Merneith

Lots of poor people owned slaves, too. It wasn't just the big plantations. The point is - even the poorest, non-slave owning southerner went to war against America to defend their right to own slaves (whether they actually did or not.) And then when they lost the war, they started the KKK, which was a terrorist organization willing to kill black people (and those who stood up for them) in order to oppress them. That's why the KKK symbol is a confederate flag. Because it was started by ex-Confederates in order to terrorize former slaves and abolitionists. We're still dealing with the fallout from that terrorism. Everything I just wrote there is factual. Southerners flying a Confederate flag for "Southern Pride" is like Germans getting swastika tattoos for "Bavarian Pride". I don't know why Southerners are proud to be Southern. (I'm from Ohio. I'm not "proud" of that. I didn't ask for it. I didn't work for it. I don't know why anyone would care. I certainly don't.) But Southerners need to find some new way demonstrate that pride. Holding on to Confederate symbols doesn't not send a positive message.

Pretty ok season, all in all. I feared the worst when I heard "YouTube Stars" but they were ok, overall. Way less annoying than some of the superfan teams or other Reality Stars we've had. I can't argue with the placements, either. Everyone hustled hard for the finale and also for the last couple episodes. Matt & Dana pulled it together. If Cole is a beast, he gets it all from Sherri. Tyler & Korey were did their best even when they knew they were running last. Looking forward to a normal season, next time, I hope.

Nick S. is giving me a strong Neil Patrick Harris vibe.

Yeah. The KKK is pretty clear about the Confederate flag and what it's symbolizing. When the whiners can convince the KKK to stop waving that flag, then maybe I'll listen to arguments about how we should respect the "heritage" (... the "heritage" of rebelling against America and owning slaves, so then again, maybe not.)

It's just bizarre that FN is so in love with this guy. He made spaghetti. There's millions of other guys in America (and, like, ten million other grannies,) that can make spaghetti. Some of them even live in NYC if that's the attraction. I'm sure FN could grab any one of those millions of guys making spaghetti on any given day and they'd be better on the air than Dom is. He's had years to practice for this. He's just so bad at it.

Yeah, if can just fall off and get back on, anyone could smoke that section and learn on the way. Maybe you had to satisfy a judge or something before starting out. I'm rooting for Sherry just because she's beat my expectations for how she'd do on the race. And also because watching her chase after her unicycle was pretty great. I like Tyler & Korey ok. They're good racers, which is the main thing. I don't know why Burnie was all sniffy about Tyler's shadiness. Didn't the teams agree to keep their clues under wraps and try and hide them from the other teams? Whatever. I'm not a fan of Matt & Dana but I can't blame Tyler for wanting to them to the finals instead of Burnie & Ashley.

I'm not crazy about Amanda but I guess I'd rather they be together than all this stupid to-ing and fro-ing. And yes, the divorcee thing will be a scandal, plus, The Baby. The Established Church will really not be happy with Leonard and Sidney for dragging their Archdeacon into the spotlight. I want to see Leonard find his mojo but whistleblowers always get it in the shorts. (Don't cry, honey. That smarmy git doesn't deserve you.) Sidney owed that barmaid an apology. And he's an idiot for passing up Margaret. Good for Mrs. M! Jack's a sweetie! Kathy - I don't blame you for being angry but you either need to leave or make lemonade. I too was yelling, "Kiss him!" doing Sidney and Geordie's scene. I thought the whole "stash the victim in the root cellar and hope for the best" story to be so dumb. It's funny but I do like this show, as much as they moan on about things.

OMG - I just realized that they must be gearing up to do another season of Under the Gunn and these four winners are going to be the "mentors". ETA: Flustrated is a really great word.

I hope Nina Garcia throws down next week. She might be the only one left who can preform the Sam-ectomy we all rightly deserve. My fear is that the returning four designers will give Sam the technical help he needs to hang on.

Her little boy is just weapons-grade adorable, too.

I thought Walter should have won. I thought his makeups were the most ambitious. I also like his possessed makeup best. I thought Rob's was kind of basic. I like Melissa's better than Rob's, too. I think her demon was the best overall. I liked her cyclops guy.

Meh. Being good at this gameshow doesn't mean anything about a person's stability or mental state. OR about their artistic talent. All these reality show comps are unreal that way. They don't match real world conditions and that's by design. These shows are designed to keep the contestants on the ragged edge. Some people thrive in these circumstances and some won't. It doesn't say anything about who the real Sarah Miller is.

The topic was politicians. Maybe they couldn't find a tenth president. Who the hell wants a politician's face staring out at them in the mirror, anyway? Talk about twisted ...

Tr'Duane!!!

It's true that I have never been to a polo match in Argentina - which is Argentina's loss, let me tell you - but if I did go to a polo match in Argentina, I would not wear a Dress Barn Post-Easter Sale Special. Whoever was responsible for not giving Dom the win deserves a kick right in the forks. I can only assume that outfit was too clever for them.

It bugged me that Rob's creature, which started out with bat arms, suddenly evolved a third set of limbs to be its arm-arms, while also evolving bipedal upright posture. Why go to the trouble of evolving an upright foot and hips and a whole third set of arms if you already know how to fly. Either make the wings vestigial or evolve the wing "thumb" to be more of a pincer. It bugged me - probably more than it should - that all of the evolutionary movement was toward making the creatures look like humans in masks. I guess I would have sent Walter home, because those wings were made of fail, but I have no complaints about putting Mel out of her misery. Also - I'm glad that the finale will be another camera challenge, but they should have scheduled at least one camera challenge in the body of the competition, just for practice.

