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TV
New Hampshire-by-way-of Philly resident Robin McDowell has us wrapped around her little finger. First the UPenn fine arts grad popped up at Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (which happens to be our favorite First Friday hang) to present her February exhibit, "The Farm" (through March 21, AITA, 116 N. Third St., 215-922-2600, artintheage.com). And now, on her Ornament and Crime blog, there's this:
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| ornamentandcrime.blogspot.com |
| You're Gonna Have an Awesome Night. |
And this:
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| ornamentandcrime.blogspot.com |
| Sammi Won't Do the Dishes. |
Basically we're stalking her now, because how awesome are these prints? Meal Ticket master/CP Food+Web master/master of The Situation Drew Lazor wants one of these Surf + Turf numbers, like, NOW. Luckily for him they're only $12 on Etsy.
RELATED >> D-Bag Tries to Block Release of Jersey Shore DVDs
I bought one. I really did.
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| thebsreport.wordpress.com |
| Honestly, we reported this story mostly so we could post this pic. |
...Oh, awkward.
From Fox 29:
A U.S. judge says Oprah Winfrey must defend a defamation suit filed by the ex-headmistress of her girls school in South Africa.
The case is now set for trial on March 29 in Philadelphia. Judge Eduardo Robreno refused to dismiss the suit in a decision Monday.
He says former headmistress Nomvuyo Mzamane has enough evidence to pursue claims Winfrey defamed her. Winfrey made the remarks after sex-abuse complaints surfaced at her school for poor girls near Johannesburg.
A dorm matron who worked under Mzamane was charged with abusing students.
Do you think the Opes could win by taking the stand, turning to the jury and saying, "Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car!"
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| thatswhatbeasaid.com |
There's a fun little web site collecting some of Bea Arthur's finest quips/abstracts. I recognize a couple from The Golden Girls — which, ask any work-from-homer, has a three-hour block every afternoon on some channel or another — but I think That's What Bea Said would be remiss if it didn't mine the Maude/Celebrity Roast years.
"Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?"
Any Airplane! fans mourns the death of Peter Graves, who will be remembered for playing the deep-voiced Captain Clarence Oveur, although he made him true mark on television at the leader of the shadowy operatives in the Mission: Impossible TV series. Ken Tucker at Entertainment Weekly has a short overview of Graves's career, including a reminder that he was in the excellently Gothic Night of the Hunter, but the above video, which combines his parts in Airplane!, is enough.
Try not to giggle, I dare you.
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| bloggingprojectrunway.blogspot.com |
| (l-r) Amy, Anthony, Ben Emilio, Jay, Johnathon Maya, Mila and Seth Aaron |
Has it really been a week already? Yep, and now we're down to only nine cuddly designers, fighting for Fashion Week in Bryant Park.
Jay had immunity for this go round, but Heidi informed everyone that this would be the last time since the competition is (finally) heating up. The crew were taken to the rooftop of their posh apartment to meet all drug deal-style with Timmy and Garnier Fructis stylist Philip Carreon. The designers learned that they'd be getting down with a little Earth, Wind, and Fire ... and Water: Each contestant was given an element to draw inspiration from. Because Jay won last week's challenge with his chic dumpster-ass trash bag pants he was allowed to choose his element — air. The others had to follow Tim's orders and pick from a hat. Seth Aaron and Jonathan were also given air, while earth was doled out to Mila the Crone and Emilio the Hater. Water went to Maya and Ben, leaving Amy and Anthony with fire.
One Mood trip and $150 later the cast was back in the studio dreaming up visions of minerals, laughter, sirens and, apparently bowls of fire. Maya channeled sultry sirens of the deep when she made her slate colored long sleeve mini, which was just okay. Emilio produced a boring little greenish-brown number for the earth card. Wow, how original. Seth Aaron, that hobo rocker poetess, made a black leather suit that was inspired by "midnight air in New York." How deep. He mentioned the stars, too. Uh, Seth Aaron? You can't see stars at night in New York City, bub. Not in the sky at least. His design was futuristic with a Barbed Wire throwback, only with less skin showing. A lot less skin. In fact, only the model's face and neck were showing under the layers of black.
