Rina Sawayama Stole My Drag and I’m Grateful

Hump Day Motivation 05/12/21

May 13, 2021

Welcome to the Hump Day Motivation (HDM), a bi-weekly edition of ‘Gangletown’ about thirst and culture to get us through those rough mid-week moments. The HDM is typically released every other Wednesday for full-access subscribers only, but today it is for everyone. If you know someone that might love it, you have my full blessing to forward it their way!

You may have noticed that there was no Monday Edition this week. Or maybe you didn’t notice? Any level of awareness is totally okay! And either way, I’m sorry. Here is the tiny story about why you didn’t get that Gangle…

I am very committed to writing something and publishing in Gangletown every Monday (“Monday Editions”), every other Wednesday (“Hump Day Motivation”*), and at the end of each month (“Favorite Things”*). It’s an important personal commitment that I’ve made, and I don’t take it lightly. So I wrote a jaunty and playful 1200+ word piece on Sunday while I was on an airplane (a surreal experience in 2021). I intended to publish that piece Monday morning, but unfortunately for all of us, my gorgeous, stunning, delicious little computer decided to shit the bed mid-flight, and I lost it. Like- boopboop deleted. Gone.

Now, you must be thinking, “Why didn’t you draft it in Google Drive or in Substack so that it auto-saves to the cloud?” To that thought, I would say, “Okay, you stunning know it all, I usually do! But I was on the airplane, and I didn’t want to pay for the internet!

At the end of the day, though, Gangletown is primarily a motivator and experiment. It pushes me to write and share. I technically wrote, so I count it as a win. Yes, it was lost, but I wrote it, and I hope you’ll celebrate that tiny achievement with me. So I allowed myself some grace and gave your inboxes a tiny break. Win-win?

*For full-access subscribers only.

1. Revry

Yes, Revry is another streaming content service, and I know that we’re all basically begging for fewer options in the streaming world at this point, but hear me out. I just discovered Revry because of my new job (which is in the film/television distribution world) ((and I am loving it)), and it really excited me. Revry’s platform is built specifically around Queer TV, Movies, and Music. The content is created by and created for queer people (and their stunning allies).

Here is their “about” language from the website (www.Revry.tv).

Revry is about true inclusivity and diversity, in the content and format. Revry represents all the colors of the rainbow: gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, gender-fluid, queer, questioning, and allied. In addition, Revry embraces points of views and stories often overlooked and underrepresented in the traditional media with an emphasis on POC (People of Color) voices. But our commitment to diversity doesn’t just stop there: unlike many other digital streaming services, Revry celebrates short-form content in a way that has never been seen before! This is why we have made short-form digital content – including digital series, music videos, pure audio music, and podcasts – the backbone of our service.

2. Girls5Eva

Hi, my name is David. I like pop culture, pop music, nostalgia, girl groups, and sitcoms. I have a total heart-on for female-led comedies, and I think that NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, may have just launched Season 1 of my next comfort program. What I’m saying is, Girls5Eva is a fucking delight. I was able to binge the whole first season (8 episodes, ~30 minutes each) on my flight back from Montana (and the post-flight transit back home), and I just…I loved it. If it doesn’t get renewed for another season, I will personally burn down 30 Rock from the inside out, and THAT is a joke because I’m not a criminal in the traditional sense, and I want to make it clear to the feds that this is a comedy situation, not an actual threat.

Anyway. This show is absolutely delightful. Sara Bareilles is unsurprisingly perfect. Paula Pell is seasoned and dynamic. Busy Phillips is giving a sketch character fantasy. And Renée Elise Goldsberry? Well, she seems to have tapped into some ancient source of power/magic and is using it all for good. This is a real game-changing role for her, and I expect some seriously cool things to follow.

Have I said how delightful this show is? It’s really fun. So, please. I am urging - nay! begging - y’all to go stream Girls5Eva so that I can have a season two. Peacock has a 2-week free trial, so just do it.

3. Rina Sawayama Stole My Drag, and I’m Grateful

I have mentioned Rina Sawayama a few times in Gangletown. Her music, including her debut album Sawayama and single “Lucid,” were included in Favorite Things editions. She is a great rising talent in the music scene, and if there is any justice in the world, she’ll keep blowing up until she’s more of a household name.

Last night at the Brit Awards, Sawayama showed up on the red carpet wearing a Balmain gown that makes me want to rip my heart out and bury it. I love this look so much that I don’t think I have any love left inside me, and therefore no further need for the blood-pumping organ that currently resides until my ribcage.

This dress on this woman is just fuckin’ unreal. It is somehow playful, glamorous, stunning, sexy, young, mature, sexy, and classy. It is a true Gangle! Meaning, it is the combined essence of many things, and the sum of those components is something unique and special.

For the record, when I wear skirts and dresses, this is what I’m trying to look like. To be clear, I said trying. Succeeding? Literally not even close.

Rina Sawayama is a level of bonertown that my mortal body cannot even fathom. She is, without a doubt, the only option for DILFoftheWeek on this Hump Day. From here on out, we shall call her either Rina Sawayama or Dzaddy. You decide.

If you love what’s happening here, will you consider sharing this week’s gangletown (or another piece from the archives) directly with one person? It is the best way to help as gangletown grows. You can also follow & Tag me on social media @DKimps.

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