Tag: entertainment

LJ Runway Monday: It’s a Party (PR 8:3)

Heidi: On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were asked to create an outfit using party store supplies.

Barbie: Whoa, hold up. I think this is the most fabric I’ve ever seen on your body, Heidi.

Summer: It doesn’t count when it’s see-through.

Heidi: Look who’s talking, Miss Yellow Fever. We decided to bring a little of the vintage to this week’s episode. I’m wearing Mattel’s Barbie Nighty Negligee, a matching gown and peignoir set that was in production from 1959 to 1964.

Barbie: My pink dotted Swiss babydoll nightie is from the same period but is probably a Mattel knockoff. No label.

Summer: My Mattel label is where it’s supposed to be on my 1964 Sweet Dreams smocked yellow bodice, but my little yellow panties are missing.

Heidi: For the sake of the censors, thank you for finding those white ones. In addition to creating a look from party store supplies, Becks was also asked to create a matching accessory. Here you can see her raw materials:

Barbie: I chose Barbie Basics 001, Model No. 10 to model whatever Becks makes of those materials.

Summer: I think you mean to say you chose Tabitha.

Barbie: [whispers] Have you noticed Tabitha’s ears make her look a little like an alien?

Summer: [whispers] Have you noticed someone forgot to bleach half of your hair?

Heidi: Have either of you noticed this is Runway Monday? You can see what Becks did with these raw materials below.

!–more Please click here for fashion.–>


Becks cut the ribbon into irregularly sized and shaped pieces and layered them over a cheesecloth skirt.


The bodice is also formed of layers of ribbon. The waist of the dress is cinched with the pink ribbon folded in a way to take advantage of its silver underside.


Using beads from the party supplies, Becks made an accessory to gather Tabitha’s hair into a thick braid.


She also used the beads to embellish the shoes from Mattel’s accessories wall.

Barbie: A million dollar look put together with an astounding three dollars.

Summer: And a little sweat, a lot of cutting, and a misfire or two with a hot glue gun.

Heidi: No hazard is too great for fashion. See you all next time on the runway!

Previous designs from this season:

PR 8:2–Larger Than Life
PR 8:1–And Sew It Begins

LJ Runway Monday: Larger Than Life (PR 8:2)

Heidi: On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were asked to create a look that defines the Marie Claire woman. The winning look would be featured on a billboard in Times Square.

Summer: To present Becks an additional challenge, we gave her some extra time but also told her she had to create looks for Heidi, Barbie, and me to wear this week.

Barbie: And we think the designs she created match our styles to perfection. Summer looks like the girl next door, I look chic, and Heidi looks like–

Heidi: [glare] –the sexy woman I am.

Barbie: Of course that’s what I was going to say.

Summer: For her model’s look this week, Becks chose fabrics of lace and sheer organza.

Barbie: And I chose the fabulous Dallas to be her model.

Heidi: Ready to see what she created?

Then click here, please.

Some of my Thursday

Seriously, you can’t take me anywhere. Tonight, I was THAT person. I got to Murder By the Book for Dean James’s signing of his new cozy mystery Murder Past Due, written as Miranda James, in time to enjoy some conversation with him and get a hug from Johnnie beforehand. Then I turned the sound off on my phone. Only I DIDN’T! I must have forgotten that vital last step, “Set,” because in the middle of Dean’s story to a VERY good crowd, my dumb cell began to ring. Which meant I had to scramble in my purse and find the thing and turn it off–it took an eternity. Sorry Dean and readers. I’m a moron.

Still, it was a wonderful night, because that’s the only way Murder By the Book knows how to do an event.


David introducing Dean with accolades from other mystery writers.


Kinley and John, two members of the best staff you’ll find at any bookseller anywhere.


Dean had a gratifyingly large audience and a long line to get books signed. In addition to Murder Past Due, he signed his Trailer Park Mystery series (written as Jimmie Ruth Evans), and his short story in the Delta Blues collection. Delta Blues includes well-loved writers (James Lee Burke, John Grisham, Ace Atkins, Charlaine Harris, Suzanne Hudson, Bill Fitzhugh, Suzann Ellingsworth, Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly, Mary Saums, Lynne Barrett, Dean James, Les Standiford, Toni L.P. Kelner, and Carolyn Haines), plus new authors (Alice Jackson, David Sheffield, Nathan Singer, Michael Lister, and Daniel Martine), and contains an introduction by Morgan Freeman. A portion of every book sold will go to Freeman’s Rock River Foundation, an organization that promotes literacy and provides grants to assist schools.

One thing I’ve found concerning recent changes to my health is that I MUST EAT when it’s time to eat or I get…cranky. Very cranky. So I was not amused to get home to find someone’s car blocking the drive into The Compound. A simple phone call and my problem would have vanished courtesy of the HPD’s choice of a tow truck. Instead, through some eel-like maneuvering, I was able to get my car inside the gate. Then I left this poster on the offending vehicle’s windshield:

LJ Runway Monday: And Sew It Begins (PR 8:1)


Guess what?!? It’s a new season of Lifetime’s Project Runway! For me, that means a few weeks of stabbing myself with needles, hurling unruly bobbins across the room, and wondering what crazy misfire in my genetic makeup drives me to sew these challenges at 1:6 scale. But sew I will.

In the season opener, the contestants were gathered into a group with their luggage. Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn–that’s Tim in my user photo with me–told them to remove one wearable item from their suitcases. Most people would think, This probably means I’m about to have to destroy an item of clothing. Let me take out something I can work with but I’m willing to sacrifice. In other words, NOT a thousand dollar pair of Dolce & Gabbana pants.

