Monday, May 20, 2013

Gossip Game: S01E08 Recap

In episode 8 (the season finale??) of "The Gossip Game," we get up close and personal with FCB. FCB originated from an interview by KFoxx, where she called Angela Yee "fake," Sharon Carpenter "conceited," and Vivian Billings a "bitch." The trio reappropriated the words, and thus FCB was born.

Meanwhile, Ms. Drama meets up with Star, who wants her as his show's new gossip girl. He decides the best way to propose this situation would be to take out some condoms to show he really means business. OMFG, srriusly? Star really knows how to work the ladies.

Later Ms. Drama invites Sharon to her studio to "hash out" their differences. If you recall, Sharon kicked Drama out of her birthday party last episode since Ms. Drama decided to start some drama at Sharon's party. If anyone has an excellent memory, Ms. Drama apparently also previously called Sharon a "come up ho." You might have guessed that this doesn't end too well. The two end up in an argument. Sharon Carpenter notes that the two were trying to sit down and "have a woman to woman conversation," but it was more like "woman to warthog." Seems like Sharon thinks Ms. Drama lacks a certain appeal

Angela sets Viv up with a job interview with DJ prostyle at Power 105 ("Viv is my project," she announces). She completes the 2 minute interview on camera. If that's really how it went down, I can't imagine she got the job. She agrees, "I was a little nervous, so I don't know if I got the job."

Meanwhile, JasFly decides KFoxx should throw an event to cozy up to the blogging community. She gets the OK from KFoxx's boss, Ebro. The party happens, and surprise! The whole cast shows. Kim Osorio is "shocked" that KFoxx called the other cast members fake, conceited, and bitchy. JasFly calls out KFoxx for not supporting women of color in the industry, while throwing shade Ms. Drama's way. 

Angela shows up with Sharon and Viv. Angela's happy drunk and shouts, "I got bitch Billings on my right, conceited Carpenter on my left..."

"And fake Yee in the middle," counters Sharon. FCB has arrived. Angela gets in a fight with Peter Rosenberg because she allegedly sent a text about him trying to get with her while he was with his fiancee. Who cares? Only KFoxx. To show how little FCB cares, Angela proclaims, "You know what I want to do right now? Go to a real party." With that (and a little trouble getting over one step on the way out), FCB is gone. 

My personal favorite scene of the episode occurs last, as usual in reality TV shows. KFoxx decides to meet up with Angela at some benches in the middle of a sidewalk to talk about their issues. KFoxx informs Angela that she will stand because she is wearing jeans that won't allow her to sit. The rest of the scene proceeds with KFoxx standing, and Angela sitting. Hilarious. KFoxx is still pissed that Vivian spread a rumour about her and Maino, and decides it's Angela's fault that Vivian wrote the blog post. Angela, referencing Hamlet, believes KFoxx "doth protesteth too much." Clearly the two don't see eye to eye, except for the fact that Angela "need[s] a manual" on how to act. Angela really wants to read said manual: "Can you write the manual, and I'll read it?" She thinks it would be great for young girls!

The episode ends with short life updates by each cast member (this is the finale). None are particularly interesting, except for Viv's. She admits she probably didn't get the job at Power 105 because she hadn't heard back. Then she goes to the tattoo shop with Kayden, her trans son, to get a tat with only the letter "K." She's on the way to acceptance, even if she isn't all the way there. 

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Gossip Game: S01E07 Recap

Episode 7 of "The Gossip Game" was all about branding and associating with the right people.

Kim Osorio wants to work on her brand, but feels overwhelmed because she has to spend so much time working for "The Source." She seeks advice from Kino, who's sick, and therefore has a license to act like an asshole in front of the kids. While Kim is working from home, the kids are getting in her grill, and she feels frustrated. Kino gets the kids to sing a lovely song, "Daddy's nice. Mommy's mean." Also, he asked Kim ten times for a glass of orange juice, and he still hasn't gotten one. Sounds like Kim really does have an extra kid.

Later in the episode, he appears to have gotten over his illness, and is slightly more helpful. She wants to focus on her brand (I still don't get what this means!), but she'd be getting rid of a lot of income, and she's comfortable right now. There's no time for a job and creating a brand. Kino says that if she were his client, he'd look at her resume and say she's a star. He'd advise her to cut out any work that isn't getting her to where she wants to be. Realizing he looks like an actual, loving husband at this point, he adds, then "I'd try to have sex with you."

Viv wants to repair her image by talking things out with Steph Lova. Things don't go so well, and Steph Lova resorts to insults: "Get your ass a gym membership, bitch." Viv realizes the whole fight was provoked by her cousin, Star, so she decides she won't do his show anymore. When she informs him of this, he basically responds by saying he'd rather be drinking than talking to her right now.

