Austin360 blogs > Tex & the City > Archives > 2006 > February
February 2006
Santino seduces me
… with his awesome Web site.. I’d stayed away before the finalists were revealed, lest he let any spoilers slip, but now I’m hooked. You can find a clip of “Project Runway: The Musical,” a Santino cake (!), a “Runway” “Star Wars” parody, news that Andrae! is selling his infamous shorts, photos of Santino at Red Lobster and plenty of genial self-promotion. “Santino,” I say, in Tim Gunn voice. “It’s gorgeous. You’re winning me back.”
And yet more “Runway”: Read about Heidi Klum’s guilty pleasures in the new InStyle, and check in with Diana Eng in Wired.
Permalink | | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
See…
This is why cats shouldn’t live in the forest.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
‘Race’ and Rhett
What a red-letter day in pop culture. Tonight at 8 is the return of “The Amazing Race,” again featuring two-person teams instead of the four-person family units of disappointing “TAR 8.” By all accounts, the show is back on track. Welcome back, Phil. All is forgiven.
As if that weren’t enough, Rhett Miller’s new album, “The Believer,” comes out today. In a blurb on amazon.com, Rhett describes the album this way:
“The songs on ‘The Believer’ are about sex, war, love and death … but mostly sex. Before going into the studio, I thought I’d be making a punk rock ‘Ziggy Stardust,’ but I wound up with George Gershwin does T. Rex’s ‘The Slider.’ “
That’s a good description. The album is a little rawer and harder than his last solo album, “The Instigator,” but still filled with great pop songs.
Also, based on my limited exposure, he seems like a nice person who deserves your support. In honor of the new CD, here’s a Rhett story:
Picture it, Austin, fall 2002. I have just been dumped. I have an ailment of a personal nature that involves drinking lots of cranberry juice. The dumper and I had tickets to a Rhett Miller show at the Parish, but instead I drink a lot of margaritas and go with my friend Erin. Rhett puts on a great show. I sing my lungs out.
Post-show, I hang around like a geek to get Rhett to sign my CD and thank him for the fine performance. I have to wait my turn because he’s talking to a couple of grandmotherly women. (I don’t know. I guess they just like cute boys, too.)
When it is my turn, I tell Rhett, “I’m so glad you played tonight, because I was having a terrible week.”
Instead of just saying “thanks,” he asks, all serious, “Is it getting better?”
I can’t believe he doubted the power of his own rock ‘n’ roll super powers to improve most anything, but I was touched by the kindness. I told him the week had gotten a lot better.
Of course, a few days later, my cat — my dear sweet little kitty Sally — bit me so hard I could barely use my right hand for a few days and I threatened to throw her in the river, but even Rhett couldn’t have prevented that. Although he would probably still feel bad about it.
Permalink | | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
Ricin, ‘Runway,’ Roky
I’ve never dined at Hudson’s on the Bend, and I’m looking forward to my inaugural visit next month. They already have a head start on charming me. When I made my reservations this weekend, the gentleman helping me closed the call by saying “You have a beautiful phone voice.” However, unless you are my date for Hudson’s that night, you do not have permission to call me to verify this for yourself.
The ricin scare is over now, so we can quit worrying and just savor the punning opportunities it gave us. At Saturday’s UT-Kansas basketball game, a fan held a sign that read “Texas is ricin to the challenge.” And the sign at the Fifth Street El Arroyo was “Try our ricin beans.”
The ricin sign was only the second funniest thing at the game, though. No. 1 was the brief chant that rose from the UT students when the Jayhawks were losing badly: “Worse than Baylor! Worse than Baylor!’ Heh.
Two of my favorite Horns fans were representin’ at the game. Guy Who Knows All the Dance Moves was in fine form, as was Tiny Cheerleader. I so love Tiny Cheerleader. In fact, I will amend my earlier statement: If you know Tiny Cheerleader, or if you yourself are Tiny Cheerleader, you can call me.
We were thoroughly and pleasantly surprised when Roky Erickson came out to play at half time, and even more delighted when he and brother Sumner (who had performed the National Anthem beautifully) showed up at Amy’s on Sixth just as we were leaving. It was one of those nights it’s especially good to live here.
