response, Swift counter-sued Mueller for assault and battery. Although Mueller is seeking $3 million in damages, Taylor is only seeking $1. To put in bluntly: A woman reports an instance of sexual assault in the workplace only to be sued by her abuser in response.

If this was any other woman, the internet would be outraged. Tumblr and Twitter would be filled with messages of support and we'd be surrounded by a stream of endless hashtags and sexual assault awareness campaign. But because we are talking about Taylor Swift, our brave heroic internet feminists are...silent. Yes, the type of people who are willing to shun and punish people for not following the right brand of feminism break their own code when it comes to Taylor Swift....and they've been doing that for awhile.

Think about it for a second, throughout her career Taylor Swift has been scrutinized for writing songs about heartbreak and dating in general. From one hit album to another the voices of critics haunted her, calling her a slut and a whore...simply for going on dates. Although several of her ex's have been in more relationships than Swift, they are praised not punished. When it comes to internet feminists, many of them advocated against slut-shaming, however, when it came to Taylor Swift they were the same people who would make memes and popular text posts shaming Swift for dating their beloved Harry Styles at the time.

Come 2014, Taylor Swift calls out the world and these so-called feminists out on their hypocrisy. The world rejoices and the Tumblr and Twitter feminists adore Taylor Swift for her honesty....for like 2 weeks because they soon learn that she doesn't follow the Correct Brand of Feminism™ (aka, the brand of feminism that they like) and soon she's shunned yet once again. Since Taylor Swift is a celebrity, there is no room for learning or growth for her. She is supposed to understand every nook and cranny of feminist theory...despite the fact that she sings pop songs for a living. It's a never-ending cycle: The internet moans and whines about how there simply aren't enough celebrities advocating for woman's issues and feminism...but when a celebrity tries to do just that, they are shunned and shamed for not following the Correct Brand of Feminism™.  The benefit of the doubt does not exist for Taylor Swift in the eyes of Internet feminists and as such, she must be constantly punished for not following a specific set of ideas, despite the fact that Taylor Swift is a human being and free to follow any set of political values and beliefs that she wishes.

Although some will claim that Taylor attempted to use feminism as her own personal brand and sell more albums, that is simply not true. She used feminism as a way to defend herself from the constant attacks and sexism that she faced from the internet.

Flash forward to the Women's March following the inauguration of Donald J. Trump. When Taylor Swift tweeted her support for the women marching, she was quickly faced by backlash for not attending the event herself. Although many of those who criticized Taylor Swift for not attending the Women's March probably didn't attend the march themselves, that didn't stop them from judging through the screen of their iPhone's. Never mind the fact that Queen Beyoncé didn't attend the Women's March either, Taylor Swift must be punished!

Self-proclaimed feminists on Twitter and Tumblr claim to support every single woman on earth regardless of their background. However, they don't support women who don't follow the specific brand of feminism. They don't support women who have made mistakes, simply because these mistakes are public. These proclaimed feminists believe that their version of feminism can't go wrong, that they are perfect and as such, they tweet with a superficial sense of superiority. They judge and shame the actions of public figures but they refuse to better themselves. After all, if they did truly support every single woman known on earth, there would be much more outrage from their end concerning the legal battle between Swift and Mueller.

Don't get me wrong, I am a feminist. I believe that women are equal to men and as a result, women should be able to compete in the workforce without fear of harassment or intimidation. I think that generally, most members of Western civilization believe in this as well. However, when it comes to the feminists that dominate mainstream media and internet culture, you have two choices: follow and abide feminist theory religiously or be ridiculed for the rest of time.

It's hypocrisy at it's finest and it's actually quite infuriating and saddening. Feminism is supposed to support women of all walks of life, whether they be conservative or liberal or a socialist. So for the self-proclaimed feminists on my Tumblr and Twitter feed to make light of Taylor Swift's sexual assault simply because she doesn't follow feminism religiously is incredibly dishonest.

Just admit it. You don't support all women despite your empowering tweets and text-posts. You, just like the mainstream media and the rest of the world, will always try to find some reason to hate on Taylor Swift. If you're going to put the phrase "Proud Feminist!" in your twitter bio, at least be honest and add in "Proud Feminist except when it comes to Taylor Swift and other women who disagree with me!"

