Weekend Rant - Olympics Fever

Olympic and Canadian fever has taken over most of the viewing schedule here at Couch Potato Central and there will be only a few rants coming over the next week on some of the regular shows that are currently airing. The Olympics only happen every few years and some sacrifices have to made -- all for a good cause.

After catching the spectacular opening ceremony early Friday morning (the 12 hour time difference makes for an early start here in eastern Canada), I have been taking in as many competitions as possible and it has been a great pleasure to watch all these great athletes. There will be tons of different events to take in, and I am happy to have already seen some gymnastics, swimming, rowing, volleyball and water polo. It's only the tip of the iceberg and it looks like it will make for some long days and nights glued to the tube watching the World's best. If you haven't heard the amazing story about Canadian gymnast, Kyle Shewfelt, it's simply incredible to see him compete less than a year after breaking both of his legs. It's always inspiring to see athletes like Kyle who push themselves and are such great role models for today's youth. It's not always about winning but also about how you play the game and sportsmanship. Bravo to Kyle and the best of luck to the rest of the Canadian Team.

There is no question that I will be glued to the swimming competitions to see home boy Alexandre Despatie perform and am dying to see if Michael Phelps can hit his goal and become the biggest medal winner in Olympic history. Here's hoping the games follow their creed : "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." I really hope to see some great Olympic games that are not marred by tons of doping charges and athletes that try to cheat. Cross your fingers on that one.

Speaking of winners -- a big congrats to Iliza Shlesinger for winning this edition of Last Comic Standing. Iliza was pretty fearless, and eliminated quite a bit of the competition before making it to the Final Four and then surviving one on one against fellow competitor Marcus. Here's hoping that Iliza hits Montréal at next year's Just for Laughs festival and I get the chance to see her live.

So You think you can Dance? - Joshua can !

Congratulations to Joshua for winning this edition of So you think you can Dance? He did a fantastic job, has been incredible all season and it was a surprise to see both him and Twitch standing there at the very end. It was great to see Hip Hop Dancers going so far in the competition, although I was a tad surprised that Katee wasn't part of the final two. When you look over all the favorite numbers that were performed last night, you can clearly see that she was in the vast majority of them and I really expected her to be there to the very end. Must have been cause Twitch is so damn hot....

Giving her the $50,000 and congratulating Katee on being the best girl... I just found that to be quite insulting, mildly pandering and very sexist. It was the first mention of any kind of "Runner up" prize and it seems kind of cheap considering that the best boy gets $250,000. I think it was the Judges way of saying that they thought she should have won and wanted to congratulate her for being so amazing. I guess I shouldn't complain but she deserved better.

As for the performances last night, it was just astounding to see the big number choreographed by Shane Sparks. It was nice work and a very hot number and even better that Shane was back, I wasn't sure if he was just busy or not interested in the show since he has his own full time Judge duties on America's Best Dance Crew.

There were Judges a plenty last night as Debbie Allen returned, along with Adam Shankman, Lil C, Mia Michaels, and regulars Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy. I loved how all of them chose different favorite numbers and we got to see most of the Top Ten perform again in various numbers. It's a great chance to see my faves like Gev again, and I bet the show with the Top Ten touring the States is a hot ticket. Too bad they don't come here to Montréal. (side note -- we will be having our own Canuck version of the show starting this September in Canada, so we won't be dance deprived until the next US version.)

The biggest scream of the night had to be the hot little number between Mary Murphy and Dmitry (season 2's often shirtless hot one) doing a Samba. Major Cougar alert and damn can that woman move, and she has got a great pair of legs. It's nice to see one of these Judges put their money where their mouth is and show their stuff. Later in the evening we get treated to a performance by the Debbie Allen Academy and Nigel joins them. He impresses me as well and it looks like the Judges agree that if you sit on the panel then you have to be able to dance.

It's nice to see a reality show that requires a certain level of knowledge if you want to be considered as a Judge. It's a shame that other shows aren't as picky about these things.

The other stand out for the evening for him had to be the insanely good Wade Robson number. All you nee to do is take a mad genius like Wade, mix in some Cirque du Soleil and set it to the music " Homage to the Rabbits" by Eric Serra.

What a wild whacked out number -- it was simply amazing with a multitude of representations of rabbits from all different kinds of books and mythologies, and the piece had the most phenomenal ending with all the characters unmasking as they paid "Homage to all the Rabbits who died in the hands of incompetent magicians.". I can not get enough of Wade and I hope we get to see more of him next season.

The Pop Off between Robert and Philip was not a fair fight (Robert just slaughtered the competition), but it was astounding to watch and Robert is one whacked out dude. I have never seen anyone move like that and it always seems so surreal.

The other big surprise of the night was the appearance of the "All Stars" of all of the seasons of the show rocking it to "Don't Stop the Music" by Rihanna (one of my favorite tunes). We got some views and great moves from a whole bunch of the previous participants including Dominic,Allison, Neil, Anya, Benji, Travis, Ivan, Jesus, Dmitry, Hok, Cedric,Ryan, and the entire Top 20 of this season. That was a number that could have gone on and on for me as I would have loved to have seen more of some of the other dancers one more time. There was a nice interview segment where there was some chat with previous dancers and it's great to see faces like Donyelle, Benji, Travis, and Lacey. It's like getting news from old friends.

This season felt short and sweet due to the way they ran the elimination this year, and I hope we get the chance to see more World Music next season.

I am just crossing my fingers and hoping that the first season of the Canadian version is as interesting -- I'll let you know when things get started, I am pretty sure that we have got some great talent here as well.