It was a Horns kind of weekend. We wrapped up Sunday by watching the “Live the Dream” DVD of highlights from the football season. We almost gave up very early in the DVD because we were so aghast at the music: a rewritten version of “Long, Tall Texan” from the point of view of Vince Young. The writing was also achingly bad, the nadir being the phrase “the thrilla in Stillwata” regarding the Oklahoma State game. And it was hard to wrench much drama from blowout games. Like with the Rice game, most of the narration was about how hot it was that day. Somehow, I don’t think Houston native Vince Young was fazed by a little heat.
But we did enjoy the scenes of hip-hop dancing that broke out frequently in the locker room, Mack Brown’s pep talks and the shot of a VERY INTENSE Matthew McConaughey on the sidelines at the Rose Bowl. It made me, a girl who dated into the faith, eager for football season.
And speaking of reviewing higlights, I watched the “Project Runway” reunion episode again, because, of course, no episode of “Runway” can be properly appreciated until you’ve viewed it several times. Some thoughts:
— What was up with Lupe? I mean, even for someone who’d clearly imbibed before the show, she was talking crazy.
— How great was “Project Runway: The Musical”? Especially the finale (or, as Heidi Klum says it, “FEE-NAH-LEE!”) of the Daniel Franco song.
— Finally, and most importantly, the Andrae! montage ruled. Didn’t it make you just want to go through revolving doors?
Swear to God, I darn near burst into tears when I found out that Andy Griffith was at Don Knotts’ bedside when he died. Let’s take a moment for the world’s best deputy.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
Ready for ‘Runway’ reunion?
I know I am. Most of all, I’m ready to see Andrae! (I’ve decided to start spelling it that way), whose expressiveness I’ve missed in the past couple of weeks.
If you just can’t wait until tonight, you can download the episode on iTunes before it airs. And now I am making an Andrae!-like expression of awe at the wonder of it all.
After “Runway” is the special “Project Jay”, which follows the post-“Runway” life of Season 1 winner Jay McCarroll. It’s another serving of Bravo reality TV goodness. I didn’t watch the first season of “Runway,” but, in this hour at least, McCarroll comes off as complicated, endearing and frustrating. As he moves to New York from his home in rural Pennsylvania, he cracks jokes (often at his own expense) and veers from confident to needy.
Season 1 designers Austin Scarlett, Kara Saun and Wendy Pepper pop up, as does “Runway” den father Tim Gunn. “Runway” host Heidi Klum is never seen, but she looms over everything as Jay takes on the assignment to make her a dress for the Emmy Awards. “Project Jay” leaves you hoping the designer will make it, yet terribly afraid that he won’t.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
Miss Ricky?
If you’ve ever wished for just a few more perfect episodes of the original British “The Office,” Ricky Gervais has become quite the rock star in the podcasting world.
“The Ricky Gervais Show” has just wrapped up a 12-episode run, and will soon be back for a new season.
You’ll have to pay for the new episodes, but there are some free archived episodes still available at the Guardian Web site.
The show features Ricky, “Office” co-creator Stephen Merchant and their producer, Karl Pilkington.
Ricky and Stephen relentless rib Karl about his rather amazing views on life. Jeff (beau and podcasting guru) and I have devoted ourselves to the study of Pilkingtonian philosophy, which seems to question whether most things have any sort of point. Like space travel. And camels. Karl is also an avid supporter of survival of the fittest and advocates the return of dinosaurs to take care of overpopulation. He thinks Ricky (a very smart man, worlds apart from David Brent) worries himself with lots of useless things — such as science.
Karl also presents a regular feature called “Monkey News,” which tends toward stories of primates flying airplanes and hosting TV shows.
The podcast is laugh-out-loud (very loud) funny, and will have you dropping favorite quotes like “They found a dishwasher on Mars” in conversation.
In further good news, Ricky and Stephen are going to write an episode of the American “Office”, which has come into its own as an excellent show. The Valentine’s Day episode was a beaut, sad and funny and surprising. I’m eager for the show’s return post-Olympics.
Permalink | | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
Totally tiki
I like tiki-bar style. Once, I even hallucinated a promise of a tiki-bar in a guidebook’s description of a Key Largo hotel. (There was none, but our room had murals, so there was some consolation.)
But I hate tiki compared to how much these folks love it. Check out the photo gallery and have a mai-tai.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
Best. Show. Ever.
Are you ready for “Hello Kitty: The TV Series”?
