ANTM: The Girls Go On Go-See Adventures

I've been a slacker.....it happens. Here's what I remember about last week's episode. Hopefully I'll be better this week.

It's the go see episode! This is always fun. Anyone remember last year meltdown? (Oh Brit)

The girls get their portfolio, directions, and a translator. I don't remember them every having a translator in the past. Neat. Well- not that it really does them any good because apparently the translators can only get the girls in the general vicinity of the designers. The girls must then figure out how to get into the buildings all by their lonesome. Obviously- this gives Heather some huge problems.
Now, ANTM always does the little countdown things where it rattles off how many go-sees each of the girls has actually been on. Usually this is misleading and they all end up with roughly the same amount give or take one. This cycle, not so much. Poor Heather. I really thought they were just making her out to be having an awful time. But no. She really only made it to one designer.
The rest of the girls fared slightly better. Bianca and Saleisha seemed to get along fairly well with the designers. Those two were also the only ones to make it back on time. Did the other three never see a previous season of the show before? Everyone knows you have to make it back on time! I mean, talk to Dani(elle) about those sour grapes.

Now let's get this out of the way. This cycle is boring. Bianca is really the only thing that makes it interesting at all. That being said I want Jenah to win. No- I don't really think Jenah is the prettiest, but I think she is the most model like. If Saleisha wins, I will be very angry. Like more than I was when Joanie didn't win. I only put up with that because Dani(elle) is cool too.
So- liking Jenah, I was a little pissed at her edit this week. No I don't think she's a bitch, but she could have been nicer to Nigel. (Again- watch the show before you go on it. It's on VH1 or MTV every freaking day. Learn from Caridee's mistakes) I was happy when she turned out a stellar picture. I was less happy when she was in the bottom two. Did you see Bianca's picture? Yuk!

Actually I didn't like the photo shoot at all. So I didn't really like any of the pictures.

I was sad to see Heather go. This was the first week in like 3 cycles that I was actually surprised as to who went home. I just really didn't think they would get rid of Heather till the final episode. I figured she would deliver another bad commercial and since we all know she can't walk, would be sent home before the final runway show. But no- adios Heather. You took some great photos and I'm sure will find some work.

We still have: Jenah, Chantal, Bianca, Saleisha.
This week? Great wall of China shoot- or something like that.
My Top Three: Jenah, Chantal, Bianca
More Probably Top Three: Saleisha, Bianca, Jenah

Project Runway Premere

First off- I love that ANTM and Project Runway are on the same night due to the fact that I can spend an entire night in my sweats and berate reality show participants. However, I hate it due to the fact that there is no way I can write about both within a timely fashion. I will attempt to get some thoughts up about PR because I just can't keep the thoughts inside my head.

On the whole- I was kind of bored by this episode. I mean I loved it because it was so long in coming that I would have loved anything they put in front of me, but really? the "challenge"? I could have made something fashionable with $50,000 worth of fabric and 11 hours to do it in. And it would have looked better than Simone's dress. Sorry Simone- you seemed like a very nice person and perhaps a good designers, but you just couldn't handle the pressure. And if you couldn't handle this challenge, it was better to go home now.

What I do like (and from what I've read- I am not alone)- Is Chris. I loved his dress. he was totally robbed of a top three spot. I also just love him. He seems very fun to hang out with. I also like Sweet P. Those two have my early favorite spots.

I also liked Elisa. She is much better than last season's crazies: Angela and Vincent, by like a million. Also - grass stains on expensive fabric while Tim Gunn looks on with such disapproval. You know he wanted to say something about that and couldn't find the right words.

I didn't really like Rami's dress. Perhaps is was his model who looks like she's huge (by model standards-not mine) and is rather scary looking. Good thing he will be able to upgrade next week.

All in all- an okay episode. Hopefully we kick it up next week and they have to design a garment totally out of shoelaces or something.

America's next Top Model: The Girl Who Starts to Lose Her Cool

After last week's sad ending, I was hoping for a happy little episode to lift my spirits. This was not it. This was boring.

We begin with Heather talking about how she is sad that Sarah left. This is a lame attempt by the editors to make us think that Heather might be going home. We watchers are way too smart for that. Heather go home? Ha.

We also start with Lisa talking about how she was called first last week and how she needs to keep it up and Ambreal talking again about how she shouldn't be here. This is the editing we know and love.

The girls get their first Tyra mail and it has something to do with being a muse. Chantal, of all people, realizes they will have to be inspiring. Hmmmkay.