Shear Genius - Do Me & my Bitch

After last week's complete disaster, I am pretty sure that the not so merry band of Judges and Jaclyn of Shear Genius were pissed off at the contestants for missing the boat on the now infamous Charlie's Angels challenge. No fear, last night's challenge sent our contestants to the dogs (literally) and made for some fun and games, but it was still lacking some of the oomph that I want from this show, and am not sure if it's the combination of personalities or the kinds of challenges that have been thrown at the stylists.

Let's get to the Short Cut Challenge of last night. I loved the whole green vibe and using what is in your kitchen to make you beautiful .... but there were a couple of huge problems with the whole concept.

First problem - seriously -- is that Nexxus is the main sponsor of the show and if their product doesn't get used they will not be happy -- so the eco-friendly thing isn't going to work until companies like Nexxus make green products.

The other big problems was that if you have no experience in using products like Squid in hair -- then do you really know what the frack you are doing? As amusing as it was to see the panic in most of the stylist's eyes, it just wasn't logical as far as challenges go. I think it would have made more sense if we learned later on how the various things could be used.

I did appreciate Daniel's panic attacks and the whole squid fiasco, but had no idea why Paulo won and not that it made any difference in the long run.

Now the whole Dog and Owner Challenge -- talk about a disaster waiting to happen. I can see the rapport with getting an owner to reflect their pet, and could see a challenge that incorporated that, but doing the dog as well was too much. These are stylists and not accustomed to working with animals (although the majority of dogs were very cute and well behaved) and don't know the techniques.

I agreed with Charlie when he was asked if he liked the Challenge and he bluntly rasped at them "NO". At least he didn't get the boot and that finally Nekisa (hooray!) got cut. About fricking time is all I have to say -- I have been saying for weeks it was time for her to go and it finally happened.

I am upset though that the boys keep getting their asses handed to them by Dee and she is quickly turning my beloved stereotype of the gay hairdresser into an endangered species. Watch your asses boys -- there is a new stylist in town and she is kicking ass and taking names. Bet she is right pissed off that her infatuation with the faux lesbian is now finished with Nekisa out of the house. I have the feeling things are going to get even bitchier in that salon over the next few weeks and it should be a welcome change from watching the Olympics.

I am getting really psyched for Tabitha's Salon Takeover though as we keep seeing the ads and I can hardly wait to see the Queen B in action very soon.

So You think You can Dance? - Final Four

Things were certainly exhausting on the last night (already?) of competitions on this edition of So You think You can Dance? The Final Four were choreographed quite intensively and we finally got the opportunity to see some different combinations than the regular boy/girl thing. The dances were okay and there were some highlights but I didn't get that huge WOW factor as I often do when seeing work by some of the choreographers. It was nice to see each dancer perform with each of the other dancers individually, do their solo and a great group number by Mia Michaels. (more on that later)

It was cute to see each dancer get their own personal one on one interview with Kat Deeley (and the chance to see a bit more of what makes each dancer tick) and a final solo. The 2 hour show zipped by pretty quickly and by the end I was feeling tired (it's hard work keeping up with all these dances and I was only watching them) and I could only imagine the sheer level of exhaustion in our competitors.

Bravo to all of them -- they all worked their asses off to get to the finale.

Courtney has been a very pleasant surprise this season and after seeing more of her bio I had an even better appreciation for her. I love the whole Jersey girl thing and realizing that she is not really a trained dancer was a bit of a shock. She gets comments about how cute the number that her and Katie did (a Broadway number that was choreographed by Tyce) and I am getting the impression that they felt it was just a sugary number with no content like I did. (sorry Tyce) She has really performed well over the series and the Judges comments seem to lean towards telling her to keep it up and get more training.

I am reading into their comments that she won't win ( there is only 1 winner and they way the finale is designed means that this year we have 3 losers -- it still feels rushed to me) but I applaud her beauty and commitment to dance.

Twitch has been getting rave reviews from the Judges (and well deserved) and he has really shows what humor and personality can bring to the competition. This is another finalist that has no training, and has been performing way outside of his comfort zone for almost all of the competition. He and Joshua rocked it hard in their Russian Tropak number and he was great in the Foxtrot with Katee. The Judges keep telling him how great of performer he is, and I am reading that as another No. Twitch is a great performer but not the winning dancer. I am really getting the impression that the Judges are setting the stage for the Finale and getting the dancers prepared.

I do have to say that our host, Kate Deeley is looking a lot better this season (she must have replaced her stylist), but Kat sure likes the boy sweat -- she has been all over some of the guys this year (practically bathing in it) and if she was a bit older I would make some bad cougar comment. She certainly loves Twitch.. let's hope we don't have another Paula Abdul situation here boys and girls.

Katee has been superb all season -- and after all the comment by the Judges last night (they were all fawning over her left and right), I am pretty sure that she will be taking home the trophy. I don't think any other dancer has preformed as well all season, and I completely agreed with Mary Murphy that Katee has been in all the best moments of this season.

Just last night, she was incredible once again in dancing a lyrical number choreographed by the great Wade Robson. It was one of the stand out numbers of the night, and paired her once again with Joshua. As Mary says, "Magic happens" when those two are put together and who am I to argue with her? Katee has such a magical presence and flows seamlessly from movement to movement. You can't ask for more than that. It is still hard to believe that she almost got chopped in Vegas, and that would have been a shame for all of us.

The writing seems to be on the wall that Katee will win, but the probable other winner is none other than her "most often" partner, Joshua.

Joshua has been phenomenal the entire competition, and I can not get over the fact that they guy has no training at all, yet has managed to pull off some amazing ballroom and more contemporary styles. If anyone else is a natural dancer in the competition other than Katee, it has to be him.

