The emotional rollercoaster of Project Runway

Oh Project Runway. You make me laugh, you make me think, you make me cry - yes, cry - with happiness and anguish.

I think this season was particularly emotional.

The life of an artist is so fraught with risk, and it comes across in the show down to where every last seam and pleat seems to bear consequence to a designer's life trajectory.

And when there is success it is incredibly gratifying to watch.

I liked pieces from all three of the final collections. Also, I really identified when Gretchen said something along the lines of "being a confident woman often translates into bitch"...

because I've totally been accused of one as I've come into my own...

even though in my opinion, Gretchen did cross the line of bitch a few times, but I think she was humbled in the end.


And of course, where would we all be without Tim Gunn. I think he is the only 'celebrity' that, should I see him around town here, I would break calm, cool, collected city slicker cover to adoring, gushing fan. I love that man.

How hilarious was he on Gossip Girl this week? I'll link the NY Mag recap here. Hilarious as always...

Spotted

So much to say, so little time to do it in a New York minute.

Yes, I'm back.
Yes, I'm happier than I've ever been.
Yes, I smile ear to ear walking down the street.

Gossip Girl Season Premiere starts on my birthday next week. Anddd, I just passed by Leighton Meester (aka Blair Waldorf) on the street.

NYC loves me back. I'm glad I gave it time to figure things out between us.

Gossip alert

I thought Monday's Gossip Girl was the worst episode yet, but THIS RECAP embellished my memory.

Hilarious as usual.

Could I product place NY Mag any more on my blog? Methinks not.

xoxo and carry on...

Ga-Ga (a-a-a)

NY mag is right, I just can't get enough.





BY THE WAY:
NY Mag Recaps ... and 'Recap Recaps' (with selected user comments) ... will change the way you Gossip Girl.

Check the Web site Tuesday morning- it will have you laughing out loud. Like this one.
Full recap coverage HERE.

Can I get an amen, Skynyrd and Tara?

"xoxo"

Like a Malawian baby or a poodle

Every Monday at 8 PM, I can be found grinning ear to ear with glee gawking at Gossip Girl.
(If I am eating my weight in Diego's chicken nachos, I will be squealing too).

However, even though episode 1 filled the void, I was skeptical.

But episode 2? DELICIOUS. I laughed so hard at Chuck's quote I actually, upon request, verbally repeated it back to my roommate who was in and out.

(“For people like us, a college degree is just an accessory, like a Malawian baby or a poodle.” - It got it's own +1 here)

Episode 3:...MEH. Sotheby's auctions and money is getting boring. Back to the drama, please!!

Episode 4: Lizzie McGuire Goes to College. Over it. The best part was again, Chuck Bass's quote along the lines of "NYU men don't wear shoes, they wear sandals."

CANNOT wait for Episode 5, when Georgina is back to liven things up. Pardon my French, but vicarious bitching never felt so RIGHT.

Also, sometimes I pretend like I'm a cool pseudo-hipster (you know the ones that subsist solely on coffee, cigarettes, and crack) but really, I do love love love the music they play and compulsively download it as soon as I find out what it is.

Phoenix? LOVE. Try this and this.

That is all.

"Poor Little J"

Spotted: Upper East Siders losing their NY 'cool' factor, getting starstruck.

Gossip Girl (my guilty pleasure) regularly films outside my 13-year-old UES Cousin J's school...nbd.

Chace Crawford...named by People magazine as this year's hottest bachelor.

"Yes, he is quite attractive" -J

"I was too embarrassed to have him sign my water bottle!" -J, as she showed me this pic on her Blackberry (yes, she has one).

Will Ferrell in red (always representing the Trojans!). Yankees Game.

Remember his Rose Bowl Skit with McConaughey?? FIGHT ON.







AND...I'm a fan of the writing on SATC (and the glamour), so naturally I find the rumor of SJP moving to Park Slope unbelievable.
Carrie Bradshaw is supposed to be an eternal Manhattan-ite!
(The townhouse looked familiar because I remember coming across it as I was poring through this luxury blog last summer at my internship.)

Gwen obsessed.

So Gwen Stefani is pretty hella cool. My friends once met her at the Ivy Restaurant...one of them introduced himself, then 20 mins later she walked over to their table and talked to them, took pictures.... This was right before L.A.M.B. got huge...

Anyway, she looks AMAZING in the new Gossip Girl episode...and I'm pretty much obsessed with No Doubt's cover of "Stand and Deliver."
(Sorry its a live version- the official version isn't out yet).



Watch the full episode HERE for an 80s-tastic L.A. ...
even though No Doubt is 90s...but seriously, was there any significant difference between the 80s and 90s?

(besides MC Hammer pants, the Internet, no more Iron Curtain, and the Gulf War, of course)

Down the Rabbit Hole

Above from Vogue's 2007 Alice in Wonderland fashion shoot featuring Natalia Vodianova, shot by Annie Leibovitz.

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First look at Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie!

(coming 2010)

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A 4th Grader questions Condi Rice about waterboarding.
Wow.
I think in 4th grade I was most consumed with beating boys at recess games.

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Vanity Fair slideshow of actors and directors:
"Something Just Clicked"

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Swine Flu count at 1,000 and counting: via Al Jazeera. Yikes.

Mexicans finding that (masked) laughter is the best medicine.

Full NYT story here: "Viral Humor Helps Mexicans Cope"

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Also funny: Vanity Fair's Frank DiGiacomo's The WASHMEN!

parody of "The Watchmen"

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Oh, wait, this too:

NY Mag's "analysis" of last week's Gossip Girl.


and last, but not least...
Have we swooned enough over the 6'5" actor Armie Hammer yet (aka Gabriel on GG)?

No, not enough, methinks....


XOXO, Gossip Girl

Dear CWTV

Dear CWTV,

I'm sorry I couldn't make time in my schedule to watch the latest episode of Gossip Girl on Monday...


(Truth be told, I think watching live TV is a waste of time- blatantly avoidable advertising)


...but I would highly appreciate if you would post the latest episode on your Web site....ALREADY!

i.e. Usually, you do it 48 hours after GG has aired...
...but now, if you haven't noticed, it is well into the THIRD DAY.

I have put up with your lack-of-filming shenanigans for upwards of the last two months, and for many reasons (which may or may not include the fact that I'd rather watch Penn and Blake's sickening chemistry on-screen than on People.com), I am on the brink of my seat about to explode with dramatic escapist suspense that only the recession-proof Upper East Side world you convey in your silly drama provides.


Anxious and peeved,
Alex