They arrive at a Fashion school and meet some designers. Benny Ninja is there to be small, weird, and tell them about their challenge. Which is.....to inspire one of the designers to redesign a horrific dress into an outfit worthy of the catwalk. The dress reminds me of one that Robert from season 3 of Project Runway designed. You remember the one.

Some of the girls really hit it off with their designers. (Jenah, Chantal, Saleisha) Others......

Well Bianca just never gives her designer a chance. She complains that she won't listen to her, but I never see her actually talk to her. Heather is also having trouble. She keeps talking about being a fire sign and while that's neat and all, I have trouble seeing where this fits in at all.

After the dress making, the girls must walk in them on a runway and give a very small description as to why this dress was inspired by them. Bianca works it out, as does Jenah and Saleisha. Heather totally freezes and Lisa fumbles a bit as well. It does seem like a relatively simple challenge, I can totally commiserate with the fear of public speaking.

On hand to judge we have the editor of Seventeen and someone important from Elite Models, who is really creepy looking. They give their critiques and Heather's is rather harsh. I expect she is used to kind of being handled differently at home because she is really upset by this. Saleisha is named the winner and I think Jenah was robbed.

Once home, we see, thanks to subtitles, that Heather calls the shower. Does that really work in real life outside of like.....5th grade? Huh. Anyway, the shower appears to be massive and can comfortably hold many a person. So Saleisha and Lisa jump on in. This does not sit well with Heather who strips right down and jumps in too. She takes the opportunity to say a few choice words about the lack of respect she feels. The girls make a good point and tell Heather that she is in fact, in the shower and could just take the opportunity to shower. This whole scene, like most in the previews, was disappointing.

Photo shoot! The girls are driven out to the middle of nowhere and are made to act like they really think the bus is abandoning them. Who's shooting the video if they are all alone? They see a small mirage coming towards them.....it's jay! He tells them that the photo shoot this week involves a car and some fire. Awesome.

And actually it is a kind of awesome shoot. The girls have this rd convertible that is on fire to pose next too. They are supposed to look pissed off/desperate that they have broken down in the middle of the desert. Most of them pull this off fairly well with the exception of Ambreal, Heather, and Lisa.

At panel, Tyra introduces the judges and we see some creepy ass little puppet popping up behind them. I totally thought I imagined that first time around. But no, it is because everyone is going to China! Well.....not everyone. This was a totally cheap trick and really kinda bitchy of Tyra.

The photos are good, but standouts include Bianca, Jenah, Chantal. Heather had her weakest shoot and Lisa and Ambreal are still too safe.

The girls are called: Bianca, Jenah, Saliesha, Chantal, Heather.

We are left looking at Lisa and Ambreal. Everyone watching is hoping that Tyra will finally let Ambrel go. And so she does. Ambreal seems totally fine with the decision just proving that she is a cool girl, but not a good model.

Next week.....China! And covergirl ads........awesome.

America's next Top Model: The Girls Who Crawl 9-7

We rejoin our girls in the limo on their way back from judging. If you recall it was the judging where Ebony decided that Tyra was not the nice, lovable person she thought she was. The girls seem happy with ebony's decision, although considering how miserable Ebony seemed two weeks ago, i can't imagine that she'd be much fun to hang out with.

We then jump to Sarah commenting on how everyone thinks she is losing weight. I think this is deceiving to us in the viewing world because I think she looks fine. Then I remember, She is a NORMAL sized person. No wonder. However, I worry about this little confession so early in the episode as this spot is usually reserved for the girl who is sent home. However, the editors have decided to actually make me wonder a bit this episode. They give me a clip of Chantal talking about how confident she is and how much she believes in herself. Never a good thing to say. Need proof? See Saleisha's "I'll never be in the bottom two."

We are gathered around the pool and Bianca is complaining that Heather takes great pictures without trying. See that doesn't seem like much of an insult. It's more of some sort of backwards compliment. What's weird however, is that even though Heather is sitting literally three feet from Bianca and is involved in the conversation, Bianca continues to refer to her in the third person. Essentially, instead of saying, "You don't have to try in pictures." She says, "Heather doesn't have to try in pictures." It's weird.
The others totally back up Heather and kinda stop Bianca's shit in her tracks. It's kinda great.

The next day brings us to a dance studio where the girls don leotards. Thankfully, Tyra's has a skirt. She "teaches" the girls to be sexy. She is weirdly out of breath for most of this segment, so maybe being sexy is tiring profession. She goes on to tell the girls about being in music videos and how she, the great Tyra, has done many music videos and each one was awesome because of her. And then they prance across the floor. They also slide down walls and crawl across the floor. All very sexily of course. Do models routinely have to slide down a wall for photo shoots? Huh.