I also think that he has been one of the hardest working dancers this round. His combination of dances last night was probably the most exhausting (but I do agree with Nigel that they need to suck it up and do it -- they are dancers and this is their job and it is the finals) but he pushed himself as hard and as far as he can go. He has been the biggest surprise for me all season and I hope he goes at least to the final two (depending on how they do the elimination this evening).

I loved how it all culminated with the Final Four dancing their hearts out in Mia's Contemporary dance number. She pushed all the dancers to that point where physically the dance takes over and it was all raw emotion. I loved hearing Courtney scream from time to time during the number and thought that all of them put their heart and soul in to the dance. Here's hoping to see Katee and Joshua in the Final 2. I don't think that anyone will be disappointed with any one of these dancers winning this year, they have all been incredible.

Project Runway - Bright Lights, Big Mouths

My love/hate relationship with Project Runway is becoming more intense with each passing week. As much as I am a fan of Kenley (and I was raving about her last week), I couldn't get into her balloon -half-purple-ass-dress that she put together this week. The Judges loved it and thought it was astounding. There are some things in fashion that I will never understand.

I was happier to see that the designers were a bit more creative in the Photo Challenge this week, and that some of them really stepped out of the box and found images that were completely abstract (Keith, Terri and Stella were creative, Blaine was just a stoner about the whole thing) to work with. I like seeing the creative process but was in hysterics with Stella and her camera woes and then the whole bitchfest with Keith. Stella is one of the best characters this season (and if you don't like her you know she doesn't give a frack). There seem to be quite a few of the designers that talk big this season and they don't always have the goods to follow through with. This would probably be the best point to mention that if Suede does not stop talking about Suede that he might get a drastic alteration to that big mouth of his like getting it sewn shut. That whole 3rd person thing is so last decade and irritating as hell.... Fitting in with the big mouth theme of this evening is guest judge Sandra Bernhard. I loved Sandra in things like Roseanne, but fashion isn't one of the things that come to mind when I see her and I don't see the rapport with her being there and I wonder why ... but then I should be careful as the last time I made a comment around her she made sure to give her two cents worth (the infamous Madonna comment on another blog) and I don't want to piss her off .. but I do know she has a big mouth and that is how it fits right into the theme of this episode.

I think one of the other outstanding big mouth moments of the evening was the whole thing between Tim and Emily. Tim voices his opinion for a reason ... and if he is concerned with your design it's more than likely for a damn good reason. Emily made the decision to go her own way and was shooting off her mouth about feeling secure about her design choices and ignoring Tim. You can probably read the writing on the wall after that one...

For the life of me, I can not see how/why the baked one (Blaine) slid through this round -- his dress was worse than the one eliminated. His 'design' looked like a black dress that Walt Disney sneezed on. Keith is quickly proving that he is just a pretty face with his post it note dress and he hasn't really been knocking anything out of the park. I really thought that Terri did one of the best jobs (and her ensemble was a great representation of her photo of graffiti) and deserved the win, and that's why she got the blog spot. Leanne's dress was incredible and nicely inspired by her organic sensibilities. Stella did another rocking outfit and I don't think she gets the credit she deserves. Unfortunately, Emily's dress was chosen as the worst (I still have reservations about that, Jennifer's design was drab and Blaine was atrocious) and she was aufed. Next week is some Olympic influenced event but later in August RuPaul is dropping by and that should be a very fine evening indeed.

Shear Genius - Clipping an Angel's wings

I honestly can't see how things could have gone as wrong as they did last night in the Shear Genius Charlie's Angels Challenge.... but unfortunately my friends they did.

Things start off great, we have the shortcut challenge and Charlie wins (much to Dee's dismay) and he gets to choose the teams for the next Challenge. As we all know, it's the Charlie's Angels Challenge complete with Rene doing his European version of Charlie and chatting with the stylists by intercom. The Challenge goes on with not too much drama, but you can tell that things are not as rosy as they should be.
We finally get the chance to see Kate Jackson (still looking great, and once she relaxed she was quite interesting) and Jaclyn Smith reunite, and all of our teams of stylists present their modern take on the 3 iconic hair styles of the original Angels.

Now... that sounds like a great, fun and interesting challenge .... but unfortunately the result was terrible and none of the stylists won. Not a single one .... and that is a very sad state of affairs when you have one of the icons in front of you everyday during the competition and you can't do a decent adaptation of her hair style? It's just a sad, sad state of affairs.....

All I can really say is that I was very disappointed with the results and it was too bad that Charlie wasn't a participant (he had this weird exemption from winning the Short Cut Challenge) and even our big gay boys Daniel and Paulo couldn't do much. It was just a big mess left and right. Jaclyn and the judges made sure that they made a point of saying how disappointed they were (and rightfully so) before cutting Glenn. Remarkably, Nekisa was in the bottom 2 again yet still lives to style another day -- that will certainly give Charlie more ammo for some upcoming bitch sessions. Now if I can just get this bad taste out of my mouth all will be better...

Weekend Rant - Hits and Misses

This week may have seemed to be a shocker for a lot of So you think you can Dance? fans as golden boy Will hit the road, but if you look over his little bio that played during the competitions this week (they were doing individual spotlight stories on each dancer and finding out why they dance) I think it may have given the impression that Will was already very blessed as far as dance life went. The guy had already been given a scholarship with dance Über goddess Debbie Allan, and I think this may have made people less likely to vote for him, as the people does love an underdog. Unfortunately Comfort was let go of this week also (and for her, this was the second and final time) and in her case I think she is being out danced by the other remaining girls.