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10, Episode 7 Power Rankings: America, It's Snatch Game!

New Post has been published on http://funnythingshere.xyz/rupauls-drag-race-season-10-episode-7-power-rankings-america-its-snatch-game/

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10, Episode 7 Power Rankings: America, It's Snatch Game!

It’s Snatch Game, America! Yes, the most treasured of RuPaul’s Drag Race main challenges returns. While there’s a lot of other things this episode has to offer (the reading mini-challenge, a delightful Bianca Del Rio cameo, six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, and a bizarro mermaid-inspired runway theme complete with wheelchairs), it’s still Snatch Game, and when it’s Snatch Game, all we really care about is Snatch Game. So let’s just shake things up and get directly into our rankings (which, as always, take the entire season so far into account) and discuss each individual queen at lengthy.

1. Eureka

Let’s not pretend that storyline and the opportunity to raise dramatic stakes (or at least keep them high) doesn’t often play into Ru’s decision. Eureka is riding high on two wins in a row, and starts the episode off by winning the mini-challenge. So, perhaps handing her the Snatch Game win would have been a little too heavy handed. Are any of us ready to just completely hand the season 10 crown to Eureka yet? It’s not that she’s not deserving, but we still have quite a few episodes left.

Though we will forever remain curious about how Eureka’s first choice of drag superstar Divine would have played on the panel, she wisely takes Ru and Bianca’s advice to chose the more accessibly funny Honey Boo Boo instead. Eureka does certainly have a knack for channel the enthusiasm of children, and while she references some of the more obvious Honey Boo Boo characteristics, her performance isn’t just a bunch of “gogo juice” jokes either. Playing Honey Boo Boo at the age where she can’t quite write provides a nice opportunity for ever heightening physical comedy involving scribbles.

On the runway, Eureka’s mermaid getup is fine. Our only quibble was that while there was a whole lot of color going on above the neck, there was hardly any below it.

2. Aquaria

There are certain queens you just don’t expect to do that well in Snatch Game. It’s not that we don’t love or respect those queens, it’s just that we realize that their gifts lie in departments that aren’t the capacity for quick-witted barbs or celebrity impersonation. The best, we figure, they can hope for is safe, and we’ve all probably spent some heated Sunday Brunch discussion figuring out the best way to get a not-particularly-funny queen through the episode. Our best guess? Finding that sweet spot of a public figure who’s personality isn’t that different from the queen, but who is just sort of an inherently funny character, and, then, hoping at least a few other queens completely blow it. It’s like bunting in baseball …we think? It’s worked in Snatch Games past for queen like Latrice Royale (Aretha Franklin), Dida Ritz (Wendy Williams), Jujubee (Kimora Lee Simmons), and more. There’s no shame in it, really. Not everyone needs to swing for the fences with high concept or eerily accurate characterizations. Better a few so-so characters than a bunch of stinkers anyway.

When Aquaria announced she’d be stepping into the guise of Melania Trump (marking the first time any First Lady has been on Snatch Game) we figured she was just leaning into this strategy. It was sort of perfect. Aquaria and Melania are both sharp cheeked fashion queens used to stomping through a few square miles of Manhattan who have found theme selves suddenly trapped in a heavily guarded compound miles from home surrounded by a bunch of people from god know’s where. Melania, herself, is also something fort of a blank slate who we’ve collectively projected so much on. Aquaria just had to get the look down, do a halfway decent approximation of the accent and lob a few easy jokes and we would have had the making of a perfectly inoffensive safe-tier Snatch Game performance.

Much like the gift inside the blue “Trinity’s” box, what Aquaria actually delivered was completely unexpected. The look, of course, was on point from the copious amounts of diamond to the squint eye. Aquaria stayed in character the whole time, and while the editors helped her out by focusing on some of her more subtle jokes (the Michelle Obama nameplate), if you watch her in wide shots when the attention isn’t placed on her, she’ll still reacting totally in character. Which also translated to being comfortable enough to take a clap back opportunity when it presented itself (“No wonder my husband’s always complaining about China all the time.”)

