Down to the Wire!

(Spoiler Alert!!)
RuPaul's Drag Race is coming down to the wire with only 4 queens left standing after Shangela was finally sent packing after tonight's "hair raising" challenge?


Or is it 5 queens left standing?  In a dramatic admission of guilty feelings, Ru confided in the audience that her co-judges had criticized her for sending home worthy queens at the expense of others.  Is it coincidental that this revelation comes on the night Shangela is deservedly eliminated?  Many have accused Ru of turning a blind eye to many of Shangela's shortcomings, so tonight she puts bygones behind and gives the judges the opportunity to reverse her questionable decisions.


Currently, 4 girls are left standing:

Raja fancies herself a "glamour" queen, and claims to be savvy and experienced in the worlds of runways and red carpets.  She considers her looks to be "couture" and "high fashion".  Miss Ginger, unfortunately, finds Boy Raja infinitely more interesting than the drag persona, which Miss Ginger would classify as "genderfuck", not one of her favorite forms of drag.  Raja has often been the winner of RDR challenges, sometimes deservedly, and sometimes because she is smarter and more creative than her competition.  Raja comes across as extremely intelligent on the show, and is someone Miss G would definitely love to meet and get to know! Miss Ginger's reconnaissance tells her Raja is the fan favorite! 

Yara Sofia is this season's class clown.  Her heavy Puerto Rican accent gives her a crazy Charo meets Pink vibe, and she tends to rely on shtick and stereotypical deprecation when the challenges require eloquence or pronunciation. Her makeup is her strength, her presentation is her downfall, and her wardrobe is inconsistent- sometimes stunning, sometimes not.  Yara would be fun at parties, but Miss Ginger doesn't see her as America's next drag superstar!

If Yara is the queen of self deprecation,  then Manila Luzon is the Grand Imperial Empress for All Eternity of stereotypical drag!  A child of one Asian and one white parent, Manila has created a "Flower Drum Song" Pat Suzuki character for herself that is beautiful, funny, sometimes charming, and sometimes downright alarming!  Her cleverness is off the charts, and she creates characters and costumes with the ease of Lily Tomlin and the skill of Edith Head.  Miss Ginger thinks Manila could be a contender!

Alexis Mateo is another Puerto Rican queen who may be a bit cuter as a boy than a girl. Not that she's not a pretty girl, but she's a REALLY pretty boy!  Alexis is  talented, and her makeup is usually spot on, but her costuming and hair can be a bit iffy at times. She's extremely comfortable in her drag persona, and convincingly feminine, but Miss Ginger is not sure Alexis has enough audience appeal and stage drama to overtake Raja and Manila in the competition.














For the "twist" this season, Ru has challenged her co-judges to choose one girl from those previously eliminated to come back to the competition.  Will it be someone recent, like Shangela or Carmen, or will they reach farther back into the season, and bring back someone like India, Mimi, or Phoenix?

Miss Ginger is betting it might be Delta Work.  Delta has been a favorite among Miss G's readers, and has shown a great deal of talent and poise throughout the season.  The judges kept her longer than they've ever kept a plus-sized momma, so there may be hope yet for us big gurls!


Good luck to the top 4, and number 5, whoever you are!  Miss Ginger and the GingerSnaps are with you 'til the end!

Count Down to Derby Day!

It time to start making those big hats!  Derby Day will be here before you know it!  Check out the details here!

Check it Out!!

As many of you know, Queen Ginger's doctor is concerned that her BP is too high, her Hdl it too high, and her triglycerides are too high.  Let's face it, Queen Ginger is just too damn high!!


So, she has started a new blog with a healthy lifestyle bent!  It's all Queen Ginger, just hungrier, crankier, and more focused in her goal to live life correctly!


Check it out if you give a shit! And if not, just keep reading me here!!

Only in Texas!.....

......and especially "The Woodlands"!

Texan's obit urges anti-Obama donations


© 2011 The Associated Press

March 22, 2011, 9:19PM
 
 
 
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — A paid obituary for a Houston-area man who died of cancer recently urged mourners to, in lieu of flowers, "please make a donation to ANYONE running against" President Barack Obama.




James Harrison of The Woodlands died Feb. 27 at the age of 68. The obituary approved by his family also suggested donations to the American Cancer Society as an alternative.



