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      Jiggly Caliente, ‘RuPaul Drag Race’ Star and Judge, Dies at 44

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      Fans knew Ms. Caliente for her sense of humor, vigorous dance skills and interactions with fellow cast members on the popular drag television show.Jiggly Caliente, the fiercely humorous “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star and a judge of the show’s Philippines spinoff, who also had a recurring role as a shopkeeper on the television series “Pose,” died on Sunday. She was 44.Her death was confirmed on Instagram by her family. The post did not cite a cause or say where she died.The death came days after her family said that Ms. Caliente had recently had a health setback. The family said that she was hospitalized because of a severe infection and had surgery in which she lost most of her right leg.Ms. Caliente rose to prominence as a contestant in the fourth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” in which she was eliminated in the seventh episode in 2012. She appeared in the sixth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” in 2021 and was eliminated in the second episode.“Thank you so much for showing every chubby little brown girl in the world that there is always a girl to look up to,” she told RuPaul after her elimination in 2021. “This doesn’t break me. This doesn’t end me. This is not the last of me.”Fans knew Ms. Caliente for her humor, her vigorous dance skills and splits, and her interactions with fellow cast members.In one episode, she called out a competitor, Lashauwn Beyond, for not knowing how to apply her makeup nicely. Ms. Beyond replied, “This is not ‘RuPaul’s Best Friend Race,’” a line that became a catchphrase in the show.Jiggly Caliente at “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” in 2021.Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Empire State Realty Trust, Inc.Created by the entertainer RuPaul Charles in 2009, the show follows a group of national and international drag performers who compete each season in weekly challenges and lip sync battles to take the top cash prize and crown.Ms. Caliente (Bianca Castro-Arabejo, offstage) was born on Nov. 29, 1980, in San Pedro, Philippines, and moved to the United States in 1991 with her mother and brother.When she began performing as a drag queen, she named herself after Jigglypuff, the pink spherical character from the popular “Pokémon” franchise.In 2016, Ms. Caliente came out as a transgender woman. In an Instagram post on Trans Day of Visibility that year, she wrote, “Our trans Brothers and sisters are very much a part of our struggle for equality.”Her popularity on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” led to her becoming a judge on the show’s Philippines version beginning in 2022.In addition to those appearances, Ms. Caliente had a recurring role as a clothing shopkeeper, Veronica Ferocity, on the FX series “Pose,” which followed a group of young and older gay, transgender and drag performer friends in New York City in the 1980s.Information on survivors was not immediately available. More

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      When Kristen Kish, ‘Top Chef’ Host, Hits the Mute Button

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      The reality TV star and author of the new memoir “Accidentally on Purpose” on airplane snacks, tongue-scraping and the problem with women’s pants pockets.In her new memoir, “Accidentally on Purpose,” Kristen Kish reflects on her childhood as a Korean adoptee in Michigan, coming out as gay in her late 20s, winning Season 10 of “Top Chef” and struggling with anxiety.Yet Kish, who now hosts the Bravo competition series, is known for her laid-back interactions with contestants. “If my anxiety level was at a million growing up and being a young adult, it is certainly now in the hundreds,” she said. “It has drastically reduced because I’ve given time and energy to managing it in the best way I can.”Kish, 41, in her book recounts an upbringing filled with meatloaf, casseroles and Sunkist candies. Such down-to-earth predilections have stuck with her despite her upscale culinary career.“People ask what my guilty pleasure food is,” she said. “I don’t feel any guilt around anything. I want it, I like it, it’s delicious — I have no shame.”In a phone interview last month, the globe-trotting restaurateur shared her favorite travel snacks, how she keeps in touch with her parents and the thing you’ll probably see her doing while she’s cooking. These are edited excerpts.Fit Joy PretzelsOne of my favorite airplane snacks. The honey mustard flavor is specifically glorious, especially when you’re flying — you know how they say your taste buds go a bit muted. These are salty, there’s enough sweetness from the mustard, and the crunch is exceptional. I would rather eat five little packs of these over one meal they’re offering.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What to Know About the Return of ‘Midnight’ in ‘Doctor Who’

