I finally got my wish the other night and the baked one (Blayne) FINALLY got aufed ... it was an interesting and long awaited episode of Project Runway that had me worried that some of the flakes would be back (no such worries, Heidi dismissed that rumor right away); Suede got a good smack down from the Judges ( you have to love that Michael Kors) and Terri learned a hard life lesson about team dynamics.Although it wasn't that surprising as far as episodes go, any kind of Avant-garde Challenge is almost always interesting to see for the over the top designs. It was interesting to see all of the other designers come back and how they were to use the Zodiac sign of one of the designers as inspiration. It was a treat to see Stella and then I felt damn sorry for her being paired up with Blayne as it was quite the challenge for those two to work together. I think if anyone has different design aesthetics it had to be those two and I don't honestly think that Stella was that impressed with being paired up with the twit. Some of the teams did okay, a couple of them were down right terrible and Terri was just too much of a bitch with Keith. Keith was being quite the douche him self and being all fragile. sigh... there has to be at least one cry baby per year. The team dynamics were all over the place, depending on the prevailing mood of some of the designers. It seems to be more about the drama than the design this season and that should only be part of it.
I know that Kenley was getting on several designer's nerves in the challenge, but I thought she did a great job and was really one of the ones that stood out. I thought it was très Minnie Mouse and it was just missing the ears. Jerrel was great but I didn't think he was that outstanding but he ended being the winner (the Judges are damn hard to read sometimes), Leanne was very interesting (again) and is turning in to a real competitor. I think she is surprising everyone. I was concerned by some of the choices that didn't seem to be really over the top enough to be considered Avant-garde by some of the designers and that meant Korto was disappointing and so was Joe. I honestly don't think that some of the designers understand what the hell Avant-garde means.
I've being ranting for weeks that they need to cull the herd a bit quicker, and we finally got around to Blayne, Terri and Suede being the bottom 3 and we know that 2 are to be eliminated. I honestly did not expect Terri to be given the boot (her ensemble wasn' t that terrible, I think she really pissed of the Judges with her treatment of Keith) and Suede lived to sew for another day. I wonder if he will continue speaking of himself in such the 3rd tense and with such vigor after getting eviscerated by the Judges this week... only time will tell but I think that he is on his last legs.
Top Design continued it's new and improved format with a makeover of a Bunker, those Fallout Shelters that have been around since the 1950's. All of the designers were paired up and had to work their magic on a 12 by 14 foot concrete box that had to be shared by the 2 of them. I loved the little video they played at the beginning showing the old TV ads for Bunkers and wonder if they are making a comeback. It feels almost slight exploitative having this kind of challenge right around September 11th .. but I may be reading more into the challenge than was intended.
It was a very interesting challenge, and it was fascinating to see the different dynamics amongst the teams. The set up is pretty basic in these shelters, and while I don't see amenities like sinks and bathrooms or kitchen areas (how the hell are you supposed to last for months or years in one of these Bunkers is beyond me), it's a great way of testing the designer's talent. Wisit & Nathan are paired up and you know that those 2 are going to get into too much trouble. They are having too much fun which was even more hilarious as you saw other teams in complete meltdown mode. Robert & Jennifer can't seem to find common ground and I dislike Robert more than last week. Kerry is teamed up with Shazia and I am just waiting for a disaster to happen. Natalie & Teresa do a lovely Zen inspired den that need just a bit of editing but was great for the space, and I liked the ceiling effect done by Preston & Odine, although the Judges didn't appreciate their space as much. Wisit & Nathan were the only team to go down to one bed (too funny -- they were very gay about all of it and had the Judges eating out of their hands) and showed some nice creativity.
Our winning team of Eddie (little Mr.Martha Stewart) & Andrea (don't call me Mrs.Shroder) did a nice job (I do have to see that it was pretty obvious that Eddie was the brains behind it all and Mrs.Shroder was hanging on for the ride). I liked the creativity of most of the teams and how they tried to work the space in different ways to create their own spaces. I will say that I was surprised when India eliminated Jennifer (We can't live with your design) and then turned around and eliminated her not supportive partner Robert.
Wow - second episode and a double elimination. You hear that Project Runway? It's better to cull earlier than later... just making a point.
Robert didn't see that one coming and I think that it is just great .. the guy was a complete knob about the whole challenge and that's 2 weeks in a row of being nasty. Good bye and no regrets.
Wipeout has almost finished it's first season, and we were in absolute hysterics this week watching the double episode treat that we got to see this week. Hole in the Wall was checked out, but it's just not as much fun or even half as interesting hearing the guys do their play by play on Wipeout. I have to say that they even did better than Hole in the Wall with their Cookie Cutter part of the Sweeper. The 2 Johns (Henson & Anderson) with supporting co host Jill Wagner make the show as funny as it is by their snarky comments and bad humor. It's a joy to watch and I am happy to know that it will be coming back for a second season. Can we get a Canadian version of this? I would love to play.
