Project Runway 5 - Episode 3 Preview

We took some heat for putting both Suede and Stella in our top three last week, but vindication is ours! Not that we thought Stella's Saturday night special belonged in the top three, but there she was. We had Kenley for the win, but she was second, so we weren't too far off.

We were also told there was no way Wes or Leanne would go, (we predicted Leanne), but sure enough, they were the last two designers left standing when it was time for someone to be aufed. Did Wes's short-tight-and-shiny dress deserve to go over Leanne's "design school" piece? That's a tough call, but we were pretty sure Korto's Aquagirl dress was worse than both of them. Seriously, "now with wings" is not a phrase you want to hear on the runway.

But Xena and her sidekick Gabrielle (above) decided Suede rocked the place and Wes didn't. Hasty lobago, Wes. You were...well, you were pretty anonymous, actually. Time to move on to this week's episode.

SPOILER WARNING - As always, we have no real knowledge of winners or losers beyond what we see in the Bravo preview clips, but we are going to talk about the challenge and guest judge...

We here at Gratz Industries are becoming aware of a particularly strong, shall we say, "interest," among gay bloggers in regard to Keith (above). And we here at Gratz Industries are secure enough in our respective sexualities to get that. More importantly, those who cry out for "more Keith!" are going to get their wish in this week's episode--for better or for worse.

This week's episode, starring guest judge Sandra Bernhard, is called "Bright Lights/Big City," and it appears to be a riff off the Season Two challenge where the designers were set loose on the streets of New York with digital cameras and told "seek ye inspiration." This season's designers are given the same charge, but the twist, you see, is that they're sent out to Times Square at night. See what the producers did there? They mixed things up.

In the first of two preview videos we get this week, the designers are released into the neon-bathed wilds of Manhattan, where Keith (there he is already!) somehow finds a way to butt heads with Stella and/or Kenley. Note to Fafarazzi players: Keith will be the first designer this season to utter a variation on the infamous, "I'm not here to make friends" line. Ah, reality TV gold, and worth two points at Fafarazzi. And if it's a verbal argument that spurs the line, Keith may be worth four more points.

Back in the workroom, there is a lot of black being put on the dressforms--and a lot of neon-inspired colors. Hmm. Color us concerned. From the clips, Kenley looks to be working with (gasp) a print, while Blayne is making something either spectacular or spectacularly bad with colors pieced together inside a black dress. Meanwhile, Daniel seems to be channeling Rami with a gray draped piece--or maybe he's channeling Andre, who almost won the previous incarnation of this challenge with his homage to gutter water.

It's good that we have a few clips of the designers in the workroom, because the second video, the one that usually gives us clues as to who will be in and who will be out, is pretty sparse. We can see only four of the six designers who will be kept behind: Terri, Keith (!), Leanne, and Emily. But which of them are in the top, which are in the bottom, and which two designers not shown will be joining them?

While we felt pretty good about last week's predictions, we're feeling totally lost here. As Terri has gotten kudos from bloggers for her unrecognized designs the last two episodes, we're going to give her the benefit of the doubt and say she finally makes the top three, even though we don't have a clue as to what she's designed.

Based on what little we saw of her material in the workroom, we're going to go with Kenley in the top three as well, even though she doesn't show up on the runway in the video clip.

And believe it or not, we're going to go out on a limb and say Leanne will be top three this time. Heck, why not? Sure, she was one more oddly-draped piece from being aufed last week, but tomorrow is another day, right? And frankly, we like the look of what she's putting together in the workroom.

Our bubble guy was the infamous Keith, who is twice shown acting mildly surprised at things said to him on the runway. Is he nodding and saying "whoa" to being told his work could appear in the pages of Elle right now, or is he "whoa"ing because Michael Kors has just said Keith's dress looked like "toilet paper caught in a windstorm"?

At first, we were leaning toward Keith being in the top three--perhaps even winning. Then we went back and searched the videos for a dress that might have inspired Kors to compare it to Charmin. No one, but no one, is working with white in the workroom (at least that we can see), and there are only three designs we never catch a glimpse of: Terri's, Joe's, and Keith's.

Except that in one of the runway shots, Keith's model is just slightly in the picture.

