I feel this past Halloween weekend, I fulfilled a dream of mine. I have had this dream ever since I saw the iconic Halloween cult classic film, Hocus Pocus. Ever since I saw the Sanderson Sisters bewitch the adults of Salem with their fabulous rendition of "I've Put a Spell on You", I have dreamed of one day dressing up as the Sanderson Sisters for Halloween. I remember sharing this dream with other gay male friends of mine but for one reason or another - usually because a) how would we even begin to construct such memorable costumes and b) no one wanted to be Mary Sanderson aka , the fat one - the plan did not pan out. 

This year, my friend and fellow Hocus Pocus enthusiast, Franz asked if I would help him achieve his dream of going as the Sanderson Sisters for Halloween. I gay gasped at the thought and then died when he told me he would take care of all of the costumes - all I had to provide was shoes. I was chosen to be the hilarious Mary Sanderson; she goes around barking and wanting to eat all the time, it works. The costumes were absolutely flawless. By sheer coincidence, I happened to be hosting the QSU drag show. We were able to perform the number as part of the show. I think people shat their pants when they us emerge and perfectly execute the number. I even sang the number with Mary's droopy lip. By the end of the night my face hurt.

After the drag show, we had made plans to go to the Silver Legacy's Erotic Ball, with aspirations of entering the costume contest and winning. I was unaware that it was an "Erotic Ball" upon entertaining, but learned quickly, when I was surrounded by attractive scantly-clad individuals. Everyone wanted to take their photo with us; it was fabulously ridiculous. I felt as if I was some celebrity getting stopped every few moments to take photos with fans. I had no idea that this movie had such a following with people; or at least it was a memorable enough movie that 18 some odd years later people still get the reference. We also played our roles perfectly; we had the mannerisms, facial expressions and tone of voice down. There was only one unfortunate incident that happened. We were having a drink at a restaurant and this rather drunk women who I guess was going as ... a lingerie model ... a lingerie model spilling out of her outfit approached us. She had no idea who we were but, unfortunate for us, bound and determined to figure out who we were. For a while she thought that we were from The Witches and our friend Aaron - who was not in costume - was the fat rat. No matter how much we tried to play off her ineptitude and tell her we were not from Witches, she would not believe us.

When it was time to declare the winner, we learned that we had made the cut for best tandem costume. We awaited in line with the rest of the competition - which included sexy Adam and Eve, sexy Avatar aliens, sexy little Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf. Crap, I thought there is no way that three drag queens in heavy layers of rags and fabric can compete with a sculpted Adonis wearing a g-string with some fur for a costume. When they presented us to the audience, the crowd went absolutely nuts, ushering in as the clear winners. AHHHHH!! Are you kidding me?!?!?!  It was the perfect end to an amazing evening. 

The next day we hiked up our skirts and did the Zombie Crawl. The hightlight of which was going and standing on the vents outside of the Elderado and pretending that we were actually flying through the air. What ... I'm just saying ... wouldn't you?

I'm thrilled that I am able to scratch this off my gay bucket list ;) 

The other night I was at my friend Franz's house doing a photo shoot. At the end of the shoot - where I played an elderly grandmother creepily offering mustard greens to the camera - I went up to Franz's room to see the entire set of pictures on a larger screen. As I walked into Franz's room, something caught my attention in the corner of my eye. As I turned I saw an original movie poster from the gay iconic film Hocus Pocus staring the stunningly talented and fellow ginger Bette Midler. I about gay gasped myself into next week as I stood in awe and reverence for the poster. I wanted to steal the framed artifact right from wall and rush home with it. Then I realized that my friend Franz probably had the same love and fervor for the movie as I did and would hunt me down to get the poster back. 

What is about Hocus Pocus and gay men? What is about an early 90s Disney movie about 3 witch sisters bumbling along in the 20th century that is so appealing for gay men? Is it because, in some respects, the Sanderson Sisters look and act like a group of 17th century drag queens ripe with musical numbers, big hair and ridiculous costumes? Or, much like our apparent fascination with vampirism, is it the age-old search for eternal youth and beauty through mystical means story again? I am not entirely sure but I feel as though every gay man I know is absolutely in love with the movie.  I am waiting for them to turn it into a Broadway Musical ... any day now. I mean if they were able to turn Shrek into a musical, why can't they turn Hocus pocus into one? 

You'll love the train of thought on this one.

One of my near and dear friends is currently living it up in Mexico at the moment. While logging onto facebook this morning I noticed that he had tagged me in a photo; which is odd, because unless I am mistaken I haven't traveled to Mexico in the past couple of weeks. Intrigued, I open up the photo. What displayed on my screen was a little Mexican figurine. He aptly titled the photo "Miss Ginger Devine, Día de los Muertos style!". First I noticed how the figurine and I looked oddly similar. Then I noticed that me, as a figurine, is ridiculously skinny - praise Jesus - even if it is because she is a skeleton.  