Even as we were watching it and laughing at it all along, part of our brain was still like “Well, Aquaria isn’t going to win this. She’s Aquaria! Queens like aren’t supposed to win Snatch Game!” Yet, she erased any doubt left that she was this episode’s MVP with her Italian Vogue inspired oil slick mermaid runway. It was one of the few looks on that runway with a storyline besides “I’m a mermaid!” that actually paid off.

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Far Far From Land

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3. Kameron Michaels

Remember how we were just talking about best Snatch Game character choice practices for queens who aren’t exactly laugh out loud funny? Well, Kameron perfectly illustrates that method here by leaning into her body builder physique and choosing the late WWE wrestler Chyna. The look was there. She had jokes when she needed them. It was all perfectly fine and acceptable. The platonic ideal of Snatch Game filler, really. You could say more of less the same for her runway, which was neither a total miss, nor a risk-taking classic.

The main problem with Kameron remains that, as a television character at least, she continues to lack any discernible personality of her own. While past Drag Race queens have had personality so big that other queens have ended up parodying them on Snatch Game in later seasons, we suspect there’s very little chance that will ever happen to Michaels. Still, Kameron’s only “low” placement came during a team challenge, and her future in this competition could go either way.

4. Monét X. Change

More than anyone, Monét really, really needed this Snatch Game win. For a while we thought Ru was poised to give it to her. Storyline can help decide these things, after all. Her Maya Angelou was thought out. Monét clearly had a list of prewritten material in her head ready to go. Her runway, at least, had an interesting point of view. We had our bets placed on win. Yet, she comes up short once again. In and of itself there’s nothing to be ashamed of, but it keeps us worried about Monét’s ultimate fate in the competition.

5. Miz Cracker

Anticipation for Cracker’s Snatch Game performance was high in the dark corners of the RPDR super fan internet. Fans were expecting her to slay this challenge with hopes it would put her on a course for the crown. Nancy Drews were collecting any clues they could to help them figure out who Cracker would portray. Barbra Streisand? Amy Winehouse? Fran Drescher?

We can only imagine the mass confusion (and perhaps disappointment) that ensued when Cracker opted instead to portray American literary grand dame Dorothy Parker, the poetic queen of the pithy one liner and high minded putdown. On one level it made sense. We could certainly have imagined Parker as a quippy television panelist back in her day. The problem was that Parker’s day was back before most American even had televisions. That meant Cracker had no personality base level to fall back. She set herself up with the challenge of perfectly executing one Parker-esque one liner after another, a near impossible feat. It’s too Cracker’s credit, really, that she managed to keep this firmly in the safe zone at all. She didn’t get much screen time either. We suspect it’s not because what was left cut out was bad, but maybe that editors just didn’t think it was worth it.

Sadly, this made us realize that following this Dorothy Parker situation it’s unlikely that any queen will fulfill our own deepest desires of ever attempting to portray Fran Lebowitz on Snatch Game (though, unlike Parker, Lebowitz is available to guest judge, if anyone at WoW happens to be reading this).

6. Asia O’Hara

For someone who has given the gay community so much joy, Beyoncé has really caused us so much pain during Snatch Game. This is third time a queen has decided to attempt to play a Queen Bey pretender, and the third time they wound up coming off as a pauper. She now holds that record alone, surpassing Lady Gaga.

Asia originally has her heart set on Whitney Houston. Though, Ru wants her to stare clear of any drug jokes (there’s longstanding rumors that a lot of Thorgy Thor’s performance as Michael Jackson in Season 7 was left on the cutting room floor because of frequent child molestation jokes. Apparently Snatch Game comes with a basic decency clause). O’Hara opts against Whitney, but the truth is, if you can’t do a decent Whitney without drug jokes, you probably can’t do a decent Whitney to begin with. Instead she picks Beyoncé, attempting to valiantly succeed where Kenya Michael and Tyra Sanchez failed. For a while, the edit had us believing that she might actually triumph. That perhaps we were being set up to be pleasantly surprised.