And she's wearing a white top.

Danger, Will Robinson.

So, with rather circumstantial evidence, we're putting Keith into the bottom three. Based on the testimony of a worried Kenley, we're also putting Emily in the bottom three. We haven't heard much about Emily, and there might just be a good reason for that. We know she's on the runway at the end this time though, so one way or another we're going to get to know her better.

So who to lump with the losers? We've already accounted for everyone we know will be on the runway, so we're totally guessing here...but we're going to say Stella. She's hammering grommets into her dress the whole time in the video. Grommets, people. And in behind the scenes interviews she's telling us she's rock and roll and she's going to stay rock and roll, which sounds an awful lot to us like the kind of thing you say when you've been booted off the show for being too rock and roll.

So, to recap:
Top three - Terri, Kenley, and Leanne.
Bottom three - Keith, Emily, and Stella.

For the win? It's between Kenley and Leanne, and Leanne redeems herself with a win.
Aufed? It'll come down to Emily and Stella, with Emily gone and Stella still rocking.

Not that we're big fans of Stella here. Or Leanne, for that matter. Despite telling us in the first episode that she hopes PR will allow her to break out of her mold and do different things, all Stella seems to want to do is put people in leather, grommets, and laces. Uck. And Leanne needs to stop whining and start editing. We'll see if anything either of them does this week makes any difference.

If you're playing Fafarazzi, we still recommend playing for the six-points you get for the winner--although this week, you might do well to add Keith. As long as he isn't aufed, you've got two points in the bag for him not wanting to make friends, and possibly another four if he gets into an argument with someone in Times Square. If he's gone though, it's all a wash.

But who knows? He could win the whole thing this week. Heck if we know what we're talking about...

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Quick Feet, Soft Hands

My good friend Paul Harrill is hosting the Knoxville premiere of his short film Quick Feet, Soft Hands on September 11, 2008 at the Regal Downtown West Cinema 8. The show starts at 7:30 p.m., and will include an "encore" screening of Paul's Sundance Award-winning short Gina, An Actress, Age 29 to celebrate its recent inclusion in the "Sundance Collection" of the UCLA Film & Television Archives. Tickets are $5, and can be purchased at the door the day of the event.

From Paul's web site:

Set against the backdrop of our national pastime, Quick Feet, Soft Hands follows a young couple trying to pursue the American Dream.

Greta Gerwig (Joe Swanberg's Hannah Takes the Stairs) stars as Lisa, a young woman whose hopes of moving up are tied to Jim, a minor league baseball player.

As Jim falls deeper into a batting slump, the couple must cope with the day-to-day realities of being young and poor. And they must confront the prospect that they may never make it to the big leagues.

I've read the script (it's terrific) but I haven't seen any part of the film yet, so I'm going to do everything I can to be there. In the meantime, you can see the trailer here.

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Project Runway 5 - Episode 2 Preview

Well, it was an interesting first episode, to say the least. First off, we owe our apologies to Kelli. (That's her up top there, if you're still putting names to faces.) We predicted she'd be in the bottom three; not only was she in the top three, she won the challenge! Congratulations, Kelli--and kudos on a well-deserved win.

And because we guessed one of the top three wrong, that means of course we guessed one of the bottom three wrong. And wouldn't you know it--that person just happened to be the one who bombed out that week and was aufed. We called Stella for the ax, but Jerry got it instead--and the debate about which one should have gone will probably rage on forever among PR fans. (A poll on Bravotv.com has the voting among the fans split almost dead even--with more than 18,000 votes cast.) One outfit was so bad our five-year-old daughter could have made it; the other would have given our five-year-old daughter nightmares. We were torn. Thankfully Fafarazzi didn't count week one picks, or else we'd be down six points for betting on Jerry in the top three.

Nevertheless, on with the bold predictions! Oh, and SPOILER ALERT. We don't know for sure who wins or loses, but we do know who the guest judge is, and we're going to spill. Stop reading now if you like to be surprised.

