RuPaul's Drag Race: The Fabulous Bitch Ball 

Last week, the ladies (including a briefly re-appearing Kenya Michaels) got to frock some dads, with mixed results. The incoherent Kenya Michaels was sent home again, and no one cares again. The girls talk briefly about how Latrice has been in the bottom twice, but also about how Chad has never had to lip sync for his liiife. To be fair to Sharon, she only had to in that Frenemies week where she was relying on her arch-enemy, Phi Phi O'Hara. 

DILFs: Dad's I'd like to Frock

Last week, a very political challenge exposed the weakness in Dida Ritz (that weakness being her lack of style and boringsauce personality). Sharon Needles won the challenge for her frighteningly accurate portrayal of some recent female political candidates. Also last week, Ru announced that one of the departed queens would be coming back into the competition. It turns out that Michelle and Santino selected the incomprehensible Kenya Michaels to return. This seems like as good a choice as any, because at least she brings a professional look. 

RuPaul's Drag Race: Frock the Vote

 Last week, Willam won the challenge, but was kicked off the show for "breaking a rule" of the show. We don't know what said rule was, but she is outta here. We won't find out what rule was broken until the reunion show, which is a damn shame. 

There's a new promotional video out for Prometheus. It's a commercial for David, Michael Fassbender's character, who is apparently a robot that you can buy to do the shit you can't get your employees to do. Now, if I were a robot designer, I might make a robot that looks like Michael Fassbender.

The event is called 'Art in Daily Life: Essential or Irrelevant? Who Decides? Who Pays? Who Cares?' The National Gallery’s Director and CEO Marc Mayer and art critic Sarah Milroy will face-off against the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Executive Director Stephen Borys and writer of the Globe and Mail Kate Taylor. From street art to national galleries, and everywhere in between, our debaters will challenge one another to prove, or disprove, the relevance of art in daily life. This thoughtful and entertaining debate will also include moderator Carol Off, CBC radio host for As it Happens, and provocateur Peter Simpson, arts editor-at-large for the Ottawa Citizen; as well as additional rabble-rousers.

Really? Do we need to go through this again? Seems Lionsgate is going all Twilight on The Hunger Games, bringing in a new director for the second installment.

Okay, this was probably always going to piss me off, given my stated preference for Gary Ross (btw, I rewatched Seabiscuit the other day, and it was as great as I remembered it. Plus now I feel like I understand Luck a little better). And, if we're being honest, we all know the reason why: $$$.

So while some are content to speculate about who might assume the chair, I prefer to sit and mourn the squandering of a great director, shake my head at Lionsgate's decision to value money over quality, and question the validity of the argument that another director could have made a movie that hewed closer to the book's violence and gore and still brought it in at PG-13. Think it through.

Frenemies

Last week, Phi Phi O'Hara finally did well and won a challenge. Jiggly Caliente was sent sashaying away, probably a few episodes late. SheMail arrives and it is a strange one where Ms. Ru fights with her frenemy…who is Ms. Ru. Mr. Ru introduces the mini-challenge, which is a fun one where the girls have to take a lie detector test. The most hilarious question is repeated in some form for each player. "If X were the last ladyboy on earth, would you kai kai with her". Yes, I had to look up the spelling and possible use of that. It turns out everyone would kai kai with Latrice. Good things to know. These lie detectors are used to gauge the girls' personalities, and then they are paired up with another girl that they are different from. The pairs are Dida Ritz & Chad Michaels, Latrice Royale & Willam, and Phi Phi & Sharon. The challenge is to stage a production of some new original song. The big twist is that they won't be syncing the song, they will be singing it live. For many of these girls, this is a problem because they don't sing. 

During the Ru visit, we learn that the ladies will be judged as a team, so the bottom team will have to lip sync for their liiiives against each other. That adds some interesting drama to the mix. The next day, the teams get a chance to work with Ru's music partner and producer, Lucian Piane, who will give them feedback on their numbers. Details of each of the rehearsals are below, but in general, none of the people know the song well enough. 

Dragazines 

Previously on RuPaul's Drag Race, Milan was a bit of a mess again, and was sent home. Jiggly was also in the bottom, and we learned that he is a balding dude. Willam won the Pride float challenge, and was generally annoying.  

