sleepyjean

You can tell Elise feels a little sorry for Nikki. And that right there tells you how messed up this situation is. Was anyone else chanting out loud "don't do it Nikki, run away!" But of course she did, because it would've left her ass in Hawaii with no way home.

Ugh. These two. It pains me to see Aleksandra marrying this ...this...boy. If a (hetero) woman is going to be married, she ought to marry a man. One who has his own place, pays his own bills, and directs his own life. Josh seems child like in so many ways. Aleksandra has lived an independent life, and seems young but more mature. She seems to be working very hard to suppress her natural personality and inclinations. I suspect the real Aleksandra is lively, and funny, and interesting. Pretty much the exact opposite of Josh. He's a nice boy, but doesn't seem to have much to offer. Other than citizenship.

I'm not saying Loren is dumb, but she doesn't seem to have much in the way of forethought or insight. She's all about what's going on right now. For her. And she spends a lot of time in her feelings. I binge-watched the entire season today, and two things really stood out to me. First was the call to Alexei's family. His family is upset. Alexei is missing them. And somehow it became all about Loren and how her feelings were hurt. Instead of comforting him, she ran off to the bathroom and locked him out. WTF is that about? Second was the whole underwear modeling thing. The way she kept talking about Alexei like he as a piece of meat really grossed me out. I mean, it's great that you find your mate attractive, but she was so focused on the whole world finding him attractive. She wants everyone to see who she is with. She literally wants everyone to see her man in his skivvies and be jealous of her. It was puzzling in one way, because from the neck up, his looks are average (to me.) And it was also puzzling because let's say the whole modeling thing took off. Did she think she'd be able to go to his jobs with him? Did it occur to her at all that he'd probably have to travel and spend a lot of time with beautiful female models, who would also be in their underwear? As if she'd be ok with that. It's like she just wants arm candy.

Until the part where he said when Melanie finds out, she's going to be angry, but he's going to do it anyway. And then the part after that when he lied and said he meant he'd only send money if his family asked for it. Conveniently leaving out that his family has in essence, already asked forit, and he has tacitly agreed to give it. I have so many questions about that phone call with Devar's sister, and the subsequent discussion with Mel's sister. 1. Were Devar's sisters NOT working at all before he left? Melanie said they were able-bodied. 2. Why is he only supporting two of them, and why can't the 7 other siblings help? 3. Why were his sisters unaware that he would not be able to work for several months? If he was supporting them before he left, surely they had some sort of discussion about what his leaving would mean. 4. Was Melanie unaware that Devar was supporting his family? 5. What kind of work does Devar expect to do in PA? Do medic skills in Jamaica translate to the US? Is it that he thinks he'll be making so much money that sending 90% of it to the relatives will still leave him with enough to live a fine life in PA? Or does he just have zero understanding of the cost of living in the US? 6. If Devar's sisters are working, why can't they support themselves? Did they have too many kids? Did they buy too much of a house? What's the reason why they are living beyond their means?

I think Nyle and his brother are pretty similar in their features. The main difference is their coloring. If you gave Nyle a sunburn and bleached his facial hair and the hair on his head, he and his brother would look quite similar. I didn't take issue with Mame's behavior. Being sent away by your parents is a big deal to every kid. It has a huge impact. Even if the kid is sent to be raised by people living in wealth and luxury. It's not the same as your parents. And phone calls and mail don't make a damn bit of difference to a little kid. Her parents CHOSE to leave her. Even if it was for her own safety, they CHOSE to live a life thousands of miles away from their child. That is the kind of thing that really messes with your head during those formative years. It doesn't shock me at all that Mame felt, and still feels like she was abandoned. I felt for her. There she is on the show, surrounded by all the other contestants who clearly have close relationships with their moms, and Mame is standing there, feeling the distance, the awkwardness with a mother she rarely sees and doesn't know well. And when she said she wishes she could have been with her parents (which in my opinion was a natural comment to make, under the circumstances), her mother said nothing. Not even "I wish we could've been together too, sweetie." Now, maybe Mame is a brat about it and complains about it all the time. Maybe her mother didn't want to air their differences on tv. Maybe there are all sorts of nuances in that relationship. But what I saw on tv was a woman saying she wish she could've been raised by her parents, and her parent completely shrugging it off. My anger is for the mother, not Mame. I don't have a lot of heart for someone who hands her child off to someone else to raise. It should take extremely dire circumstances to separate a mother from her child.

