Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Worth Blogging


Lakota Freedom
map via Feministe

A very Merry Christmas, all!

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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Guess What I've Been Wasting Time On Over Break

I'm sure some of you- whoever it is that still reads this while PR is in reruns- use Facebook. I'm also sure you've heard plenty of people complain about Facebook. Well, I started typing this up as a note on Facebook, until I realized how lame that was. So prepare yourself, I am going to complain about Facebook.

I'm not arguing Facebook's uses. Facebook is dreadfully convenient. I can imagine life without it (since life without it was not all that long ago), but inviting people to parties or sharing photos or asking everyone I know where I should go to get tattooed would be slightly more time-consuming without it. And I couldn't play Scrabble with my friends in Florida, New York and Virginia at the same time. I could play Scrabble with people near by, but then I need to buy a board and find a bunch of people nearby that care to play Scrabble- and gosh darn it, I'm poor and not that motivated. Facebook is really unfortunately useful.

Sure, social networking sites may change the way we socialize and how our brains function, but that's not my complaint today- that's one of those long term things that I'm sure will be sorted out after the revolution. Hmm, maybe I should make lists of things to be sorted out before, during and after the revolution... but I digress.

What I don't understand all these "lost cellphone" groups. There are a ton. I know facebook is dreadfully convenient, and if I lost my cellphone I'd certainly use facebook to contact people for their numbers- if they were people I had ever called in the past and/or if they were people I anticipated calling in the future. People tend to just make these groups and invite every person they have ever known since fifth grade to post their cellphone numbers. It's excessive, and gives a false sense of intimacy. Though, I think "giving a false sense of intimacy" is in Facebook's mission statement.

My bigger problem with these groups is that they tend to be "open", which not only means anyone can join it, but also that anyone can view it, completely undetected. I know Facebook has stalker potential written all over it regardless of how you use it, but these groups are just a goldmine of phone numbers. You don't even have to try to be sketchy. Visiting one of these groups makes me automatically feel dirty.

That's all the wit I have for this week. Happy holidays, I'll most likely see you in the New Year. Oh, and so this post isn't a total waste, I'll link to a campaign I found out about today to support the WG A strike (I am in solidarity with my fellow writers on this)- send a message to the moguls with pencils.

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Friday, December 14, 2007

Episode 5: Finals > Blogging

Hey all. Sorry I haven't blogged in a long time. The semester is ending and I'm struggling to get everything done. There won't be full Project Runway updates until my break starts and I have a little more time on my hands.

Let me make a few notes:

Tim Gunn Objectification continues. This week: sexualization of his advice. Sheesh, these people make it such a hard world for Tim Gunns to live in.

What is with the Ricky haters? Look at this poll on the PR livejournal community. At the time of this post, 81 people want to give Ricky the boot. And the person second to him is Elisa! I just don't get it. I know his last outfit was kind of gross, but everything else has been totally inoffensive to me, and heck, I thought he deserved to be in the top three this time.
But who is there instead? Jillian. Infuriating. It was boring, it was bad, and she used even less material from the original than Steven did. I really thought it was going to make the bottom.
But who is there instead? Elisa. The judges claimed that the outfit didn't fit her client. DEAR JUDGES: Would you shut your projectionist mouths for a second and bother to ask the client if she liked the outfit? She seemed to really enjoy herself in it, and it was really toned down for an Elisa piece while still retaining her point of view. The judges just baffle me.


I know, Ricky, I know! It's infuriating. Even the rays emanating from Sweet P's smile don't cheer you up.

To hell with the haters. I love Ricky.


You're so very, very special to me.

On Jack leaving: the circumstances are sad, but I won't miss him too terribly. Though, I suppose this means my Jack/Christian suspicions will never come to fruition, but I already knew that, considering he's dating Dale from Top Chef. That there's a happy ending, right?

On Chris returning: He called Tim Gunn a guardian angel in his note. It's just a better show with him on it. Good call, Bravo.

On Steven leaving: He just didn't pull it out this time. It was bound to happen sooner or later, I think. I'll certainly miss him a lot, but c'est la vie.

On Christian winning: Whatever. I'm hoping the judges will pull out the one-note comments on him soon enough.

In other news: my friend Melissa, whose artwork you may remember from this post, once again proved her overwhelming amazingness, and this time on TV. And it's totally Project Runway related- she walked the same runway as Heidi Klum!
She was one of thirty young women chosen to be stand-ins (or walk-ins, I guess?) for Victoria Secret models during rehearsals. You can see a video about it here, and I captured the best shot of her:


She's the one on the right. Isn't she angelic?
Go Melissa!