So then I had a random thought that eventually played out into a fantasy and now is my new business venture; Ginger dolls! Imagine an entire line of my very own barbie-like dolls. I thought about the collector's editions that I would periodically release. Here are some of my favorite themes that I would have as part of my line.

1. Burlesque Ginger - complete with pop-off corset

2. Soccer Mom Ginger - complete with cooler full of margarita mix, a microphone to shout disparaging comments at other children. Bedazzled mini-van sold separately.

3. First Lady Ginger - features either blue or red power suits.

4. Croutching Tiger Hidden Drag Queen Ginger - the ninja Ginger. Accessories for this Ginger include Press on Nails Ninja Stars and her stilleto katana

5. Ghetto Ginger - complete with vocal sound bytes. Ghetto Ginger will intermittently say such things as "why are you getting all bijigady in my grill", "oh no he didn't", and "security!"

6. Autobot Ginger - aid Ginger as she tried to stop the Deceptacons and make the world a safer place.

On top of many of the variates of dolls that I would offer, I would also periodically release collector's editions like "Ginger Does her Favorite Divas" with me dressed up as Bette, Cher, Celine, Mariah, and Tina. There would also be the "Wizard of Oz" collector's edition with Ginger as the magnificent Glinda - with only a limited amount of flying pink bubbles available for sale. I think I could be on to something here; imagine the ridiculous and fabulous wardrobe options for a drag queen barbie doll.

Best part is that if I actually got a Ginger doll, then I would be able to break out my NSYNC dolls and have "play dates" - I'm just saying - and then break out my Cher doll and have Ginger and Cher play "dress up". My life would be complete ;)

What started out as a brilliant marketing strategy may have turned into a new tactic for audience members to make demands on their television shows. A facebook campaign that gathered hundreds of thousands of people to voice their support for Betty White, applied some consumer pressure on Saturday Night Live and landed her a hosting spot on the show.

Now I have a feeling that Lorne Michaels watched in titilating expectation as he saw the number of fans on the campaign go up each day. Knowing that if he held out long enough he would have a million fans who would all watch the episode with the feeling that they themselves affected the show and had an impact on its direction. The show - which had been battling poor ratings for a while - saw a huge surge in ratings and the shows was one of the funniest in a long time.

After the epic episode of Saturday Night Live, facebook campaigns have popped up all over vying to get their own role model/icon on their favorite television show. My friend Amanda has recently started up a campaign to get Betty White to have a guest spot on GLEE as Kirk's grandmother potentially. I have also seen a campaign to get Carol Burnett to host Saturday Night Live. I would actually die if Carol Burnett had the opportunity to host. Her comedic wit and timing is unparallel and she would bring an entirely different feel and element to the show. Similarly, she is a Ginger and therefore according to Ginger law, I obligated to support her and use all of my earthly and heavenly powers to ensure that this happens.

I started doing some research and was amazed to find that many A-List celebrities have yet to make hosting appearances on Saturday Night Live or have not reappeared in years. Blog entries and newspaper articles are commenting on who might be potentially lined up next to host the show. For the moment it is a mute point because the season finale is this Saturday with Alec Baldwin hosting. So I have compiled my own list of celebrities that I would get all sorts of verklempt over hosting Saturday Night Live.

Bette Midler - Keeping within the family, I would totally die if Bette Midler hosted SNL. She hosted back in 1979 and has not been back since. Her brass loud demenor and musical comedy background could be an incredible addition to the show. Bette has so many characters and voices that they could write some really great sketches.

Meryl Streep - I was shocked that Meryl has never hosted Saturday Night Live before. She is one of the most acclaimed actresses of the past two centuries and has a comedic wit and timing that is beautiful. I mean ... for fuck's sake ... it's Meryl Streep, everyone in the known universe would tune in to watch Meryl Streep. Between her movie roles in Devil Wear Prada, Julie & Julia, Adaptation, and She-Devil and her classic operatic background, she would be a great host.

Jane Lynch - I feel that Jane Lynch is the funniest personality in TV and movies today. Her delivery and sharp timing is unmatched and her ability to improv lines off the top of her head only strengthens her already strong comedic presence. Her role in GLEE has made her a household name and personality. She could be a guest host on Weekend Update and they could even do a GLEE spoof and who wouldn't love to see that.

It will be interesting to see how much weight these facebook campaigns hold in determining the lineup for Saturday Night Live and other shows. If they do not give in, will that deter ratings? Or if they do give in, will that increase the power that consumers have? Is that necessarily a bad thing? Satisfying your audience and giving them what they want is essential for the success of the show.