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      The show’s latest episode harks back to a beloved episode that has had fans scratching their heads for 17 years.This article contains spoilers for the “Doctor Who” episode “The Well.”The latest episode of “Doctor Who” conjures a feeling of dread that has been missing from the show recently. Called “The Well” and written by the showrunner Russell T Davies, along with Sharma Angel-Walfall, it is gripping and eerie, featuring a monster even the Doctor struggles to understand — despite the fact that he has faced it before.Set half a million years in the future on an inhospitable planet called 6-7-6-7, “The Well” sees the Doctor join a squadron of soldiers investigating a mining operation that has lost contact with base.The operation’s only survivor is a cook, Aliss (Rose Ayling-Ellis). But it’s strange: People keep thinking they see something move behind her, though clearly nothing is there. The thing behind Aliss has no face, no physical form, not even a name. It’s more the idea of a monster — and only once before has such an unseen villain featured on “Doctor Who.”At the episode’s climax, the reveal comes that some 400,000 years earlier, Planet 6-7-6-7 was called Midnight.That name alone will be enough to delight “Doctor Who” fans. “Midnight” is a 2008 episode, created by Davies and starring David Tennant. Seventeen years later, fans still regard it as one of the show’s best — and most frightening — episodes.But just what makes “Midnight” so terrifying? Here’s everything you need to know.What happened in ’Midnight?’In “Midnight,” the Doctor heads out on a bus tour across the deadly but beautiful diamond-covered planet of the same name, where intense radiation means nothing can survive. But then a loud noise bangs on the outside of the vehicle, sending the ragtag group of tourists on board into a panic.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Kimmel Mocks Pete Hegseth’s Rumored Pentagon Makeup Studio

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      “Nothing sparks fear in the hearts of our enemies like a defense secretary who puts foundation on his face,” Kimmel said.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.All Dolled UpPete Hegseth denied reports this week that he requested a makeup studio built at the Pentagon to prepare for television interviews.On Thursday, Jimmy Kimmel said Americans wouldn’t even recognize the former secretary of defense, as opposed to Hegseth, who “is on TV now more than Ryan Seacrest.”“This is Lloyd Austin, he is a four-star general. He was the previous secretary of defense. You ever seen him before? No. You know why? He was inside the Pentagon doing his job — he was not on TV.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“He has strongly denied this. He called it a ‘totally fake story,’ and a Defense Department official added that — he said it makes no sense because Pete does his own makeup, which is more embarrassing.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“I don’t know why he would be ashamed of this. A lot of warriors wear makeup. You ever see Mel Gibson in ‘Braveheart’? He’s got it all over.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Nothing sparks fear in the hearts of our enemies like a defense secretary who puts foundation on his face and a big palm full of Suavecito Pomade in his hair every day. It’s the warrior ethos.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“The defense secretary has a makeup room, the vice president wears eyeliner, and yet somehow this administration spends all day, every day complaining about trans women ruining sports.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (Take Your Kid to Work Day Edition)“So today was Take Your Kids to Work Day, which I admit I misunderstood — I didn’t know it had to be my kid.” — GREG GUTFELD“It is a day that got started in 1992 as a way for children to learn why their parents are so depressed all the time.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“It used to be Take Your Daughter to Work Day — remember that? — and it encouraged women in the workplace. Then over time it changed to Take Your Son or Daughter to Work. The rule is you have to pay your son 22 percent more than the daughter.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“At the White House this morning, Elon Musk brought a few of his kids to work — not all of them. He brought him to meet President Trump. See, that’s what happens when you get them wet — they multiply.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Bits Worth WatchingThe singer Jelly Roll discussed his 200-pound weight loss on Thursday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”Also, Check This OutA young Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, as seen in “Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie.”Ed Caraeff/Keep Smokin’David Bushell’s new documentary, “Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie,” celebrates its stars’ enduring friendship, on-screen and off. More