This week's challenge is billed as "The Grass is Always Greener," and the blurb on the Project Runway site says, "The designers are forced to think green in the second episode of Project Runway -- with the help of their trusted model." I don't know how "trusted" these models can be after one episode, but it sounds like the models are the clients this time around--with a twist. (You knew there would be a twist, right?) From the preview videos, it looks like the models are not just the clients--they're the ones who actually leave Parson's and acquire the fabric for the designers. Stella laments that someone who doesn't know much about fabric will be choosing for her, and Leanne grouses that someone (presumably her model) didn't help her out much.

As to what the title and "think green" parts mean? We're stumped. Are the models sent to buy fabric that is all natural fibers? Or made out of recycled materials? Perhaps. Or maybe the models will bring in old clothes the designers have to "repurpose," ala the episode last season where weight-loss winners gave over old outfits for the designers to rework. That may be the theme this season: recycling the best previous challenges, but almost always with some twist. We're cool with that.

But then there's an oddity: In one of the videos, there is the previously hyped clip of Keith (we're pretty sure it's Keith) pushing along two shopping carts full of what appear to be leather car seat covers. Frankly, we think this is a red herring, and won't be surprised if this appears not in this episode but in the auto-parts-themed episode we see on the horizon later in the season. Further, from the few glimpses we get of people working at Parson's, it looks like everyone is working with fabric, not with more alternative materials like the first challenge. The Bravo editors have never out and out lied to us before in the clips, but there's a first time for everything. We confess, we're more than a bit confused.

Oh, and this week's guest judge? The gorgeous Natalie Portman, who is not seen in the picture below.

Kept behind after the runway show this time are six designers: Kenley, Stella, Wes, Korto, Suede, and Leanne (above). Three represent the best designs, and three the worst. But which is which?

Nina and Kors seem to reserve most of their plaudits for the far left side of the stage (where Kenley, Stella and Wes stand) and most of their barbs for the middle and right side of the stage (Korto, Suede, and Leanne). But we don't think it breaks down exactly like that. Stella seems to be getting a compliment--yes, Stella--when Nina says her look is "much improved from last time." Seeing as Stella's last look was four trash bags sewn together with hand-stitched yarn, we're pretty sure just about anything would be much improved over last time. Someone else, someone on the far left, is being told their look is chic. We think Kors is talking to Kenley. (Pictured above with the headband and white earrings.)

As for the slams, well, there are a few here. One of them, directed toward the middle, is that "shiny, tight, and short" are "the quickest way to look cheap." That doesn't bode well for Wes, who in a different part of the mash-up stands next to a mostly unseen model with a shiny gold strap on her shoulder and says he tried for a "fitted" look.

Korto seems like she's under fire too. The model she picks in one of the videos gets called out for having a necklace that Heidi says "makes it look like her head is stuck on spikes." Korto's also not looking happy on the runway when we see her later.

But by far, the most derision seems aimed Leanne's way, where she stands alone at the far right of the runway, looking distraught. Heidi says, "I have to say, I gave you one of my lowest scores," and we think that's directed at her. We also know it's her model who is chided for having feathers in her hair, which Heidi mysteriously says "doesn't really fit this theme." (What theme would feathers not fit, damn you!?) Someone on the right is also told her dress is "five dresses in one." In her defense to some comment, Leanne adds that she "just wanted to youth it up a bit." Fashion saints preserve us.

But perhaps the most damning piece of evidence we have to offer is a clip in one of the videos of Leanne sobbing. This, in and of itself, is nothing new to Project Runway, and many designers are brought to tears by the grueling process. But this clip--sneakily thrown in among others with ranting and railing in the Parson's workroom, has a very different setting. It's Leanne against one of those white screens they use to hide the mike crew in the room off the runway where the "safe" designers welcome the winners and losers at the end of the show. And these don't look like tears of joy. Either Leanne has just barely escaped being eliminated and she's shaken by it, or she's been aufed. Based on the raking she appears to get on the runway, we're betting on the latter. We're predicting that Leanne is eliminated in week two.

One person we have no real clue about is Suede (above). He's among the six kept out by the judges, but we can't tell if any of the comments we've heard pertain to his dress. Without any evidence to the contrary, we have to use process of elimination. (Oh. Sorry. Perhaps that's a bad choice of words.) Regardless:

Bottom Three: Wes, Korto, Leanne

Top Three: Kenley, Stella, Suede (by default)

Yes, we realize we just named Stella to the top three this week. And yes, we realize all three of our predictions for the top designers fall in our "Long Shots" group from last week's preseason rankings, and two of the bottom three were in our top five "Contenders" grouping. Let's just say it's shaping up to be that kind of season.

