my first recap is up!!

Y'all, go check it out!! Fandom Talk has posted my recap of Nightmares and Dreamscapes episode two: "Crouch End." Woohoo!! I'm legit, y'all!

Project Runway: I Got Your Pins and Needles Right Here

I love this show. And when I say love, I don’t mean on the Buffy or Robot Chicken scale. I mean, if there was one show I could choose to be a part of (either in front or behind the camera) I think it would be Project Runway. And mostly just because I want to worship at the feet of Tim Gunn (he’s from DC, holla!). Because Tim is a God (with a big G so you know I am serious). Show me a host of a reality show who is more knowledgeable, poised, articulate, and charismatic and I’ll show you…well, nothing, because such a person does not exist. Don’t get me wrong, I love Heidi, I had no idea she was so funny and clever until this show started, but Tim is the man.

And so the third season has begun! Bravo has taken pity on us poor souls, and has aired the third season in the summer instead of making us wait until December or January. Which I think means they must have done this season as soon as Parsons emptied out for the summer, so their post-production turn-around time must be crazy fast. Not that you can tell from the show; the quality of the production is just as good, and I agree with the judges that in terms of raw talent this might be the best group of designers so far.

Here are my picks for the final three: Robert (he of the Barbie designs and West Side Story inspired first challenge dress), Michael (from Hotlanta who wants to break into the fashion-music biz and made the dress from coffee filters), and Keith (he won the first challenge, and I think mentioned he has never designed women’s wear before). Another possible contender is Laura, who made the gorgeous faux fur coat for the first challenge, but her point of view seems very narrow in that she is rooted in super elegant couture. I don’t see her pulling off sportswear or really branching out. But who knows? I wanted Nick to win last season, so what the hell do I know.

Other thoughts: dude, I really think Malan’s accent is fake. And I hope he messes up the accent and someone calls him on it. And then he and Jeffrey can tussle. And Malan can grab Jeffrey’s hoodie and pull the strings so it closes and we NEVER HAVE TO HEAR HIM TALK AGAIN. Or, Vincent will lose his shit (which is bound to happen at any moment) and kill all the designers except Robert who will fight him off with that ugly-ass basket hat that Vincent made and then Robert will win by default. Yay! Speaking of Vincent, did everybody else notice how quickly he backpedaled on that hat in front of the judges? According to Tim’s podcast, Vincent was all about the hat, but when the judges questioned it he was all, “oh, I wasn’t sure about the hat at all.” Liar. You don't pull that shit with Tim Gunn, he will cut you.

And, We're Back!

Last night I was at my Meetup meeting, and Cheryl totally called me out on not updating this blog. I tried to explain to her that I was involved in a silent Cold War with Caroline over who would break and update first. The fact that Caroline was unaware of this battle was unimportant. Looks like I am blinking first, so here is the first of the summer updates! I prefer to think of the summer as a time of rest, mostly because it is so freakin humid in DC that moving even just a little requires a Herculean effort. I have used this downtime to try to catch up with the shows that passed me by in years past and first such show is: Freaks and Geeks.

F&G is one of those shows that has a HUGE cult following. It aired on NBC for less than a season (18 episodes) and seemed to follow a very My So Called Life pattern. It dealt with trials of high school (from the perspective of two fringe groups; the freaks (stoners) and the geeks) and aired to great critical acclaim and crappy ratings. The show centered on a pair of siblings, Lindsey, who was the head of her school’s Math Team until she started hanging out with the freaks Daniel (James Franco from Spiderman), Nick (Jason Segel from How I Met Your Mother) and Kent (er, who was in this show and not much else), and her brother Sam who hung with the geeks. Sam’s posse was made up of Neil, an awesome Jewish kid, and Bill, your typical geek. Although I kinda love Bill the most because he dressed up as Doctor Who for the sci fi convention, complete with giant scarf.

The thing about this show, and I think it’s the thing that makes it the most awesome, is that it alternates between hilarious and utterly painful to watch. Why painful? Some things depicted (being picked last for gym class, public humiliation by the “popular” kids, getting egged on Halloween, etc.) are so true to life that I literally had to close my eyes. I just couldn’t take seeing people go through things that painful, and let’s face it, we all had experiences like that. So it’s one of those “if I wanted to see this I would remember my own high school experience I would look at my yearbook” and “OMG I can’t believe someone had that happen to them too!” type of things. Overall though, the show was hysterical and things like Bill dancing, Nick playing the drums, Ken hooking up with tuba player, and Lindsey getting stoned that one time, are far more common than the “hard to watch” moments.

Now, just a few random thoughts. 1) David Kumholtz is one episode, and I am obsessed with him so it automatically makes this show awesome; 2) Biff from Back to the Future plays the gym teacher, which is just so perfect I cannot even tell you; 3) the relationships between the characters are so realistic that you really understand and “get” them; 4) I never got James Franco before, but now I kinda understand what all the fuss is about.

So break out the Dungeons and Dragons, fire up the bong, and settle in to relive the 80s with F&G.

Favorite F&G quote (from Bill): “This one time I was late to physics, and everyone stared at me.” I cannot even tell you how much being late and having everyone watch me come in and take my seat was like, my biggest high school nightmare.