I only saw five minutes of this show. That was just long eough to wonder what the hell was that green thing sticking out of kelly osbourne's head, and to observe that the host isn't any good. The way she asked "would you like to know what the prizes are" really grated on me. She did it in the same tone of voice you use when you're asking a group of 5 year olds if they'd like a cookie.

In retrospect, given the clearly preordained Ashley win, the ousting of Swapnil makes all the sense in the world. They couldn't keep him around, because there was no chance that Ashley's finale collection would even be in the same ballpark as his. (And it wasn't.) He must've made it terribly difficult for the writers, because he didn't give them much to work with. He was a nice guy, a talented guy, no drama, no BS, most people liked him. There was no real reason to get rid of him, but they had to come up with something, so they went with something unprovable to the viewing public: he just wasn't applying himself. He helped the plot move along with that last stinker of a garment. It wouldn't surprise me if the true story was that he caught wind of the pre-determined outcome of this season, realized it was complete BS, and mentally checked out.

I watched the first 45 minutes of this episode, saw the way the wind was blowing, and fast forwarded to the end. It is very obvious that they intended, almost from the very beginning of the season, to make Ashley the winner, regardless of her performance. How disappointing.

That was such a weird moment, when Diane asked if she'd done anything to her lips and HB said "....what?" As if she hadn't been paying attention. Either that that was incredibly bad editing, and the "what?" was totally out of context, or Hanna is a real dim bulb.

I was really surprised that Diane chose Hanna Beth. (And I hope that at some point she stops calling her Annabeth.) HB seems the least prepared and the least natural fit in terms of personality. Why choose the one who is least outgoing, the least comfortable with strangers, speaking in public, and selling, and the one who least embodies the brand? (Or has done the least to pretend to embody the brand, LOL.) Aren't those the most important aspects of the job? HB seems like the girl most likely to embarrass the brand. What with her messy break up, the faux pas with trotting around town to get photographed in the pseudo-DFV outfits, and the topless photo on her own blog. (That was art, of course.) But then I had to think about what this really is. It's not about finding the person who is most fit for the job right now. It's about Diane getting a charge out of "mentoring young girls." I thought the mentoring stopped when the competition was over, but no. DVF is clearly looking forward to molding and polishing someone on a longer term basis, and out of the three, HB is certainly the one most open to that. She's the 2.0 version of the girl from last seasons that DVF really liked (Tiffany something? The one with all of the tattoos.) I didn't watch the end, I just fast forwarded to see who was chosen. Did Diane offer anyone a job in the DVF warehouse? Did she pass out her personal contact info to anyone? Did Alli and Cat get the special DVF bags?

Here's what I don't get: Kelly and Candace both designed for themselves. I don't know who Ashley is designing for, because it's obviously not herself. I can't imagine her wearing one thing she showed last night. Or anything she has designed all season. There is a huge disconnect between her personal aesthetic and her designs, and that perplexes me. I also find it strange that she's getting all this "credit" for being a plus size designer, because her designs clearly aren't meant for plus size women. They are meant for plus size models, and as others have pointed out, it's not the same thing. The judges are continually patting Ashley on the back for making clothes for full figured women, when real full figured women, who jiggle, who have rolls, chafing, cellulite, and stretch marks, wouldn't be caught dead in her stuff.