Harrison was a retired food-service worker. John Rundlof, his stepson, told KRIV-TV of Houston that Harrison "was an avid Republican and just took that to the grave with him." Rundlof said Harrison wrote the appeal for donations to Obama opponents himself before he died.


Scary, ain't it. And Queen Ginger has to live with these people.....

What a Waste!!

The Federal Government has delivered to date, 10 invoices to BP, charging them for the cleanup of the Deepwater Horizon disaster!  To date, BP has paid over $632 million to cover the costs of cleanup and restoration, and has just received a bill for another $62 million.


This just boggles Queen Ginger's tiny little brain! So many questions come to mind:


1. Where the HELL is BP coming up with the dough?  Are they sitting on so much cash that they can absorb this kind of charges and no go under?


2.  What would they have done with all that cash if they didn't have to pay for this cleanup effort?  Do they gilt the walls of their compound on I-10 with gold? Do they have Stoli on tap in the break rooms?


3. What the hell else could that money have been spent on besides pouring it down a hole in the Gulf?!  If those asswipes would have been more responsible in the first place, perhaps some of that money could have gone to feeding the hungry... housing the homeless.... healing the sick.


Naaaa. It would just ended up in some teabaggers brokerage account- waiting for loopholes, rebates, and incentives to develop to make some rich republican richer.  Queen Ginger hopes he eats a bad oyster and dies!

DAMN!!

Miss Ginger had the BRAZILLIANT idea that THIS would be the PERFECT year to catch "The Night of 1,000 Gowns", The Imperial Court of New York's star-studded event, and the epitome of gay drag fund raising. What a perfect opportunity for this stunning piece of couture to make another appearance!


Well, wouldn't you know it's NEXT weekend!!  Oye, there is NO WAY she could get herself home from NOLA, get that shit all packed up, and get herself to the Big Apple in time for the event.






Or could she?
Hmmmmmm... wonder what King Tony is doing next weekend?

The Year has Started!

The new year starts today for the Krewe of Olympus- Texas, Inc, with the election of new officers!  We are truly Mardi Gras TEXAS-style this year, with 3 of our officers living in other cities! In addition to Houston, we now have Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin on the board!  With Skype, email, and Southwest Airlines, who says we all have to be in the same city?!!


Last night, King Tony and Queen Ginger had a whirlwind night, beginning with the Krewe's Campaign party, at Chez Ginger.  The campaign part is where we all get together to booze and schmooze, and the members who have announced their candidacy bring "groceries" to bribe the members for their votes!  It's all in fun, and a great chance for the candidates to share their vision for the upcoming year!




King T and Queen G snuck out early to head over to "Bringin' in the Green", a St. Patrick's day fund raiser for the Montrose Counseling Center.  Once the social hour was over, our royals headed over to the Brazos River Bottom to check out the Mr, Ms, and Miss BRB contest, and wish our dear friend Aurora Briar the best on her step-down.  


Tomorrow, the Krewe hosts it's Appreciation Party to show our love to all in the community who support hour endeavor!  It's always a lot of fun, and our first chance to watch the video recording of the event with our guests!


After that, a day in the office and then in the air again to Baton Rouge!  It's been since December that Boy G hasn't had a business trip, but now the twice-monthly travels begin again!  


With the election of Ball Captain, next year's theme is secured! Now, you KNOW Queen Ginger is not going to spill the beans, especially during her return year!  This year, Queen G and King T will have the entire year to plan and execute the costume and presentation, to create the most extravagant, over-the-top return for the ball over which they will reign!  It also gives you far-flung GingerSnaps a full year to save your pennies and plan your travel- if you ever thought someday you'd want to see one of Miss G's balls  Mardi Gras shindigs, this would be the year to come!  There's room at Chez Ginger- first come, first served!! Ball XLII will be February 11th, 2012, at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Hope to see you all there!

So Glad Easter is Coming...

....because:

Thanks, DuPree!

More News From Texas....

....with your Dragwitness News Anchorgurl, the FABULOUS Queen Ginger Grant!

