Fluff

Image by Totally Severe via Flickr

Ok, allow me this fluff.  I looove Project Runway.  So much so that I even like watching the really annoying and totally pointless 30 min show afterward about the models just because I get more of the story.

This past Thursday was the season finale.  The guy won that I thought should win but what really struck me was the reunion show that they aired after.  Basically just got all the designers and models together to stir up past drama and see if they had more to say about those issues. 

Let me give you some back story.  Usually in the last episode before the finale the judges choose the three designers that are going to show at Bryant Park.  On this season, the judges couldn’t decide and chose 2 to go to Bryant Park (Emilio and Seth Aaron) and two that had to design their 10 outfits and come to the judges again and then they would choose who was going on.  So basically is was a showdown between two designers for that last Bryant Park spot, Jay and Mila.

I was totally pulling for Jay.  Hawaiian community college dropout with really innovative clothes as opposed to morose Mila whose clothes looked pretty much the same to me.  They chose Mila.  Ok, she had a great show, I liked what she sent down the runway.

In this PR reunion show, Jay and one of the models got in an argument and he ended it by telling her that she had “bad teeth and thick legs”.  Really, on national TV?  What a jerk.  I’m sure when he watches that moment on TV he cringes.  What an awful thing to say.  So, in the end, I’m glad Mila went.

Another designer, Anthony, had some very memorable quotes:
-Honey, you think your life is hard?  Imagine being gay, black, and from the ghetto.
-You don’t have to have the crown to be a queen.
-He had apparently said something really mean about Mila to some newspaper and on the reunion show he apologized to Mila.  Tim Gunn proceeded to tell him that the comment was very unladylike of him.  He responded, “Tim, I already apologized.  There’s nothing more I can do.  I can’t give her a kidney”

I love Project Runway.

Ok, I just spent the last couple hours writing my thoughts about the Health Care Reform Bill.  After I finished writing I decided to look up what the USCCB has to say about it.  I found that the USCCB disagrees with my conclusions.  Because of this I’ve decided to unpublish my post and reflect on it a little more.

In the mean time, here are some a-ma-zing music videos we’ve been watching over and over again by the band, OK go.  I usually don’t like watching things on YouTube but these are completely worth the time.  They are really works of art.

#1 The first one: Here It Goes Again (The Treadmill Video)

#2 That video inspired the Notre Dame marching band to do this routine at the USC game in 2008:

#3 The ND routine inspired the OK go band to use the ND band in one of their next music videos: This Too Shall Pass

#4 OK go then made another video for the same song that is totally mind blowing; if you only watch one of these videos, watch this one:

Image via Wikipedia

It’s funny to me how different the crowds are that flock to Austin for whatever event is in town.  And the way I get to see these different crowds is at our HEB.  I have a love/hate relationship with our HEB.  I like the super diverse crowd that shops at it.  It’s not all yuppies, college students, and professionals. Much of the clientele is Hispanic families and homeless people.  I do wish, though, that the milk refrigerators didn’t always smell rancid and I swear we get the leftover/blemished and bruised produce from other HEBs.  Anywho, this is what I have observed:

ACL – Lots of scantily clad people flood our HEB.  Guys in baggy cargo shorts and flip flops.  Girls in bikinis with see-through/meshy shirts to cover themselves while inside.  Immodesty abounds but they get their comeuppance when the next week everyone is a bright pink color and peeling.

The Biker Convention – There is lots of black leather, bandanas, and women with hair that is way too long for their age tied in braids.  I also see very interesting uses for leather in women’s tops.  Leather fringe, leather with studs, leather halter tops, leather tube tops.  Strangely enough the women usually look fake-baked tan and wear this almost glowing neon pink shade of nail polish.

SXSW – This week I have seen the people that SXSW brings.  Girls and guys is skin-tight skinny jeans with converse shoes, fedora hats, pale people mostly.  Guys with hair that looks deceptively unkempt but actually took them 30 mintues to fix in the morning.  It seemed their purchased item of choice was lots of beer and I observed a quite a few boxes of Franzia on the conveyor belts.  (Funny quote by someone recently: Life is too short to drink Franzia.)

I love that Austin attracts all these different people.  What I don’t love is the driving.  Austin visitors suck at driving.  They drive super slow because their trying to take a picture of the Capitol from their car while simultaneously swerving across lanes of traffic because they see an open parking spot.

Ausitn visitors – we’re glad you’re here.  We don’t even mind that you’re weird and wear inappropriate clothes, but if you make me miss another green light because you’re pointing out Hey Cupcake! I’m going to throw a cupcake at you and mess up your fauxhawk.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I’m not sure what was different but I thought this was one of the most memorable Academy Awards shows I have seen.  The actors and actresses just seemed really sincere and humble and gracious.  (And I thought the dresses were fabulous.)  This really struck me as very different from shows in the past.  All the memorable winners in the past have been people that have gone nuts when their names were called.  Cuba Gooding Jr.  Roberto Benigni.  They were running around, jumping, so excited. 

This is the opposite of how Monique and Sandra Bullock reacted when their names were called.  I’m not sure they even smiled but their words were gracious and seemed genuine.  With the look that Sandra Bullock had on her face, I actually thought she was going to refuse the award .  I don’t think it’s bad for actors/actresses to be happy and excited when they win but this change in the etiquette for winning an Oscar is kinda awesome. 