I guess this means that Debbie Allen will be back as a guest judge soon.

As for this week -- if you didn't see that fantastic Mia Michael's contemporary number with Twitch and Katee you missed a great and original piece of dance using a free standing door as a prop. It was more fantastic stuff and another example of Mia's tortured brilliance. I was still surprised that Mark hung around (must be that underdog syndrome) but glad the Joshua and Twitch live to dance another week. I don't want to jinx things but Twitch and Katee have been great so I hope they make it to the end. This might be the second year in a row that one of the girls takes home the title, which is kind of ironic considering that Katee was so close to being canned in Vegas.

My newest (and getting to be one of my favorite new series) is the wacky spoof of reality shows on Comedy Central called Reality Bites Back. Each week, the team of comedians (including one of my favorites from last year's Last Comic Standing, Amy Schumer) spoof a reality show to hilarious results. So far they have done "Extreme Manipulation: Home Edition" and "Shock of Love" and in upcoming episodes, you'll be treated to "Almost-American Gladiators," "Hunting With the Stars," (too bad it's not Hunting the stars) "So You Think You Can Dive," (which is brilliant) "The Amazing Disgrace," (the best title out of all the spoofs) "The Biggest Chubby” (not what you might think it is..) and what spoof would not be complete if there wasn't a parody of Survivor and American Idol all rolled up together and mixed with a bit of Hell's Kitchen called "American Surv-idoler's Kitchen". Personally I think this has been long overdue and the comedians have been hilarious so far. Michael Ian Black is hilarious as the host -- and you can see how he relishes tearing a strip out of pop culture... and putting in all those awkward pauses.

Project Runway is not hitting it out of the park this season, and I don't know if it's just me, but I am finding the quantity of designers overwhelming at this point. Last week the challenge was interesting (even if the end result was not so) but this week's "Green" challenge left me cold as it was the models choosing the fabric.

Talk about the blond leading the blond -- these girls have no concept on fabric (what?) and I felt as panicked as the designers about having to work with some unknown fabric bought by some ditz.

I am not really following the Judges this year either, as I was not too impressed with Suede's winning design (yawn) and was much more impressed with Kenley and am really starting to warm up to her Vintage vibe. I nearly had kittens when my favorite from last week, Korto, was in danger of being eliminated. I wasn't following her design vibe this week and seriously thought her dress was inside out for part of the show. I think the comment about the model having fins on her ass (courtesy of Michael Kors) spoke volumes in it's self.
My dear Stella (Cheroin) did a nice cocktail dress that was totally her vibe -- and got some good feedback from the Judges. I think she is one of the most vocal of the gang (she knows how to bitch like a real pro) and I have visions of her and Tim butting heads. Let's see the Silver Fox talk his way out of this one.

I think things will get more interesting once more of the Designing herd has been culled (I am all for multiple eliminations at this point) but there is still something different about this season that I can't put my finger on yet.... is Bravo trying to sabotage things with the show leaving to the Lifetime network after this season? Stranger things have happened... it was a shame to see Wesley get aufed this week though, he was cute and a good designer (and Leanne was worse than he was) and I thought his fashion sensibility was cute and modern.

I am still a little miffed about Kathy Griffin and her recent appearance in Montréal (not to mention the snubbing of her gays) so the only comment that I have about this week's episode of My Life on the D List is that Bora Bora was boring and a yawn fest. I prefer my Kathy that rips a new one in the celebrities and is not all about some psycho idiot and a bunch of straight people on some fake gay holiday.
See what happens when you piss of your gays Kathy?
You know how vicious we can be -- snap - snap - snap.

Shear Genius has been putting me on an emotional roller coaster for the past couple of weeks. First there was the much lauded departure of that Dye Job Disaster, Meredith, but it was combined with my favorite, Charlie, wasting his immunity and doing a crappy job. This past week was all about doing a look with a wig (a very difficult challenge as if you make a mistake you can't do anything about it) and Charlie bombed once again. It was also the most emotionally manipulated episode with our models and their terrible Alopecia affliction. We had stylists crying left and right and it was all a bit too much and over the top. You would think that there were people dying but it must be a stylist's biggest fear: bald. That doesn't seem to really phase Charlie and at least he made it through (helmet head and all) but please Judges, Nekisa just has to go, you might have noticed that she is always in the bottom 2. I will be literally having kittens this Wednesday night when it will be the Charlie's Angels reunion episode. Jaclyn Smith is looking as fabulous as ever ..... now if we can only get Farrah Fawcett to join them it would be Sheer Perfection.

Weekend Rant - Reality Round Up

So you think you can Dance continued with eliminations this week and the Top 10 was reduced to the Final 8.

Unfortunately that meant the end of Gev, who in my humble opinion, went way beyond his B Boy roots to be a great competitor on the show. I had Mark pegged for leaving and was quite surprised that Gev had gotten less votes ... I thought the guy was cute and charismatic and had the chance to go far.... anyways buddy, you were a pleasure to watch and it will be fun to see you bust a move later in the season when they bring back the Top 10.

My money is still on Mark to be the next guy to go ... he moves okay but is lacking some of the technique the other dancers have. The way things are developing you might be seeing Debbie Allen's protege, Will , taking home the title this year. The guy is drop dead gorgeous, has incredible technique and is willing to run around mostly naked. I think he will be getting quite a few votes from the boys and girls out there in TV land.
On the girl's side of things, I was happy to see Comfort hang around for another week. Her look in the opening Bollywood number was astounding -- wow -- and I loved the number. At this rate we should start seeing a whole plethora of dance styles by the end of the season and I think it will add some interesting challenges to the competitors. I do find it interesting that if the Judges do not mention the choreographer during their summation of the performance, they didn't really like the work they created. Luckily, there hasn't been that many "bad numbers" so far (a few questionable ones maybe...) and it looks like the dancers are being kept on their toes. Unfortunately for Kherington it's the end of the line, but I was kind of getting bored with her. Courtney & Joshua, Comfort & Twitch and Katee & Will were all outstanding and I expect to see them around for the next while.