There sure is a lot of Candace hate here. I don't dislike Candace. I don't find her entitled or snide, and most of her comments are on point and well stated. She was devastated, just like Edmond and Kelly were. Candace does have an extremely theatrical collection. While that's not my taste, everything looks well made and well fitted and it does seem like it would play well in the finale. The runway show is not a time to be understated. I will be sad for her if she ditches that giant dress with the hoopskirt. A lot of time, effort, and money went into that garment. Abso-freakin-lutely. Ashley seemed very proud of her dye job and clearly expected extra credit for that. It's not difficult to dye things to pastel colors. If she'd come up with some uniquely striking shades, or done a cool ombre or color wash, that would have been something to write home about. I guess the dyeing made sure the colors all matched exactly from garment to garment, but that wasn't a particularly amazing feat. It doesn't take a great deal of creativity or skill to dump a packet of Rit into a tub, throw the fabric in, and watch the clock for 15 minutes. Why would Edmond, who has been planning for this and and watching this show for so long, show up with an unfinished collection, and expect to have ample time to finish it? He knew there would be another twist that would eat into his time. Why would Ashley show up without a matching bra for that open-back lace top with the open back? And why would she show the judges such an ill-fitting crop top? Why would Kelly use nude mesh, knowing that she has no idea what her models' skin tone will be? Even if she brought four different shades of mesh to NYC, it's still likely it wouldn't match, and when it doesn't match, it looks so tacky. Who else is not surprised that when crunch time came, Ashley reached for purple fabric?

She's got visible roots in that photo. Maintaining that color has to be such a pain. Assuming all the redheads are back next year, it will be interesting to see who is still a redhead next year. I suspect maybe just Loren and Rachel, because it really doesn't do much for any of the rookies. I am still surprised that they've only got ten blondes this year. Maybe I'm mis-remembering, but it seems to me that blondes used to dominate this team.

I checked out Hanna Beth's website, just to see what it was about. I think my expectations were too high. Since blogging is her profession, I expected something more...er... professional. I expected more fashion. I expected a polished writing style. I expected the photography to be better. (The only other fashion blogger's site I've seen is Kier's, so that's my basis for comparison. Kier's photography is definitely on point.) HB's blog is not awful, it's just kind of meh for a 27 year old, especially considering how much it's been talked about on the show. This is her thing. This is what she's great at. Except, well...I'm underwhelmed. Things that perplexed me: 1. The website is called "BarbieBeth." Is that supposed to be ironic? Do I just not get it? Nothing about her seems Barbie-ish. Other than being pretty, she's pretty much the opposite of Barbie. 2. She's so much prettier when she's not putting on one of her two go-to facial expressions: the wan/looking off into the distance face, and the pouty blank-eyed face. She doesn't smile in photos except by accident. I'm wondering which school she falls into. Is it the Victoria Beckham "I don't like my smile" thing? Or is it the Kardashian "I'm avoiding wrinkles" thing? In either case she could benefit for a lesson or two on effective smizing. 3. Her recaps of the show episodes are oversimplified and disappointing. She faithfully retells exactly what happened exactly the way we saw it on tv. We went here. I said this. Cat did that. There is no additional insight or behind-the-scenes information. Not much in the way of descriptive detail. Her posts read as if they are written by a viewer and not by someone who was there and lived it. 4. Excessive use of '&' instead of "and" and completely inappropriate use of apostrophes. Examples: --"We were given 2 Fiat's covered in DVF print" --"Check out some photo's from the shoot" --"Halloween is one of my favorite holiday's" 5. She quotes her boyfriend, ModSun, as if his thoughts are extraordinary and/or profound. This is what good 'ol ModSun had to say about Andy Warhol: "He laughed at the critics but never under minded them." That actually is quite extraordinary, but not in a good way. (I mentioned the guy is called ModSun, right? Which, according to wikipedia, stands for "Movement On Dreams, Stand Under None." Whatever that means.) 6. She goes into a few rants about how wrong it is to judge people and how she hated being judged by Cat and that people should respect other people's feelings. And in my mind I go back to that moment when she snarked at Cree about being able to draw well, but having no style. If she could read this, she'd probably say it is judgmental of me to imply that she's judgmental. and lastly... 7. It blows my mind that anyone who calls herself a journalist (especially one currently writing a book she'll eventually want people to buy) would ever write any of the following: --"I have never wore tape extensions before" --"after Chantal had got her photo" --"There was literally a million boxes" --"Cat confronted me about tabloid & I freak out" My hope is that she just can't be bothered to proofread. Although I find it difficult to believe that she posts things and never looks at them again, not if blogging is her main gig.

