INDEX
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An Exciting New
Approach to Magazina
1
Thanks for asking omg.
The biggest change I’m going to make going forward is the deadlines for the issues. I published the first issue on the 17th because the MEGAMOX show was the following Friday, and I wanted to promote that. Plus, I can be kind of a perfectionist. If I hadn’t given myself a deadline, there’s a chance I wouldn’t have posted it at all!
But the internet doesn’t work the same way magazines do, for better and for worse. The biggest strength (and weakness) of the internet is how it allows us to interact. That’s why this month instead of releasing all at once, this issue will have segments added to it over the next few weeks. Some will be just my musings and art as usual, but I want to engage more directly with the outside world too. I’ll have some prompts for you to submit both here and on my social media pages.
Yooohooo~
It’s me, Flaminia Fagiolina. Award losing music videographer, 3D artist, and sinner. I was blown away by the reception the first issue got!
Tens of people logged in to read!
Honestly, I’m not that surprised it was kind of an underwhelming turnout, and I’m not discouraged either. I got the idea to make this digital magazine on a whim, you can read the whole thought process on my diary if you’re a freak so inclined. It was a way to consolidate my websites UX and get all my interests together in one place! The premiere was a great proof of concept and it’s given me lots of ideas to improve.
What can you, not Flaminia, expect to see this month in…
FAGIOLINA
AN EVER EVOLVING MAGAZINA
Double Feature:
the clemoxie experience
2
There are so so many exciting shows drag shows happening all the time in our local bubble. Many nights I opt to take a nap or hang out with one of my boyfriends instead of going out, but on January 24th there were two shows I didn’t want to miss.
Bergen
the House Down
&
Megamox
live
Bergen the House Down was first. This is a fairly new monthly show at the Bergen House brewery in Middletown hosted by my drag niece Clementine. I had a new brewery show last year, and it flopped over the span of a few months. I want to see her succeed where I failed. I want to see there be more venues hosting a wider variety of events. I actually meant to do a promo piece for it in last month’s magazina, but I ran out of time.
January’s cast was:
October, Onixx Aura, & Frankie Cyanide
I got some nice pictures of everyone before the show (except the hostess herself, Clem was busy doing hostess things). The brewery is lovely. I’m not fond of beer, but they make mead there that’s sweet enough for my little hummingbird palette. There was an enthusiastic crowd, a group celebrating a 28th birthday (they had balloons), and an air of joy that night.
I love getting to see Clementine host. She’s sweet, really lives up to her name. Both of Clementine’s moms were there this month. Her real mother, and her drag mom. If she’s a Clementine, her real mother is an absolute Peach. She’s there every month collecting tickets and tips, and beaming with joy watching Clem up there.
If you don’t know what a drag mother is, that’s alright. There’s a fascinating history about the origins and evolution of drag houses, but it’s a topic for another time. The short version for the sake of this story is that it’s an older more experienced queen who acts as a mentor. October is Clementine’s drag mother.
Last time I came to the Bergen show October couldn’t make it because of an injury, so I was especially excited to see her. You’d never know she even could be injured, the way she moves she looks absolutely invincible. October is someone I’ve known for years, and she’s always had a seemingly effortless confidence. She’s funny, bold, and her limbs bend more than Gumby’s. I’m hoping to talk to October more soon and maybe have an interview posted, but I am notoriously bad at finishing projects so like don’t quote me on that k thx <3
Onixx wore ostrich, which suits her well. She’s luxurious and fun, even the way she talks is like a mix of southern belle and transatlantic starlet. I’ve known her for probably about as long as she’s been doing drag, and she’s got a great range of inspiration. Onixx is in her element whether she’s singing a blues ballad or dancing to club pop.
Sidenote: Clementine, October, and Onixx are all going to be in a show celebrating Black History month. Essential Essence will be on February 23rd. I’ll put more info on my events page soon
Then there was Frankie Cyanide, the king best known for hosting Wacky Wednesday open stages at Trevi. We don’t see each other in person often (Trevi faaar) but I really enjoy talking to him online. He said something that night that I’ll remember more than any part of the show.