Project Runway returned this week with a whole new pack of designers. Not only was it a fun episode, but they brought back one of my favorite challenges from the very first season, the infamous grocery store challenge. Putting a bit of fabulous icing on that cake was the introduction of guest Judge Austin Scarlett and our merry band of designers are sent off with not much money or time to get their supplies.

Now maybe I am getting a tad jaded after several seasons of this show.. but I was getting a frustrated as Tim was with the number of participants who chose tablecloths as their main fabric. I was hoping for some creativity in base materials and only a few of the designers rose to the challenge.Thank god Tim Gunn was around to state the obvious and tell them to more than "make it work", but that they had to step it up also and show their creativity.

There is no way that I can do the show enough justice, and if you want to read the best dirt about all the competitors, you have to read Project Rungay for the absolutely best commentary about all the contestants. If I have a blog idol it is definitely my sisters over there -- they are beyond fierce.

I have thank them up front for their perfect name for one of my favorite competitors of this season, our kind-of-reminds-me-of Cher designer herself, the rock chick Stella. Project Rungay calls her Cheroin and it works for me -- ( I hope you don't mind if I borrow... my first impression of her was that she was Cher on acid ). I love Stella! Cheroin and can hardly wait to see what she will create next. She seemed quite off with her choice of garbage bags, and I just wish that she had gotten her rock ass in gear earlier instead of being all distracted by the whole situation. Cheroin was this close to leaving and I hope she gets it together for the next Challenge.

Do I really need to talk about our (and not half baked but more than over baked) baked one? Seriously -- I have no idea what the Judges were thinking (I do have to say that I do appreciate the level of fear the contestants view Nina with) but did Blayne really survive this week with that disaster he threw together to go down the Runway? Puhleese.... if baked boy is kept around just for the shock factor can he at least do something half interesting?

It goes with out saying that Keith is this year's hunky designer but I was a little disappointed with his choice of tablecloth ... I hope things improve or we might not get to see much of him, or his nipple rings and that would be a shame. That look in his hoodie was hot stuff ....

As for my faves of this week, our winner, Kelli, went out of the box completely and dyed and tinted vacuum bags and burnt coffee filters to make her dress. She did tons of accessorizing and did the most creative job (and most artistic) and clearly deserved the win. She did ... but for me the "eye popper" was the simple, yet impeccable, paper dress made by Korto. She put on this great kale/tomato/pepper trim that was beautiful. She was the only contestant to use living produce and that won lots of admiration. I really like her and her design aesthetic, and she is one of my choices for the finales -- and gets her very fine design up on the blog.

Daniel did a great job with his plastic cup cocktail dress, which was a very creative use of materials. Jennifer did a nice job with her dress made of lipstick and paper towels, and Terri blew me away with her use of macrame and mop heads to braid together her top. Leanne and Joe put some effort into using stuff like candy and pasta for materials but the majority of designers played it too safe for my taste. I think they will be pushed harder next week and am really looking forward to seeing how they will be tested.

Heidi looks as fabulous as ever!

Celebrity Circus finished up the season with all of the Celebrities returning for an encore performance and we got treated to an incredible performance by Judge Aurelia Cats.

Blu Cantrell started the show off by singing one of her hits, and proving once again that she is some bad ass Diva by doing some completely passive spinning on the Cerceau. Yawn, I was happy when that was over with but she does have a lovely voice. Too bad it's such a bad attitude that comes with that package ... you just know that the only way in hell she was going to go back on that stage was if she could do her thing and she played all bitchy walking by Aurelia a;; "in your face". No worries, our Catty Judge got very sweet revenge on all the celebrities by doing the most amazing trapeze act. O M G. That woman knows what she is talking about (and the flexibility -- ouch!) and I think she gained a ton of new found respect from the viewing public and the participants.

It was quite enjoyable to see all the professionals perform again -- there are some very talented people behind the scenes or in supporting roles and it's nice to see them get the credit that they deserve. Those circus folk are sure easy on the eyes ... I look at this as a bit of a warm up for the Olympics next month and we get to see all the gymnasts perform and sit in complete awe.

Janet Evans did another fearless number (that girl has got guts), we caught up with Christopher Knight (who is still recovering from that twice broken arm) and got some nice, behind the scenes of the cable guys. Rachel Hunter came back to do a nice number (cerceau again, but more flattering than the hammock act). After way too many recaps and road to the finale montages we finally get a final performance from the Final 3. Wee Man does his Partner Balance thing, Stacey is flying around in the air as well as Antonio. All of them do nice jobs and it's a highly electric carnival atmosphere. What I don't understand is the pace of the show and the continual Top 3 montages, and before you know it Wee Man is eliminated and it's down to Antonio and Stacey for the trophy. For some reason we don't see any more of the Judges (huh?) and it ends up with Antonio taking home the Wheel of Death Trophy (it's bedazzled to death so it's not that scary). I am not sure if am more impressed with the trophy or that bulge in Antonio's tights ... it's all pretty distracting. After all of the glitter,drama and tights, here's hoping they do another season !

How do you solve a problem like Maria? - Week 4

Well , well, well ..... it appears that the Lord (Andrew Lloyd Webber) doesn't like Donna that much -- and let the conspiracy theories loose because after last night I have the definite impression that they are trying to force Donna out of the competition.

