Kendra Leigh Castle

Archive for the ‘TV Watching’ Category

Couple of things for Wednesday.  Firstly, hat tip to Donna for letting us know about the Glambert performance on Ellen yesterday!  I have video to share, because I love this song, Strut.  Not a big fan of Whataya Want From Me, the last single, but I like almost everything else on the album, so YAY!  He’s so pretty…and inspiring too, actually.  He was apparently quite heavy in high school and got picked on all the time.  The guy certainly turned into a swan after the fact!  But I would guess that his previous struggles are one of the reasons he seems so sweet.  I’m sad that he’s gay only because it’s such a loss for women everywhere!  I suppose, with my love of guyliner-wearing men who fall somwehere in the Goth/Glam Rock part of the spectrum, I am doomed to drool over a lot of gay men.  Oh well
Lemmee see, I found another thing that was entertaining as well.  I’m totally dating myself, but I still love Pee Wee Herman.  I miss his show (and if you’ve never seen the HBO special that started it all, you are missing out…it was NOT a kids’ show, just adult humor disguised as one, and OMG it was hysterical).  And color me thrilled that the guy seems to be making a comeback!  So I laughed my butt off when he appeared on Conan’s final show to explain the NBC mess.  The guy still has it!
Hope you all enjoy your day!  My mom’s coming to visit for a few, which is awesome, and yesterday I FINALLY got the dragon proposal to leave my desk for good.  It kept returning to me with just a few small tweaks needed…sort of got to be The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave.  BUT, it left, and is now on my editor’s desk, sooo…I will recommence finger crossing!!  Now I can get back to my Dark Hunter book   Happy Wednesday!

I found this when I was poking around Youtube…it’s from one of my favorite Christmas specials growing up.  You guys remember how cool the California Raisins were?  Check ‘em out doing a very funky rendition of Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer!  Do you all have any favorite Christmas specials you just have to watch this time of year?  Have a great Tuesday, everyone!!

Heading for a pumpkin patch field trip this morning…they wanted to take the preschoolers after Halloween so it wouldn’t be crazy there.  And of course it rained yesterday, so I’m preparing for muck.  My daughter is up in her room pitching a fit about what I’m making her wear for picture day (a plain pink shirt!  A cardigan!  HORRORS!!).  So I have to run, but I hope you all have a great weekend!  I finally watched V last night, and though I wasn’t sure at first, I think it’s going to be AMAZING.  Yay for lizard people!   Also caught Flash Forward, and OMG shocking episode.  I missed Project Runway for like the third time in a row, I think because I’m just so disinterested in the designers and I had better stuff to watch last night.  Lisa, did you catch it?  Is the scourge that is Christopher still lurking there?  I have this awful feeling that he is…

Okay, off to the mud patch for me!  I’ll check in a little later!

This is a week I’m glad to see end.  It was long, full of coughing and hacking on the part of the children, and I’m worn out.  Thanks, guys, for always being the bright spot!  It all culminated with a trip to the vet’s yesterday, at which I learned that my 12 year old puppy’s legs are kind of shot.  He’s still moving and everything, but it’s bone on bone in one elbow, and his hips have very limited range of motion.  The good news is, the rest of him is healthy, so if I can just keep him comfortable, hopefully I can keep him going.  She said that at least he’s light (14 pounds) which means his little legs have less weight to bear.  I’ve had Fizzy since 1997…Brian got him for me when we were engaged.  It’s hard to watch him get old.  And in the words of Forrest Gump, “That’s all I got to say about that.”

Anyway, on to lighter things!  I parked my butt in front of the television last night and watched a really fascinating show about wild west brothels before it was time for Project Runway (didn’t get to Flash Forward yet…also had a parent meeting last night for the preschool, so it’s on the DVR).  Ew, what a life, but it was an interesting show.  Got to see some of the original condoms, made out of sheep’s intestine.  Yeah…didn’t look too comfortable.  They talked about some famous madams, like Mattie Silks, who I knew about from a visit to Virginia City a few years ago.  She apparently always carried a derringer, a tiny gun that only fired one bullet, in a special pocket she had sewn into her dresses.  She also used it on occasion, once in a catfight with another madam who was moving in on Mattie’s man.  Didn’t kill the other chick, but she did beat the crap out of her.  And oh my God, the cures for venereal diseases…sometimes the cures killed you anyway!  Which is I guess what happens when every potion to cure what ails you has either mercury, arsenic, or both in it.  So, okay, a little gross, but really interesting.  They had a picture of Wyattt Earp’s Josie, who was a, um, “actress.”  She was gorgeous.  And there were tales of Doc Holliday’s Kate, who sounds like she was quite a character!

