OPULENCE: The Countdown Continues!

Only 2 weeks to go until Opulence returns to the Lotus Sound Lounge on May 5th. And the incentive to be the fiercest on the floor is heating up! Not only will the winners become Legendary Children, but they'll receive trophies, gift cards from Little Sisters, mix CD's and goodie bags full of cool stuff. So it's definitely time to choose your categories and perfect your walks! This is a war on the floor...

Tickets are now available at Little Sisters, Priape and Pulp Fiction Books.

Back In The Day: V-Rag Classic Track

With just over two weeks left till the next Opulence Ball, I thought it would be appropriate for this week's classic track to be a vogue and ballroom legend. Ellis D (a.k.a. Junior Vasquez) samples "Love Break" by the Salsoul Orchestra to create one of the most recognizable voguing classics, "Dub Break". Work on your fierceness by whacking, death dropping and voguing to this jam!

V-WEB: Our Weekly Obsession (April 15/10)

You may not know this, but V-Rag is made up of a whole bunch of movie geeks. Which makes this week's obsession a full-on infatuation. One of the campiest, wildest and most tripped-out films ever is making its Vancouver (and North American) debut this week. 1977's Hausu is like a cross between The Ring, Beetlejuice and a Michel Gondry music video. It's almost impossible to describe, so I'll let its distributor, Janus Films, give it a try.

“How to describe Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1977 movie House? As a psychedelic ghost tale? A stream-of-consciousness bedtime story? An episode of Scooby-Doo as directed by Dario Argento? Any of the above will do for this hallucinatory head trip about a schoolgirl who travels with six classmates to her ailing aunt’s creaky country home, only to come face to face with evil spirits, bloodthirsty pianos, and a demonic housecat. Too absurd to be genuinely terrifying, yet too nightmarish to be merely comic, House seems like it was beamed to Earth from another planet. Or perhaps the mind of a child: the director fashioned the script after the eccentric musings of his eleven-year-old daughter, then employed all the tricks in his analog arsenal (mattes, animation, and collage) to make them a visually astonishing, raucous reality. Never before released in North America, and a bona fide cult classic in the making, House is one of the most exciting genre discoveries in years” (Janus Films).

Hausu will be screened at 7:00pm and 8:45pm April 15 – 19 at the Pacific Cinematheque, 1131 Howe Street (off Davie)

OPULENCE: The Countdown Is On!

Well, Children... The wait is almost over. O.P.U.L.E.N.C.E. You own everything. Everything is yours. In 3 weeks time, the Opulence Ball will return to the Lotus Sound Lounge at 455 Abbott Street, Vancouver. Fierce voguers will take to the stage with Vancouver's best performers such as Joan-E, Symone, Jenny Magenta and Carlotta Gurl. All hosted by the Mother of the House of Opulence, Conni Smudge and presented by V-Rag! If you're new to the ball and Opulence scene, watch Paris Is Burning and come down to compete in a category, or just watch Vancouver's best vogue battles! Listen to classic house and disco from back in the day, win a trophy, dance your ass off and work the runway! Keep up to date on Opulence news at www.houseofopulence.blogspot.com, or join the Facebook group! It's time to prepare for the War on the Floor. May 5, 2010

Categories Include:

Butch Queen
Femme Realness
Schoolboy/Schoolgirl
Vogue
Luscious Body
Banjee
High Fashion Parisian
Vegas Showgirl


Willi Ninja and Voguing from Paris Is Burning


Working the runway from Paris Is Burning


The Opulence Ball, April 2009


The Opulence Ball, April 2009

Burn The Floor with V-Rag!

Remember, we've got two free tickets to give away for BURN THE FLOOR on Tuesday April 13th at the Vogue Theatre! All you gotta do is get your friends to join our Facebook group and post one word to describe V-Rag. Contestants will be entered into a draw, and the lucky winner gets two tickets to the groundbreaking ballroom sensation! Time's running out, and the odds are in your favour!

V-WEB: Vancouver's Next Gay Top Model Wrap-Up

And the winner is...



Fraser! Fraser took home the top prize last Thursday at the finale of Vancouver's Next Gay Top Model, at Celebrities Nightclub. This 19-year-old cutie came out on top of the competition thanks to his fine photos and gorgeous body. Included in his bevy of wonderful prizes is the opportunity to be the coverboy for the May edition of V-Rag!

And in a twist fitting to the Top Model name, instead of one runner-up being announced, three models were awarded second place: Toban, Riley and Rob.

Toban wowed the audience with his stunning model features, and showed us that bitch knows how to work a camera as if his life depended on it. Out of all the on location photos, shot by the marvelous and talented Shane Oosterhoff, Toban's scored the highest.

Riley was another fan favourite in the competition, and the manly-man model left a trail of drool in his wake each time he stepped out on to the runway.

Rob had the most support from the live audience, and thanks to his confidence and devastatingly handsome features, he won the City TV challenge and presented the weather on a live episode of Breakfast Television. He was adorable! You can check out that interview here.

That's it for this year's installment of Gay Top Model, which will surely come back for a fourth season/cycle/whatever Tyra Banks is calling it these days. VNGTM Organizer/Producer Terry Costa outdid himself this time, and V-Rag was proud to have been a part of this year's event. Check out the video and shots, courtesy of Shane Oosterhoff, below to relive the magic. See you next year!


THE FUTURISTS photographer Sydney Gregoire works for the camera.


"And the winner is..."


Fraser!!!


Fraser with VNGTM Cycle 2 winner Calan.

April: The Multimedia Issue

It's not like we had a cold, dark winter here in Vancouver this year, but am I ever glad it's Spring! Changes are happening all over the city, and V-Rag is no different. We have two brand new monthly regulars, Live On Stage by Vancouver promoter Terry Costa (Gay Top Model, Hot Gay DJ), and Wayoutwest by internet sensation Rob Farrow. The latter is an exciting new multimedia venture that's definitely a first in Vancouver. With the help of MobileTag, a free barcode reader application for your iPhone or Blackberry, V-Rag is now expanding past the pages of the magazine and into video territory. Simply take a picture of the barcodes with MobileTag, and instantly view tons of gay related videos, short films, trailers and music videos! It's pretty damn cool.

Our cover story this month is an exclusive interview with Canadian electro sensation Junior Boys, who we recently featured on the blog. We also got to chat with actor/TV host/singer/model/writer/awesome guy Charlie David about his whirlwind career. And just in time for Season 2 of RuPaul's Drag Race on OutTV, we'll introduce you to the 12 fierce and fabulous contestants. Keeping with the television theme this month, how about an alternative to the Oscars? We're gaying up the awards season with our picks for the most homo-tastic moments in film and television.

Also this month, our full roster of regulars from Joan-E's Rag to Miss Cotton Around Town, with Rob Easton's Wasted Thoughts, Justin Meisner's The Third Kind, plus music reviews, TV previews, comics, nightlife and events, and an all-girl photo shoot (because we love the ladies too)!