But I digress. It was a great first episo—-mmmbbhft.


Heidi: Welcome to LiveJournal’s Runway Monday! I’m Heidi Klum, and this season, I, along with my cohosts Mattel Top Models Barbie and Summer, will be doing the talking. Becks is here to sew, not ramble on and post spoilers for those who haven’t seen the previous week’s episode.

Barbie: I’ll be helping Becks pick her model each week.

Summer: And I’ll be her muse. If one of her designs displeases you, it’s probably because she didn’t listen to me. She’s very stubborn.

Heidi: This also provides us the opportunity to model Mattel’s Barbie Basics little black dresses. Don’t we look great?

Barbie: Yes, we do. And I’ve chosen a stunning model to wear the first design of this season. She’s Collection 001, Model No. 08, but this isn’t Star Trek, so her actual name is Maia.

Heidi: To try to adhere to the show’s challenge, in which each designer had to hand over an item of his–

Summer: –or her–

Heidi: –own clothing for the person standing next to him–

Summer: –or her–

Heidi: –to use, we asked former LJRM designer Timothy J. Lambert to dig something out of his wardrobe for Becks to use as the basis of her design. She then had a few minutes to pick out any other fabric and notions she needed, and five hours to complete her design.

Summer: Finally, we advised her to choose wisely from the Mattel accessories wall.


Maia.
Timothy’s selection.
Lindsey modeling Timothy’s selection.

Heidi: Ready to see what Becks came up with?

Click here, please.

Eight more days!

I suddenly realized that it’s only eight more days until the return of my second favorite (and maybe the only one I’ll watch this fall) reality show, Lifetime’s Project Runway. It’s moving up an hour (9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, which means 8 p.m. Central–and I don’t know what time Mountain people can see it) on Thursday nights. The format is ninety minutes, but details haven’t been provided as to whether they’ll feature another season of Models of the Runway or are expanding air time for the design competition. This season has more contestants than usual–seventeen–and tonight I watched all their casting videos and picked my favorites to keep an eye on and my favorites to go home early.

Will I be playing along and designing for Mattel’s Model Muse dolls?

Does Barbie have a dream house?

I’m already auditioning my models. In case you think they’ve just been lying around naked in a wicker box all summer, you should know that some of them have joined together to form an all-model rock band, The Opposite of Math. As for whether or not my own personal muse Summer will return–stay tuned!

Enjoying…

I’m enjoying tonight’s moon. I’ve always had a fondness for crescent moons. Who am I kidding? I have a fondness for all moons. Must have something to do with one of the names I was given at birth.

Tonight was Murder By the Book’s and Brazos Bookstore’s Moonlight Madness sale, meaning the stores stayed open L-A-T-E. Just my schedule. So I swung by and purchased a few books, took the above photo, and came home to write in LJ.

Oddly, I was writing about an actor and as I was putting it all together, Tom came in to tell me he’d just seen him on a new TV show (Rizzoli & Isles, based on novels by Tess Gerritsen) at the same time that I was reading the actor’s Tweet about the show’s highly-rated launch. ACK! The synchronicity!

But let me get on with it.

If you read here, you know that I like the Twilight books and the movies, and I’ve decided to stop feeling sheepish about it. Somewhere there’s a woman happily reading a paperback with a whimsical little cover, maybe pink, maybe blue, and someone sees her, raises an eyebrow, and says, “You don’t actually like that romance crap, do you?” And for a minute, she probably feels bad, maybe defensive, and then she rests the book on the table while she reads so no one else can see the title and MY AUTHOR NAME on it. So I say, “Honey, lift up that book. Like what you want to like. And I’ll do the same.” If I want to shelve Stephenie Meyer between Herman Melville and Marcel Proust in my living room, so be it. Kidding. Proust is French–he’s nowhere near my American novelists’ shelves.

Now when it comes to the Twilight movies, I can enjoy them on the campy level, on the story level, on the how-do-they-compare-to-the-book level, on the dramatic level, on the special effects level, and for the degree of commitment that the screenwriter, actors, director, and crew have put into their work. I can also enjoy the fun-phenomena aspect of the movie releases, from the Twihards to the Twimoms to the ‘tweens.

But in truth, I don’t get all worked up over Robert Pattinson/Edward or Taylor Lautner/Jacob. I can appreciate their work and their pretty faces and bodies, but if you want to know who I have a crush on, it’s Charlie, Bella’s dad. Not a swooning-OMG-crush. I like the way actor Billy Burke portrays Charlie. He reminds me of someone special from my long-ago past: laconic, reserved, protective, kind–a sports-loving, hunting, hardworking, decent guy. The awkwardness that exists between Charlie and Bella makes for scenes that entertain and touch me. Kudos to Billy Burke for pulling that off so that I like Charlie better in the movies than in the books.


Because I liked his work, I looked up Billy Burke some time ago and followed his Twitter account, which led me to his web site, which led me to his music. I’m a complete sucker for a singer/songwriter with a whiskey voice. So when his new album Removed became available, I downloaded it on iTunes (it’s also been the number one seller on CDBaby) and I’ve been enjoying it. Sort of has a low-key Mellencamp/Tom Waits/John Prine vibe–though I’m not big on comparing artists because that’s the whole thing about being authentically creative–every artist is unique. In addition, a portion of Removed’s sales will go to VH-1’s Save The Music, an organization that helps keep music education in our schools–I’m totally on board with that.

So this is my shout-out/thank you to the multi-talented Billy Burke. Nothing like being an “overnight” success after working your butt off since you were nine years old!