Then there was Project Runway, which was once again underwhelming.  I’m going to finish the season out, but really, the designs are just boring.  I guess I thought the field was deeper than this as far as talent.  Christopher’s tinfoil garbage bag was atrocious, and he totally didn’t get it.  Logan, however, deserved to go home last night…so I don’t get why they threw of Epperson.  At least Epperson’s dress was well made!  Logan’s outfit…well, you’d have to see it to believe how bad it was.  Ugly and poorly made, and supremely unflattering on a cute woman to boot.  I did chuckle at Heidi’s Oktoberfest references.  As far as the best of ‘em, for once, I agreed about the winner. Gordana’s dress was so fun!  And the woman herself has grown on me.  I think she just lacks self confidence, but there’s talent there.  Irina has turned into a complete beeyotch, which I hate to see because it makes it hard to like anything she does because you can tell she just expects to win.  And poor Shirin…I was glad to see her pull it out!  The dress she was given to reconfigure was almost the end of her.

Lisa, did you watch Models of the Runway?  I was disappointed that there wasn’t actually any rampant drunkenness.  And Koji, who I didn’t really “get” at first, has grown on me too.  She seems nice, and she’s really interesting looking.  Of course, I’m totally digging on all the new commercials with Linda Evangelista in them!  She was always my favorite of the big 90s supermodels.  She’s striking, and such an unusual beauty…I remember all the funky things they used to do to her hair, and it always worked.  I also remember being totally jealous because she used to date Kyle MacLachlan when he was on Twin Peaks.  I was an Agent Cooper fangirl.  God, taht was a weird show.  Any of you remember that?

Have a great Friday, everyone!!

So normally I’d go on about last night’s Project Runway, but it just about bored me to sleep last night.  Dull challenge, dull designs, and even Nicolas’s snark was subdued.  Maybe the designers were all tired.  The only dress I liked was the one that won, Irina’s.  It reminded me of something Uli would have designed a few seasons ago (I miss Uli!).  Christopher’s near-meltdown just made me feel bad, though possibly it was good for him to see that even he can make a mistake, boring Louise went home (couldn’t see THAT one coming), and I have decided that Logan looks like he’s about 12 years old.  I know, I know he’s the only straight guy, but I’m just not feeling it.  And anyway, he’s as skinny as the models!  Sadly, I still don’t really have a clear idea of his design ability.  Looks like Nicolas is going to pull out another lycra and lace monstrosity next week, so hopefully that will be more entertaining.

Anyway, I did have a nice thing happen yesterday…I got a new toy!  I am not a techie by any stretch, but I love electronics despite it (witness my continuing desire for an iPhone, despite the fact that I do not call that many people).  So I was at the NEX yesterday for lunch with Brian, and ran across this cool little laptop.  It’s LITTLE, really.  But I’d been thinking that, when I eventually traded in my semi-functional HP clunker, I’d go for something smaller and more portable.  So as it turns out, this little Toshiba mini notebook is both cheap (for reals, it’s like $399) and rated #1 by PC World and some other big computer rating magazine.  It gets nine hours of battery life, AND…it comes in PINK!  No CD drive, but an external one is cheap, or you can just use a memory stick, which is what I did to get Office on it.  Perfect for web browsing and writing, and I loooove it.  It’s seriously about half the size of my HP.  Hopefully it will behave better as well.  And did I mention it’s pink?  I wound up with the display model because they were sold out of the rest, and it happened to be that color (I would have gotten it in any of them, but still, I love that it’s pink).  So, that was my excitement for yesterday.  I love it when Brian gets in a mood and is all, “Well, if you want it, buy it!”  It’s not an all the time thing, for sure, but the man likes a good deal.

Hope you all have a good weekend!  I have to clean my house.  Again.  Such is life with all these kids and animals!

I totally zombie-fied myself last night, because not only did I watch last week’s AND this week’s episodes of Project Runway, I also caught the new ABC drama Flash Forward.  I’ll address the latter first, because one episode in and I am HOOKED!  I love the premise…one day, everyone on Earth blacks out at the same time for exactly two minutes and seventeen seconds.  During that time, they all flash forward mentally to six months in the future, some sharing visions of one another.  They’ve seen the future.  But is it inevitable?  And why, and how, has this happened?  Joseph Fiennes is just absolutely awesome, I’m so happy to have him on my television again!  But the ensemble cast as a whole is great, and we even caught a nice glimpse of the very sex-ay Jack Davenport, a reason to watch all by himself   Very cool show, a little Lost-esque (same creator, you know), and I’ll definitely be watching the show again.