I thought Sandra’s speech was really touching.  I thought the way she talked about moms and her mom was really something that America needs to hear.  Too many parents want to be “cool” and want to be their kids’ “friend”.  You can’t do this.  You have to be their parents.  You don’t get good parent points when your 8 year old looks “hot” or when you let your kids do whatever they want because you want to be “down”.  I want to be the kind of mom that Helga B. was.  A good mom.

Here’s Sandra Bullock’s speech if you’re interested:

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“Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?  I would like to thank the Academy for
allowing me the last month to have the most incredible ride with rooms full of
artists that I see tonight, that I’ve worked with before and I hope to work
with in the future. Who inspire me; who blaze trails for us. 

Four of them that I have fallen deeply in love with, I share
this night with and this award with.  Gabby,
I love you so much.  You are exquisite.  You are beyond words to me.  Carey your grace and your elegance and your beauty
and your talent makes me sick.  Helen, I feel
like we are family, real family and I don’t have the words to express just what
I think of you.  Meryl, you know what I think
of you and you’re such a good kisser.  

I have so many people to thank for my good fortune in this
lifetime and this is a once in a lifetime experience, I know.  To the family that allowed me to play them,
the Tuohy family, who I know are in here.  You’ll probably hear her in a minute.  Maybe not.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to
play you.  To the family that made this
film that gave me the opportunity to do something different. [Listed people I don’t
know]  To everyone who showed me kindness
when it wasn’t fashionable I thank you.  To
everyone who was mean to me, George Clooney threw me in a pool years ago, I’m
still holding a grudge.

But there are so many people to thank but there’s not enough
time so I’d like to thank what this film was about to me which is the moms that
take care of the babies and the children no matter where they come from.  Those moms and parents never get thanked.  I in particular failed to thank one.

If I can take this moment to thank Helga B. for
not letting me ride in cars with boys until I was 18 because she was right.  I would’ve done what she said I was gonna do.
For making me practice every day when I got home.  Piano, ballet, whatever it is I wanted to be.
She said to be an artist, you had to practice every day, and for reminding her
daughters that there’s no race, no religion, no class system, no color,
nothing, no sexual orientation that makes us better than anyone else. We are
all deserving of love. So, to that trailblazer, who allowed me to have that.  And this.  And this. 
I thank you so much for this opportunity that I share with these extraordinary
women and my lover, Meryl Streep.“

The whole Meryl Streep lover thing was kinda weird but I’m all for actors and actresses using their celebrity to inspire America to be humble and good parents.

Image via Wikipedia

I love the Olympics.  Love it.  I didn’t get to watch the whole opening ceremony but I was able to watch the beginning and the parade of nations.  I’m never too excited to watch the cultural part of the ceremony but I was very impressed with Vancouver’s.  It was pretty amazing that they gave their aboriginal peoples such a huge spotlight.  It was beautiful to see each tribe honored individually and their representatives given so much time on stage.  I just can’t ever imagine the United States doing the same.  I don’t have any idea how Canada has treated their native peoples but the way the Native Americans have been treated in this country has been and is still appalling.  Maybe one day, even despite the awful history, our nation will sufficiently have made it right and will be in a place where they can justly and without guilt give tribute to the native peoples of our land and showcase this to the world.

Ok, onto fluffier stuff.  My favorite part of the opening ceremony is that I love, love, love seeing what outfits the athletes are wearing as they come in.  I know, I am ridiculous but it’s true.  It’s so interesting what athletic garb each nation chooses to showcase to the world. 

One of the commentators mentioned how all the athletes stand lined up in the parking lot as the ceremony gets started waiting for their country to be called.  What a funny mental image.  The world’s athletic prowess all waiting in alphabetical order on the asphalt outside like a high school graduation practice.  I especially had to laugh when the Bermudan athletes walked in wearing blazers, ties, button-up shirts and Bermuda shorts.  They must have been cold in that parking lot.  Thank God they are in the Bs. 

Fast forward to actual competition.  I really love clothing design and what it says about the person wearing it.  As I was watching the snowboarding competition (which I really love) I was totally taken aback when the US competitors were wearing jeans.  Not just jeans but jeans with that fake faded and torn look.  What?  Can you really compete at the Olympic level in fake-torn-and-faded jeans?  Then to put this even more over the top, as I looked at the pants more closely, I realized they were actually just ski pants printed with the fake-torn-and -faded-denim look.  Holy cow.  Snowboarders.  What badasses. <<cough*sarcasm*cough>>

Another thing I love about the Olympics is how different it is from professional American sports like football or basketball.  These athletes are not rich.  (Well, most aren’t)  They just love the game.  And I love hearing all the personal side stories.  One figure skater who is married and has a 5 month old is at the Olympics despite his wife being laid off from two jobs and them barely being able to make end’s meet.  Then there is Chinese couple that figure skated as partners for many, many years until one day he asked her to marry him.  They are competing right now as the oldest couple in figure skating.  Ancient compared to all the teens competing with them and they are really rocking it. I live for Bob Costas and his human interest stories.

Oh, Olympics, how I love thee.