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Monday, December 03, 2007

Episode 3: Don't Go Home Too Soon- Oops!

Hey all. Sorry this is being posted basically the day before the new episode. Technology is failing me and time is sparse, I think the last entry being so thorough was a direct result of it being Thanksgiving break, and also, of the boy needing to take time out of cuddling to work on Nanowrimo- which he won, by the way! Yay!

Anyway, I have some things to say about this past episode, so I'll just jot them down as fast as I can.

On Carmen leaving: I think she's a perfectly capable designer, but not making the shirt before the jacket smacks of a lack of common sense. This is sooner than I thought she would go, but it's not big loss for me. I expected Ricky to be out around this time (a little awkward that they were in the bottom two after that little West Side Story style song and dance fight that was almost drama, eh?), but that would be tragic, because as it turns out, Ricky really is my favorite, just as I predicted. Personality-wise, anyway. I still don't know who's my favorite as far as design, considering this week was a whole lot of either disaster or boredom with not much in between, and last week was a team challenge, and, oh yeah, next week is a team challenge. Bah. Anyway, I love Ricky- he's so cute and sensitive, and also fierce and bitchy. "Fierce" in the biting-you way, not the, uh, way Christian intends it.
I really thought Christian was getting more tolerable until he pulled out that "Asians are fierce" crap- Christian. Think about what you're going to say. Then, think about it again. Then, think about it again. Then, if it's still a good idea and not racist, say it out loud. I know you're on a deadline and everything, and you were filmed in the past and can't heed this advice, but you're not doing yourself any favors by attempting to suck up to a race. However, I will tolerate his bragging a little more now that I've witnessed that he is, in fact, a fucking fast on a sewing machine.
On Jack winning: Bull. Shit. Kevin could have won, but, only if he had finished the jacket. It would have made the purple more subtle. Kit really came out on top of this one. She sewed all three pieces, she had an eye for what would work on camera, and she is an albino Pippi Longstocking.


But in seriousness: why was Jack even in the top three? I'm not a stickler for following the challenge to letter as long as it looks good, but Rami's or even Christian's looked better than this stripey-stripey non-suit. I think they picked Jack's because it wasn't too safe to be called boring (i.e. it was too ugly to be called safe), but it was also mind-numbingly safe (boring) from the waist up, which is what one actually sees of a news correspondent. Safe equals boring, "shows you have a perspective" equals ugly, mens wear challenge for a man in a career in which the outfits are nearly required by law to be safe and boring equals stupid, stupid, stupid idea. There will be a quiz.


Uh, do they not let the contestants buy their own food, or is this really sneaky product placement? Also, I read another blog stating that the P.M.A. (Positive Mental Attitude) message that appears on the chalkboard at the beginning of the episode is obviously from Elisa, but I think it's more likely Carmen, considering its similar catchphrasiness to "Don't Go Into the Fear Box". (If I'm right, I guess that's a bit sad, considering The Secret did not seem to work for her this time. Oh well. Follow your bliss, Carmen.) Also, I'd like to think that Elisa is above acronyms. It's more her style to leave toast around the kitchen with poems written out in condiments.

Speaking of that lovely lady, she gets more and more precious by the minute:


I love how they play mystic flute music behind her, as if shyness about undressing is part of her mystical river religion. And of course they paired her with an ethnobotanist- I refuse to believe that's a coincidence. Ethnobotany! Swoon.

I was going to do a chest count instead of a cry count for this episode, but I think the amount of skin on one page would just be blinding. Also, Kevin shirtless- another prediction was fulfilled!


Although I think Jack was the one they were aiming the camera at. Speaking of Jack's muscles, am I the only one sensing (or at least hoping for) some sexual tension between Jack and Christian? The piggie-back ride, the drawing of the cherries on the ass, the putting Christian into his man purse as if he were a tiny fashionable dog- that's flirting, right? My flirtation sensors aren't broked, right?

Steven, I love you. You're hilarious, coming further out of your shell every episode. But dear, this is not a pimp's hat.


This is a pimp's hat:


And Kevin needs to take it OFF.
By the way, Kevin, listen- we get it.


You're straight. It's fine by us. But, jeez-


Do you have to flaunt it?

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