Our top story tonight:  Texas has a new prescription for death!  It seems the sole manufacturer of the drug sodium thiopental, more commonly known by the trade name sodium pentathol, can no longer find reliable sources for raw materials used to make the drug. After the announcement by Hospira, Inc, , whose corporate slogan is  "Advancing Wellness", the Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced it will replace the old standby treatment for chronic murder syndrome with pentobarbital, a drug with similar properties.  And what great debate this entire story has sparked!!


Citing a lack of transparency and a breach of state law, appellate attorney for death row inmate Cleve Foster says she will challenge this change in courts. It certainly seems to Miss Ginger that whether you wash with Clorox or you wash with Purex, the stain still comes out.


Lundbeck Inc, the manufacturer of Nembutal, the most widely marketed form of pentobarbital, has publicly stated that they would prefer that states not use their product for this purpose.  


Meanwhile, in financial news, trading of Lundbeck, Inc skyrocketed on the Dallas and Houston Stock Exchanges as both Texas and Oklahoma stock up on the newly designed cocktail of death! 






In other news, Dragwitness News affiliate KHOU in Houston obtained this video  of rowdy teabagger Charles Cupp, 66, made a complete and total ass of himself at a city hall rally protesting the state spending cuts that threaten the avaialablity of HIV and AIDS related drugs to a large number of patients. Hopefully, Big Leroy will use a condom when he has his way with "Miss Charley" tonight in the Harris County Jail!

And this just in: Texas lawmakers approved draft legislation on Wednesday that would allow students to carry guns on college campuses.  Governator Rick Perry, in old west fashion,  celebrated by firing his own six shooter into the air, killing 2 grackles, 1 blackbird,  and a window seat passenger on a low-flying Southwest Airlines flight.  Said family of the victim, Sayid Samed: "We are certain that she was targeted because of her religion."




So that's your Dragwitness News for tonight, folks!  And remember, if we can't find news, we'll drag it out of someone!

NOT Only in Texas!

A Muslim woman was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight for suspicious behavior, and guess what:  believe it or not, it DIDN'T happen in Texas!  This actually happened in San Diego, California, when a flight attendant thought he heard her say into her cell phone "it's a go!"  Apparently, these are words that flight attendants are taught to listen for, as they could be verification of a terrorist plot. Otherwise, Miss Ginger suspects most flight attendants couldn't be bothered to spend time during boarding (a flight attendant's busiest time) to eavesdrop on passenger's conversations.


The woman pulled the "musliphobic" card and wants a formal apology, and wants to be ensured that the crew will be disciplined.


Not surprisingly,  the blog comments on the Houston Chronicle website linking the article are hugely sympathetic to the crew, and not supportive at all of this woman and her plight.


Miss Ginger, not surprisingly, is torn.


In defense of the crew, one can't help but feel like the flight attendant and coworkers must have had a pretty compelling reason to remove the woman from the plane.  Asking a person to leave is quite a kerfuffle- it's not like telling someone they have to check an oversized bag.  They will have to involve supervisors, fill out reports, placate other passengers who will now be delayed.  Miss Ginger can't imagine that it is something a flight crew would take on "on a lark" because they didn't like the looks of someone.


In defense of the moronic blog commenters,  the ARE, in fact, Texans, some of the most narrow-minded people on the planet. They were inbred unto it! While their comments were tacky, the one point they had that was valid is that it is better to be safe than sorry.


In defense of the victim, Miss Ginger really doesn't have a lot of defense! She would like to invite her to consider the cause and effect.  She said something into a cell phone that caught a flight attendant's attention as a possible threat.  The flight crew acted upon it and investigated the matter. It turned out to be a misunderstanding.  No one called her names. No one said she couldn't wear her scarf. Throughout the airport building, a repeater constantly announces "inappropriate remarks or jokes may be treated as a danger to the facility".  


What's that? You don't want anyone listening to what you say on your cell phone?  DON'T TALK ON YOUR CELL PHONE IN PUBLIC!!!  Don't want people misjudging you for wearing a headscarf?  DON'T WEAR A HEADSCARF!!!  Want to make sure your flight leaves on time? SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT, and listen to the safety demo!


As far as her demands that the staff be disciplined:  THEY DID NOTHING WRONG!!! No one can prove they acted out of prejudice, malice, or contempt.  And, regardless of how they acted,  the company has the right to handle the matter internally as they see fit!