This is not one of my favourite things .... last night they gave another muted performance to Donna ("Another Challenge" as Simon Lee likes to call them), who, despite the challenge, rose above it and sang the hell out of the song. I do have to say that the fact that they paired up that performance with a very dynamic one was an even more blatant attempt to try to dissuade the voters. It didn't work at my home, as we maxed our votes out for Donna on line and by telephone and I hope that she is here next week to blow Andrew Lloyd Webber off his chair with her dynamite voice and presence.

At least John Barrymore is still a fan of Donna .. Elaine seems to be on the other boat and Simon ( Sir Twitches-a-lot) will do whatever his Lord wants, so the odds seem to be stacked against her at this point and so I am really crossing my fingers tonight.

As for the other performances, as I have been saying for weeks, Tamara has to go ( I was still shocked that she was kept last week and Kyla was sent home), and will probably be joined by Janna and Elicia in the bottom 3. While Janna kind of bombed last night, she will probably make it to the next round due to her previous performances. Jayme seems to have stepped up her game but I still have problems seeing her as Maria and she is my other choice to leave, but that probably won't happen as she turned out a good performance last night. Marisa is turning into the pleasant surprise that I wouldn't mind see win if Donna doesn't .. that was a great rendition of Downtown last night.

Go Donna !!!

Weekend Rant -- Last Chances & Desperate Measures

I am getting to complete desperation at this point ..... I have begged and pleaded and still no word from Team Griffin (and I have even posted on the Bulletin Boards on Kathy's site with the hopes of drawing some attention)... all I can say is that I would love to have a "Meet & Greet" with Kathy and am hoping for the chance....

This week's episode of My Life on the D List was another stellar one. Kathy "surprising" Team Griffin with a teaching gig at the local learning annex and the whole fiasco that we can call their appearance and presentation. Tim (Tom) was harassed to death in the description of their Workshop, not only did they get his name wrong, but it went on and on about his love of porn and masturbation. Too funny ... as much as Kathy seemed amused by some of the glitches, I still wonder if it was her who wrote the information out for the brochure. It all seemed too conveniently mean towards Tom... at least the Team was saved by Woz and his "Anal Retentive Assistant" Julie. I was in hysterics watching her react to how Team Griffin works -- and their apparent lack of work ethic.

Kathy's mom is still that ray of sanity in Kathy's manic life, and the side story of dear old mom stealing one of Kathy's favorite gays (Patrick) was ahem a -- convenient -- segue into the whole appearance at the Bear Convention. While not as hilarious as Kathy hosting the Gay Porn Awards, watching Kathy pimp out Woz as " her bear" was hilarious -- learning some specifics of the sub-culture was interesting and yes, Jessica is a perfect Goldilocks to hang around with the bears. It was all warm and fuzzy (like a teddy bear) and I was laughing at Woz giving away merch (it looks like Jessica was happy having his credit card on hand) in his way of helping out Kathy. He is so adorable I really hope they are happy together -- he looks like a good guy for her.

The whole Dog Whisperer thing was too much. I think I may have to agree that more of the apparent problems with the beasts is more in Kathy's head than in reality. The dogs actually look a lot better than last year ... and so what is happening with that Emmy? Cesar was a great sport and I think he needs to work more with dear Kathy than the pooches.

Next week's episode might be seen later than usual due to the show -- it will be wild to see Kathy live in only a few days!

Celebrity Circus had me with my finger on the button this week. If Antonio went home, I didn't care who won or lost the competition and they made me suffer through another Wee Man act (yawn -- it just doesn't do it for me and I was disappointed with the skateboard stunt) and another great performance by Stacey Dash before letting us find out that Rachel Hunter was eliminated and Antonio was in the final 3. I did enjoy the performance done by the trainers and professionals before getting treated to Antonio's fantastic Flying Silk routine. The guy is gorgeous .. and not only did he get the only perfect score of the evening, he got Louis jumping around all over the place. Too funny. I am hoping to see Antonio come out on top of this competition next week, and assume that the finale will be performances by some of the competitors and maybe even something with the the judges. It has been a fun enough ride for a short summer series and I am still impressed by the complexity and difficulty of the acts the celebrities were doing. Impressive stuff.

Burn Notice came back to the air waves this week, and it was nice to see one of my favorites from last summer come back this season. The chemistry is still there with all the characters, and Michael (Jeffry Donovan) has the best deadpan presentation out of the spy guys we see on TV. His matter of fact explanations and presence are as hot as ever -- seriously -- he has this smoking hot presence that is matched by few actors on TV. Michael Westen is turning into one of the best dressed and innovative spy guys around -- I love his creativity. It's kind of like a very sexy undercover MacGyver.

The regular gang are all there and this is another series where the ensemble complements each other so well that it is just pleasure to watch them.Michael's trigger happy ex-girlfriend is just too much and way hot; Fiona kills me every time she is on screen. Bruce Campbell as his old buddy Sam is still one of the greatest castings in history (I love Bruce Campbell and this part is great for him) and Sharon Gless as his Mother is just fantastic. Her little rant to Michael about almost getting killed and finally understanding (in a sense) why he kept his distance for so long was compounded by that typical mother response of " You could have at least written to me". Yup that is a typical mom response and you could see Michael's head imploding with all of that.

The storyline this year with the new mysterious handler (Tricia Helfer from Battlestar Galactica) and Michael playing errand boy is interesting. I loved his mission this week and the poor schmuck that got tossed around in the trunk of the car before being almost killed several times was hilarious. Michael playing South African and being all dangerous was hot stuff -- I am looking forward to this season and seeing how things will develop.