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      ‘Game Changer’ Is a Fun and Unpredictable Game Show

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      Now in its seventh season, the show puts its comedian contestants through a weird and wide-ranging variety of funny and endearing challenges.“Game Changer,” on Dropout, is in many ways the hip, scrappy heir to “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Each episode features three comedians, and the host, Sam Reich, feeds them various prompts. The nature and purpose of the prompts vary; one episode might require a strange physical challenge, and another the impromptu creation of an impassioned Civil War-era love letter.In its seventh season, which premiered earlier this month, “Game Changer” is also landing closer than ever before to “Taskmaster,” and in the best ways. The season premiere, “One Year Later,” gave the comedians Jacob Wysocki, Vic Michaelis and Lou Wilson — already among the show’s all-stars — a year to complete a list of oddball challenges. Who can get this cardboard cutout to the most remote location? Who can perform the best magic trick? Who can find the coolest free item from Craigslist? Most episodes of the show are about 30 minutes, but this one clocks in at over an hour.The season’s second episode, “You-lympics,” also toys with a longer time frame. Contestants jump as high as they can, hold a cat for as long as the cat will tolerate and eat as much grated Parmesan as possible while wearing a cone-of-shame pet collar — and then they return a week later to try to top themselves. And then an hour after that, they try one more time.As with “Taskmaster,” there is a loopy, discursive interpretation to just about everything, and festive rules-lawyering abounds. The most consistent feature across all seasons is a radiating sense of mutual adoration among participants. Wilson even got a custom watch to aver his friendship with Wysocki and Michaelis.Starting with Season 5, “Game Changer” also includes behind-the-scenes companion episodes — true manna for the nerdy, if ever there were. (I did, in fact, wonder who created the elaborate diorama of a rock n’ roll bar for insects.) Segments like these used to be common place as DVD featurettes but are pitifully rare on streaming. Netflix could have bloopers if they wanted to! That’s part of the appeal of a smaller, independent, somewhat niche streamer like Dropout, the sense that it is more attuned to and has more fun with the wants of its subscribers. More

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      With ‘Étoile,’ Amy Sherman-Palladino Gives Ballet Another Whirl

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      Her “Bunheads” and other ballet shows were canceled quickly. This new series, created with her husband, centers on fictional companies in New York and Paris.The dancers streamed across the stage of a historic Paris theater, leaping and turning, the women lifted high into the air and whirled aloft, before aligning to bow on the final chords of the music. “Bravo! Bravo!” cried the enthusiastically applauding audience.Then Amy Sherman-Palladino, sporting a white baseball cap, walked onstage with a Steadicam operator, consulted the choreographer Marguerite Derricks, and clapped her hands sharply. “Let’s go!” she called. Moments later, the cameraman was running frantically amid the dancers as Sherman-Palladino peered at a monitor, watching the way their movement was captured from inside the groupings.“That was great, you guys were fabulous,” she called out at the end. She turned to the audience “What do you think?” Much applause. The cameraman took a little bow.It was last May at the Théâtre du Châtelet, where Sherman-Palladino; her husband and creative partner, Daniel Palladino; and their team were filming “Étoile,” a new Amazon Prime Video series debuting on Thursday.The show (the title means “star” in French) tells the story of two major ballet companies — the Ballet National (a thinly veiled Paris Opera Ballet), and the New York-based Metropolitan Ballet Theater (a mash-up of American Ballet Theater and New York City Ballet) — collaborating on an exchange of artists in order to boost sales and drum up publicity.Charlotte Gainsbourg, center, stars as a French ballet company director who “pretends to be a very strong boss but on her own is vulnerable,” she said. “It spoke to me, that double face.”Philippe Antonello/Amazon MGM StudiosWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Jimmy Kimmel Skewers Elon Musk’s Plan to ‘Get Out of DOGE’