And don't even get Miss Ginger STARTED on the whole head scarf thing!  As you know,  Miss Ginger has no respect for religion!  Any religion they tells a woman she has to cover her head with a piece of fabric is about as useful to Miss Ginger as one that tells its followers that anyone who will refuse to accept only one god and denounce all others will go to hell!


Christianity, Buddhist, Muslim- schmuslim! Believe what you want, but please make sure I don't have to look at it! Treat people with dignity and respect, take care of yourself and those you care about, follow the rules for the situation at hand, don't run with scissors, and keep your hands in the car so they won't blow off!  This "religion" has served this ole drag queen pretty well for a long, long, (long!) time and it's the only one she needs!! Thank you, Momma G- the one true Goddess!!


Oh, and PS- just for the record:  if Miss Ginger had a terrorist plot, and it got foiled, she would be ALL UP in the race card... can you think of a better cover-up?  "You only pulled me off this plane because I'm a DRAG QUEEN!!  All I have up under this wig is a sammich for later!!"

Does Anybody REALLY Know What's Happening?

There are so many conflicting stories coming out of Japan about the condition of the hobbled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactor.  It seems so sad that already, various press outlets are spinning the story in any angle that suits their bias!  





Queen Ginger's most credible resource has opined that much of the concern and risk is overblown.  Apparently,  the design of the reactors and their current state pretty much precludes a Chernobyl type meltdown and public disaster.  


But here's one thing that confuses pea-brained Miss Ginger.  This article by CNN  describes the INES Rankings of Nuclear Disasters- sort of a "Richter Scale" of fall out risk, if you will.

The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale -- or INES -- ranks incidents from Level 1, which indicates very little danger to the general population, to Level 7, a "major accident" with a large release of radioactive material and widespread health and environmental effects.

"It's clear we are at Level 6, that's to say we're at a level in between what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl," Andre-Claude Lacoste, president of France's nuclear safety authority, told reporters Tuesday.

The core meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania, in 1979 caused no injuries or deaths, and only low levels of radiation were found later in plants and animals, experts said.

At least 30 people died following the 1986 explosion and fire at Chernobyl, and large swaths of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were contaminated from the nuclear fallout. Thousands of cases of childhood thyroid cancer resulted, according to Dr. Ira Helfand of Physicians for Social Responsibility, which opposes the use of nuclear power.

It seems to Miss Ginger that there is a pretty large gap between TMI and Chernobyl!




At this point, even experts can't agree on the magnitude of the disaster.  There are articles pointing to suspected cover-ups by the Japanese government. There are articles speculating the risk is greater than we know. 


We do know that most of the dramatic explosions and clouds we have seen on the news are steam. We also know that if the containment systems are intact, this steam should be, for the most part, benign, and no cause for concern.  We also know that the control rods have been inserted successfully in all reactors, allowing the reactor to shut down properly. What we don't know for sure is whether the primary containment systems are intact, and whether there are spent fuel rods outside of an intact containment barrier.  


Miss Ginger also has no idea what the breach of these containment systems would mean.  With the reactors shut down and the control rods in place, is there less risk of radiation leak, even if the containment systems are broken?


Let's get answers and facts, people! Enough speculation! These people have enough on their hands- they don't need us making it worse with inaccurate and sensational information!

Wow.

The pictures coming out of Japan are just horrifying!  It seems that our little Gulf Hurricanes are nothing compared to the power of an earthquake and the resultant tsunami! 


It boggles Miss Ginger's tiny little mind to imagine what devastation like this must look like!  She remembers the damage in the neighborhood after Hurricane Ike, but a hurricane covers much less ground than an earthquake and tsunami!  Oh, the humanity!

Now, it appears some degree of nuclear meltdown is underway.  This link takes you to an alarming depiction of what can happen! 


Now, certainly, Miss G is no nuclear physicist.. as a matter of fact, she had to use the dictionary to spell it...       ...but, there are a few things she understands here, and even more that she doesn't.




First of all, she is aware that this is a completely different type of reactor than the one that cause Russia's devastating Chernobyl disaster,  so hopefully we don't have to fear anything like that.  She also understands at this point that the Japanese company that owns the reactors is willing to sacrifice the unit's future in order to protect the safety of the country and its people- by flooding the core with seawater,  they will render the aging plant useless. Miss Ginger can't help but wonder if an American company would ruin their plant to protect the people? And she is aware that the Japanese plant was of modern design, with all expected safety systems, and was well-managed, well-run,  and considered well-equipped for its situation.