I don't think that Shear Genius can get any bitchier than it is, and I am pleading with the producers. Please get rid of that Dye Job Disaster (Meredith) next -- things were just too ferocious with everyone in a real tizzy and, mock surprise, Charlie wins again, do you really think anyone else has a chance against this juggernaut? Mathew re-affirmed his heterosexuality a million times before committing the cardinal sin, and not listening to his client. Mathew went from winning the short cut challenge to hitting the road in no time at all, so I guess there is hope for Meredith also... I will literally explode when they have the Charlie's Angels reunion on the show. I think Cheryl Ladd needs to get on Bravo... maybe a guest spot?

Weekend Rant - Just one of those Best Weeks Ever

This week turned into one of the best ever on the tube. Not only was there brilliant and funny all week long, but playing catch up this weekend I saw some pretty fun stuff, the first being the final and deciding episode of Farmer wants a wife, and Matt decided to take Brooke to be his girl. After seeing his house more closely (and that weird hallway of dead deer looking at you) I changed my mind and although I was originally hoping for Christa, I thought Brooke was a better match. Matt sure made it seem like he as more interested in Christa, but I think he wants more of a puppy dog to follow him around so he made a good choice (and I think Krista dodged one here). If they do another round I could be sucked in to watch if the Farmer is really hot.

Celebrity Circus is a demanding as ever, and I am really impressed by the difficulty of the various routines the celebrities are performing. I was almost surprised that Wee Man was still around this week after his challenges last week but not that surprised that our Olympic athlete Janet got the boot.Yes she is physically capable but is not graceful enough. I did think it was a little ridiculous to have the elimination between her and Antonio Sabato Jr ( seriously, the guy is the hottest thing on the show and always gets high scores) and to keep it hanging until the end. It's a weird formula and this show has a strange pace sometimes. Stacey Dash won some respect and applause from me this week once I realized that the woman is over 40 (I honestly thought she was much younger) but it's pretty much a no-brainer that it will go down to her and Antonio for the win. Rachel did a good job on the tightrope (and kudos to the guys that carried her in that dangerous pyramid stunt), Christopher Knight was okay with his challenge but Wee Man just pointed out to me that penguins are not meant to fly with his routine and he must be the next to go... sorry Wee Man.

Flipping Out is as manic as ever -- and I am in awe of Jeff. This man is the poster child of OCD

and I can not get over his ability to centre his existence on one detail. The sandwich dilemma was funny enough (meatball or pepperoni?) but I hit the roof with the whole drapes drama. When Jeff started obsessing about " The drapes ... The drapes ... The drapes" I almost completely lost it. You better start treating Zola better though man because she deserves it and the whole portrait thing was just poor taste. Give the woman a break -- she has to deal with you Jeff and I can not imagine that she is getting adequately compensated for that. At least Jeff has gotten a taste of his own medicine with his psycho client and might learn the error of his ways eventually.

Doctor Who- The Stolen Earth is way up there on the list of Best Episodes EVER. Not only did we get the appearance of all of the more recent companions but it's a fantastically great story that ties together all of the clues that they have been leaving all season (and probably from earlier as well). I just love the way all of the spin off shows and their characters were tied in to this storyline so seamlessly, and better yet, managed to keep the same continuity that is/was happening in those shows. Torchwood is only the 3 remaining characters (Jack,Gwen and Ianto) who were there at the end of the season. Martha is still with the Unit as we last saw her, as Sarah Jane is doing her thing. The interaction between Jack and Sarah Jane is interesting and I am hoping to see more crossover stuff between the series, even though they are intended for different audiences. I am really loving Catherine Tate as Donna and she makes a great companion to the Doctor and complements well the others while being new and different.

The episode was so jam packed full of fun stuff that I'll list a few of my faves:

- alien bees -- I just knew it....

- Exterminate! (love those Daleks)

- The Shadow Proclamation

- Harriet Jones: Former Prime Minister and the subwave network

- the whole conference call thing with the gang calling the Doctor

- Paintball guns

- Project Indigo

- Rose and her big ass gun

- Captain Jack (and I love how Ianto gets jealous and how everyone finds Jack hot)

I was feeling so sorry for Rose being left out of the call to the Doctor (she was only an observer) but you could feel her heart calling out to him, the level of emoting in this series is astounding. You could feel the terror from the characters dealing with the Daleks, it was all very palpable.

I am still completely freaked out by the ending of the episode and all the cliffhangers .... you knew that it was too good to be true to see Rose and the Doctor reunite, and it was very bittersweet with the Doctor getting zapped by a Dalek and in a sense, dying in her arms.

Is the Doctor really regenerating in to another version? Will there be a faithful companion that will make the ultimate sacrifice (my money is on Rose for that one) ... I am seeing a possible exit and I think it may have to do with Donna and that weird Time Beetle thing from the previous episode Left Turn. When they were at the Shadow Proclamation, one of the attendants commented to Donna about something being on her back, and I wonder if Time Beetles have anything to do with Time Lords or the fact that the Earth is out of synch in the Medusa Cascade. I can hardly wait until next Saturday... like I said, BEST EPISODE EVER.

And on a final note, I checked out the GLAAD Media Awards on Bravo and was impressed with the entire presentation. Great work, and it's nice to see people like Kathy Griffin, Janet Jackson and Herb Ritts celebrated for their positive work with the gay community. I was in awe of some of the celebrities that participated and the subject matter was very serious for the televised portion. We go to see some of the other events as there were awards in several cities. I do have to say that Barbara Walters was humble and articulate in her acceptance of her award, and it was even more humbling to see Judy Shepard accept the Excellence in Media Award. She made it very clear that she was not celebrating her award and would trade it in a second to have her son back. We have made some steps but there is still a long way to go for equality and general acceptance in society, and as long as there is hatred, intolerance and violence towards the LGBT community there is still work to be done.

