Recap: The Fashion Show S2E1

Y'know sometimes imitation ISN'T the sincerest form of flattery.

Sometimes imitation is just another way of saying OMG! We Fucked Up!

Which is what I think Bravo was thinking when lost Project Runway and witchery stitched The Fashion Show.

Even thought I wasn't impressed AT ALL with Season 1 and basically just watched it because it was the only thing On Demand at 3am I figured I'd give Season 2 a shot.

Truth be told, I had forgotten all about it. But beings that it is now 2am and the opener is on BravoTv.Com I figured what the hell.. I had too much coffee so sleeping isn't an option right now!

Isaac Mizrahi (didn't he used to be like.. a BIG deal back in the day?) and Iman are the hosts and I have to tell you, I haven't even been though the opening credits yet and hearing Iman say ".. yull owt uf fasheen" is starting to great on my nerves.

Even though the designers had to put on a fashion show in the first five minutes of the episode, the premise this season is one "house" versus the other with the gaggle of designers split into two teams .. um.. "houses".

Stand outs were Calvin Tran .. who really SHOULD have stood out since he owns three stores in three major US fashion markets, don't you think?

I like Rolando Tamez Jr. but I think it's only because he's adorable. Sort of like a young Lou Diamond Philips (MAjor crush when I was a teen!)

I really dug Tamara Jones's coat and her attitude. She's a 'hood girl and I mean that with all the love and respect another 'hood girl can give her!

I would definitely wear Eduardo Del Las Casas confection.. that is, if I was 20 with legs that went on for miles and a size -0 ass!

Anyway.. so after the runway show, Iman tips out like she's had Botox IV'd in her joints and tells the designers that they were to use her as their muse for the first challenge and then drops the bombshell that they're going to be in teams.

Their looks are priceless.. especially the ones who were already talking smack about their competitors!

The blue team, renamed NAMI ( Iman backwards.. get it?) consists of Mike, Dominique, Cesar, Rolando, Edwardo and David,  all seem calm, laid back, open to suggestions and definitely working like a team.

The green team, renamed EMERALD SYX (don't ask) is the polar opposite. Calvin, Tamara, Francine, Golnessa, Cindy and Jeffry all have strong personalities and Calvin is nothing short of a complete diva bitch. His best line of the night was ".. I am the team, you have no opinion". Like I said.. diva bitch!

Time leading up to the runway show is just what you expect... bickering.. panic.. trash talking.. same old same old. What I did like about TFS's runway is that it's a production. The Houses' work with a runway producer so it's more then just PR's drab catwalk. Kudos.

Emerald Syx presents their collection first .. a drug induced rainbow of bright yellows, purples, navy and some other color that I can't remember right now. Honestly wasn't impressed. All the pieces, except for Calvin's gown, looked like something coming out of a freshman sewing class. Or maybe that's just the way it came off on tv.

Nami's collection is a study in white, as we'd say in my old art school days. And let me tell you.. I'd wear every single one of those creations... if I could fit in them!

Hands down, the clear winner is Nami. No question.

I'm not going to go into individual pieces because there are so many designers and this post is already long enough.

Ceaser won the individual honor with is subtle grey printed one shoulder gown.

The losing designer... the one who's owt uf fasheen was Franchine.

But not before Calvin got a dressing down for his attitude.

While I think this may be fun to watch when there's absolutely nothing better to watch, I'm still giving it a thumbs down.

Review: Apocalypse, Pa

A few things you should know before reading this review:

We are in the process of making a move to the mountains of upstate Pennsylvania

As long as I've known Tim, he's desired nothing more then to become self-sustaining. Believe me, this man could survive on just twigs, berries and a bow.

So he was nothing short of bursting out with corn grain when he happened to come across this show on the History Channel.

No Frank, you are NOT crazy!

If men can become BFF's then I'm sure Tim and Frank Belcastro, the show's focus would be it.

Belcastro and his family (wife, daughter and son) live in rural Pennsylvania. I know where they live and it's not as "Pennsyl-tucky" as it's portrayed but still not like your in the middle of Philadelphia.. if you know what I'm saying.

At any rate, Frank wants to be self-sustaining. Get back to living like Americans lived back in the day.
He says he wants to be prepared .. and believe me, Frank.. I know the feeling.

In the episodes that aired tonight, him and his boy converted an old truck from running on gasoline to wood chips or manure because what if there was a time when there was no gasoline. Believe me, we've had those conversations.

What was really funny was when he sent his wife and daughter to buy goats.. initially for the milk but as he said to his son, "... there are other uses for goats" and states that he hopes his daughter isn't getting too attached to them. Meanwhile, she's taking the baby goat to the feed store to have it's picture taken with the Easter Bunny! Again, me and Tim have had those conversations before.

I liked the show.. I liked where Frank was coming from even though in interviews he appears to stay level on the actual reasons for his belief. Maybe this is just something he's always wanted to do.. or maybe he sees what we see and knows that there will be a time very soon where you either survive or you don't.

At any rate.. if for nothing else, you'll be entertained by his quirkiness.. his wife's reactions to his ideas and to the things he builds.

If you're of like mind.. you'll be taking away much, much more.

New episodes, I believe, will be airing after Thanksgiving but the History Channel hasn't decided if they're going to pick it up as a series yet.

I hope they do.

Review: Call Of Duty: Black Ops

Um..

I would have reviewed this sooner ( it was released on 11.09 ) but I've been too busy playing the damn things.

I'll be honest with you.. I can't really give you an unbiased opinion because Call Of Duty is my favorite game to play on PS3.

And PLEASE can we forgo the PS3 vs Xbox rants? It's old. Honestly, it is. And since most of the people going back and forth about it are adults, can we just put our high school letterman sweaters away and just agree to disagree?

