Thursday, February 22, 2007

Project Runway Recap, Season Two, Episode 3: Barbie's Nightmare!

The boys at Project Rungay are blogging season two on DVD while we await the arrival of season four. So, Eric and I are watching and here's my recap:

We start the episode with soft-porn shots of Chloe on a couch.

Lupe, Kara, and Marla are fighting. It goes something like this:

Lupe: "Yo mama!"

Kara: "No; yo mama!"

Lupe: "What did you say, bitch?"

Marla: "I think what Kara is trying to explain to you is, 'Yo mama.'"

Lupe: "You better mind your own business, old lady. This kitchen is full of knives."

Seriously, what the fuck are they arguing about? I think it has to do with the fact that Kara likes to sleep off her anxiety medication and Lupe likes to get up early and bang on pots and pans. So apparently Kara has decided to switch beds so she can sleep in a different room. No big deal, right? Well, for some reason Lupe is still confused and Marla has to clear things up for her:

Lupe: "You want to move to another room? I don't understand."

Marla: "She wants to get away from you, freak! What part of that do you not understand?"

Lupe: "Oh, yeah, Marla, I forgot to tell you there was a message for you. It was 'Yo mama.'"

Meanwhile, next door, the fags are taking a long time getting ready. They all have to exfoliate and do their hair using only one bathroom! They could do a whole reality show about that:

Pitch to Bravo for new reality show set for fall 2007: Five homosexuals are forced to live in an apartment with one bathroom and still manage to look good enough to go out for brunch. The first one to have a complete nervous breakdown wins the title of Top Gay!

Seriously, how are they managing? Eric and I can't get ready in the morning with anything less than two bathrooms, though a third would be nice. Well, not only are they managing the bathroom crisis but they also have time to make fun of all the girls. And by "girls," of course, I mean Andrae. Andrae is taking it well:

Andrae: "My outburst on the runway was a little bit embarrassing."

You think? Anyway, we finally get to Parsons and Tim has an announcement:

Tim: "We are taking a field trip to meet a fashion icon! This is very thrilling! [To the camera] That didn't sound too sarcastic, did it?"

No, Tim; that was perfect. You can make the most silly announcements sound completely convincing.

Tim: "Oh, good. So, we'll be walking to Times Square, where this fashion icon lives!"

Designers: "Oh, god; it's that stupid naked cowboy, isn't it?"

Tim: "No, dummies. Just follow me."

They go to Toys R Us. Emmett is a little worried:

Emmett: "Ew, I hope there won't be any children there."

You're in luck, Emmett. The only person there seems to be a woman who looks like a cheap rip-off of a Bratz doll, which is to say she looks like a My Scene Barbie: vaguely ethnic, with collagen lips, badly highlighted hair, and a trashy, age-inappropriate outfit. Yes, she's a living doll!

Tim: "Surprise! The fashion icon is Barbie! Except that you will actually be designing for My Scene Barbie, who isn't a fashion icon at all. Let's just play along, shall we? OK, so you have to make sure you pick the right doll because it will be your inspiration for the challenge."

The designers rush the dolls, pulling each other's hair and scratching each other's eyes out. They are rolling on the floor, grabbing the dolls out of each other's hands. Marla kicks Daniel Franco in the nuts because she has to have the Asian doll. Lupe stabs Kara - she didn't want Kara's doll; she just got caught up in the excitement. Several designers end up in the emergency room. It's the worst massacre in a Toys R Us since the release of Tickle Me Elmo.

Tim: "By the way, I was just kidding; it doesn't matter which doll you grab. Carry on."

Kara: "If I hadn't lost so much blood I would kill you right now."

So, the designers are finally released from the hospital and go back to the design room. Except for Kara, who has been transferred to the psych ward:

Kara: "Hat, hat, hat! Where's the hat? I need the hat!"

Psychiatrist: "Try to calm down, Kara. Let's be honest here: there never really was a hat, was there? It was all in your imagination."

Kara: "NO! THE HAT IS REAL! GIVE ME THE HAT!"

