Howdy Vuvalini and Many Mothers! It’s time for the Friday Open Thread! The Friday Open Thread is an open thread we host on Fridays! This is a place where queer ladies, womenfolk and gal pals and others can converge and upload pics and gifs and videos and talk about all the cool (or not so cool) things going on in your lives and answer questions! It’s like a slumber party! Or at least I think so? I’m trans and didn’t come out until my twenties, so I don’t really know what a girl’s slumber party is like. Womp womp.
So, how am I doing, you ask? Pretty good! I’m really busy working on my Autostraddle duties, plus getting ready for camp, plus I’m working on a lot of comics-related projects, some of which will come out soon! Awesome! Also, this year, instead of flying to camp, my friend Heather (who’s purely amazing, by the way), said that she would drive with me! I’m like, deathly afraid of flying. I hate it so, so much. Out of the last ten times I’ve been in an airport to fly, I’ve cried nine times. I’m also super afraid of whales. I don’t like them and I never will. What are you afraid of? Do the people in your work’s slack channel make fun of you for being afraid of things like my friends do? It’s all fun, though, until I freak out and start crying, but that’s only happened, like, twice.
Now, it’s time to get to the meat of this Open Thread. I’m gay for two things: YouTube videos and pop music. Okay, also I’m gay for ladies and a bunch of other stuff, but I do love YouTube videos and pop music a lot.
2k15 was a fucking great year for pop music. One of the best ever, in my opinion. We had Revival by Selena Gomez and E MO TION by Carly Rae Jepsen, which, by themselves, would’ve given 2k15 two of the century’s best pop albums, but then we also got really terrific albums like Demi Lovato’s Confident, Fifth Harmony’s Reflection and Bieber’s Purpose. This was definitely the year for pop singers to put out one-word, career-defining albums. Honestly, I’ve listened to those albums so many times it’s ridiculous. What are your favorite pop albums (mine’s E MO TION), songs (mine’s “Your Type”) and lyrics (mine’s “I mean I could, but why would I want to?” from “Hands to Myself” by Selena Gomez) from the past year? If you don’t like modern pop, what older pop do you love? I love the Beach Boys, Lesley Gore, The Bangles, The Go-gos, George Michael, Tiffany, Belinda Carlisle, Mariah Carey and Elton John.
When I love a YouTube video I love it with 100% sincerity. I don’t like these ironically or anything. These videos fill me up with so much joy and love for life and the world. In fact, most of these have made me cry. I love these videos so much. These videos are like my family. I’ve watched each of them dozens and dozens of times, maybe more. So, here are my Top 7 Favorite All-Time YouTube Videos (because I couldn’t narrow it down to a top 5) in no particular order.
- Vin Diesel – Stay (Originally performed by Rihanna): This video is so tender and amazing and I love it so much. He sang along to this great Rihanna song as a Valentine’s Day gift to his girlfriend, I think? And he’s so earnest and surprisingly great at singing and the Rihanna video is playing on the wall next to him, and it’s just perfect. This is the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen.
- Countdown (Snuggie Version) [Comparison]: This is a remake of Beyonce’s amazing music video for Countdown, and this kid, Ton Do-Nguyen kills it. He absolutely nails that choreography and the look of the video. This is genius. As Queen Bey would say, it’s Flawless. And the pure joy that he has on his face the whole time is just so contagious! To top it off, he got invited to the VMAs because of this video! Great!
- Lady Gaga – VMA 2009 “Paparazzi” (HD): I’m not gonna lie, I love this song to death, and in my opinion, this performance of it was the absolute peak of Gaga’s career. It perfectly encapsulated her queer, weird, ground-breaking, melodramatic brilliant monster theme. It’s so weird and artsy and perfect. This performance, specifically the moment at 3:16, where you can literally hear the crowd gasp, made me trans. (I mean, I’m not a fan of the fetishizing of wheelchairs and disabled people, I wish she hadn’t done that)
- David Schwimmer says “Juice”: Have I told y’all how much I loved American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson and especially David Schwimmer’s performance as Robert Kardashian? It was amazing.
- Rumor Has It / Someone Like You – Glee (Full Performance HD): This is easily, by far, heads and shoulders above the rest, the best performance in the history of Glee. Naya Rivera should’ve won an Emmy just for her facial expressions and movements in this one performance. Ugh, this always makes me tear up. It’s perfect. The way Naya Rivera and Amber Riley and Heather Morris perform this is just heartbreaking. This is better than everything Adele’s done in her entire career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgv6aiiOzjo
- Nicki Minaj raps Monster Verse during CRWN Interview / 18.12.14: This is the best rap guest verse of all time and this video perfectly shows Nicki’s power and the love her fans have for her and she has for her fans. I love Nicki, I’d do anything for her.
- Scariest Drag Show EVER from the Phillipines: Now, this one, this one is great. This is my favorite thing. It’s definitely worth watching the every single second of this Ryan Robles performance. Did you know this is the version of the song done by queer Filipina cutie Charice? There’s something about it that reminds me of a bunch of later and lesser performances by white American drag queens, like Alaska Thunderfuck, but I can’t quite place it. Maybe you’ll be able to figure it out. This video is basicaly my aesthetic.
- What are your favorite YouTube videos? Do you love any of the same ones I love? Wanna talk about them??
How To Post A Photo In The Comments:
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1. Find a photo! This is the easy part. Find a photo on the web, right click (on a Mac, control+click), hit “Copy Image URL” and then…
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2. Code it in to your comment! Use the following code, and use a DIRECT LINK to the image. Your image link should end in .JPG or .GIF or .PNG or .CallMeWhateverYouWant even. I don’t care, but it should be an image suffix! KINDA LIKE THIS:
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If you need to upload the photo you love from your computer, try using imgur. To learn more about posting photos, check out Ali’s step-by-step guide.
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How To Post A Video In The Comments, Too:
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1. Find a video on YouTube or Vimeo or WHATEVER and click “embed.” Copy that code, but first make sure it’s for 640 px wide or less. If your player is too large, it will not display properly.
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2. Copy the code and paste it directly into your comment.
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3. Go forth and jam.