On to Project Runway.  Wow, I missed some stuff the last couple of weeks!  Can’t say I was sorry to see Johnny go last week.  The absence of whining will be much appreciated!  I’m still having trouble remembering everyone’s names, though, isn’t that awful?  Too many designers yet.  Last night was great, the continued lusting over Logan is cracking me up.  Is he actually straight?  Gotta say, I haven’t been impressed much by Epperson thus far, but he totally rocked the Western outfit.  Also loved Chris’s Victorian Vampire dress!  Not a huge fan of the winning dress, mainly because I am verrrry weary of Nicolas’s fixation on stretchy white fabric and lace.  I get a kick out of his personality, though.  SO catty, but he’s a scream.  Gordana is totally on her way out soon.  I actually feel sorry for her…who wants to linger in the bottom forever?  The kicking off is pretty inevitable at this point!  Not shocked that Ra’Mon went, though at least he tried to be different.  I would rather have seen boring Louise’s exit.  Ra’Mon, to me, should have gotten extra points for even trying to make a costume for a lizard chick heading out to pick up Earth men.  Actually, some of my favorite outfits last night were the action/adventure costumes!  Those were awesome.  Logan and Carol Hannah wuz robbed.  Especially Carol Hannah.  I mean, if I were some kind of dark vampiress out to save the world, I would be in that outfit in a heartbeat.  Well, I mean, if you shrank my booty a little.

I missed Models of the Runway afterwards because I was falling asleep on the couch (ah, the scintillating life of a writer), so Lisa will have to fill me in!  Anyway, have a great weekend, everyone, and congrats on your last day of work, Donna!  I’ll try to come up with some pretty men to help you celebrate your first weekday of freedom on Monday   Any requests?

Yay for vampires!  Turns out that the CW has a new vampire series starting this fall called The Vampire Diaries, based on books that came out in the early 90s (yes, it looks Twilight-y, but it actually came before…it’s just that vamps are back in a big way!).  It looks interesting.  Interesting enough to try, anyway, and as Donna expected when she turned me on to this, yeah, I’m verrrry interested in seeing more of the bad boy vamp brother.  There’s always more to those characters than meets the eye   Check it out:

So how are you all feeling about the vampire craze?  It’s funny, seems like it’s been going on for quite a while in Romance at this point, but it’s really just starting to pop in the mainstream, I guess.  Believe it or not, I’m actually in the process of trying my hand at a vampire proposal right now.  And Tynan looks (shocker!) like a certain black leather-wearing knight we’ve all drooled over, LOL.  He’s just got that fabulous burning-eyed vamp thing going on, I think.  What do you all like/not like to see in your vampire viewing and reading?

Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

This was sort of a weird episode for me…I wasn’t much on any of the avant garde fashions (where is Malvin and his chicken costume when you need him??), and I’m about as far from a surfer girl as it gets.  Still, I thought the whole macrame thing that Johnny and Irina did was adorable, and the back was beautiful.  I think I liked Logan and Chris’s too.  And Shirin’s.  All the top people were pretty good, really.  I know, that sounds so bland!  But really, the focus for me was all about the Ra’mon/Mitchell drama, because oh, how I wanted to smack Mitchell and just give Ra’mon a big huge hug!!  Mitchell just gave up.  And you could tell he would have been perfectly happy to just coast along for another week on Ra’mon’s work.  I mean, right there in the beginning, he was all, “I’m hoping he can carry me.”  WHAAAT?  He was supposed to be the team leader, and he not only didn’t work hard, he didn’t do anything!  It was just so infuriating to watch.  And you know, those outfits were not my favorites, and I think part of the reason they won was because of the drama potential in the whole situation (milked quite effectively, I must say).  But props to Ra’mon for that ungodly amount of work.  For that alone, plus the stress of having to deal with Mitchell, he deserved to win.

A few other thoughts:

As far as the Qristyl/Epperson issues, I just think they should never, ever work together again.  She was too weak, he was too annoying, and I wound up not caring what happened to either of them anyway, because all I wanted was to see Mitchell GONE.  So in the end, I counted the whole thing as a raving success, LOL   But I didn’t enjoy watching the two of them, and I hope they get back on track next week.