KFoxx decides to start hanging out with JasFly and Ms. Drama (separately). She plans to work with JasFly. She takes on a mentorship role for the sad, friendless Ms. Drama. Both JasFly and Ms. Drama like KFoxx's recent interview about the media's portrayal of light skinned women over dark skinned women. JasFly likes to say she "doesn't fall into any categories," but KFoxx tells her she's dark skinned, whether she admits it or not. KFoxx tries to get JasFly and Ms. Drama to reconcile twice, but neither attempt works. Instead, JasFly tells Ms. Drama that she has no "genuity," which Ms. Drama notes "does not exist in the dictionary."

Finally, Sharon has a birthday party, and everyone but Ms. Drama is invited. That doesn't matter, though, because now that KFoxx and Ms. Drama are BFFs, Ms. Drama comes as KFoxx's plus one. Ms. Drama decides it would be cool to call Sharon "delusional" at her birthday party, so Sharon asks Angela to ask Ms. Drama to leave. How second grade. Ms. Drama leaves slowly, waving to everyone as she walks out. Ms. Drama proclaims--in an empty stairwell--that it is her and KFoxx versus the mean girls.

Seattle Supersonics, Capitol Hill, and the essence of the hoopster.

Last night, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, I attended a concert of a lifetime. Hoopsters united in possibly the most hoopster event ever, a rally to bring back the 5 years gone Seattle SuperSonics. The "Bring Our Sonics Back" concert was held at Neumo's, and featured Seattle rappers like Geo of the Blue Scholars, Nacho Picasso, and Sam Lachow.

For those of you who don't follow this stuff, the Sonics got sold to some guy who brought them to OKC, and now Seattle is hoping to get the Sacramento Kings (unlikely, IMO) to bring back the Sonics.
Decal distributed at last night's Bring Our Sonics Back concert.

H to the Oopster. What is more hoopster than cheering for a team that hasn't even existed since 2008? Imagine this: a full-to-capacity Neumo's crowd wearing the green and yellow of an extinct NBA team (Neumos is in the heart of Cap Hill, hipster-town USA), comparing jerseys (Durant rookie jersey?), cheering on Shawn Kemp (of the Sonics 1989-1997... he kicked off the party), and screaming along to Geo of the Blue Scholars' rap about Sonics players from the 90s and early 00s (hipster rap + basketball = hoopster).



Throughout the night, performers updated the crowd on the score of the OKC vs Memphis game. As Memphis rallied late in the game, the crowd's reaction was mixed. Cheers for ousting the team that was stolen from Seattle, but boos for beating the team that is really still the Sonics.

As one man in front of me proclaimed, "It's like if my wife got kidnapped by pirates. I would still love her, even if she were kidnapped."

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

The Gossip Game: S01E06 Recap


There was absolutely no narrative in episode 6 of The Gossip Game. This is most likely horrible editing, since you can make a story out of anything… but it can’t be helped by the fact that the women on the show have their own lives and barely ever talk to each other. It’s no “Basketball Wives.” Here, the women actually have jobs, so even if they’re forced to hang out together, it happens rarely.

Vivian tells Kim Osorio that Steph Lova said that Kim walked in on her husband, Kino, with another woman. (This is the definition of gossip. What a game it is.) Kim informs Kino of this piece of gossip, which is completely unfounded, and he advises her to “check the bitch.” However, Kim is 10-15 years out of a good fight, and she doesn’t like “check[ing] bitches because you get in a fight and your boobs are all like aah ahh.” Kino and Kim eventually confront Steph, and basically nothing happens.

Sharon is dating her ex, Garland. (Is it just me, or is Garland a really gay name?) Sharon and Angela go on a double date, and Angela decides to grill Garland on why he broke up with Sharon before, etc. Nothing interesting happens as a result.

Ms. Drama meets with Star, and he says he will do an interview with her if he gets some “intimate time” in return. What a gross, gross man. This is on TV. She ignores him and says she would be good at interviewing this a-hole because “I am Ms. Drama, and I will read a bitch.” (I think Ms. Drama loves her some Rupaul’s Drag Race.) Ms. Drama then interviews Star, and the interview is boring.

Viv wants to get a tattoo of four hearts with one of her kids’ names at the center of each one. She wants to put Kadeshia instead of Kayden to represent her trans son, because that is the name she chose. Kayden is pissed. Viv meets with Kim Osorio to talk about it, and Kim is confused, “but when you talk about your daughter, you talk about her as a girl.” Viv cries. To Viv, Kayden will always be Kadeshia, but she doesn’t want to disrespect her child. Sounds like she needs a book. Something along the lines of Different Daughters (see: Portlandia), but for trans kids and not from the 1980s. A tattoo for a fully grown woman is the most real part of this episode.