In the past, when a designer has been deliberately edited out of the preview videos but is clearly among the final six, that person has sometimes been a dark horse winner. Will we go that route this week and pick Suede?

No. This week, we're picking Bettie Page, er, Kenley, as the challenge winner. Let's call Suede second, and Stella third. As for your bottom two, we've got the aforementioned Leanne, and, surprisingly, Wes.

If you're playing the Fafarazzi Project Runway game, the best strategy, it seems to us, is to play for the "touchdown" points. That means trying to pick the top three as your team so you'll be sure to get +6 points. The danger, of course, is that among those six designers are the aufed designer and the next to worst designer, both of whom earn you negative points, and guessing wrong can be painful. (See last week's top-three Jerry pick...) But whether it's praised Kenley or dark horse Suede who takes home the win this week, we think we're covered.

Oh, and can someone please tell us what is up with Suede's arm hair in that picture above? One of us (that would be Alan) is a hairy fellow, so he wouldn't think of making fun of someone's body hair. But it's Suede's lack of body hair that bothers us--particularly as it ends right where his sleeve would have been if he hadn't rolled it up. Seriously--take a look, and you'll see what we're talking about. Um, WTF?

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Project Runway Five: Pre-Season Rankings

Project Runway is back, kids, and that means it's time for the second annual Gratz Industries Pre-Season Rankings! Last year we made a splash with our bold predictions, and while we got some right (Rami and Jillian in the top three) others weren't so close. (Elisa in the top three!? Ouch.) Still, it's fun to get to know the designers ahead of time, and applaud the ones who prove us right and wrong.

Two caveats: First, it came to our attention after last season that some of the PR designers actually read our humble blog. During the season. That both thrills us and terrifies us. As an author, Alan is used to Googling himself (stop--it's not that dirty) and knows just how wounding criticism can be. That's why, though we may critique, and complain, and--occasionally--be snarky, please know that we respect and envy all the Project Runway designers. Both of us would love to be in their places--and Wendi actually might try out one day!

Second, our pre-season rankings are pretty heavily weighted toward fashion experience and education. We're just working with what we have, and what we don't have (yet) is visual evidence that some of these other "self-taught" folks can be "America's Next Top Designer." (Oh, but we do have comments from Tim Gunn in People Magazine, and if there's one thing five seasons of PR has taught us, it's trust Tim.)

We would dearly love to see a self-taught designer make the finals, but of late the show has been drawing pretty heavily from the more experienced ranks, which makes things more difficult for the home-grown folks. Why? Because all those fashion school kids know what the fashion-biz judges are looking for. Not that they can always deliver, of course, but at least they know where to start.

So. With all our qualifications and excuses over with, let's get on the the predicting!

The Favorites

01) Wes - Already being hailed as the new wunderkind to beat, Wes comes with a pedigree including F.I.T, and internships at Marc Jacobs and Levi's. He calls himself "poised, polished, and professional," with a style that's "clean, classic, and sophisticated." Which all sounds good--if he can do all that with recycled paper and produce. Tim warns: "Beautiful work but there’s not a lot of risk-taking." Uh-oh. Still, we're betting on his mad skills to carry him through.

02) Jennifer - Another F.I.T. graduate, Jennifer moved to Italy after graduation and worked as an embroidery designer for Blumarine. We figure moving to Italy to work in fashion isn't too shabby. Says Tim, "She’s very thoughtful, smart and she is driven by literature and classic films rather than the pop culture scene." Hmm. Perhaps a nice dinner companion for the inimitable Tim, but will she be progressive enough to make it all the way? "Literature and classic films" go a long way here at Gratz Industries, and we hope they'll take Jennifer far too.

03) Emily - Tim calls her a sweetheart. Is that the fashion equivalent of saying a blind date "has a good personality"? She's got a great pedigree for a 27-year-old: She's worked with XoXo, La Blanca, DKNY, Rozae Nichols, and Jeremy Scott--but in mostly sales and management positions. She launched her own brand in L.A. called "Smoke and Mirrors." Will that be what her Project Runway time amounts to, or is this sales manager ready to sell her own designs? We think the latter.