Are you beyond ready? Have you been waiting for it all your life? Or is that just me?
Actually, the name of the show is “Hello Kitty, Stamp Village”, Sanrio reports. The series will air in several countries, with world peace no doubt soon to follow.
I hate to interject any troubling notes into such a lovely scenario, but a couple of things must be said.
First, consider this quote from the Yahoo! News story:
“The series to be done in clay animation revolves around Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters including the red-hooded bunny My Melody and the mischievous penguin Bad Badtz-Maru.”
When I started reading that paragraph, my thought was “Badtz-Maru had better be part of this, or I’m declaring eight kinds of boycotts.” That thought quickly changed to “Bad is part of Badtz-Maru’s name? Since when?”
Am I just not up on my Sanrio lore? I thought he was just good ol’ Badtz.
There is also this: The show is set in a forest.
Forest. Hello Kitty lives in a forest? I always imagined that Hello Kitty lived in a cute little cottage in a gentrified neighborhood or maybe a fourplex apartment building with her bike parked out front. And that she would ride her bike to her job, which would be at a fashion boutique (maybe one that she runs with Chloe Dao! And they would be my best friends and give me discounts!) or a bakery painted sunny yellow. And then after work she would ride her bike to a cute cafe and have tapas with Badtz-Maru and Chococat and then they would go dancing at the club where Badtz-Maru deejays. What’s she going to do in a forest?
This had better be good, Sanrio.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
California dreamin’
If only I had the Mamas and the Papas on my iTunes, I would rest my head in my hands and stare wistfully into space while a montage of favorite moments from our L.A. trip played.
(OK, never mind that this is the first cold, gray weather we’ve had in ages, and that usually Austin is a perfectly lovely place to be on a winter’s day. Let me have my montage.)
Our vacation was fantastic, start to finish, and you all are so kind to have given us your tips on what to do in L.A. I still can’t quite adjust to the fact that my job is here at this computer and isn’t driving around, visiting cool places, eating great food and making eyes at my beau. Because I think I’d be really good at that job.
I’ve described our entire L.A. itinerary in detail to patient friends and family, and frankly, I’m still not tired of doing so. But the Statesman expects me to do more than blog around here (you’re shocked, I know), so I’ll parse out highlights as I have time. First in a series:
— The scent of jasmine permeates Beverly Hills at night.
— At Warner Bros. studios, you can turn the corner from County General from “ER” and you’re in Stars Hollow from “Gilmore Girls.”
— Venice really has canals.
Permalink | | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
‘Runway’ rundown
I am trying to accept that Santino is going to Fashion Week. I knew it was coming, knew that they’d want to keep him around for the drama, but the reality is still pretty darn cold and hard.
It’s not so much the outcome of last night’s episode. Really, Kara didn’t have any business getting as far as she did, either. It’s more the process that got us here. Santino has too weak of a track record to be where he is.
I was nervous, nervous, nervous for Chloe during the entire episode. She did herself no favors by declaring at one point that she wasn’t sure she wanted to win (although she later recanted), and I think that’s why Daniel and Kara turned on her on the runway. That was hard to watch.
Chloe is still my favorite, but I think Daniel is going to win. Can’t you just see him in the ad for Daniel Vosovic cologne?
The episode also highlighted how the judges see the designs differently than regular folks like me do. Most of the girls I know would have absolutely no problem with Daniel’s “boring” dress.
Hmmm, I’m kind of glum and overdramatic about this, huh? I’m going to sing a few rounds of “Lighten Up, It’s Just Fashion.” Meanwhile, you should go read Tim Gunn’s blog.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
Hook ‘em again
“Live the Dream,” the official DVD of the Longhorns championship season, is out Tuesday. You can pre-order here.
(I know you were expecting “Runway,” but, hey, I can be well-rounded. Santino-bashing and the report on L.A. later.)
Permalink | | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
L.A. bound
So, any advice on what to do in Los Angeles? My beau, Jeff, and I are heading west on vacation, and I’m so excited I’m fidgeting in my chair, like Sarah Jessica Parker in “Footloose” when they were at the honky-tonk and she just wanted to dance but Willard (RIP, Chris Penn) was being all balky.
Your tips will be added to our vast database on L.A. activities. Looking things up is one of our shared interests as a couple, and now that it’s almost time to put our research into action I’m atwitter with geeky pleasure.