One other thing.. save your time and don't waste mine with the hate mail, ok? If you don't like my review... then write your own. It's that simple.

Ok.. so to me, Black Ops is a well made hybred of World at War and Modern Warfare 2. The think I liked most about WAR was how the guns had some body to them and didn't fly all over the place when you shot. MW2 is a bitch of a game to play because I could never shoot steady. Again, that's me. With BO, set in the Vietnam / Cold War era (supposedly) I can manage the guns so I don't appear to be a total noob when I first played.

One thing in this game that wasn't in other COD games is that you can purchase your weapon attachments. Prior to, all you did was rack up kills and your reward for those kills was a scope or extended mags or whatever. Now, you bank enough COD dough and you can buy whatever you want whenever you want. Some things do require you hit certain levels to unlock but it was cool getting extended mags right off the bat.

There are also a lot of other neat little things that you can "buy" .. you can change the colors of your sight lens or change the actual dot into something cool like a heart or smiley face. Gives you a giggle on the kill cam!

The RC exploding cars are cool .. but you have to make sure you use them when you know where an enemy is because they're blow up on you and the crossbow is as cool as hell.

Like MW2, you get additional points for doing stuff like revenge kills or buzz kills or payback kills and you have the option of picking your killstreak rewards.

I'm not sure if the simulation is in other games.. never checked. But, yknow, getting used to new maps is a bitch especially when you are up against people who live in their mother's basement and have already prestiged up twice so the simulation is an awesome way to learn the maps and find the little nooks and crannies.

So if you're a PS3er, keep an eye out for WarKittenz.

Cause that's me holding two paws up!

Review: Easy A

Emma Stone plays Olive .. one of those witty, snarky high school girls that you really don't appreciate until you're seated next to them at a high school reunion and you think, Damn.. why wasn't I friends with you then!

Look.. I'll be honest with you.. if you have half a brain you're going to know how the movie turns out as soon as it begins... but if you just sit back and roll with it, you're going to laugh your ass off. It's hard to decide which line is the funniest because there were so damn many and I'm not going to spoil any of it for you.. so don't ask.

I will say that Olive gets herself into situation when she lies and says she's hanging out with a college boy because she wants to get out of a camping trip with her best friend and her family.

Classic scene. Do NOT miss the camping scene!

BFF's being BFF's.. she kept pushing Olive for details and so Olive does what every high school girl does when backed into a locker .. lies. Makes up this over the top story about what went on which, of course, is over heard by the school's Queen of Christianity.. Mariane.

Amanda Bynes' Mariane is nothing short of a trip. I always liked her as an actress and this part was just over the top enough to make me forget that silly little kids movie she did a while back.

Unfortunately for Emma Stone, the movies also stars Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as her parents and Lisa Kudrow as the school's councilor. The three should be charged with burglary because they steal every scene they're in .. especially because I am of an age where I could have a daughter in high school. Really.. can you imagine me as a parent? Yea.. well.. take that thought and apply it to Olive's parents.

The script is just smartly written.. better then I thought it was going to be.. so definitely worth a trip to the theater with popcorn AND the 15 buck mega meal!

It's that good.

Definitely two thumbs up!

Review: Teach - Tony Danzy

Let me start off by saying that I had NO DESIRE WHAT SO EVER to watch this show..

But thanks to the 2am boredom gods and On Demand, I am SOOOO GLAD that I watched the first four episodes.

THIS IS A MUST SEE... seriously, a MUST SEE

I think just about everyone my age knows Tony Danza, primarily from his role in Taxi. He's the kind of actor that you had posters of plastered all over your walls and then 20 or so years later when he pops up somewhere you're like OMG!! HE was HIM??

Anyway, the premise of the show is that pushing 60 (OMG again) he has the desire to teach, something that he originally wanted to do back before he showed up on the small screen. And so he does.. at Northeast High School in Philadelphia.

Let me just interject here that as a Philly girl, it was nice to see the city represented in a kinda good way although I don't necessarily think that NE High is the most accurate representation of an urban high school. I can think of a few others right off the top of my head but at least the school is diverse and has the right mixture of kids that make a reality show entertaining.

But make no mistake, this was hard to watch.

Hard because Danza is soooo sincere in what he wants to do. So much so that it is painful to watch him and his self-video commentaries. He is over his head.. he knows it.. he doesn't know how to reach the service.

Like I said, his motives are sincere. Just the amount of tears he sheds when he's trying to get through to the kids, teachers and principal that he's there for the right reasons and not to just make a television show.

One hardship in particular is a scene where he issues his first quiz on "Of Mice and Men". Three of his students want to head to the school's resource room and he tells them to stay in the room.. give the quiz a shot.. they might surprise themselves with how much they actually do know.

The problem is that these kids were on IEP's (Individualized Education Program) and if they want to go to the resource room then it's basically illegal not to send them.

The administration and the teaching consultant (I think that's what he is) get all in a tizzy and Danza is like all he wanted to do was gives these kids the opportunity to try and maybe if they try and they get a good grade it will snowball into them believing that they can do the work.

In being reproached  by the powers that be, the flat out tells them that he doesn't agree with IEP's.. that they've made the kids believe that they need special help when maybe all they needed was to be pushed to working harder.

A - freakin - MEN!!!

The point is, that this guy is trying, Hard. With the cards stacked against him. And like I said, it's painful to watch sometimes because if anything, you believe from the get go that he really wants to be that teacher that makes an important impression on a student that stays with them a lifetime.

He made a comment on one episode, "... get smart early or get smart late".

Watch this show early ... or watch it late.. just watch it,

NOTE: I purposely did not include commentary on the kids in his class because you really need to watch it for yourself and draw your own opinions.