No such luck. Asia makes the bizarre choice of imbuing Beyoncé with one characteristic and one characteristic only: impatient rudeness. Come on, Girl. Beyoncé may have a lot of wigs, but none of them have ever been in the “Can I talk to the manager?” cut. It’s not only painful to watch, but it also takes any wind there may have been out of The Vixen’s Blue Ivy.

Her decision to wear a fish mask on the runway made for some surprisingly hilarious fodder for the editors, but offered no such returns for Asia herself. Frankly, we kind of wished she had been made to Lip Sync in that thing.

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All the Pictures From Marc Jacobs and RuPaul’s Drag Ball at New York Fashion Week

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7. The Vixen

The best thing about Beyoncé’s Blue Ivy character? It gave reason for Ru to reuse the line, “Impersonating Beyoncé is not your Destiny, Child,” one of her all-time great runway quips. The worst part? Everything else. Any room the Vixen might have had to play Blue as an angry diva toddler was over shadowed by that aforementioned angry Beyoncé. We’ve all seen the awards show audience clips. The idea is that Blue is supposed to be the BOSS of that family. Here, Blue Ivy just comes off as a tragic figure. It was frankly, just strange.

Though, The Vixen’s real lowpoint this episode came outside of Snatch Game itself. There’s a difference between channeling your anger into productive art and performance (like taking a random Chicago bartender’s racist facebook comment about “South Side Trash” ruining Pride and turning it into an audacious performance piece) and channeling your anger into basic reality television drama fodder. Vixen has been falling into that trap far too often.

When Ru asks the queens to name who they think should go home, The Vixen is the most frequent answer. Though, her subsequent explosion on Eureka reads as sort of desperate projection. She calls out Eureka for playing children so often because she acts like one. Though, The Vixen sat up there and said she related to pictures of a 5-year-old Blue Ivy with attitude. She claims Eureka hogs up all the attention for herself, but half of Untucked this season has been Vixen going on longwinded rants punctuated by shouts of “Are you going to let me finish?” Frankly, we’re kind of ready to let Vixen finish this competition. No one’s pretending like she has any shot at the crown left. It likely would have been her finale, if not for the tragedy that’s next on our discussion agenda.

9. Monique Heart

Oh, Monique, personality for days, but she made the mistake of choosing to portray a figure whose own personality she didn’t quite have a hold on. While her Maxine Waters starts off promising, it soon goes off the rails, with Monique struggling to find any more angle on her other than the fact she wants to impeach Donald Trump.

It was bad, but really we didn’t expect her to go home because of it.

We’ve seen breakdowns and de facto self eliminations during the lip sync before, but nothing quite like this. Placed against The Vixen to the tune of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Cut to the Feeling,” Monique twirls her heart out to an appropriately twirly song. Though, she commits the second cardinal sin of a lip sync in the first few moments by removing her wig without another wig on beneath. Then, we realize she’s also committing the first cardinal sin as well. She doesn’t know most of her words, and isn’t making any attempt to even pretend. Yet, otherwise, she still carried on dancing and posing like nothing else was wrong. It was both sad and fascinating to watch.

Though, Monique has certainly left her impression on this competition, and, now, we can only hope that someone gives her a web series called “Hello, America!” Please.

Related: RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10, Episode 6 Power Rankings: The Show Has a #MeToo Moment

ATTENTION!!

hello, I am a 16 yr old white girl from southeastern Wisconsin. very vanilla, I’m aware. in response to my “WANTED: cute boy” post, here are a list of my physical and mental traits, so that you can determine if you would like to talk to me.