Amy went with all things black, too, despite the fact that she was dealt fire. She was hoping to embody "contained chaos" through a sad, sad jumper thing that swooped up around the model's shoulder. As if this wasn't clumsy enough, she stuffed the floppy top with hair extensions. I'm so not even kidding right now. An Amazon with a hairy chest and stiff, wobbly shoulder is somehow supposed to represent fire?
Amy's design, inexplicably, was not the loser of the night. Water designer Ben confessed that his first thought was sharks, so you knew this was going to be bad. But nothing could prepare you for the disproportionate suit that looked like a heavy (read: wet) diaper in the crotch and had shark's teeth details on the cuff. Ben, honey, this shit just won't fly on Project Runway. Ben was sent home last night, which is a shame because while his design was poor, he's proved himself in weeks past whereas Amy ... not so much.
After hearing Jonathan say that he wanted his air dress to be "a swirl of uncontrollable laughter," it seemed likely that he was going to let things get hot mess-y, too. Somehow, though, he managed to translate this funny idea into a luscious and romantic mini with a wispy shoulder that enveloped the model. It was obvious (or coincidental) that Jonathan considered his model's skin tone when he made a dress that complimented her perfectly. "Pale understands pale," he said. Congratulations, Jonathan, for finally getting approval from the judges and winning this week's challenge. This win proves that, as he says, he is a threat as a designer.
As happy for Jonathan as I am, my favorite ProjRun moment this week came when Mila was dumped down to the bottom three. And take a good hard look at the bottom two, they were pretty godawful. You're in with that crowd, Mila, and don't you forget it. For her earth design she looked to minerals. Ok, at least it's a more original color pallet than Emilio's. She wanted to show the judges that she could work with textures, but they weren't sold. With a vest that hinted at color blocking, paired with a plain old Gap-looking long sleeve top and blah trousers, her outfit showed that, oh! maybe she can't do anything but black and white color blocking. How did the judges not see this sooner? Maybe she would be best suited to make a few choice black and white color blocked pieces for a Target line. God I'm so sick of typing black and white color blocking. Mila, make it end.
I'm posting this two weeks after the show, but since I need a place to scream over crap Mila produces, what the heck. The 'mineral' look resembled something you'd find in WalMart that was put on the discount rack because it was so ugly and senseless that it didn't even sell to in that fashion pit. Julie has this woman pegged. Well, I don't agree with the crone comment if it's totally age-based (she's not that old, just terribly boring). Enough already, please put her out of our misery! Okay, I feel better now. Thanks.
We like American Idol. Too much.
Molly Eichel: Well, that was a shocker. Tommy, run down last night's show for us.
Tomm Button: For those who haven't heard the news:
Didi Benami — Safe! More Seacrest hand jobs!
Siobhan Magnus — Safe! Heeeeeyy....
Katelyn Epperly — LOSER! Cut your hair!
Paige Miles — Safe! Still sucked last night.
Tim Urban — Safe! Fuck!
Todrick Hall — LOSER! For the first time I'm glad I was wrong.
Lee Dewyze — Safe! Of course you are!
Casey James — Safe! Own your stool!
There was a Matt Giraud & Scott McIntyre intermission where they played dueling pianos to break the tension. They performed Billy Joel's "Tell Her About It." I don't know about you but I love listening to happy Billy Joel songs and thinking about how he tried to kill himself by drinking turpentine. Good times.
Powersox — Safe! POWERSOX!!!
Big Mike — Safe! No shit!
Lacey Brown — Safe! Well, we can't send all the shitty people home at once, I guess.
Aaron Kelly — Safe! Second time I was happy to be wrong.
Alex Lambert — LOSER! Somebody call a wambulance! Or a banambulance. Have 'em swing by Siobhan first. Looking at those waterworks, I'd bet dollars to donuts her and Adam were touching sex parts.