Psychiatrist: "Nurse, bring the sedative."

Back in the design room Chloe thinks of something really interesting to say:

Chloe: "My Scene Barbie is all about being seen. That's why it's called My Scene. Seen. Get it?"

Yeah, we get it.

Daniel Franco is doing that famous shuffle that was named after him. He stares at his work adoringly from close up and then from far away. Just as I'm thinking he looks like he's studying a painting in an art museum he tells us:

Daniel Franco: "Looking at my clothes is like looking at a Monet in a museum."

The Monet of fashion, ladies and gentlemen! Except that Monet finished his work faster and wasn't quite as full of himself.

Diana, who apparently was in the Marines with Daniel Franco, is whispering "Semper Fi" in his ear to encourage him.

Diana: "No, I was saying 'simplify.'"

Oh. That makes much more sense.

Tim talks to Andrae about his outburst on the runway in the last challenge:

Tim: "There's no crying in fashion."

Andrae: "I think you mean baseball."

Tim: "Right. What did I say?"

The designers are told they will also need to make a miniature version of their outfits for the dolls and Tim "encourages" them to use synthetic platinum blond wigs for their models. Everyone does it except Andrae:

Andrae: "Barbie's hair looks perfectly natural on her but it would look fake on my fabulous model."

Christ, Andrae, are you trying to annoy the judges?

On to the runway:

Santino's is purple and slutty and the skirt looks like the edge of a pie crust. The judges love it. I think the proportions are off but the little doll version is actually really cute.

Lupe's is green and it's not bad.

Chloe's is pink and it's pretty cute but it might actually be a little young for the target audience.

Nick creates a dress for a Puerto Rican hooker and it's very successful. The judges think it's perfect.

Daniel V.'s is kind of a purple nightmare.

Zulema's looks like it was made out of a white bed sheet and it's pretty terrible.

Kara's is adorable but, like Chloe's, might be too young a look.

Emmett's is retro and fabulous and I thought he had a shot at winning.

Marla's is cranberry red and awful.

Raymundo's is just unspeakable. Really, I can't even bring myself to describe it. It makes me want to curl up in the fetal position and cry.

Andrae's has a big bubble skirt. It's kind of cool but no teenage girl would want to wear it.

Diana's is really fantastic! The skirt is perfect and the material of the top, which has a hood, is gorgeous! It's pretty cutting edge but I can still see a girl wanting to wear it. Another possibility for the win.

Daniel Franco's is black and red and way too sophisticated for this challenge.

So, Nick, Marla, Andrae, Kara, and Raymundo are the top and bottom. Again, I'm sorry not to see more of the best up there (this time Emmett and Diana) but this question segment is more about the worst than the best. So we only have Santino and Nick representing the best and Kara, for some reason, is stuck there in the worst, though it clearly wasn't that bad.

Judges: "Nick, tell us a story about your dress and a beach resort!"

Nick: "OK. So, I'm one of those 'special' uncles who likes other uncles and this is the outfit I would make for my little niece for when she goes whoring on the island of Capri."

Judges: "That's adorable!"

The judges think Andrae's is too weird and couture for a teenage girl:

Andrea: "Oh, my god. I can't believe what complete idiots you are!"

Well, at least this is an improvement over his meltdown last week.

Heidi: "Santino, we thought your design was beautiful!"

Santino: "Thank you! Oh, I can't believe this! Thank you so much! Yessss!!"

Heidi: "You're in. You may leave the runway."

Santino: "What?"

Heidi: "I just said we thought your design was beautiful. I didn't say you won, you moron."

Priceless!

Nick wins! And I have my very own special limited edition unsigned Nick Verreos My Scene Barbie to prove it!

Raymundo goes home. The only bad thing about that is now his losing outfit will be displayed in the design room and we'll have to look at it through the rest of the competition. Oh, the humanity!

6 comments:

kora in hell said...

It is great to be reminded of why season 2 was the best:
The insane Lupe Kara fight.
The Great FAO Schwartz My Scene Barbie Death Match.
Kara's doll hat in the escalator meltdown.