PHYSICAL: ☆ 5'6" ☆ brown curly hair, about shoulder length. THICC HAIR. ☆ brown eyes that are lighter in the center (there’s a freckle on the left one) ☆ relatively skinny, not very strong. a bit of a tummy, but I suck in so you’d never notice. ☆ chewed nails. I’ve mostly stopped tho. ☆ braces! w/ rubber bands! somewhere between February 2017 and June 2017 the braces come off and I once again enjoy having a bright and happy smile! ☆ 4 very light birthmarks! the one on my knee looks like an archipelago. ☆ a bit of acne, but only on the forehead. ☆ STRONG BROWS ☆ bigger bottom lip, thinner top lip ☆ pouty, but only bc of braces ☆ large knuckles bc I used to play basketball. if I try, I can make it impossible to let go of my hand, bc my knuckles touch and form a barrier. ☆ tiny wrists. both pop when I turn them one way or the other. ☆ bumps on my arms. it’s genetic. they’re non contagious and not like acne, so popping them doesn’t work. ☆ left tit is a tiny bit bigger than right tit. ☆ relatively high cheekbones ☆ “innie” belly button ☆ weirdly lumpy hips. I’m pretty bony. ☆ legs as long as the sky is blue. ☆ relatively cute butt. not bony. ☆ stretch marks at the top of my thighs, just under my booty. not sure where they came from. ☆ usually bruised knees, especially in summer ☆ scar tissue on left ankle from when my dad dropped a ladder on my foot. it scraped the bone in my leg as it went down, so the scar tissue reminds. ☆ my doctor when I was a baby said I have popsicle toes! the 2nd-4th are double jointed ☆ hyper flexible overall. not as bendy as I used to be, but still pretty bendy. ☆ my dad’s parents were both German, but both were very dark looking for German. therefore, my dad can pass as Italian. it just means I turn dark orange when I tan, and tan very quickly. ☆ some eczema on my chest, but it is cleaning up. ☆ very out of shape. I can not run for more than 20 seconds without wondering if I can stop yet ☆ squishy?? I lack muscles so I’m very comfortable to snuggle, especially bc I’m flexible enough to fit anywhere but squishy enough to function as a pillow, especially my tummy and tits.

MENTAL/EMOTIONAL: ☆ A.D.D. easily distracted. ☆ easily confused, but quick to understand once everything is explained to me. ☆ guilty of savior behavior like you wouldn’t believe ☆ possibly anxious? parents don’t have time to get me diagnosed tho ☆ desperate to please people. I have limits, but I LOVE making people happy. ☆ I’m rlly fuckin funny ok most of my jokes are specific to my close friends or my childhood but once I’m around you for more than 3 months I’m rlly rlly funny bc we have memories together and I know you well ☆ very paranoid. overactive imagination led to some rlly freaky nightmares as a child, some of which are recurring. ☆ afraid of being forgotten, not good enough, my closet, the dark, inanimate objects coming to life and coming after me (especially doors and anything with legs, like tables and standing mirrors), and being killed in the shower. ☆ easily scared. can’t stand suspense or horror movies. ☆ semi obsessive?? like my friends and my hypothetical potential s/o are so cool and I love them and talk about them often. ☆ redundant. my life is boring. ☆ very very talkative. it’s a little annoying. ☆ easily bored, especially when I want to travel or get sick of how things are going. ☆ kinda rude? but not intentionally? I try to be kind to everyone but sometimes I come off as salty ☆ very passionate ☆ very defensive, especially of friends and s/o, and usually family ☆ loud :-/ ☆ easily excited ☆ interested in what you have to say, but will probably cut you off mid sentence bc my social intuition is lacking ☆ chronic liar >:-( definitely my least favorite trait, but one I haven’t been able to shake. they range from little white lies to just pretending things didn’t happen or that they’re fine. ☆ the last 3 years of my life have absolutely fried my brain. I’m very tired and very wounded. ☆ attaches quickly ☆ separation anxiety, but moreso just afraid of losing people I care about ☆ very self-centered :-/ ☆ relatively bullheaded. I don’t often think things through. ☆ if I have to face the music, odds are I’ll stick earplugs in and run away ☆ usually very positive! the world is a cool place with some very cool people in it!