When did Ashley shave the side of her head? Did she look like that on last week's episode?

I haven't been watching the show, so I don't know what all of the drama is about, but (a) I detest it when women are referred to as "females." As if they are animals, not human beings. And (b) it's absolutely no shock that there was more fighting going on. There has always been a distinct lack of maturity in the adults on this show and that filters down to their kids. Throughout the seasons, we've seen physical alternations, shouting matches, baiting one another, altercations in front of the children, and all sorts of behavior unbecoming to women who should be role-modeling for those young girls. They are all overly invested in something that is an afterschool hobby for their children. This is dance team, not saving lives. In my opinion, all of the parents need to reassess their priorities and Dianna needs to hold herself to a higher level of professionalism. I also wanted to say that I did request a Step it Up forum, and one has been created. It is very interesting to watch Bring It and Step it Up, side by side. Traci's organization is clearly organized and professional. It is obvious that Traci has had considerable professional experience and opportunities that Dianna did not. Traci's dancers are better, the technique is better, the choreography is better, and the costuming is better (although still tacky.) Dianna's group comes across as amateurish in every respect. Which isn't an insult, it just is what it is: an organization founded by a lady with little experience, but who liked to dance and is basically making it up as she goes along, and serving a clientele that doesn't know much about the dance world. Her kids are doing this as a hobby. Traci's kids are much more serious about dance and it shows. However, at least Dianna isn't the exhibitionist Traci is. Traci seems to be overly concerned with her look and her "effect" as she calls it. It's hard to look at her sometimes, she's got so much going on.

I never noticed it before, but Hanna Beth spent a lot of time stroking and playing with her hair. Has she been doing that all along or just this episode? It really didn't seem to me like Cat was doing anything wrong during the fitting. It always seemed like she was good in those situations. Jessica's feelings about Cat seem out of proportion for the amount of time she's spent with Cat. Jessica seems to have that irrational "I hate you because you remind me of someone I loathe" thing going on, that's more about her than about Cat. Kind of like my intense, somewhat unreasonable dislike for Kate Hudson. Gee another challenge where the girls show up to prep for something without enough time or guidance. I have to think if the fitting was such a big deal, Jessica would've gotten off her butt and helped set up. This week Hanna with the blouse cut to her navel. I never see Jessica, Stefani, or Diane in sheer, low cut out fits in the office. Jessica was wearing a freaking turtle neck! Apparently it does occur to anyone except Alli, who has received personal guidance, to be a little bit more reserved/less sexy at work.

I think they need to update the cut of the shorts. The current cut has such a low waist and such a short inseam that the shorts widen the backside of everyone who wears them. Even bringing the waistband up a couple of inches would make a huge difference and would still be well under the belly button. The ultra low-rise waistline went out of fashion a number of years ago. They would do well to bring the shorts more into line with the way they were initially conceived in the 1970s.

So what happened with the DNA test? Did they reveal the results yet? Was she there when the truth came out? (I'm assuming the test revealed no relation)

Can we talk about how awful that Rachel Zoe show is? I'm so glad they don't have those giant graphics in the middle of PR, but I'd be even happier if they also stopped running the commercials for the Zoe show during PR. The fact that no one requested to have a forum created here for it says just about everything. It is awful and forced and not funny. Which the producers should have known from the unfunny show promos all about how they needed to come up with funny segments.