This was a another fabulous recap and by the way -- this is a great idea:

Pitch to Bravo for new reality show set for fall 2007: Five homosexuals are forced to live in an apartment with one bathroom and still manage to look good enough to go out for brunch. The first one to have a complete nervous breakdown wins the title of Top Gay!

but this is an even better idea:

Seriously, how are they managing? Eric and I can't get ready in the morning with anything less than two bathrooms, though a third would be nice.

That slayed me. I know what you mean, and we don't even wake up at the same time.

Your riff on My Scene Barbie and Bratz was great and the description of the designers melee was actually fairly accurate.

And DF:

The Monet of fashion, ladies and gentlemen! Except that Monet finished his work faster and wasn't quite as full of himself.

Ha! Plus then there is that other Clueless meaning of the word Monet.

I only wish that the Barbie packaging would read:

"Designed by Nick Verreos, one of those 'special' uncles who likes other uncles and this is the outfit I would make for my little niece for when she goes whoring on the island of Capri."

Thanks for the laughs.

Anonymous said...

You are soooo freaking hilarious. I can't decide who's more entertaining, you or the gayboys. Oh WTF, I don't need to choose...I'm hooked on both your blogs. Don't ever leave me! MWAH!!!

Christina said...

I love you! We must become Online Companions at once.

This was one of my favorite Runway episodes ever because it was SO dramatic - and it was about BARBIE. Barbie. Don't get me wrong, I loved playing with Barbie dolls -- though all little girls do with Barbie after about the age of 8 or 9 (I started at 7, but I had a 13 year old sister who steered me to the dark side) is make them fuck each other and re-create key scenes from soap operas (Melrose Place, 90210 and The Young and the Restless were my favorites - especially with the 90210 Barbies) -- that's the absolute truth (any woman who denies this is a liar), but the histrionics over Barbie was hilarious. And awesome. But then, I always made Barbie into a bonafide whore and liked her friend Midge and Black Barbie much, much better, so I can't really talk. Oh who am I kidding, I bought my older sister Heart Family dolls MIM from 1988 off of eBay for her 30th Birthday/Christmas (2 days a part) and we both freaked out more than Santino OR Nick. Shit, we probably out-queened Robert Best. Mr. Heart was my first love, so I can't rag on the gays fro going apeshit for Barbie - even if it was the Bratz-wannabe Barbie.

I don't think I've ever loved Heidi Klum more than when she told Santino that they loved his design, BUT, he lost. The look on his face and her utter lack of interest/care made me love her more than I ever thought possible. Nick's Barbie was fierce...Raymundo -- yeah, I've erased that monstrosity from my mind. That's the Barbie you find at Big Lots for $1.50 and you buy just so you can use the body, but ditch the clothes in exchange for some Hoochie Wear when building "Sorority Barbie's" for your sorority sister's Christmas gifts...not that I've done that or anything. I've said too much.

Anonymous said...

U did it Eric. I say u register top gay and trade mark it and make bravo pay up.

Pitch to Bravo for new reality show set for fall 2007: Five homosexuals are forced to live in an apartment with one bathroom and still manage to look good enough to go out for brunch. The first one to have a complete nervous breakdown wins the title of Top Gay!

U made me pee in my pants then fall off my seat laughing so hard.
good thing u dont make me choose between the erics or the gay boys.
but just a tidbit. I visit u now b4 I visit T&L

There I said it. all I am waiting now are for the ads to appear on your blogs and I can proudly say "I discover YOU "and told bravo u r the best!
PS I will visit the quaint german village with my laptop and pull up your blog, sitting outside a cafe with coffee in my hand. ahh. perfect bliss.
chowbella

Anonymous said...

Always the highlight of my Friday. Thanks Eric!!! I so miss season 2 of PR. Ah those were the days. :::dabbing tear from eye:::

Vic said...

During this episode I wondered if Kara was normal and her behavior clouded my perception of her until the end, when I saw her collection at fashion week. Nick's doll absolutely deserved the win.