LIKES: ☆ film, the art of ☆ cry movies ☆ and a bit of Beyoncé, catey shaw, lana del rey, halsey, … ☆ g-eazy, blackbear, childish gambino, frank ocean, watsky, drake, john mayer, sting, mansionz, relient k, one direction (including all solo work), twenty one pilots (but not rlly blurryface), washed out, a bit of fall out boy and panic! at the disco, arctic monkeys, troye sivan, a bit of the 1975, walk the moon, … ☆ the music from downton abbey and victoria and poldark ☆ history, especially sociology and foreign cultures and mythology ☆ politics, even tho I get too heated about it ☆ sci-fi! soft stuff is ok, but the hard stuff is rlly rlly good. ☆ fiction! ☆ writing non-fiction! ☆ slamming biased news outlets (r.i.p. bill o'reilly) ☆ working backstage crew in theater! my sister is majoring in stage management, so it’s a family affair. ☆ plants! flowers, succulents, cacti, even trees and shrubs! ☆ DOGS ☆ my bird, Elsa. we named her after Elsa in frozen bc her tummy matches the color of the character’s dress ☆ slam poetry?? I’m a dork ☆ activism! get out and get loud! ☆ volunteer work, especially through my church (I’m not sure if I’m gonna stay catholic but it’s how I’m being raised rn) ☆ shopping. it’s so satisfying to bring home something beautiful off the clearance rack. ☆ concept art for film and fashion ☆ interior design and architecture ☆ THE PROPERTY BROTHERS ON HGTV ☆ Steven Universe?? it’s actually a rlly good show. it makes me cry a lot. ☆ Grey’s Anatomy. another good cry show. ☆ purple anything. it calms me down. ☆ soft blankets and pillows ☆ laying down for the night. ☆ meditation and yoga! ☆ photography! I live next to the woods on 2 sides of my house, so it’s the perfect place for photoshoots. ☆ coloring books! the pretty ones, not the kids ones. ☆ reading! I’m usually too busy but it’s so nice when I have time ☆ CRYSTALS AND MINERALS AND PRETTY STONES. I have a growing collection, 95% I found on my own. ☆ driving on empty country roads. ☆ swimming, even tho I’m afraid of deep water ☆ hiking! ☆ chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream ☆ purging old clothes ☆ Internet friends! long distance romantic relationships are awful, but the platonic ones are always fun ☆ learning things you never thought possible ☆ speculation lmao ☆ hugs and physical contact ☆ pressure. I enjoy feeling close to things. I sleep with a billion blankets at all times bc I like the feeling of the weight on me ☆ the concept of Atlas in Greek mythology ☆ in depth discussion about almost anything! I love talking to people! ☆ barbecue chicken pizza from California pizza kitchen

DISLIKES: ☆ people who refuse to acknowledge global warming, white supremacy, sexism, or any fault on either end of the political spectrum ☆ unsolicited dick pics ☆ 99% of country music ☆ metal or screamo music ☆ slut shaming ☆ ignorance in any shape or form ☆ watermelon ☆ Brussel sprouts and asparagus and peas ☆ fish that isn’t fried or marinated in bourbon or teriyaki ☆ oranges ☆ bananas ☆ pop music ☆ slapstick humor ☆ most comedic movies (see above) ☆ cleaning ☆ zara larsson ☆ feminists who hate men (girl we are EQUAL not ABOVE) ☆ the fact that the USA does not have separation of church and state ☆ cold weather ☆ sand in my shoes ☆ most movies featuring talking animals (not counting Dumbo, the Lion King, Babar, Finding Nemo, and a couple others) ☆ those who put others down ☆ those who refuse to listen to both sides ☆ the fact that every Earth year the moon moves 2 inches farther away from Earth and it’s eventually going to be flung into space and we’ll never see it again ☆ white males in positions of authority. your turn is over, pal. ☆ Christopher Walken’s face ☆ John Travolta ☆ the entire movie/musical Grease ☆ when radio stations play the same 10 songs all day long ☆ overused slang ☆ dead memes that are still in circulation ☆ repetition from year to year ☆ bad school photos ☆ pineapple on pizza ☆ basic pages on Instagram ☆ dog types that have been bred to the point of inherent or genetic medical issues ☆ carpet that isn’t soft ☆ bad paint jobs ☆ jumbo tattoos. I love the tiny ones you don’t expect to see. ☆ costume jewelry ☆ asymmetry ☆ bad habits ☆ when everything is black and white ☆ when it’s a gray area ☆ the porn industry as a whole ☆ massive corporations as a whole ☆ people who use deadnames or the wrong pronouns on purpose ☆ driving stick ☆ pulling weeds ☆ vacuuming ☆ loud noises (the unexpected ones) ☆ same old, same old ☆ people who don’t bathe often ☆ when my hair grows too long but I can’t get a haircut for weeks ☆ people who won’t try new things ☆ when anything or anyone dies ☆ the feeling of not being in control ☆ not knowing.

feel free to message me if you’re interested! there’s much more, but this is all I could think of for now. congrats if you made it to the end!