And now we're hugging ourselves. You totally know that Tyra hugs herself everyday and tells herself that she loves her. Ridiculous. This part was so boring. Not even Bianca's continued hatred of Heather was entertaining. And for the record, Bianca is totally right in this case. Heather looked a damn mess crawling across that floor. And Tim Burtonesque? Nice word choice there Tyra. I love Tim Burton, but who really wants to be compared to Edward Scissorhands here....

And back to the house. Sarah gets more air time and this is sad. I like her. She seems so normal.
There is Tyra mail and did you know that Heather is awkward occasionally? I know. Strange. She calls out to the girls about the Tyra Mail and the editors inform us that no one can hear and somehow this makes her awkward. Silly editors.

On to the Music Video shoot for.....wait for it.....Enrique Iglesias. Yeah that one Latin singer. No, no Ricky Martin. No, not the guy married to Jlo. I'm just kidding. I remember Bailamos. Enrique actually looks pretty good. Hope my mom is watching. She loved her some Enrique back in the mole days.

Anyway. Video shoot. The idea has something to do with vampires which kind of makes sense seeing as how the girls are all hoochied up and wearing leather and such. I could kind of see where they would go for a dark vampire/goth theme for the club atmosphere. However, watching the video at end of the episode, I realize that Enrique actually sings something about vampires. So the song is actually about vampires? Sad, because the music is sort of catchy.

Jaslene has a billboard!

Lisa gets picked to be the "featured" girl in the video, expect she's not really. They treat this as a challenge win, but Lisa didn't have to do a dang thing for it. They just liked her looks for the video. Kinda lame. However, she does turn out a pretty wicked cool shot. Especially that leg. I think maybe her legs could win this if they left the rest of her behind.

Heather also delivers a pretty cool shot, if only looking slightly demonic. I think that is part of Heathers charm. The rest of the girls are all kinda of static.
Then, the drama we were promised from the previews. Heather collapses! Because she didn't eat much that day and was really hot and dehydrated. A little scary yes, but life threatening it is not. it's nice to see the other girls so concerned though. However,

Heather drinks some water and is OKAY. Thank goodness. I was worried. We wrap up the shoot and head back to the house.

And right to judging. No pho-tos this week. Instead we get to see the video of the girls from the music video. They love Lisa and her legs. Ambreal is too hoochie. I find that critique odd because I actually thought she looked totally vacant. They like Saleisha and Sarah in their little duo shot. They give Sarah some more crap about her weight. What is the girl supposed to do? We can't all eat our ribs everyday Tyra.

Heather is great and awkward and great. Jenah is not sexy. Chantal is holding back. Figured out the bottom two yet? If not, this must the the first time you've watched the show. Go back and reread the first paragraph of this recap.

Deliberation. Lisa, Heather and Saleisha are great. Ambreal is flat for some. Jenah is not deliver this week. Chantal is boring. And then this. They get on Sarah for losing weight again which okay
whatever, but then Tyra says, "She entered this competition as a plus-sized girl and now she's not." What? Sarah was never plus sized. She was, as Tyra called it, "real-sized". I take that to be about size 6-10. On my tv screen, Sarah does appear to be at the smaller scale of that, but come on. Even in these flashback clips, she was never the size 12-14 that plus sized girls are supposed to be. Angry.

Tyra only has 7 pho-tos in her hands. They go to: Lisa, Heather, Saleisha, Bianca, Ambreal, Jenah. Chantal and Sarah are bottom two. They are faulted for "coasting" and not being the best in the competition which seems like a silly critique, but whatever Ms. Banks. Chantal gets the photo and I pout.

Bye, Sarah. Tyra was just angry that you could lose weight so easily.

Next week:
The girls get stranded in the desert. Whoever can make it back to civilization and turn out the fiercest picture wins. Or something like that.

The Past

So apparently this is a phase thing for me as I just found out/remembered that I have previously had a blog 5 years ago. Reading it, I remember writing it, but it really seems like it was a totally different person. Then, it was my freshman year of college and I was desperately trying to find my niche at school. I took all sorts of silly quizzes and posted the results. I got really excited about grades and expected everyone else to get excited as well. It is kind of surreal, re-reading it now. A lot changes in 5 years. Although, I still love my friends. It's funny, but everyone I talk about in my blog I am still friends with. That's gotta say something.
So yeah.....no big topic of interest, just a little ruminating on the past. What were you doing 5 years ago?