But here's what Miss Ginger can't wrap her tiny drag queen brain around:  If protecting the cooling system is the crucial part of preventing a nuclear meltdown, why can't the plant be designed to be self-sustaining, so it creates the energy it needs to cool itself down?  Obviously, the power grid will be compromised in a natural disaster, and that's what triggers the shutdown in the first place.  But diesel generators don't seem like the smartest equipment to use as a backup.  They are restricted by fuel capacity, and, as discovered by this particular incident, are susceptible to flooding and physical damage.


Why could there not be a system to use heat from the reactor itself to create the energy needed to drive a cooling system?  Surely there is a way to safely generate some amount of steam from the hobbled reactor; enough to drive an electric generator that could run a cooling unit?!  It seems to Miss G that there could be a lot more designed into the plants to ensure they can shut down safely in case of an unanticipated disaster!


Does anyone know what the "worst case scenario" could be? Is there any risk to the US?

C'mon- Make my Day!

See that little box over there to the right, underneath where is says "Welcome to the Land of the Gingersnaps"?  Well, that little fella has been sitting there since 2008, slowly but surely welcoming each new GingerSnap that joins our fold!  Believe it or not, there are 91 of you out there, reading always, sometimes, or never about the goings on of Miss Queen Ginger and her batty felines!  Surely, there are 9 more people in the world that want to watch the antics of this crazy queen and her whacky cats, 24/7/365 moments a year!!


Whadya say?  Help Queen G get to 100 followers!  Send her link to some of your likeminded blog buddies, and ask them to follow Miss G! And if you're out there lurking in the shadows,  sign up for a blogger account (it's free!) and come out into the light to bask in the glow of Ginger's warmth and goodness!  


Please don't make me grovel!  It's so unbecoming of a Royal to beg!!

The Tale of 3 Soups....

....a FABULOUS Miss Ginger Grant Consumer Product Review!!!


No wonder we are all overweight, dear GingerSnaps!!  It's simply not our fault! It's those damn grocery companies that are doing it to us!! 

The Royal Doctor informed Queen G that her blood pressure was still too high, and that she would someday have a stroke if she doesn't lower it immediately!  He gave the Queen more medication, and told her, once again, to watch what she eats and to get some exercise.  


So, off the Kroger she went to find healthy foods fit for a Queen of her stature!  She knows she needs to eat more chicken and less beef, but she also knows that chicken is like rubber without some yummy sauce on it, and the easiest way to make sauce is with Cream of Mushroom soup!


Mais, quelle dommage! Cream of Mushroom soup is full of fat, and all canned soups have way too much sodium!  What is a diet conscious Royal to do?  Certainly, if modern scientists can create a realistic looking fingernail that attaches instantly with rubber cement, they can come up with a healthy version of Cream of Mushroom that tastes great, non?


The assortment was staggering, but Queen G narrowed the selection down to 3, and began to explore their nutrition labels to check things out.  Here's what she discovered:

She began her research by checking out Classic "Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup"  to establish a baseline.  The first thing she noticed is that the serving size is based on a 4 oz. serving size, and that the can therefore contains 2.5 servings.  Now, really, do you know anyone who opens a can of soup for lunch, mixes in the water, and then saves 2 thirds of it for later?! Ridiculous!




As expected, this soup is woefully unhealthy, and becomes even more so when one accounts for an actual serving size. For the 250 calorie can, one gets:

This soup has 15 grams of fat and a whopping 2.2 GRAMS of sodium in it!  Sodium is measure in milligrams, peeps! This is insane! The DAILY recommendation is no more than 1,500 mg of sodium!! This contains almost twice that, in one bowl!

Next, she checked out "Campbell's Condensed Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup".  Right there on the front of the can, within a green, heart-shaped logo, were checkmarks expounding this product as "Heart Healthy" with "0g Trans Fat per serving".  Surely, Doctor D should be happy with that, right?