Burt's shotel was super impressive. At first I thought maybe he'd have a problem with his blade not having such an extreme hook, but his blade preformed so well it was like he took the shotel into the next generation. Also, the steel pattern was stunning and the dark wood handle was elegant. It was just an aesthetic triumph all around. And - it would keel.

It was - good catch! I like Leonard so much. I'd hate to see him get hurt. OTOH, I'd hate for them to whitewash his problems. Poor guy was trying so hard, with the kids. Kids are the worst. Like everyone else on the planet except Sidney and apparently the producers, I'm all the way over Amanda.

Maybe I'm crazy but I swear - didn't Emily say that she chose Alexander's fabric because she was attracted to the whimsy of the polka dots? I mean, you could see the giant polka dots through the bag - what did she think she was going to get when she chose the giant polka dots? I hated that weird extra piece on the top of the crop top. I hated that red fabric altogether. It looked like burlap. I hated that she used the polka dots for trim. It was all so home-sewer. I'd bet money that Sam was planning to make another lace dress exactly like the white one, where he cut out the lace figures and then tacked them together. Still Kini's swimsuit coverup was so half-assed. I didn't like Dom's. I liked the stripes, and I liked the colors, but it had those weird edges on the side and I hated that one random piece that was diagonal. And I hated the swoop in the back. I thought Ken's look was something Eve Longoria would wear in Telenovela, but the guest judge would have looked better in it than she will in Dom's. Valeri's model looked smokin'. I think for that alone, Leylana should have gone home instead.

Worgen are Humans who have been cursed to be Werewolves (long story.) In the game, they can appear as either Humans or Werewolves. One of the classes (ie - jobs) that a Worgen can do is a Druid. That's the class that Melissa wanted to depict. Druids are spellcasters who can turn into other animals. They can turn into a hawk and fly, turn into a sealion and swim fast, turn into a bunch of things. That's the job's big advantage is its versatility. One of the things that Druids can turn into is a Cat. The Cat form is a fast and agile fighter. This is what a Worgen Druid looks like when she's a Cat - Melissa wanted to show her Worgen in the Werewolf form while she was transitioning into the Cat form. So she was pretty much doomed from the start. You just can't do that with a single prosthetic. Designwise - she was all over the place. One of the things that makes the art in WoW so successful is that everything is very specific and intentional. It's a cartoon - but it's all deliberately a cartoon. You don't get vague transitional forms or ambiguous gender fluidity (Yvonne.) Also, Death Knights are not Zombies. Zombies are a whole other thing. Death Knights are Undead, and Zombies are Undead, but Death Knights are Not Zombies, any more than they are Vampires, Ghouls or Skeletons. Walter did a bitchin' Draenei Death Knight. Except for Walter, I was bummed over all. This crew just falls down every time they have to implement someone else's vision. If they can't wing it, they don't know what to do.

For all the talk about Picasso's artistry, I was never as impressed with anything he drew as I am compared to Meghan Jean's work. I thought his mask was a bra for the longest time, with the weird shading of the eyes sockets and no real nose to speak of. I won't miss him, although I would have sent that stupid redwood tree home first.

Mel's actual inspiration:

Ugh. Cleen lost his season because the judges felt that he hadn't met the challenge. That's what they've seen him do before. That was such a horrible drawing, he totally dropped it again. Mind you, the whole tattoo concept was dumb as fuck. "My super talent is being a sexbomb!" I wish Dave had taken him aside and said, "Son, just no." And the frogs? What the fuck with the frogs? And I mean I get the guy wanted paparrazi - how does that turn into frogs with cameras? He put frogs all over the guy's back! I laughed so hard. And it's huge. there's going to be no covering this stupid frog thing. And the client loved it! What a laugh! Yeah, that was bad. I wouldn't have sent Cleen home. But it was bad. Picasso's was clearly the worst thing that wasn't a super hero. Also, the winner's was not really a comic book superhero, either. That's a specific style, and while it was a good drawing, it didn't say comicbook the way Sausage's did. I'd like Sausage a lot more if he'd just shut it with the whinging. No one bullied you by giving you difficult skull picks. Dumbass.

I'm having a hard time understanding why Robert's Cat Genie didn't meet the challenge but the Dragon genii (who looked just like last week's Dragon Queen) did. Also: Jughead? Proactive Leprechaun? Elephant! The Musical Genii - which I kind of liked, but still. All I could picture was this: https://youtu.be/VbXowkRPwkI?list=PL08B8BA456E0B19EC&t=84 At least their trunks could move. Mel's was a half-assed version of Jughead with crappy paint, crappy applications, her usual hand-wringing whinge. "It looks like a cat! What should I do!" Well, stop sculpting a cat face, for starters. Maybe go look at a Gazelle, if you've never seen one before. They're different animals. They look nothing like cats. Mr. Westmore told her to use the delicate etchings for inspiration so she makes a big clumsy head that looks like a bad case of ringworm. I get that people are tired of Robert's schtick, but he didn't have the worst makeup up there, today.

Hah! They showed that Skyrim shield and even before they identified it, I said, "Oh, that's the Targe of the Blooded from Skyrim." Guess those guys took the Arcane Blacksmith perk.