RuPaul, I love you

I don't know actually if it was RuPaul who was the brains behind "RuPaul's Drag Race" but holy crap is that the best hour of TV every week or what! The Texan and I came across it by accident. We'd been out at happy hour and decided to grab a nightcap at Nellie's, a gay sports bar that always plays good music. Except for that night in question a few weeks ago, when it was blaring "RuPaul's Drag Race" on its bazillion TVs. We decided just to call it a night and as I was finishing up my drink, The Texan went outside to smoke a cigarette. Bored, I started watching the show. The Texan came back to find me staring at the screen, mouth agape in wonder. We have been hooked ever since. I even wrote Logo's marketing department to tell them how much I liked that show, and I NEVER do that.

So why is the show so awesome? It's a combination of "America's Next Top Model" and "Project Runway," where drag queens have to do tasks and then do a runway show based on a certain theme. Thus far, the themes have been "Gone with the Wind" (which involved a Civil War shoot with shirtless soldiers and a big cannon), burlesque show/pole dancing, country friend chicken, and .... some sort of game show? Plus, the two lowest queens at the end of the show are told that they must "lip synch for your life," which usually spurs someone to do the splits, rip off their clothes, lose a wig during a particularly vigorous kick, etc. Finally, the loser is told to "sashay away," while the other one is reassured, "Chantez, you stay."

PLUS. Monday, while watching the opening of show, I finally clicked that one of the contestants was from Falls Church, the end of the Orange metro line. Lo and behold: Tatiana was there at Nellie's to promote the show. !!! She looks good on the show, but in real life is absolutely stunning. When they offered people the chance to take their picture with her, I raced up with my phone in hand. I tried to get The Texan to do it with me, because how awesome of a Christmas card would that have been, but he refused. My friend 23 came up with me instead. They had a drag queen emcee (of course) running a trivia contest during the commercial breaks. Man, I got schooled on my "RuPaul" knowledge, and I thought I would clean up the joint. Finally, at the end of the evening, Tatiana performed for the crowd, and did a fantastic job.

The only bummer is that for whatever reason, Logo's not showing it next week, and I'll have to wait two weeks to get my next fix. TOTALLY WORTH IT though.