Frankie asked the audience to hold up their fists, as though we were in a fight. He looked around the audience “A lot of you aren’t covering your faces. You can take a hit to the stomach a lot easier than the face.” His warning hit me right in the gut, because I knew he was right. “If you do have to punch someone, punch a Nazi.” It’s a scary time to be doing what we do. I started putting on makeup and heels 8 years ago, and I never imagined a world that would get less understanding.
Besides that bleak but important reminder of where and when we were, the show was delightful. After it was over Onixx hitched a ride with my entourage and we headed over to the Chez for Moxie’s album party!
I should tell you that at this point of the night, I was not being the most diligent journalista. Like I said earlier that mead stuff was yummyyyy. The show started at 11 (which just so happens to be this dainty little lady’s bedtime) and I was zonked.
It’s no biggie though, I already interviewed Moxie and Glass about their music last month! Plus I still got some good pictures (along with a lot of really blurry ones oopsy)
The show was a blast. If you missed it, it’s never too late check out all these queens’ music! I embedded some directly below, so you don’t have to click any pesky offsite links.
Megamox
SEPHORA
Amy
I was pretty involved behind the scenes for this show. Besides taking the photos, I shot and edited the music video for Sephora, and I made the 3D model, album cover art, and animations Moxie used for MEGAMOX.
It was satisfying seeing everything come together (and being able to add some more eclectic titles to my resume). I have some more plans for the Moxie 3D model, but it’s too soon to go into detail.
Wanna see more photos from both shows? Check out my photo page for a few edits and a lot more of the photos I took from these nights.
Monthly
Monochromatic
3
This month’s monochromatic I couldn’t decide on just one person to draw… so I’m (sort of) doing two! Moxie & Glass to celebrate the projects we collabed on
I have a whole series of digital monochromatic portraits here. The thing is… I started sketching portraits of these two and I just couldn’t get a draft I was happy with. Then I saw this…
Another local drag artist, Vessel (@vesseldrag), had made a gorgeous pencil portrait of Glass!
It’s beautiful, and clearly shows a dedication and honing of a craft that I can’t be bothered with this month. This magazina is about a lot of things, but mostly it’s about my silly little whims.
That’s why I decided to start some other little art project dedicated to Glass and Moxie instead. I kept the monochromatic idea, but instead of regular portraits I 3D modeled some virtual dolls inspired by the two queens.
Glass and Moxie, respectively. They’re not done done (nothing ever is). Maybe later i’ll make little outfits and wigs for them.
Obviously, the resemblance isn’t going to be as prominent as something like Vessel’s portrait or the model I finished last month for the Megamox album cover. I’m not really aiming for realism though. These dolls exist in a broader fictional world that mostly just exists in my head for now. I’ll probably tell you all more about it later. Maybe I’ll upload the models too in case any of you want to try playing around with them or making your own. For now though I hope you like these monochromatic busts (´◡`❁)
Grading Bigoted
Facebook Comments :)
4
I’ve got a show coming up in a couple weeks. Love Games Live! February 15th at the Goldenrod Inn. We’ll be playing a couple classic gameshows live. I’m super excited about it, but not everyone is. We got some colorful early reviews in the facebook comments for our ad (*/ω＼*)
These morons feel entitled to judge me, Flaminia, so I’ll judge right back! I’ll be rating these braindead bumpkins on originality, prose, and thesis. Most of these ideas aren’t that original. They’re old hateful tropes that I wanted an opportunity to talk about anyways. I wasn’t surprised when I read any of these, but my straight sister (bless her heart) sure was!
I don’t think I can change the minds of bigots like this, they are too far removed from regular society. My goal is to show just how extreme these intolerant beliefs are for good people like my sister who don’t see this garbage on a regular basis.
If you’re not in the right headspace to read bigoted comments right now, you can click here to skip to the next page!
I totally get it, no hard feelings <3
You know, I appreciate a homophobe that’s stupid enough to not beat around the bush. You could have taken the “Love the sinner, hate the sin” approach that’s more popular in the 21st century, but you own your homophobia. Work, diva.