A quick check of the label revealed that this can, too, has "naive portion" syndrome, so Queen G converted the contents thusly:

When comparing the labels, this soup would seem much healthier, at 70 calories vs. 100.  But, when one "rightsizes" the portion, it becomes 175 calories vs. 250;  not such a significant difference.  And with still over a gram over sodium, Miss G can't help but feel we are stretching the limits of "heart healthy" here!

So finally, our benevolent Queen checked out "Campbell's Ready To Serve Cream of Mushroom Low Sodium Soup". "Ready to Serve"? What does that mean?  Well, it says right on the front of the can: "Add no water".  And what do you know? For this soup, the serving size is "1 container". Which, FYI, is 10.5 oz. Not 4 oz. Because NO ONE EATS ONLY 4 OUNCES OF SOUP!! But I digress.

There's no math to do here, since Campbell's has finally admitted to the real size of a soup serving!

As expected, this soup considerably lowers the sodium content.  And although 8 grams of fat is few more than its heart healthy cousin, it's still half the amount of fat in the classic product, right?  But wait!  If you check out the saturated fat- the "bad" fat that causes heart disease- the low sodium soup has exactly the same amount as it's full fat cousin!!

So what the hell is a gurl to do?  Is any one of these really any better for her heart than another?

She bought all three, but at this point she thinks it best to just dump them all together and make one great big pan of Green Bean Casserole!!

Now, off to find a recipe for homemade Cream of Mushroom soup!!

Derby Day is Coming!!

It's hard to believe it's almost May, and time for our 4th Annual Derby Day Celebration, benefiting Legacy Community Health Services!  If you've not been to Derby Day before, be sure to come out and join the fun!  Derby Day is all about the hat, so be sure to create your fabulous, most gravity-defying chapeau to enter our Big Hat Contest!  Too butch for a bonnet?  This year,  we're adding a "Construction Hat Contest" to celebrating the progress of Legacy's fabulous new building on California Street in Montrose!  You won't want to miss our legendary Drag Horse Races, and of course, we'll televise the running of the race to see who can pick the winner!!


By the by, gurls and boiz,  Derby Day is the kickoff for our annual Mr, Ms, and Miss Mint Julep Contest, where we crown the boy, girl, and boygirl who raise the most money for Legacy Community Health Services over the course of the summer!  If you want to enter the contest, contact Timmy at tjmartinez@legacycommunityhealth.org   The sooner your declare your candidacy, the sooner you can start your fundraising efforts!  As a special bonus, decare your candidacy prior to May 7th, and Miss G will work you into the lineup so you can start collecting at Derby Day!!


Check our facebook page and RSVP so we can be on the lookout for you!

Home At Last!

Queen Ginger is finally home from her Mardi Gras jaunt to the motherland, and wouldn't you know, she came home sick as a dog! Now she remembers why she stopped going to NOLA for Mardi Gras- this always happens!  Spring allergies + crowds of germy people = sinus infection!

SO last night she curled up with the kitties front of the TV and caught up on all the shows she'd DVR'd.  She finally got to watch the episode of RuPaul's Drag Race where Delta was sent home, and I think it was time for her to go.

Now, I know there are some Delta lovin' queens out there reading this blog, and I love her too, but based on the contest of this challenge, she just did not bring it.  As much as she criticized others for "going for the obvious" when they teased her about being fat, that's exactly what she did in the comedy challenge, but without enough confidence and panache to make it funny. It was just kind of pathetic and painful! As a big girl drag queen, Miss Ginger feels qualified to say that Delta needs to move beyond her desire to be seen as "more than just the big girl"!  Face it, sweetcheeks- you're a big man in a dress, and that's funny!  People expect a big drag queen to be funny, so we have to give them that first.  If we can layer on beauty and talent, that's great, but you gotta bake the cake before you can ice it!

Manila was also in the bottom 2, and she deserved to be there as well.  I love Manila's look,  and her Asian deprecation shtick is pretty funny most of the time.  Why she went for that tired Sesame Street routine is beyond me, when she could have given us Margaret Cho meets Connie Chung or something personal and funny!  She totally deserved to win the Lipsync, where she clearly outshined Delta.

A lot came to to light for Miss Ginger during this episode when it was revealed that Shangela has experience doing comedy on stage.  Now Miss G understands why Ru seems to have her back so much!  

