Comments are appreciated and answered.
In the second episode of Project Runway, the designers were asked to create a maternity outfit for any type of occasion–their choice. Guest judge model/actress Rebecca Romijn said she was interested in a silhouette that suggested “pregnancy chic.”
For the rest of the season’s challenges, I’ll be switching models. So who did I pick this time?
I was a little disappointed when the challenge for the first episode of Season 6 of Project Runway was a red carpet look that showed innovation and the designer’s point of view. The last real design I did for Summer was a red carpet dress for the Oscars. Tim suggested that I visualize her at a much different awards show, and I realized that it was time to add a little bit of rock and roll to Summer’s look. So I took down her hair, grabbed some leather and tulle…
Can’t wait for Lindsey’s opening tonight, and it’s also the return of Project Runway. I don’t know if anyone else will do the challenges for dolls this year, but as for me…
The show has moved to Lifetime. Check your local listings, because tonight, there’ll be a two-hour All Stars show featuring previous designers. Then the first episode of the season airs, followed by a new thirty-minute show featuring the models of Project Runway.
Do you love dolls? Like to sew? Have some fabric and sewing notions lying around? Check out the LiveJournal group: LJ Runway Monday.
With a LiveJournal account (it’s free! you only pay if you want to upgrade your account), all you have to do is watch Project Runway (on Lifetime or online), complete that week’s challenge for one of your dolls, and post a photo of your doll wearing your design to the community. There may be “judges” dropping in to make comments, but there’s no win or lose.
All are welcome to submit photos and make comments. See you on the runway!
Thursday was the fortieth anniversary of this important photograph:
George, Paul, Ringo, and John, Abbey Road, 1969
Which I never see without thinking of my photo at the intersection of Christopher and Gay Streets in Manhattan:
Steve C and my writing partners Timothy J. Lambert, Jim Carter, and Timothy Forry, 2001
My camera was crap.
Mr. Mom
National Lampoon’s Vacation
Sixteen Candles
The Breakfast Club
Weird Science
Pretty in Pink
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Some Kind of Wonderful
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
She’s Having a Baby
The Great Outdoors
Uncle Buck
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Home Alone
Curly Sue
Beethoven
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Dennis the Menace
Baby’s Day Out
Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
101 Dalmatians (1996)
Flubber (1997)
Home Alone 3
Reach The Rock
Just Visiting
Maid in Manhattan
Drillbit Taylor
Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Two icons, but beyond their celebrity, two individuals with a lot of people who loved them.
RIP.
ETA: I just got super annoyed on Facebook at the chastising tone of someone saying that nobody would think about or talk about Iran anymore because of two celebrity deaths. I don’t try to stir up conflict, so I stilled my hands on the keyboard.
Since this is MY LiveJournal, however, I’ll say what I please here. Which basically is:
I still care about Iran. Iran and the Neda video have tormented my waking and sleeping thoughts for days. I fervently support any people’s cry for justice and struggle for freedom.
But I also think art is one of those things that transcends the various artificial boundaries we invent to separate us. These two people (Fawcett, Jackson) were cultural icons, their names and work known all over the world. I see nothing wrong or abnormal about mourning or discussing their deaths. Regardless of his screwed up personal life, Michael Jackson’s musical appeal was universal. And even if someone finds the merit of Farrah’s work (which included movies about women empowering themselves) debatable, she put up a valiant fight against her cancer and wanted her experience to give other people hope and comfort in their own struggle with illness.
It’s never wrong to pause to note the loss of any of us, from the most obscure child dying of starvation in Darfur, to the death of a young girl on the streets of Iran, to the passing of someone who felt like a part of our growing up. As Christina says in her comment to this post, hearing news like that brings to mind the losses we’ve known in our own lives. We feel compassion for those who will suffer as we have.
The world can never have an over-abundance of compassion.
I know Tuesday is over in my time zone, but this was my planned Tuesday post so you get what you get.
First, what happened to TJL’s Tuesdays With Rexford? After MGH scared me with a photo of that Killer Beast everyone calls “Joey” in some attempt to make him seem harmless, I think I deserved a Rex photo. Though I’ll bet Tim wouldn’t have told you that Rex has salmon skin breath.