Nicolaus’s avant garde look was like this horrible 90s hooker flashback.  I couldn’t look away, and it made me afraid.  That could turn out to be the singularly most hoochie look of the season at this point.  I’m going to have nightmares about stretch lace.

I freaking love that Tim Gunn wore sandals and a blazer to the beach.  Actually, I just love Tim Gunn!  And I don’t know why, but I have really warmed up to Heidi this season.  Is it just me?  I can’t figure it out…maybe she’s loosened up at last, or maybe I’m just finally getting over being put off by her icy perfection, LOL.  I actually think I’ve directed what ire I have available to Padma at Top Chef.  GOD I can’t deal with that woman.

And finally, Lisa, I stayed up to watch Models of the Runway. *sigh*  I can see I’ll have to keep watching, because how can I not keep watching this train wreck?  Vanessa looks so much like Emmy Rossum, the girl who played Christine in Phantom.  Fatma is evil.  Beautiful skin, God, but she’s like the psychic heiress of Naomi Campbell or something.  You just know that someday she’s going to be throwing phones at some poor assistant’s head.  And Tara, that little blonde thing who currently belongs to Gordana?  She needs to eat.  Really.  She looks ill.  Oh, and I felt so bad about the whole Matar and Erin thing!  And if any of you have no idea what I’m talking about, you need to watch this show, because it’s worth the extra half hour of being awake. 

Oh, and FINALLY finally (oops!), will someone tell me who thought that All About Steve movie was a good idea?  At ALL?  I cringe every time I see the preview, and it plays about a thousand times every Project Runway.  I do not want to watch a movie about a perky stalker with bad hair.  Not even if she is Sandra Bullock.  And that new Jennnifer Aniston movie looks adorable.  Why does everyone hate on that poor woman so much?  I’ve never minded her.  She could pick better movies to do most of the time, but she seems inherently likeable.  Anyway, THAT movie looks like a good one.  So we’ll see!

Opening the floor to all of you ladies now…let’s talk Runway!

Yes, it’s time for my new weekly commentary on Project Runway.  It’s an addiction lots of us share, so why not?

Last night’s theme was Pregnancy Chic, and the designers had to come up with an outfit (casual or formal, their choice) for the then-pregnant Rebecca Romjin.  Am I the only one who was refreshed to see the towering beauty that is Rebecca actually looking like a real live pregnant woman?  Her face was fuller and everything.  And IMO, she looked gorgeous.  She also seemed very cool, which is what I’d hope for out of a woman who gets to be married to Jerry O’Connell.  Anyway, she’d like some clothes please, and btw, she’s quite preggers with twins.  Thus do the designers sketch some stuff, then dash off to Mood to find fabric with which to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting world.  Or just Tim Gunn.

Having been pregnant three times myself, I really enjoyed this episode (as, I think, did the judges, and thank God they had Monique Lhullier sitting in for Michael Kors).  Watching the designers trying to work with pregnancy pillows on their forms was interesting, and you could totally see who was going to screw up.  Nicolas and Ra’Mon were busy talking trash about all the draping going on, but Ra’Mon, in particular, should have paid attention.  Draping the pregnant female form can often turn out beautiful and figure-flattering.  The purple bowling ball bag of a dress he made (yes, Rebecca called it that, and it was so dead-on) was soooo bottom three-worthy, and that’s just where it wound up.  Lucky him, the other two hot messes of this week were just substantially worse than him.  Nicolas talks a lot of smack, but for me so far his stuff is just meh.  For someone so opinionated, he’s not exactly bringing teh awesome. 

So for me there were a few standouts this week, not all of which made it to the top three.  Shirin, no doubt, deserved her win.  I would wear that dress with or without a big pregnant belly, and her coat belongs in my closet.  Like, now.  I’ve actually decided to like Shirin.  At first, I thought the sweet and bubbly thing she does might be an act (because that sort of thing often is), but so far, she seems to really just be…cute and nice.  Which is refreshing!  And damn, woman can make some clothes. 

Despite the “nightgown” comments, I also loved Louise’s dress.  It was beautifully crafted, sexy in a classic sort of way, and a gorgeous color to boot.  She dyed the lace in the bathroom sink.  I shudder to think what would become of my bathroom sink should I attempt such a thing.  I liked hers MUCH more than Althea’s dress, which rounded out the top three. 