SheMail arrives, and it is all about libraries today. That's right, these gals are getting read. As we learned in past seasons, "reading" is kind of like roasting. It involves slamming your fellow queen with details about how they are slutty, ugly, fat, or whatever. It isn't as mean-spirited as it sounds, and all of the girls seem to enjoy it. 

Are you exhibition ready?

The Foyer Gallery Artists Association (FGAA) is looking for innovative emerging and established artists to join the Foyer Gallery. We need dynamic, self directed artists who are committed to hands on operation of an artist run centre. The Foyer Gallery is a 600 square foot, glassed in, City of Ottawa sponsored exhibition space devoted to showcasing the art of local juried artists in a variety of media and styles. Located in the front foyer of the Nepean Sportsplex, the gallery is open five days a week. Throughout the year an exciting schedule of frequently changing exhibitions features high quality paintings, 3D works, prints and cards. Revenue is generated through membership fees and the commission on sales of exhibited artwork.

As an artist run gallery, membership responsibilities include a minimum 1 year commitment, sitting at the gallery for at least two 3 hour shifts per month and active participation on the Board and/or its committees. Benefits include the opportunity to exhibit your artwork in 8 group shows and one four artist show annually.

A Call Out for three upcoming shows at Cube Gallery. Please submit a small .jpg image of 1- 3 pieces per artist. Also a short BIO. Send info to: don@cubegallery.ca

Deadline to submit: May 1st,2012
Group Show: May: RUN!
SEE HOW WE RUN at Cube Gallery
We run for cover, for office and sometimes for our lives. We could be in it for the long run, have a run of luck or run ourselves ragged. And by the way, is that a run in your stocking? Run, don't walk to the Cube Gallery, to be part of Ottawa's biggest running weekend May 25th. This will be a group show celebrating, showcasing and wondering why we love to run.
Theme is wide open.

Deadline to submit: May 1st,2012
Group Show: July: Nuit Noire II
"Nuit Noire" is an art show dedicated to the beauty and majesty of the night sky and a testament to those artists, sculptors, scientists and astronomers who still turn their gaze to the stars. Our second annual dark sky festival! Free sidewalk star party and lectures! At the opening - our neighbours on Julian Ave. will turn out their street lights for the occasion. Paintings, photos and sculpture all about the night.

For 15 years of The Taste of Glenhyrst, the annual major fundraiser of The Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant

The Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant is calling for proposals from artists to create the most creative artists’ chairs

Fifteen chairs will be selected by jurors from the proposals to be commissioned to create their proposed chairs, and the artists will be paid $500.00 for the chair, the exhibition right and the right to reproduce images for marketing.

Zooey Deschanel, who seems to live her life as if the movie industry invention "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" were an actual thing, dropped out of university because "my specialness [was] not appreciated in this place".  She further comments on how rough it is to not be appreciated as the unique snowflake she is in an interview with Allure (via Gawker).  Good thing Hollywood is willing to fawn all over her in the manner which she deserves.

Good news, guys! As suspected, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter's second trailer, a.k.a. not the teaser trailer, did a much better job at convincing me to see the movie. Even "Are you a patriot or a vampire?" makes sense now! See for yourselves:

Le Centre de production DAÏMÔN à Gatineau est à la recherche d’un directeur général et artistique ou d’une directrice générale et artistique.

Nature de l’emploi

La personne recherchée assumera la responsabilité de la vision artistique et de la gestion du centre dans un contexte d’ancrage régional. Elle travaillera en étroite collaboration avec le conseil d’administration, sera à l’écoute de son environnement et actualisera la mission artistique du centre afin de développer et renouveler sa vision. De plus, elle saura relever les défis avec enthousiasme et les mener à bonne fin. Elle devra être dotée d’un excellent sens de l’organisation, avoir un bon sens de l’initiative, aimer travailler en équipe et démontrer un vif intérêt pour les arts médiatiques, les arts numériques, l’art contemporain et la culture en générale. La personne entrera en fonction dans un espace entièrement rénové et adapté aux besoins et aux spécificités du centre, comprenant une salle de diffu sion multimédia, un studio de son, une salle de montage vidéo, une salle d’infographie et d’impression numérique, un laboratoire d’électronique et une chambre noire.