04) Jerry - One of the thirty-somethings, Jerry attended both Parson's and F.I.T.--but only for a year each. Perhaps he was impatient to get to work with the likes of Imitation of Christ, Perry Ellis, and Zac Posen. Jerry now has his own label--FORM--and likes using natural fabrics. Tim says "Jerry possesses an enormous amount of self-confidence. You can take that any way you want!" We take it to mean he's going to be bullish on the runway and a bitch in the workroom, and that he's going to be sticking around for a while...

05) Leanne - One of a few this season who attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise, but the only one to win the Designer of Tomorrow scholarship there. Tim says, "when the audience gets to know her she’s a person I think they’re really going to be rooting for," which we take to mean she'll be around long enough to root for. At the same time, she loses some points for calling her own line "Leanimal." Sounds a little too much like "Garanimals" to us.

The Contenders

06) Daniel - We're picking Daniel as our week one winner--based solely on positive clips from the Bravo previews. We're picking him as the top of the contenders because Tim calls the Pratt Institute student "intense," and because three other episode one winners--Austin, Santino & Rami--made it deep into their seasons. (Season Three's kicked-off Keith was the other first episode winner.) What concerns us? When Daniel says he "draws inspiration from animals." Oink.

07) Korto - We're pegging Korto as an episode one top three finisher, and giving the Liberian-born designer the feel-good bounce. She went to the Fashion School of Ottowa, but now makes her living as a freelance fashion photographer and a dancer in an African troupe. Tim says, "Korto is going to tantalize people with her work." We like that Korto says she "designs for real, full-figured women." Go girl!

08) Joe - We won't be the first to say it, and we won't be the last--Meet this season's Kevin. Yes, he's the only straight fella within two blocks of the show. Does that mean Kors will tell him too that straight guys are always trying to turn women into their mothers or whores? Good luck, Joe. You're going to need it.

09) Blayne - Watching this 23-year-old's sixty-second bio video--which runs well over sixty seconds--is a mind-numbing experience. He's big on the local Seattle scene, with sportswear experience designing a line for Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander. Tim says, "The designers love him." We're guessing fans will too. But he looks like he's in the bottom three the first week of the season, which is never a good omen.

10) Terri - "I found her to be another excellent problem-solver," says Tim. "She knew how to make it work!" That's an enthusiastic thumbs up for a designer with no formal fashion training. Terri's been an assistant designer, and is currently with Victoria's Secret as a "visual manager." She has a career in fashion--but can she parlay that into a career making fashion? We're skeptical.

The Long Shots

11) Suede - A man named "Suede?" Seriously? That's like a writer called "Vellum." The guy's got a blue-haired grunge look that's been getting him a lot of press, and Tim says his work is "current and contemporary." He says his multiple interests make him versatile, but we're worried he's one note. We're waiting to be wowed.

12) Kenley - Got into design through marketing. Tim calls her the Season Five "Bettie Page." Cute, but Bettie Page was a pin-up model, not a fashion designer. Kenley owns her own boutique and sells her designs over the web, so maybe we're not giving her enough credit. We'll see...

13) Kelli - Another FIDM grad, Kelli studied fashion in Los Angeles and now owns a boutique in Columbis, Ohio. We've been to Columbus, Ohio, and we wouldn't call it the fashion center of the world. We've seen Kelli's eBay page too, where she says one of the things she dislikes is "the fashion industry." We're not betting on the outsider with issues. Worse, she may be in line for a week one exit. She appears to be among the bottom three in the Bravo mash-up preview, and she gets face time in another clip saying week one's challenge is right up her alley. Uh-oh. When a designer gets the "Confident Cut" they're often on the way out.

14) Keith - A self-taught designer from Salt Lake City, Utah. Tim says Keith is "all about innovation and experimentation." But how long will he be around to innovate and experiment? If we're right, about three episodes.