Andrew Garcia — Safe! Man, I've never loved being wrong so much!
Katie Stevens — Safe! I do not understand.
Lilly Scott — LOSER! WHAAAAA?! I don't think anybody saw this happening. And the people that did call this probably thought John Kerry was going to win too.
Besides the Lilly Scott thing, I'm glad the Top 12 worked out the way it did. Andrew and Aaron are safe and Todrick Hall is gone. Except Tim Urban is still on the show. That's pretty annoying.
ME: Lilly had a good run but you were clearly gonna split votes with everybody's girl Powersox. Go get yourself some indie deal, tour a ton and be happy with your lot in life and silver hair. So long Baby GaGa/White Storm. Same sentiment toward Alex Lambert. There were just too many white boys singing slow songs on stools this year. I'm going to blame the mullet and leave it at that. Despite Tommy's sentiments, I'm glad Paige is sticking around. Idol is beginning to look a little white power this season with all of the minorities getting kicked off.
For the first time, the oh-so-meta 30 Rock discussed the Comcast buyout of NBC/Universal from erstwhile parent company GE (fond adieu, Sheinhardt Wig Company). This time around, Comcast is called Kabletown ("A fine and generous company," as Tina Fey/Liz Lemon turns to the camera and says. Aw, that's 'cause they don't have Comcast in Manhattan).
It was an excellent episode considering 30 Rock's mediocrity of late (you guys gotta be feeling that too), with many of the best lines coming from Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) about the Comcast/Kabletown buyout. At first, he doesn't think it will go through, telling Liz, "A company from Philadelphia buying a company from New York? That's like Vietnam beating the U.S. in a land war."
Guest star Elizabeth Banks is also coming into her own as pundit Avery (if you watch this episode, above, for anything, it should be for the blink-and-it's-over Brian Williams cameo). Also, Kenneth (Jack McBrayer), as always, kills it (see: donkey spells).
I'm interested to see where else Upper Darby's Tina and Co. go with the whole Kabletown thing. I figure it's an opportunity for a whole slew of guest star Kabletown execs, maybe even a trip to Philly (call us, Tina).
Jack probably won't come, though. He sums it all up when he says with great disgust, "These people are from Philadelphia!"
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| variety.com |
I would say that this is a What We Heart, if these Mad Men Barbies weren't super creepy. The special collection dolls based on everybody's favorite morally lax ad men (and their ladies) retails for $74.95 and will be sold at high-end retail stores and amctv.com and barbiecollector.com.
Do you think the come with little Barbie cigarettes too? What about tumblers of whiskey for mini-Roger Sterling (inner left) and mini-Don Draper (inner right)? I love how they gave Joan (left) a set of hips just like her portrayer, most-beautiful-woman-in-the-world Christina Hendricks.
Hey, did you know that Box Brown, who is showing his work at Brave New World this month, did one of the most apt portraits of Hendricks I've ever seen?
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| boxbrown.com |
That portrait may be even more realistic than the Barbie.
I wish I was still ten and getting a collector's edition Barbie for each birthday and Xmas. These are fly.
We like American Idol. Too much.
Tommy Button: When the night starts off with Ellen Degeneres sitting on the lap of Simon Cowell, you know it's gonna be a rough one. This was the girls last chance at Top 12 dreams and only three of them really sang like it. Besides the physical discomfort of sitting through the performances, the show itself was all over the place. Seacrest and the judges were bouncing off the walls with anxiety because they had to find some way to cram the show within a reasonable amount of time. I'll try to waste slightly less of your time.
Molly Eichel: Eh, it wasn't so bad. No surprises but other than Lacey Brown lessening the degree to which I wanted to punch her in the face.
TB: Powersox was far and away the best of the night. She was in fact the polar opposite of Paige Miles. A soulful white girl with a cool streak in her as long as Route 66.
