In service of some badly-needed levity on the internet side of life, here is a green rim job on a mockarita from a recent inspirational dinner out as Suzie and I prepare a Mexican-themed dinner fiesta. It’s this year’s take on the ‘Suzette’s Feast’ dinner we threw last winter – a way to make it through the second half of winter, and a Mexican meal feels especially cozy right now.
We’ve worked out a rough menu draft, and the star of the show is going to be one of Pati Jinich’s recipes: Enchiladas Verdes in a tomatillo sauce. But I don’t want to give away all the secrets – a good meal should contain a few surprises.
As for the mockarita and green salty rim as seen here – the only time I want a rim job ON MY DRINK is for a margarita. The sugary ones caked in chocolate or sprinkles are abominations.
I’ve seen a lot of online posts about Ilia Malinin being the first athlete to land a backflip on Olympic ice, but with all due respect to Malinin, this is woefully wrong and entirely untrue. That honor belongs solely to Surya Bonaly, whom I very much remember defiantly landing one on Olympic ice – against the rules, against the judges, and against a sport unprepared and unwilling to recognize and reward her power and brilliance. This Dazzler of the Day goes to her for an astounding career in the face of adversity and odds all stacked against her, and for leaving an impact so great that I still remember her whenever Mr. Malinin does a backflip.
And for those who go full-on racist, there will be consequences.
“It was the worst halftime show ever… I just don’t think it was appropriate to have it in Spanish… it looked like a political statement — there were literally no white people in the entire thing.” – Jill Zarin on Bad Bunny’s Halftime Show
With her undeniably MAGA-adjacent views, and a recent racist rant against Bad Bunny and that epic Super Bowl Halftime Show (look up the full version for all the awfulness of her video if you must), Jill Zarin was just cancelled before she even had a proper chance to return to widespread public view. In an extremely gratifying and almost immediate case of FAFO, she posted her racist and offensive take in a video, promptly deleted it, and then got fired before she even began filming E!’s ‘Golden Life’ – their take on the original Real Housewives of New York, which they may be regretting right about now.
I’d not seen any of Zarin’s Real Housewives shows because I started watching long after she had been excised as a starring player, but I’d seen her extremely thirsty behavior in the ensuing years – her former boss admitted how badly she wanted back on the show, and back in the public eye. To be handed that opportunity after all these years, and having already filmed a super-embarrassing promo for it, only to proudly reveal herself as the awful human being so many assumed her to be and immediately get fired from her new show is simply delicious.
Chef’s kiss, no notes, and… Bravo!
Maybe acting like a hateful, hate-filled, racist pig of a human being isn’t the winning strategy some people seem to think it’s ok to be these days.
Earning the first Olympic medal for the United States at this Winter Olympics, Breezy Johnson also earns her first Dazzler of the Day thanks to all that gold. I will never not marvel at what it takes to earn any Olympic medal, or even to make it to the Olympics at all. The hours of hard work, dedication, and obsession to excel to such a level is impressively astonishing, and Breezy Johnson is living proof of this.
PS – How awesome is the name ‘Breezy Johnson’? Hint: very.
This is an impossible year for a male figure skater to make quite the mark that Ilia Malinin seems poised to make at the Winter Olympics, but if any contenders are capable of rising to such a level, it may be Shun Sato. His first skate on Olympic ice helped his team to a silver medal. In any other year he’d be making a stunning splash – and he still deserves this Olympic spotlight for his fighting spirit. And who knows – there is no such thing for a shoo-in when it comes to the Olympics.
I forget who said it, I just appreciate the sentiment. So many people are getting up in arms over issues that are either none of their business or drama that is entirely of their own creation. In the words of another wise soul, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!“
Sometimes all it takes to be a Dazzler of the Day is the right song selection. This one goes out to Kevin Aymoz, who is skating to Lady Gaga at this year’s Winter Olympics – and while that alone is enough to dazzle, making it to the Olympics in any capacity of more than worthy of a Dazzler crowning. Congrats to Aymoz on excellent musical taste, and excellence in skating.
The Bad Bunny show got all the glory last night, no mean feat in this Olympic season, and here we are, already over a week into the blessedly short month of February. Despite the madness of a recent full moon, we are making good headway through winter. In honor of not delaying things, let’s hurry on with this weekly recap, featuring Bad Bunny once again in his Calvin Klein briefs…
Not gonna lie, I’m not really closely watching the Super Bowl this year (nor do I care who wins), but I’ll be casually paying attention until the Bad Bunny show begins. (There’s also reportedly a powerful commercial by some of the Epstein survivors, a plea to release all the documents that the current President is still trying to hide because they are obviously awful for him.)
But back to Mr. Bunny, who already has the ignorant masses up in arms because some of them think he’s not an American citizen (he is) and that Puerto Rico isn’t part of America (it is). This grand display is a giant fuck-off to that sort of racist and decidedly un-American lack-of-thought, so I’m celebrating all things Bad Bunny tonight, including the following hotter-than-hot Bad Bunny blog posts:
Olympic skier Hunter Hess dared to be honest and noble about what it feels like to represent the United States at this moment, and I completely understand and agree with the sentiment:
“It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now. I think it’s a little hard… There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren’t… Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.” – Hunter Hess
If people don’t understand how expressing one’s opinion on America is the absolute epitome of what this country was founded upon, then they truly don’t understand America. And to have a problem with anyone saying such a thing at this point in history, when we are clearly under a fascist dictator, is one of the most censorious and un-American things I’ve heard.
Here’s to Hunter Hess, and being a true American. Let’s also remember the words of James Baldwin: “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
The Winter Olympics, given their wintry nature, do not typically lend themselves to shirtless moments (unlike their bulge-tastic summer counterpart), but Benjamin Karl turned that frigid, rigid tradition on its head by doffing shirt for his celebratory victory moment following his gold medal win. Karl has been a perennial champion in snowboarding, and this marks his incredible fifth time at the Olympic Games, where he just won his second gold medal for his home country of Austria. This Dazzler of the Day goes to Benjamin Karl for reminding us how it’s done after the age of 40.
This website was a lot more frivolous then, and the content was a lot less voluminous. Pumping out thousands of words a week at about three posts a day is an incredible amount of work, and it didn’t always used to be like this. It comes naturally now, but when you think about and dive into the archives (or just keep clicking ‘Older entries’ at the bottom of this page to see how far back things truly go) I contribute a substantial load of content.
As a labor of love (I really just like to write) it’s something I would be doing with or without an audience, and that hasn’t changed in the twenty-three years I’ve been doing this. Not that you aren’t appreciated and adored dear reader (yes, you) – I’ve simply never been beholden to anyone or anything. That’s important if you want to maintain a sense of self in a world that wants us all to conform and be like everybody else. In the beginning it was mostly the result of ego and self-obsession – over the years it’s evolved into something slightly less self-serving.
While the purpose may still be one of self-exploration in the pursuit of self-improvement, my beloved cast of characters asserted themselves as proof that I do not exist in a vacuum of solitude. Comfort and concern are both present there, and I can’t do much without my friends and family. They’ve become integral characters to the narrative and plot that so evenly unfolds in these parts, and it’s been one of the happier realizations of these decades that they drive so much of what I do.
And so we slide officially into our twenty-third year of this messy, moody, magnificent morass where I’ve exposed bits and bobs of vulnerability, haughtiness, hubris, doubt, insecurity, joy, pleasure, sorrow, rage, reckoning and beautiful ruin – and I’ll keep doing this for as long as I can stand it. Happy 23rd!!