15) Jerell - Points for having a name that sounds like he's from Krypton, but otherwise Jerell scares us. He's a former model with no formal fashion training and, if his bio photo is any indication, poor taste in clothes. Tim says, "He was frequently one of the first to finish and he would help other designers." Jerell says his work conveys "raw beauty." We think both of those translate into outfits that are hurriedly thrown together--and look like it. We bet he'll be a real hoot. For two episodes.

16) Stella - In the immortal words of Stanley Kowalski, "Stel-la!" (Sorry. We had to.) And sorry, Stella, but we had to pick someone to go first, and we picked you. It doesn't help that she appears to be among the bottom three in the week one clips. Add to that she's a 42-year-old former punk rock makeup artist turned self-taught leather and denim designer, and we're afraid. Very afraid. Her mantra: "No bull." Our mantra: "auf Wiedersehen, baby."

There you have it. Our fearless predictions. If they're anything like last year, we'll look like geniuses on a couple of them, and like idiots on the rest. Ah well. Quoth the Scarecrow in Wicked, "Those who don't try never look foolish." Good luck to all the designers!

In the "all of us are smarter than one of us" department, the top four designers in the Blogging Project Runway "Who will be in the Project Runway Season 5 finale?" poll are, at the time I write this, Wes, Daniel, Emily, and a tie between Leanne and Korto for fourth place.

Oh, and the glitchy TRESemme Fantasy Runway game from last season is "out." What's "in" is a new Project Runway Season Five Fantasy Game from Fafarazzi, which we're excited about. You pick three contestants each week to be on your Project Runway fantasy team, and they're awarded points based on fun categories like:

Winning: 6 points
Verbal fight with another designer: 4 points
Crying: 3 points
Model trouble: 3 points
Tim says "Carry On": 2 points

Et cetera. You can lose points too:

Judges call "poor craftsmanship": -1 point
Bottom two: -2
Leaving the show without being "auf'ed": -4 points
Eliminated: -6 points

What we like best about this is that we can pick our top three candidates each week based on the previews and feel pretty good about picking up six points somewhere. As for the other things--crying, breaking a sewing machine, saying "I'm not here to make friends"--well, those things happen, but unless you've got Ricky around to cry or Angela around to ruin the machines or Wendy Pepper around to not make friends, that stuff is kind of random. We're shooting for the touchdown points. (Sorry--fantasy football flashbacks.)

Each week we'll do a proper preview of the upcoming episode, and give you our top three and bottom three picks--even going so far as to try and guess the winner. This week, we'll just say it looks like a repeat of Season One's fabulous grocery store challenge--complete with Season One Episode One winner Austin Scarlett back as a guest judge. (Yay Austin!) If this is the first in a season of "greatest hits" design challenges, we say "huzzah!" Bring on the best of the best.

This week, we think Jerry, Daniel, and Korto make the top three, with Daniel taking home first win bragging rights. To hedge our bets, we have all three on our week one Fafarazzi fantasy team, as you can see in the Fafarazzi widget somewhere in the right hand column here on the blog. (Scroll up and down; you'll see it.) You can tune in each week here at Gratz Industries for help with your picks.

On the bottom, we've got Kelli, Stella, and Blayne, with Stella making the early exit. Sorry, Stella--we just call 'em like we see 'em.

And we can't wait to see 'em. All of 'em. And don't forget--it's 9:00 pm ET this year, not 10:00 pm--and they're not repeating the episode right away.

We'll see you on the runway!

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The Brooklyn Nine: The Cover

At last, it can be shown!

The Brooklyn Nine cover is now official. I always get mock-ups of my book covers before they are finalized, which means I can't show them off to everyone the moment I get them. That's difficult, especially when I'm very happy with the cover--as I have been for each of my books so far. The cover for The Brooklyn Nine is no exception: I think it puts B9 (as I like to call it) in the same category as popular sports titles by authors like John Feinstein and Mike Lupica. Read: I think this is a very commercial cover, and commercial=good. Also, the plan is to have the cover printed on "metal tone paper with gloss lamination." Shiny.

Many thanks to cover artist Tony Sahara (designer of the Samurai Shortstop cover as well!) and editor Liz, who worked to get this one just right.