This of course makes this comment super easy to report and hopefully get Joe banned from Facebook, but that makes it more original too. As far as prose goes it’s nice and punchy, there’s a fun alliteration to it. The thesis is what could use some work. You hate fags, that’s it? Ok… and?
“Go fuck yourself faggots!”
c+
Maybe Joe can think of something more poignant while he’s eating a TV dinner alone because none of his family speaks to him anymore. C+
This one was actually funny and brings up some interesting food for thought, great work Paul!
I had to google Dee Snider before I understood this (points off for spelling his name wrong btw). I appreciated this joke once I got it, and it was fun to learn more about this guy! I’ll offer some additional context for my readers that aren’t middle aged:
“Is that a picture of Dee Snyder from Twisted Sister?”
A-
Snider is a glam rock musician that was in the band Twisted Sister. He’s best known for the song “We’re Not Gonna Take It”. In the 80’s and 90’s he adopted a drag aesthetic with some pretty heavy makeup, which is presumably where Paul’s comparison comes from. In recent years Snider has been vocally supportive of the drag community. Even without makeup I can see some physical resemblance between us. We don’t look identical (I definitely have softer makeup), but he could pass for a distant relative. I’m more of a eurochic chanteuse than a rockstar though ;)
There’s definitely overlap between modern drag and 80’s glam rock. They’re both creative movements that play with gender expression and rebelled against the status quo. Both faced undeserved scrutiny and a moral panic. It’s not a perfect comparison, but it proves a point that drag did not evolve in a vacuum. If thinking about people like Dee Snider, David Bowie, or Gene Simmons helps you understand people like me, Flaminia, a little better then by all means go for it! A-
Based on the comment alone I couldn’t tell if George is a teenager or senile, but since his profile pic is from The Jetsons I’ll guess it’s the latter. There were a few poop themed comments (the phrase “rump ranger” was used in one of them). George made two, so he’s definitely losing points for originality there.
“🖕🌈👎🏾🌈💩🌈😡”
D-
It’s sad and weird how homophobes reduce our lives and identities to our sex. Yes, some of us have anal sex. Many straight people also do this.
You know what else gay people do? We wash our hands. Out of drag, I am a man. I use men’s bathrooms. I have lost count of the number of times I was washing my hands in a public restroom and some guy walked out of a stall and just left. Gay men know how to clean themselves. George is lucky when people don’t catch E.coli from being in the same room as him, filthy wretch.
The fact that homophobes immediately bring up shit every time they see a queer person in any context says so much more about them than it does about us. I guarantee that nurses, parents of infants, and pet owners deal with poop more often than an average gay person does. Maybe George could try harassing them instead.
Unhinged freak comment. D-
This is easily the most disgusting comment, and unfortunately a false claim that has been made about queer people for generations. The idea that gays are inherently predatory, and corrupting youth has been used since at least the rise of the Nazis in Germany. This was an especially popular tactic of anti-gay bigot and pie model Anita Bryant.
There are parallels to other bigoted stereotypes. Like anti-semitic blood libel, a ridiculous 1000-year-old accusation that Jews kill and eating Christian children. Or the racist idea that black people are predators. Baseless accusations of heinous crimes on marginalized communities are a pattern. This is the kind of false rhetoric that society’s use to justify horrific violence.
“Pedo perverts come to town”
F-
It’s easy to point out the hypocrisy here. The right is full of predators with credible allegations that are ignored.
There’s an entire Wikipedia page about the 26+ women that have accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct. He’s been recorded bragging about barging into dressing rooms and groping women. There are two active conservative supreme court justices that have been accused of rape (Clarence Thomas was a profile pic of one of the homophobic commenters). There is substantial evidence that representative Matt Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl.
It is reprehensible when conservatives use victims of sexual misconduct as pawns to push their hateful ideology. It is blatantly obvious that these people could not care less about victims or reality. According to RAINN and other organizations dedicated to victim advocacy the majority of assaults are carried out by someone the victim knows in real life. This should go without saying to people whose brains haven’t been rotted by hate, but there is no link between someone’s sexual orientation and their likelihood of being a perpetrator.