RuPaul's Drag Race: Float Your Boat

Last week, Chad Michaels blew us away with his dead-on Cher impersonation. Kenya Michaels was sent sashaying away for not knowing who Beyoncé was and for being incoherent. I can't say we'll miss her. Phi Phi was told to step it the eff up, and we are really over her. 

The mini challenge this week is a wet t-shirt contest. The ladies each get a new silicone breast plate from some hilarious website that donated them. The contest is various degrees of frightening, and we see Latrice's blurred business. Latrice also does the freaking splits, which I am always impressed with.   

At (Cult)ure we're in the business of producing written words, but that doesn't mean that we don't enjoy things like spoken words or words set to music or things that don't have words at all. So each week we'll bring you a small collection of non-written things that we enjoyed.

Best Podcast: Mike & Tom Eat Snacks, "Episode 52"

Mike and Tom have always made a point of not revealing the snack until they actually get around to eating it, so I'm not going to spoil the fun. Nor will I explain who Matty Ice is or what he does to deserve a two-person standing ovation. If these simple facts aren't enough to tempt you, well, laughter is the best medicine for whatever is the matter with you. Click. Listen. Laugh.

Volunteer Curator is needed to hang art at a medical clinic.
A Medical clinic in the east end of Ottawa needs a Curator volunteer willing to hang art in their clinic and change it every three months. This is a great opportunity to get your art out of your basement and display it in front of many many eyes with the possibility of selling the work. The clinic does not rent the walls out, they offer them for free. The West Carleton Family Health Team has been doing this in the west end for several years and sales have been made. No fee is paid, but the Curator can request a commission to help offset their time and effort. It's great exposure, and people in the west end are beginning to know the names of the artists who display and remember them when they meet them at other exhibitions.
If you would like more details or to talk to the WCFHT curator, please contact Catherine Gutsche at: cgutsche@xplornet.com or 613-839-1324.
http://artondisplay-carp.blogspot.com/

Note: this content is posted on behalf of the organizer. (Cult)ure is not responsible for the content and has no further details.

The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) invites film, video, audio and new media artists in Ottawa and surrounding regions to an Information Session on OAC grants and services for media artists.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
1p.m. – 3p.m.
“Courtroom” at Arts Court
67 Nicholas Street
Ottawa
If you have questions about:
* whether you are eligible for grants
* the grant application process, deadlines, support material
* how to draft clear, concise grant applications
* how grant decisions are made
* how juries are selected
Please join Mark Haslam, Media Arts Officer
This event is presented in collaboration with Artengine, Independent Filmmakers Cooperative of Ottawa and SAW Video.
This information session will be conducted in English only.
RSVP before April 18 to: nshoja@arts.on.ca

Note: this content is posted on behalf of the organizer. (Cult)ure is not responsible for the content and has no further details.

It's that time of year again! We're accepting vendors for the Hintonburg ArtsPark 2012, to be held at the Parkdale Market on May 26th, 2012.
If you would like to be a vendor, act fast! We have only about 40 spaces to fill, so, in order to be included, you're encouraged to get your cheques in as soon as possible. Remember handcrafted items only.
There is a $50 fee for each space - Please email craftfair11@gmail.com for further details.

Note: this content is posted on behalf of the organizer. (Cult)ure is not responsible for the content and has no further details.

Last week, Madame LaQueer was sent home, just as we learned she was sort of annoying. This week brings us a great RuPaul's Drag Race tradition in the form of Snatch Game, and you should all check this episode out.  

The mini-challenge is called Beat the Cock, and the ladies compete in rooster and hen themed tasks. It is absurd, as usual. Phi Phi wins at pinning the rooster on Ru's face, Dida Ritz successfully blows a feather across a room, and Milan wins a ring toss game. Those three compete in a final challenge that is a variation of an egg and spoon race. I'll not go into more details. Phi Phi wins a phone call home, and Chad Michaels is sad because it is his anniversary with his partner. In a rare moment of humanity (at least on the show), Phi Phi gives up his call to Chad. 

Ru introduces the Snatch Game challenge. Snatch Game is Ru's version of the 1970s classic game show Match Game. If you ever get the chance to see an episode of the original Match Game, check that stuff out. Gene Rayburn basically corrals 6 celebrities (who may or may not be drunk) and makes them answer dumb questions while horrified house wives play along. It is great stuff. Snatch Game is the drag version of this, with celebrity impressions.