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The Hunt for Project Runway Season Five

Season Five of Project Runway is one week away--did you know? Even if you're a fan, you could be forgiven for not realizing it. Sure, Bravo is probably running lots of teasers during commercial breaks, but honestly, Project Runway is the only Bravo show we watch, so we're not seeing any of those. In the meantime, we constantly check in over at Blogging Project Runway, our favorite in-season and off-season PR info source, for updates. Only, the updates on Season Five have been few and far between.

Why? Well, not for BPR's lack of trying. It's that Bravo, usually gung-ho to over-hype each new season like it's ESPN the week before the Super Bowl, has given us nary a word. We don't have pictures of the new contestants, we don't have names, we don't have bios. Last year at this time, I was handicapping the odds for each contestant. (And I got pretty close.) This year? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

Is Bravo smarting over losing Project Runway to Lifetime next season, and vowing not to put too much time and effort into the promotion of a show that's skipping town in four months? That seems a bit short-sighted and spiteful. Season Five is theirs, after all, and you would think they would like to milk PR for all the first-run ratings they can before it's gone.

Or is this an overreaction to last season being perhaps the most over-hyped season of Project Runway ever? Last season we heard--constantly, it seemed--that "this was the most talented group of designers ever." Was it? Debatable. But it was certainly not the most entertaining season of Project Runway ever. In terms of entertainment only, I would certainly rank it below Seasons Two and One (in that order), and possibly below Season Three. For this somewhat flavorless season we had contestant interviews and audition tapes posted to Bravotv.com before the first episode, and before every subsequent episode we had two--sometimes three--teaser videos with clips from the upcoming show. Even for the die-hard Project Runway fan, it was a bit of information overload. But to go cold turkey now seems like an extreme reaction, if that's the reason.

I suppose too there's always the time factor. Season Five is going to air less than a year--heck, less than six months!--after Season Four, and arguably that's short notice to get a publicity campaign into high gear. But is it? If Project Runway is your highest rated show (and I don't have numbers on that, but I have to think it's right up there) don't you make the time to promote it? At the very least, get some intern posting bios and pics to the web site? Yes, everyone watching Bravo shows is probably getting an overdose of those generic Project Runway teasers with Heidi scissor-walking on buttons and Tim crossing one arm over his chest and putting the other to his chin in a mock "This concerns me" pose. But for the rest of us, it's been radio silence--like Project Runway is the Red October and we're Jack Ryan trying to find it.

Perhaps I'm being naive here and not understanding how things work at major cable networks, but the information blackout surrounding Project Runway Season Five seems very mysterious to me. Regardless, we'll do what we can next week to preview Project Runway Season Five, Episode One! See you then.

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Super Swell Shoes

I love these shoes. They aren't my size, but it looks like the artist does custom orders here. Maybe I'll look through some Roy Lichtenstein art and place a custom order. . .

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I Love a Parade!

Look! It's a parade!

It was a fabulous Fourth of July celebration at Penland - celebrated on the second, lest there be any confusion about how I am posting this on the morning of the fourth. There were cicadas!

Kids from a clowning class offered this summer. . .

More clowns.

Warriors. . .

And former warriors.

Red, white and blue. . .

And more red, white and blue.

Throw in a beautiful setting. . .

Kids and puppies. . .

And a bonfire (alarmingly close to the fireworks) and you have one fabulous Fourth. Happy Independence Day everyone!


EDIT: More pics of the Penland celebration (including a couple with us in them!) over at Sawdust and Dirt, the blog of our potter friend Michael Kline.

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Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. . .

Today I had to take away Jo's "meditation room" aka the large box that has been set up in my sewing room, in which Jo likes to spend an inordinate amount of time. It was the only size box that would fit some of the things I needed to ship out.

Jo was REALLY upset and I was feeling REALLY guilty - but then I remembered she has this tent-thingie in her closet that we could set up as a replacement.

Success! She spent all day adorning her new meditation room. Why meditation room? It started out with her pretending to be Raven from the Teen Titans animated series - she needed a quiet place to chant, meditate, and be annoyed with Starfire. It quickly evolved into a dark place (she covered it with a blanket to make it extra-dark) where she liked to hang out, eat snacks, and bang away at her typewriter.

I especially like the sign.
Sometimes I wonder what she'll be like as a teenager. . .

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