14 Times Beyoncé Captured The Power Of Motherhood

The internet is reeling following Beyoncé’s announcement that she is pregnant with twins.

The singer shared the news on Wednesday with an artful Instagram post showing off her belly.

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Beyoncé and her husband, Jay Z, welcomed their daughter Blue Ivy on January 7, 2012, after suffering a miscarriage in 2011. Over the past five years, the icon has opened up about the experience of becoming a parent in several interviews.

In honor of the Queen Bey’s latest news, here are some of her best quotes about pregnancy, birth and motherhood.

1. “I think just like any mother, I just want my child to be happy and healthy and have the opportunity to realize her dreams.”

A photo posted by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Sep 2, 2016 at 9:25am PDT

2. “[Having a daughter] just gives you purpose and all of the things that my self-esteem was associated with, it’s all completely different. I realized why I was born and more than anything all of the things I want to pass onto my child and the best way of doing that is not by preaching or telling her but showing her by example, which is one of the reasons I’m here.”

3. “Out of everything I’ve accomplished, my proudest moment hands down was when I gave birth to my daughter Blue.”

A video posted by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Jul 28, 2016 at 6:28pm PDT

4. “At some point it’s very important to me that my daughter is able to experience life and run through the sprinklers and have slumber parties and trust and live and do all the things that any child should be able to do.”

5. “The best thing about having a daughter is having a true legacy. The word ‘love’ means something completely different now.”

6. “We both [change diapers]. I love changing diapers, I love it. I love every moment of it, it’s so beautiful. I love it all.”

A photo posted by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Oct 31, 2016 at 9:51pm PDT

7. “I have a lot of awards, and I have a lot of these things. And they’re amazing, and I worked my ass off. I worked harder than probably everybody I know to get those things. But nothing feels like my child saying, ‘Mommy!’ Nothing feels like when I look my husband in the eyes.”

8. “Being pregnant was very much like falling in love. You are so open. You are so overjoyed. There’s no words that can express having a baby growing inside of you, so of course you want to scream it out and tell everyone.”

A photo posted by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Aug 28, 2016 at 5:39pm PDT

9. “My family and my closest people were there when I gave birth. Everything that scared me just was not present in that room. So for me to really let go and really appreciate every contraction ... it was the best day of my life.”

10. “I felt very maternal around eight months. And I thought I couldn’t become any more until I saw the baby ... But it happened during my labor because I had a very strong connection with my child. I felt like when I was having contractions, I envisioned my child pushing through a very heavy door. And I imagined this tiny infant doing all the work, so I couldn’t think about my own pain ... We were talking. I know it sounds crazy, but I felt a communication.”

The real cover girl My delicious Blue Blue at 11 months.

A photo posted by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Aug 14, 2015 at 3:33pm PDT

11. “About two years ago, I was pregnant for the first time. And I heard the heartbeat, which was the most beautiful music I ever heard in my life. I envisioned what my child would look like ... I flew back to New York to get my check up ― and no heartbeat. Literally the week before I went to the doctor, everything was fine, but there was no heartbeat.”

12. “I hope I can create art that helps people heal. Art that makes people feel proud of their struggle. Everyone experiences pain, but sometimes you need to be uncomfortable to transform. Pain is not pretty, but I wasn’t able to hold my daughter in my arms until I experienced the pain of childbirth!”

Blue kisses

A photo posted by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Apr 21, 2014 at 2:07pm PDT

13. “Right now, after giving birth, I really understand the power of my body. I just feel my body means something completely different. I feel a lot more confident about it. Even being heavier, thinner, whatever. I feel a lot more like a woman. More feminine, more sensual. And no shame.”

14. “She’s my road dog. She’s my homey, my best friend.”

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from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://huff.to/2jxt8By