Seven Great Halloween Movies and One Crappy One

While there are a huge number of movies I love to watch around October, but here are a few that really get me into the creepy mood.

1. Hocus Pocus
While this movie was aimed at kids, I still enjoy enjoy and will watch it whenever it comes on tv. The story begins with a family new to town. Big brother is quick to try to impress a resident "hottie" and inadvertently releases the spirits of three cursed witches who eat children. He, the hottie, his little sis, and the ghost of a boy imprisoned in a cat must figure how to send these ladies back to their graves. It's silly fun and the witches (played by Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker) are so much fun, you actually root for them in the end.

2. The Amityville Horror (1979 Edition)
While the remake had it's share of good scares, it's the original that does it for me. It follows the book more closely and includes more of the original scares rather than resorting to cheap blood and gore tactics. (The scene in the basement in the remake? Silly) The supposedly true story follows the Lutz family as they move into their dream home. The problem? It's haunted and these spooks are pissed. From flies to the time 3:15, they only end of staying 28 days, but what a 28 days....



3. Poltergeist
A classic of the genre, this movie is another case of a house being haunted. In this case though, the spooks are more than happy to perform parlor tricks for the first part of the movie and the movie has a rather lighthearted tone. That is, until, the family's youngest gets sucked into some parallel dimension through her closet. The movie kind of falls apart toward the end, but it doesn't disappoint.



4. The Decent
This movie scares me every single time I watch it. Perhaps it's the thought of being stuck in a series of caves with no obvious way out. Or maybe it's the blind, flesh hungry creatures hunting those stuck in the caves. Either way, this story of a group of women who want an adventure is filled with creepy moments and has an ending that packs a major punch.



5. The Nightmare Before Christmas
Claymation and singing- it just doesn't get much better than this Disney offering. The story has a classic plot- Our hero wonders if there isn't more to life. The catch is that he's the king of Halloween, so when he gets a taste of Christmas, he can't resist. It's light on scares, but if you look hard you can catch quite a few creepy nuances in there. It is a Tim Burton film after all.

6. Shawn of the Dead
My favorite zombie movie hands down. I typically don't do zombies. They aren't especially scary and they aren't smart villains. Shawn, however, takes the zombie flick to the next level. Silly, silly fun. Our main character, Shawn, finds himself dumped by his girlfriend. To win her back, he must prove to her that he sees more in his future than nights at the pub. Unfortunately, a zombie infestation interrupts his plans.

7. The Exorcist
They don't come much creepier than this. I have yet to find a movie that rivals this is terms of long term scares. Other movies may be creepier during the film or for the next ten minutes after you watch it, but The Exorcist will stay with you forever. From the raised letters on the girl's stomach to head spinning madness, this story of possession is captivating and very, very real. So real that you'll be sleeping with the lights on.....just in case.


Crappy. The Shining
You disagree? Yeah, so does the rest of the population. I just can't get into The Shining. Maybe it's the fact that Shelly Duvall is so annoying. Or the fact that they got the terrifying room number WRONG. Perhaps if I had seen the movie before reading the book, I might have been spared my unpopular opinion, but I didn't. The Shining as a book is amazing, but as a movie, just fell flat. I will redeem myself slightly though- I love Jack Nicholson in anything and I do think he does a stellar job in this. If only everything else could have measured up....

Agree? Disagree? Hate my opinion? Tell me about it.

Louski

ANTM Cycle 9 Recap Episode

So I hate the recap episodes and yet, feel compelled to watch them. The previews always show something that somewhat intriguing so I watch and of course it's not interesting. Tonights recap was no exception. Highlights for me:

- More Sarah, including a possible love interest in Jenah. Did anyone else catch Jenah's "Sarah's cute" comment? Innocent or something more? Whatever it may be, I like Sarah and was happy to see more of her. Especially since she is probably not going to be around much longer.

- Bianca's teeny tiny redemption arc. We all saw the bitch and then we all saw the absence of the bitch. Here they showed us a little more about it.

- Bianca/Chantal showdown. Chantal is one lucky girl to have gotten off so easy. Maybe her thighs don't even deserve looking at in the mirror.

Lowlights:

- Lots of Ebony shots that Tyra clearly threw in there to shove it in our face that she quit. We GET it Tyra. You hate quitters. Move on with life. Let her go.

- Toilet plunging. Don't need that.

- Any time they showed Mila. I thought I got rid of her like a month ago.

Next week:

Tyra tries the video shoot again. Let's hope she's not singing this time. Also, someone gets dizzy and falls down. My bet is that it is ten times less interesting than I want it to be.