July 13, 2006

"Project Runway"!

It's back. Season Three. Did you watch the opening two shows? I saw it last night when I was very tired, so I'm not sure I absorbed it all that well. So, just a few stray observations:

1. Malan is sooooooo annoying. Was he put on the show just because he was that annoying and willing to go about being so openly annoying all the time? I've got a bit too much of a feeling that he deliberately presented himself that way to get onto the show and it worked. I don't want to reward that by enjoying him. But isn't it absurd to spend any time thinking about reality show ethics? I'm going to argue no, it's not. We're talking about a world in which you are already watching the show, devoting your attention to it. You might as well benefit from the pleasurable side effects of having a human brain. This sophisticated organ can be exploited for sheer, pointless fun.

2. That guy with the writing tattoo'd all over his neck? I'm fed up to here with looking at his neck! Why would you go and mess up your whole neck like that? How can his judgment about anything be trusted?

3. That basket-hat guy who looks like the young Elton John? Vincent. We're worried about him. But I bet he pulls it together. Andrae seemed loony in that crying jag scene early in Season 2, but he turned out to have a sound mind to go along with his brimming emotions. (Similar: Dave on "Top Chef.") I don't think they'd edit in so much footage if he really was mentally compromised.

4. I hated seeing everyone ripping up the apartment to show their dedication to competition. Ordinarily, in the past, contestants have had to scrimp or be judicious in gathering raw material. You'd have X amount of money in a particular store, in most cases. Here, it was first come, first served, and players greedily stuffed as much as they could into their bags. It reminded me of one of that old supermarket shopping spree game show where they put all the hams in the cart. Too ugly! And then we were supposed to laugh that they had to deal with the consequences of their own destruction by having to live in their ruined apartments!

5. The woman that got kicked off? Well, of course, she deserved it. She didn't know how to work a sewing machine! And no one wants to wear grandmother's underpants...

ADDED: A commenter offers this link of an NPR interview with WaPo fashion critic Robin Givhan. She refers to a new column of hers... ah, here it is. There's a lot about Malan -- Malan Breton: "Breton dresses in formal suits and wears his dark hair slicked back. He has the sleepy eyes of Macaulay Culkin and a self-conscious accent that sounds like a mix of Madonna, Martin Bashir and the Geico gecko." [Link fixed.]

12 comments:

angieoh! said...

PR is a FANTASTIC SHOW! I am so excited it has returned. I had several thoughts after last nights show:

The winner... man, that dress did not seem inventive. He had a ton of fabric from the sheets. He made a plain, blue dress, albeit a tasteful one. I would have liked to have seen more creativity rather than just workmanship.

I love the Barbie designer. As a long time Barbie fanatic, I like his attitude and sensibility so far with his design, the silver sparklies on that dress were GORGEOUS!

What is with Malan... I agree Ann, that guy has to go. How annoying. And phony. Geesh!

I have heard several people say that Robert, (the guy with the coffee filter dress?) was copying Chloe from last season but I thought it was fresh (not fresh brewed, he he he!).

Keep up the recaps, Ann, I love your comments!

MadisonMan said...

I don't watch, but Project Runway was discussed on NPR yesterday, on Talk of the Nation. Let's see if I can add the link. Here

The host talked to Robin Givhan from the Post.

Laura Reynolds said...

Hams in the shopping cart, a very funny image of an old memeory.

Maxine Weiss said...

I don't watch TV in July.

And, neither do a lot of other people:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/11/news/economy/pluggedin_gunther.fortune/index.htm

Peace, Maxine

price said...

Neck tattoo guy: anyone else notice that he didn't have the tattoo in his bio video? Did he go and get it just for this occasion?

Joan said...

You might as well benefit from the pleasurable side effects of having a human brain.

Quite possibly my favorite Althouse quote, ever.

Alas, I'm missing PR while away from home, but I'll be able to catch it in repeats, I'm sure -- and I'm looking forward to it.

tiggeril said...

Why did they always go for the hams on Supermarket Sweep?

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2006/07/talking_with_ti.html A fantastic interview with Tim Gunn.

tiggeril said...

Dangit.

New link: http://tinyurl.com/ht6od

The Drill SGT said...

I'm sorry, the WaPo is my local paper and ANYTHING that Robin Givens likes, I am pre-disposed to abhor.

Won't EVER watch the show, but Malan is out as far as I am concerned.

C said...

Malan = a young Fred Fenster (Benicio del Toro) in The Usual Suspects. A quick search on GoogleImages helped me put my "who does he remind me of?" feeling at ease...for now.

knox said...

I thought that overall the designs for the first challenge were pretty good compared to previous seasons.

I think the redhead lady should have won. At least her design was unique and creative with materials. The winning dress was ultimately pretty boring and anybody who makes it onto the show could create a drape-y dress with bedsheets. Oh well. It seems like they always tend to err in favor of some jackassy guy early in the season.

As far as the "worsts," I think Elton John should have been eliminated; the judges were all so distracted by his basket hat, they overlooked the stupidity of those pockets on his dress... basically the whole think looked like a scrapbooking project.

Blondie said...

I'm on a Project Runway roll ... home sick the past few days and Bravo aired marathons of Season 1 and 2 before the Season 3 opener.

I didn't like the guy who won the first challenge, mainly because he thought he didn't need to listen to Tim Gunn. Granted he won, but he seemed like an egomaniac.

My sister and I really like the redhead (despite the Annie Lennox like commercials) and hope Vincent sticks around for a while to liven up the crazy factor.

And Tiggeril, thanks for the Tim Gunn interview link. Good stuff.