ME: I feel bad always praising Powersox as my favoe, but what are you gonna do? She took Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason," a song very much associated with its artist, slapped it upside the head and said, "Look Tracy, you're super cool and all. You can play the didgeridoo, your arms are jacked and you have a beautifully distinctive voice. But I'm motherfucking Crystal Bowersox, bitch." Also, she looked so glamorous tonight!
TB: Look at her. Just sitting on her amp like a fucking champ. Mission Blow It Out The Box: Accomplished. Seeing Powersox right before just proved that Lilly Scott has got to step it up a bit otherwise she's gonna get left in the dust. Sure, Lilly's consistently good but it's turning into a bit of the same ol' same ol'.
ME: Amen, Tom-Tom. I like her arrangements but they're too small. She needs to come out huge next time or I'm afraid that some lesser boys will take her down. Although, word to Patsy Cline.
TB: Didi Benami gets second billing. She was able to outshine Lilly, who up to this point has been her toughest competition.
ME: Didi took my second best spot too with Fleetwood Mac's "Rhianna." I love the tone of her voice. Unlike Lilly (who needs a wow moment to remind us who she is), I think all of this no wow moment blather from the judges is bullshit. Stevie Nicks never has wow moments either and she has one of the greatest voices in all of pop music. Here's my problem with Didi, though: Her strongest songs are all of these, slow quiet version of songs and I'm worried she's one-note.
TB: Do I think Didi can keep up this momentum? Hell no. But at least she ain't throwing in the towel yet. I heard it through the grapevine that Seacrest is tapping dat. And by grapevine, I mean Spike Eskin at WYSP pointed out that last week Sea-man gave Didi a little hand grab after her performance. AND HE DID IT AGAIN THIS WEEK!!! Leave a little room for the lord, you two. She still has at least one more week of Seacrest hand grabs in her future
ME: I'm embarrassed to say this because I've kicked her in the balls a couple times before, but I loved Siobhan Magnus' "House of the Rising Sun." Perfect song choice for her range, perfect execution. I was totally digging Snaggle Tooth Siobhan last night.
TB: I'm glad Simon finally pointed out the mind boggling weirdness of this girl. There seems to be some box blowing moments in Snaggle Tooth Siobhan and she's gonna go far. But for me, she's always gonna seem like the pot dealer's weird girlfriend. Except she's not making me any hand-blown pipes.
ME: Worst by far goes to Paige Miles with "Smile."
TB: Way to shit the bed, Paige. I want to go more in depth than say she sucked but that seems to be the best I can do right now. But hey, if she's not gonna try, why should I?
ME: Not only did she sing this poorly, but Janelle Monae did the same thing and did it better. Check it:
Aw, Paige. Don't worry, you're not the only one who deserves to cry. Because Katelyn Epperly did one of the most mediocre versions of Carole King's "I Hear the Earth Move" I've ever heard. She didn't tweak the arrangement that much, but what she did ruined the momentum of the song. Look, if you're gonna fuck with someone who knows how to structure pop song like a finely crafted mystery (keeps you holding on until you can barely take it anymore ... then pay off), you either go nuts or keep it simple. I wish she had sung it as a ballad like last week. Actually, I just wish Siobhan had sung this song too.
TB: Quite frankly, I do not understand what the judges were talking about. Her hair looked like a rat's nest. This was Katelyn Epperly's third (and hopefully final) shot at impressing me and she failed. I bet Epperly is the kind of person who strikes out in kickball.
ME: I think she'll stick around because she's smokin' hot (and I've got a soft spot for her because she's got Sharon Pinkenson's hair). Even though she wasn't that bad this week, I still am gonna hate on Lacey Brown. Her version of Brandy Carlisle's "The Story" wasn't balls-out awful, but I still don't think she's top 12 material.
TB: The judges thought it was her best yet it was still awful. Lacey is in the same boat as Katie Stevens — her success is totally dependent on someone else failing. So basically, Lacey shouldn't focus on singing so much as sabotage at this point.
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