The thing that interests me this season is we have some fiancees who seeemed perfectly happy where they were, and would be just fine if they had to go home again. As others have said, leaving that photo out was very deliberate. I just can't put my finger on why. Possibly it was to intimidate Nikki. Possibly it was so he could make a big show of replacing it (exactly the way he did). Possibly because he thinks he looks damn good in that photo, and just likes having it around. How about those Zebra sheets? Mark, you wild man, you. Mark is selling the story that the wife just changed overnight and took off. We're definitely not getting the whole story there. She stuck around long enough to have four children with him, so she put up with him for a good long time. If she really took off, never to be seen again (which he seems to be implying) I can't imagine why the kids would want photos of her around the house. It wouldn't surprise me to find out she lives just down the road and still sees the kids all the time. Did they not discuss this Florida plan before he got on the plane? Loren's surprise that he's not excited about staying with her folks betrays either a stunning lack of empathy, or a level of self-absorption that does not bode well for the relationship. Possibly both. In either case, it seems like only a matter of time until we hear "If you really loved me, you wouldn't have a problem with living with my parents." Aside from that, I don't really get this couple's plan. Is he going to hang out in Canada, while he waits to be approved? That seems like an expensive plan. Why not wait until he is approved before flying all the way out here? Seriously, what was that? If a dude came at me with a mouth like that, I'd back way the hell up. I enjoyed the fact that she immediately put her hand on the window again. I hope she challenges him every single time he tries to instruct her on the finer points of how he expects for their lives to go from now on. I'm sure we've only seen the tip of the iceberg as far as his rules and regulations go. Mark is an interesting guy. He seems to want people to think he's a laid-back kind of guy, but you barely need to scratch the surface to see how rigid he is. He seemed so uncomfortable with that first hug, but he was a good sport and rolled with it. He seemed to be on his best behavior, but he also seems like a pleasant, well-mannered, easy going guy, who is game to give this a legit shot. If he's only acting like a good guy, he's doing a pretty good job of it so far.

Random stuff that popped into my mind during this episode: What happened to Cat's belongings when Diane took her back to NYC in the helicopter? Cat wore a jacket to the event. She stayed in a hotel the night before. How did her stuff travel Boston back to NYC? I can't see Diane taking her by the hotel to get her suitcase. Once again, they send the girls on a mission, completely unprepared. Then show up and complain that nothing is ready. By now, Stefani should know the girls will need a lot of extra time for ANYTHING they are asked to do. Who decided the teams in Boston (team ugly tiger stripes vs team ugly leopard print)? I can't help but think that somebody deliberately paired Cat and HB together, hoping for some action. It was funny that, when neither of them had other girls to back them up, they made nice. Disappointing to see Alli picking up some of Cat's behaviors. I have no idea why Alli felt compelled to critique Leigh's behavior. And it was funny that Alli was talking about Leigh crying, and then Alli herself started crying during the whole "why do YOU think you can be the brand ambassador?" chat. Leigh's giant pink phone case is really really adolescent. I get that it's a cute and funny. However, it's not the kind of thing I'd whip out in a professional environment where everyone's emphasizing how young and inexperienced you are compared to everyone else. It looks like a toy. I hope Diane and her crew never saw Leigh with that thing. Leigh's performance at the social event wasn't out of self-centeredness, I don't think. Maybe I'm projecting, because I have this problem, but when I'm out of my element with strangers, and then I find something I can talk about, I tend to overdo it. I'm just so glad to be able to participate in the conversation. Cat's open front dress was a horrible choice. Inappropriate for the event, and did nothing to flatter her bony chest. I feel like these girls need to adopt the general rule of "when in doubt, DON'T have your boobs out." Hanna Beth seems to be shrinking and disappearing more each week. She seemed very confident at the beginning of this season. Now she's kind of a wallflower, and I wonder what she's even doing there.

Eeeeeyew. Is that you Kelly Cutrone?

I am all for pretty clothes for plus size gals. But I will never support crop tops and midriff cutouts for REAL "real" women, who have rolls. And stretch marks. I can't imagine wearing a crop top and being so uncomfortably aware all day that one wrong move and one of my rolls will come bulging right out. Looking at Ashley's collection, with its cutouts, crop tops and sheer panels, I have to wonder how much of it she would actually wear herself.

I just read one of those fan fics about some intense sexual tension between Seth Aaron and Tim Gunn. And now I will never be able to forget it.I would do anything for the power to go back in time and stop myself from clicking on that link. For God's sake, the rest of you stay away! Do you hear me? STAY AWAY!