Up close, the ribbon on that bodice looked all frayed, and I’m sorry, but the boob cups on that damn dress…HELLO, UNREALISTIC!  Even a pregnant model would spill out of those, I don’t care if she’s a negative A-cup beforehand.  At least the judges did mention that the bodice might need more coverage, but for me it was a bigger issue than they made of it.  It was utterly distracting, like you’re staring at this model’s chest waiting for disaster to strike.  Whatever, to me, she should have been in the middle pack and Christopher should have been in the top again. 

His outfit was just beautiful, reminded me of Liv Tyler in “That Thing You Do!”  That was another outfit I’d like regardless of pregnancy status.  Go, Christopher!  I’m already a fan, and I know he’s going to be one of the ones I look forward to seeing every week.  Now if we could just get him to ditch the stupid trucker hat, all would be well.  Oh, and you know who else pulled it out this week?  Qristal.  Really liked her simple, elegant dress.  After last week’s Purple Flower Monster dress, which looked like the 80s had thrown up on it, I wasn’t expecting much, but last night I saw why she’d been invited on the show.  And she’s SUCH a sweetheart, so I hope she continues to “make it work”!

As for the disasters of the night, head on over to the Project Runway site to check them out in all their glory.  Just look at the gallery.  I already mentioned the bowling ball bag dress.  just, ew.  And then there was Malvin with his Mother Hen dress (*sigh* no, really) and Mitchell, with his poorly-sewn piece of crap.  I was honestly really surprised that Malvin got thrown off, even though the outfit was hideous, because Mitchell’s was so indescribably bad.  I wish they would just get rid of him now.  This guy is obviously not up to par, and he’s likely going to be Bottom Three until he’s finally thrown off.  Doesn’t look like next week’s going to go any better for him.

Okay, your turn now, ladies…what did YOU think of last night?  And really, go check that gallery I linked to if you didn’t get to see.  Great pics of last night’s designs.  Let’s have a Gather ‘Round and talk about it!

…and ends up scratching her head, which is really part of the fun.  Any of you all watch this show?  Project Runway is probably my favorite show on television, and because of the legal wrangling over the show moving from Bravo to Lifetime (Bravo really didn’t want to let the show go, hence a long lawsuit), it’s been a year since the show was on.  I needed a Tim Gunn fix, badly, and last night I was treated to THREE HOURS of Tim courtesy of the two hour Project Runway All Stars competition that preceded the premiere.  YAY!  He said “gather round” and “make it work” a few times, and I was in heaven.  Am I the only person who thinks that he and Kevin Kline could be related?  Maybe Kevin could play Tim someday.  Whatever, I digress.

Anyway, I parked it with some popcorn and watched people sew their asses off.  The All Star competition was good because it brought back a few of my favorites, like Chris March and Uli.  I always liked Daniel too, but was I the only one who felt like he was a shoo-in just because he seems to have turned into the teachers’ pet?  His clothes were some of the ugliest and most unwearable to me, so naturally he won.  *sigh*  Oh well.  At least I got to listen to Santino do his Tim impression a little (it’s uncanny), though nothing will ever top the “What happened to Andre?” episode of his own season.  I will say that all of the designers who returned have definitely honed their craft and shifted their points of view somewhat, and that was really interesting.  I can’t sew, and I had no idea what all was involved behind the scenes in fashion, so this is all fascinating to me.  It’s why I watch Top Chef as well…love to watch people who’ve trained for the job make food. 

So after the All Star competition came the premiere.  I almost didn’t stay up for it, but then I couldn’t help it.  Loving that the guy who won the night isn’t actually trained, but self-taught.  Lots of strange crap drifted down the runway, some of which the judges liked, some of which they didn’t.  I do think they got the loser right…it was this girl Ari who decided to do a “red carpet look” based on a geodesic dome and, I dunno, hot pants and Mad Max.  Yeah…that didn’t go well.  Lindsay Lohan was a guest judge for no reason I can really fathom (I do not personally equate her with fashion on any level), but it was an interesting start to the season.

Yes, I’m afraid I will subject you all to my reality TV viewing from time to time now, since my shows have started again.  Ghost Hunters started again the other night too, and despite my fear that it was going to stink as badly as last season, it was a good episode and they caught some interesting evidence.  I keep thinking I’m going to have a ghost hunter heroine one of these days.  I think I’ve got the equipment down anyway, thanks to Jay and grant

So what do you all like to watch?  Happy Friday!