Kathy Griffin - In a land down under

Kathy continues this A listed season (seriously, this may be called the D List but our red headed firecracker is anything but D List) with a very gay flight to Australia for the very gay Mardi Gras.

Jessica has to deal with some personal demons of her own, a completely illogical fear of drag queens (kind of like having a fear of clowns) that Kathy mocks for all it's worth. Just brilliant stuff. There was a cute scene with Kathy and her mom (as usual with a glass of wine and wayyyyyyy too much make up) that was very touching and Kathy got sent off with her mom's blessing.

Kathy works her ass off for the 15 hour flight (ok yes, that is pretty D List as far as gigs go but it looked hilarious and exhausting) and Kathy keeps going on and on about how she does and will do almost anything for the gays. She is doing lots of mugging and taking photos and doing lap dances. It's all very endearing and I hope to hell that she will be doing the same thing when she comes to Montréal this July 17th for a 7 PM gala at the Just for Laughs Festival. (hint hint) ... I can not express enough how much it would mean to me to have a meet and greet photo op with Miss Fabulous...... I would literally explode!

Enough begging for this week ... getting back to the flight .... I do have to say that her breakfast service seemed to be quite abrupt (I don't think Kathy is much of a morning person) but once they hit the ground in Sydney it's non-stop as she does gig after gig, and has some fun and games with several of her A List friends.

In this possible "best episode ever", Kathy and Team Griffin meet up with Lance Bass and have a great visit to the zoo (loved Kathy trying to buy that Koala bear), Kathy hitches up with Carson Kressley (queerest episode ever) for Tea time with Olivia Newton-John. I kid you not... Olivia fricking Newton-John (who looks fab as usual) and the poor dear is shocked senseless by Kathy who tries out some new material and shocks the shit out of her. The whole c**t-features thing was too much .. those Aussies have a wicked sense of humour.

Kathy continues her time with meeting up with gal pals Margaret Cho and Cyndi Lauper (like I said .. best episode ever) where they go shopping for some gear at Priscilla's (like the movie - making me wonder if this is the gayest thing that I have ever seen?) before going off to be in the big parade for the very gay Mardi Gras. Kathy is having tons of fun with her gal pals (and it's nice to see her hanging with friends, and does she ever have some fun friends..) and you can see her admiration for Cindy. Margaret is actually the Chief/Grand Marshall of the Parade and has invited Kathy to join her on the big float. Of course Kathy works all of her magic to make sure that there are some Press opportunities and gets some decent press time with all her appearances.

In true D List fashion, Team Griffin fumbles the ball when it comes to the Parade and they end up not finding the big float with gal pal Margaret Cho (you would think it would be easy to find since it has the Big Poobah on it) so they end up crashing a few other floats and walking part of the route. I guess that is Life on the D List....

Shear Genius - Sheer Heaven!

Things zipped along quickly in the season premiere of the second season of Shear Genius. Me thinks that Bravo had too much fun with casting this round because there are so many wild characters.

Besides the sheer thrill of seeing Jaclyn Smith again ( yes there are lots of gay men who still have their crushes on some of these TV women), I couldn't get over the first quick cut challenge ... do your cut blindfolded with your model wearing safety glasses and a prayer. Yikes!

Charlie (as seen here), may not have won the first quick cut challenge or the "make me a cartoon star" challenge, but he quickly drew a line in the sand with his "I don't care if any of the other contestants like me, I am not here to make friends" remark. Gotta love a guy that is there to win, and he pushed the envelope even further by recreating Marge Simpson's hair ( "white trash, just like me" says Charlie) in a challenge that was intended to be inspired but not a literal translation of the character. All of the judges were fascinated with his work and he slid into the top 3 for this week.

Thankfully the ever so deep (and coated with 2 tons of sarcasm) Oshun (seriously, who names these people?) who kept going on and on about his Emmy nomination (which ballooned into 2 nominations later in the show) was chopped this week -- thank the gods for small miracles, but that chick with the bad colour job has got to go soon .. this is about hair right?

Mind you ... after seeing the preview for next week all I can say is OMG, Tabatha is back as guest judge and as bitchy as ever! I am very happy as she was one of my favorite contestants from season one. THEN they have the balls to show some of the stuff coming up this season and I almost wet my pants... OMG a Charlie's Angel Challenge? with Kate Jackson as guest Judge?? Can life get any better??? Yup it's official -- I am completely hooked again for this season.

Wipeout! The newest summer addiction

Last night heralded the debut of the most fun I have seen in ages.... ladies and gentleman, if you missed the premiere of Wipeout, check it out on the ABC site ( I was trying to add something to the page and it kept crashing) to see all the hilarity. I have not laughed this hard in ages and hope that we get a whole whack of episodes.
I was thrilled to see (and hear) that John Henson is one of the hosts on duty as he was throwing out the wickedest comments about the participants last night. He slayed me with his comment that one of the girls had the build of a garden gnome and the mouth of a trucker.. the guy is too much and I have very fond memories of him hosting Talk Soup all those years ago. I hope Joel over at the Soup gives you guys a shout out this week.
Things followed up nicely with " I Survived a Japanese Game Show " which was a good follow up.. and very weird show. Damn things are weird in Japan, but you have to love Mama-san and the Bug Splatter on the Windshield elimination round. What next?? I can hardly wait to find out!