Second, “they” say change is good. I decided to test that theory. When I got up Tuesday morning, I did what everyone with a bladder that’s turned 35 a few times does. As I struggled with the toilet paper in my half-awake state, I finally figured out that it was a new roll and had to be pulled apart, but Tom had put it on UNDER instead of OVER. “This is JUST WRONG,” I muttered. Then I thought that I should learn to be more flexible, so I left it as it was. All day long, it made me twitch to know the toilet paper was under. Finally, Tuesday night, I bragged to Tom that I’d stayed strong. The toilet paper was still hanging under. Whereupon he said, “Then I’M changing it. I didn’t know I put it on that way, and it’s JUST WRONG.” This is why marriages endure.
Also Tuesday, I exchanged several e-mails with Tom’s mother. She was sharing details of a trip she’s taking soon, and she mentioned that her parents are partially paying for this vacation. Since her father died in 1963 and her mother died in 1981, naturally I was all, ¿por qué (it was Cinco de Mayo, after all). As it turns out, a relative told her that her name was on a “missing money” list in her home state. It seems her parents had those old nickel-a-month insurance policies to benefit each of their kids if the parents died, and after all these years, Tom’s mother claimed her money and got a check. How cool is that?
On a whim, I entered my name into the national missing money data base and got nothing. Tom, on the other hand, will be getting a check for almost TWENTY DOLLARS that a business apparently overcharged him in the past. He said he’ll use this windfall to see the new Star Trek movie. It’ll take every penny, as I found out the last time I treated myself to a movie (Confessions of a Shopaholic–cute; love the books, but should’ve waited for the DVD. But I was hot that night and needed a diversion in a cool theater). Date night must really hit the wallets of teenagers’ parents. Yikes!
Finally, I leave you with this list I found called “Bad Songs By Good Bands.” Feel free to comment with outrage or applause.
20. “Rapture,” Blondie
19. “Who Are You?” The Who
18. “Stand,” R.E.M.
17. “November Rain,” Guns N’ Roses
16. “Beverly Hills,” Weezer
15. “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” Aerosmith
14. “Just Can’t Get Enough,” Depeche Mode
13. “Rape Me,” Nirvana
12. “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” Paul Simon
11. “Bullet With Butterfly Wings,” Smashing Pumpkins
10. “Roses,” Outkast
9. “I’ll Be You,” The Replacements
8. “Beth,” Kiss
7. “Brass Monkey,” Beastie Boys
6. “Discotheque,” U2
5. “Dancing in the Dark,” Bruce Springsteen
4. “American Life,” Madonna
3. “Kokomo,” Beach Boys
2. “Radio Ga Ga,” Queen
1. “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” The Clash
OMG, I just read that Bea Arthur died today at age 86.
As many of you know, my 200-plus members of the Barbie family are individually wrapped in tissue and stored in my attic. This is because I’m not Anne Rice and can’t afford to buy and restore an old orphanage to house and exhibit my doll collection. On the day that I can purchase such a place, if it’s anything like St. Elizabeth’s, I’m moving in first. The dolls and I will then negotiate.
In the meantime, I need to keep some of my dolls at hand. By all accounts, the dispute over Project Runway has been settled, and the most recent season will finally air this summer on Lifetime. I don’t know if Mark G. Harris, Timothy J. Lambert, or anyone else will be interested in doing PR’s weekly design challenges for the Mattel Top Models. Even if we don’t, I still enjoy designing for special events (the Oscars) and holidays. But the dolls and everything they need were overunning my office and cluttering the Spoil Debby and Sometimes Lisa Guest Suite.
I needed a more organized solution. Lindsey and I were shopping in Texas Art Supply one day when we found a wonderful kit for youngsters who might be interested in sewing and designing for dolls. I didn’t get the kit, but it did inspire a PROJECT.
After some shopping around, I found this cabinet, deeply discounted, at Michael’s:
It’s divided into three cubes:
ETA 2022: This was a link to a new Charlie the Unicorn video. They are all available on YouTube now.
This is just what I needed.