I want to believe that people are able to learn, grow, and be better. However, when someone gets to a point where they believe entire populations are inherently violent perverts, they’re basically hopeless…
well maybe not totally hopeless. Anita Bryant actually made a remarkable transformation recently. She finally did something that made the world a better place.
She dropped dead. F-
There were more than those, and there’s more that I could say, but I don’t want to focus too much on hate. There were plenty of supportive comments too. One commenter said not to feed the trolls and give them the attention they crave, and I agree with that. Feel free to report and block some of these people, but please don’t engage with them directly. It isn’t worth it.
My impulse with bigots is to dream about vengeance. It’s fun to fantasize about living in a society that held monsters like Joe, George, and Vokell accountable (Paul’s not a monster, he seems chill). Occasionally, it does happen. Alex Jones got sued for like a billion dollars after claiming Sandy Hook victims were crisis actors. I think for most of these people, they do face consequences. They will live shorter worse lives and alienate themselves from normal people.
We get to live with joy, whimsy, and love. No matter what happens these next four years, they cannot take that away from us. I can’t think of a better place to celebrate that than at…
5
Saturday,
February 15th
Shows at 5 & 8 PM
Show Postponed due to weather
New Date Is:
Saturday,
March 29th
See me, Flaminia,
at the Goldenrod inn!
This is not another lipsync only event
(full offense to those shows! I’m bored)
We’ll be Playing
The Dating Game &
NewlyWed Game live!
Bring your boyfriend!
Bring his boyfriend too!
what are you waiting for?
144 Huntington Rd, Worthington, MA
6
my Funny
Valentine
7
Flaminimis are paper doll versions of me, Flaminia. This year I’ve started making digital versions!
Last month I showed you the digiflaminimi recreation I made of the OG Flaminimi. This month I’ve expanded a bit on that. I’ve painted on backsides to the dolls (something I couldn’t properly do with printed versions).
My next goal is to create a digital gallery in 3D space. This way you can walk around in first person and look at the dolls. One of my long term goals is to develop video games, and I’ve decided a good way to actually make progress on that is to work on small practice projects like this. I’ll be posting more updates on this page throughout the month
(❁´◡`❁)
Woah would you look at that… it’s later in the month!
She’s ready for her close up, and for her 360! I tried to make back sides on paper, but printing double sided never lined up quite right, and I wasn’t about to manually glue tons of paper dolls together. That constraint doesn’t exist digitally though!
It’s fun going back and forth between digital and physical mediums. Making 3D models that look like paper was pretty easy. I made an image sheet that I cut out pieces from to recreate this outfit (with a few extra embellishments). The nice thing about working with digital paper is that you can copy parts over and over instead of only having a limited amount.
I’ll make some tutorials on how I did this soon. I’ve still got plenty of the physical dolls left too. One of my boyfriends is working on one that I plan on posting in a few days.
Specialest
Swatchy
of the Month
8
Swatchies are simple
one panel illustrations
made on paint swatches.
Each month I’ll feature one
extra special swatchy
in this magazina… this month…
You helped choose!
This month you, not Flaminia, got to vote on what silly little paint swatch I drew a picture on… these were your options
Lazy Lizard!
There were a lot of votes to count (like at least 4)
It was a close one, but you chose her, and she chose not to make dinner again.
The pose for this one was kinda tricky, so I blocked it out with 3D shapes before I drew it
What’s Next?
9
Thanks for reading what I’ve got done so far! This month I updated the magazine in little pieces over the course of the month instead of all at once. It was an interesting experiment. I like that it still gives me incentive to work over the course of the month, but doesn’t feel like as much of a crunch as January did.
The biggest change I’ll need to make going forward is navigation… it’s come to my attention that these magazina pages are clunky to navigate on mobile browsers. They load slowly because of all the different pictures and elements, and the anchor links don’t work the way they’re supposed to. Next month I’m going to format the magazine as a series of sub pages, and link back to some of my existing pages so they’re not just vestigial.
I was supposed to have more shows this month to report on, but I’ve realized I prefer quality over quantity. Next month I’ve got my show at the Goldenrod Inn and I’m finally going to start working on a project I’ve been dreaming about since last year. More on that in the March issue.
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