I’ve been to L.A. only once, for a work convention, a trip that included an excursion to the Viper Room — in a minivan. It was awesome. While faithful to Austin, I have a crush on L.A. I love the canyon roads, the cute little apartment complexes with courtyards, the way that everything looks slightly familiar because you’ve seen it in movies and on TV. Also, I’m a faithful reader of both Us Weekly and Francesca Lia Block. In short, I am ready.
Because I am not as filled with the Holy Spirit as Dave Thomas is, I won’t be reporting in from the road. I’ll make an exception if we get into a car accident involving Lindsay Lohan.
Your job while I’m gone, of course, is to watch “Project Runway,” repeatedly, and to analyze thoroughly. I’ll be keeping an eye out for L.A.-based designers like Santino and Nick.
Speaking of SJP, “Sex and the City” is now available in repackaged “Essentials” for 10 bucks a pop. While my gut reaction to cute packaging and “Sex and the City,” is “I want that,” I have to admit that, upon deeper reflection, I do not. What’s the point of “SATC” DVDs if you can’t watch episode after episode, following story lines and ignoring everything else?
And speaking of L.Lo, Lindsay — she’s just like me! In her lost diary, she reportedly wrote she had a cough she couldn’t get rid of. I have a cough I can’t get rid of! OMG!
OK, signing off till next week. Leave me some trip advice, and I’ll bring you back takeout from Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
Chloe!
An interview with “Runway’s” awesome Chloe Dao.
(Link found on the equally awesome Pink Is the New Blog.)
Permalink | | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
Important ‘Project Runway’ dates
This just in from from Bravo regarding the last three episodes of the season:
— Feb. 22: Reunion episode. New interviews with the designers, plus outtakes. I’m not sure how this will affect the premiere of “Project Jay”, featuring last season’s winner, which Bravo’s Web site still has airing at the same time as the reunion episode.
— March 1: The three finalists return home to work on their collections for Fashion Week. Each gets a visit from Tim Gunn. (Deep, deep envy. I want Tim Gunn to come visit me and tell me witty anecdotes.)
— March 8: The Fashion Week runway show.
Permalink | | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
Sometimes
I feel sad for the young people.
Permalink | | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
Diane in Defamer!
Our Diane Holloway’s “American Idol” scoop hits the L.A. gossip site. She’s also on EW’s Web site.
Permalink | | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
‘Runway’ recap
You know, if Andrae makes it big as a designer, I’m not going to buy any of his clothes.
Why? Well, he can’t work with plants. I don’t wear anyone who can’t work with plants.
Last night’s challenge — create a “garden party” dress out of plants — was not my favorite. (You can see all the dresses, and read Tim Gunn’s always stellar blog here.) One of the things I like about “Runway” is the real-world nature of most of the challenges. And, just as I think an inability to design figure-skating outfits isn’t going to come back and haunt Emmett, I’m pretty sure that Andrae’s loss last night is no indication of his future as a designer.
I’m sorry to see him go, even though I can’t argue with the judges’ decision. I’ll miss his gasping, his eye-rolling, his possibly crushing on Daniel (although at ths point, who isn’t crushing on Daniel?).
I thought for sure Kara was going to be out, but she pulled off a beautiful creation. The difference between that dress and what she did for the inspiration challenge was night and day. She was a strong contender for the win last night, but I still think she’s lucky to be there when better designers — Emmett and Andrae — have been out.
Daniel pulled off an amazing fourth win and seems unstoppable. Chloe was making me nervous but came through beautifully.
While there was a clear quality difference between the best three dresses (Daniel’s, Chloe’s and Kara’s) and the rest, I still had a hard time getting a handle on what the judges wanted. Especially when Nina Garcia called them out for not using more flowers. I don’t see how you can fault them for choosing sturdier materials.
Outside of competition, the highlight was Santino getting busted for his Tim Gunn impression, which is eerie perfect. I also appreciated Daniel’s conversation about coming out with Nick and Chloe. It was personal without being maudlin.
Next week, I think Kara, Santino and Nick all stand an equal chance of being out. Daniel’s immunity isn’t that much of a twist, since he’s so strong anyway. Again, the challenge seems odd: Make over another designer. Wouldn’t it be strange to design for someone who doesn’t want you to win?
That’s my take. What do you think?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: By Sarah Lindner