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      “Musk says that he will dial back his work with the government so that he can spend more time with all 10 of his families,” Kimmel said.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Getting out of DOGEOn Tuesday, Elon Musk said he would soon spend less time in Washington and focus on running Tesla.Jimmy Kimmel called Musk “Mr. Congeniality” on Wednesday, saying the mogul “wants to get out of DOGE.”“Musk says he will dial back his work with the government so that he can spend more time with all 10 of his families.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“People forget, Elon — he can’t spend all his time in Washington. He has a company to run into the ground.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“In the first three months of this year, Tesla’s profits have fallen 71 percent. Which I guess is what happens when your CEO turns into white Kanye before your eyes.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“I’m really not sure going back to Tesla is going to help anything at all. The reason Tesla is tanking is because people hate him and they don’t want to buy his stuff. Him being back is not going to make it better.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (Pope Jokes Edition)“Even though they have their differences, Donald Trump said he will attend the funeral of Pope Francis. And, out of respect, he will delay slapping tariffs on communion wafers.” — GREG GUTFELD“President Trump plans on eulogizing the pope by saying, ‘He was a great pope except for the times he was a sucker and a loser.’” — GREG GUTFELDThe Bits Worth WatchingThe actress Ayo Edebiri read her Letterboxd review of “Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney” during the show on Wednesday.What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightJelly Roll will join Brandon Lake for a performance of “Hard Fought Hallelujah” on Thursday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”Also, Check This OutMaggie & Terre Roche, sisters from Park Ridge, N.J., released their album “Seductive Reasoning” 50 years ago this month.Columbia RecordsTurning 50 this month, Maggie & Terre Roche’s little-known 1975 album “Seductive Reasoning” is a forgotten revelation. More

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      ‘Andor’ Season 2, Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Recap: Rebel Rebel

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      The “Star Wars” series, back for its final season, shows how a revolution takes hold and how even in times of radical change, people have to keep living their lives.Episodes 1-3: ‘BBY 4’Want to escape from the real world by watching a “Star Wars” TV show? Can I interest you in Season 2 of “Andor,” which begins this week with stories about refugees being evicted from a safe haven, resistance fighters tearing each other apart, and the obscenely powerful plotting to destroy a whole planet?Maybe a touch too real? I get it. But let me add that the first three episodes of the season, the show’s last, are remarkably entertaining and thoughtful television. It’s provocative stuff, but satisfyingly stirring.This series is about how a revolution takes hold, in fits and starts, with a lot of disagreement about how to proceed. Season 2’s first set of episodes also shows how even in times of radical change, people have to keep living their lives.In Season 1, the show’s creator, Tony Gilroy, divided his saga into multiepisode arcs, each presented in a slightly different style. Gilroy and Disney+ are retaining that structure for Season 2 and leaning further into the “movie of the week” concept by releasing three episodes at a time.But the first thing fans may notice about the opening three episodes (of 12 total) is how they jump around between locations and genres, to tell essentially four different stories, all set over the course of a few days one year after Season 1 ended. The date is “BBY 4,” four years before the Battle of Yavin, the big space-fight in the original “Star Wars” that ends with the Death Star exploding. Reminder: That triumphant rebel attack was made possible by the events of the film “Rogue One,” for which “Andor” is a prequel. (Rampant franchise expansion can make for confusing timelines.)The series’s namesake, the mercenary-turned-rebel Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), bounces between two of these stories. The new season gets off to a strong start in its opening sequence, in which Cassian steals an imperial fighter ship, posing as a test pilot. After a lot of dramatic buildup to him getting into the pilot’s seat, Cassian pushes the wrong button and goes rocketing backward instead of forward. He then accidentally engages the ship’s blasters, shooting laser bolts indiscriminately around the hangar. It’s a funny bit of slapstick, but also exciting, filled with the fine design and special effects “Star Wars” is known for.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More