If you look at the queens who are getting national exposure lately, they are all, first and foremost, comediennes.  Coco Peru, Lady Bunny, and Hedda Lettuce have all brought drag comediennes to the limelight with cable specials and comedy tours.  Miss Ginger is proof positive that just about any old queen can put on a dress and heels and make a name for herself, but to get national exposure, you've got to move beyond the lipsync-at-a-bar, dollar-at-a-time bookings that most of us get.  RuPaul rose to fame because she can, in fact, sing and dance, but even she has followed that with talk shows and comedic charm that makes the world love her. I think Ru sees potential in Shangela's ability to market herself as star with talent, and she may be the most marketable queen on that stage today.  True, Shangela's makeup is amateurish, and she can't sew, but we can pay makeup artists and seamstresses to fix that.  She has that flair for comedy and the spot-on timing that money can't buy, and that's going to bring her a long, long way.

A lot of people are favoring Raja, and I love her too, but I don't see her as the Next Drag Superstar.  First off, to paraphrase Fabio: "eetsa Top Drag Queen, notta Top Androgeny". Her look, while entertaining and edgy, is not particularly pretty,  and Miss Ginger sees her more as a "club kid" than a true drag queen.  I think she'll go far- and I think she'll be successful- but Miss Ginger does not see her as "America's Next Drag Superstar".  Raja also seem REALLY smart- way smarter than your average drag queen!  I think with her talent and brains, plus the fact that she's a very handsome boy as well, will take her a long way in the entertainment industry.

The 2 Latinas are fluff.  Love them both, but can't understand a word they say. Charo can only take you so far!

So Miss G is predicting Shangela for the win.  Who are you 'snaps pulling for?

For the Boys....

...of course, I didn't forget about you!

For the Girls....

You all know Queen Ginger LOVES her some lesbians! So, girls, here's a few Mardi Gras pics for you!

Happy Mardi Gras, Ladies!!

"Everywhere Else It's Just Tuesday!"

Happy Mardi Gras, everybody!  This girl's sign just kinda says it all, doncha think!?  It's been a very interesting, very unusual, but very awesome Mardi Gras for Queen Ginger, and it will probably take a few posts for her to share it all with you!!


First, you must know that Miss G risked life and phlegm to bring you these on-the-scene shots of the festivities!  When she woke up this morning, she discovered this sinus thing had dropped to her chest, so she was way too miserable to drag out the drag and be a part of the scene! She sent Boy G out, incognito and sober, to spend his day taking in the sights and snapping these pics for our gentle readers!

As soon as Boy G left the hotel, he ran smack dab into Pete Fountain's Half-Fast Walking Club,  a legend among New Orleans locals and one of the most popular walking clubs in the city!  Now, don't confuse these guys with mall walkers or anyone who walks for their health!  Click here to learn about the purpose of walking clubs and their contribution to the party!

Boy G got so distracted by one handsome walker....

....that he almost missed the opportunity to catch this awesome shot of the Legendary Pete Fountain himself!  Boy G fondly remembers seeing Pete play live with Momma and Poppa G back when Pete had a place in the New Orleans Hilton.










After taking in the sights along Royal Street,  Boy G wandered up Dumaine to Lafittes, where the costumed revelers were gathering for the annual Bourbon Street Awards, to be held at noon.

Here, Boy G was able to catch up with some of the gang from home, and finally found the person she had been looking for all weekend long:

...the elusive Amber LeMay!! Of course, Amber was all dolled up in her Mardi Gras finest, and Miss Ginger was just sick that she didn't get to meet her!  Lucy Belle and the other girls were off at the parades, but being the hard-core party gurl that is Amber, she wanted to stay in the French Quarter to she wouldn't miss a sinful inch of the party!  I always knew she was from good people!!

Amber was, as always, the Belle of the Ball, and was having a great time meeting the crowds and oggling over the fabulous, creative costumes that are a hallmark of a French Quarter Mardi Gras!










We saw:

Wonder Woman meets the Golden Girls!

The Doublemint Twins- Rehobeth Beach style!

Mary Poppins and her Spoonful of Sugar.

The Supremes- and their "Love Child"!

Rosie the Robot!

and many, many, more!!  Watch this spot for a couple more posts coming your way!  There's also some great costume pics on NOLA.com!