Posted by Corina Zappia at 3:09 PM, October 31, 2006
(Answers.com)
Drooler.
(Animation World Magazine)
Stud.
Popularity: Casper: A movie in 1995, and a new TV show, Casper's Scare School. Space Ghost: A brief stint interviewing Jack Black and the Ramones on Adult Swim, then vanished like a..well, you know.
Appearance: Casper: Claims he doesn't want to scare kids away—but according to Eye's roommate, resembles a giant sperm. Space Ghost: Ghostest with the mostest. Clearly firming up his tight ghost bod when he's not playing with his stupid power bands.
Age: Casper: First emerged from the cemetary in 1945. Looks like a kid, but is actually 61. Space Ghost: A sprightly 40.
Outcome:
Casper has a fighting chance, but only because he's more transparent and Space Ghost will feel bad about punching a girl. Then Wendy will come along and waste his ass.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 11:06 AM, October 31, 2006
LUCIFER
(Short-hair-style.com)
For many years, Eye mistook Katie Couric for the devil instead of just a trifling Satan’s accomplice. Who knew the real Mcdeal lurked in the shadow of Regis all along, feasting on the flesh of innocent kitties and baby Care Bears?
THE DRAGON LADY
Before: Victoria’s Secret superboob and Fresh Prince gal pal. Now: Robbing the Avon Lady. Her kindest Top Model moment this season was when she voted off Monique for skipping a shoot, even though she was sick in the hospital the night before.
SKELETOR
Says Eye's roommate: "Renee Zellweger and Ellen Barkin had a kid and refused to feed it."
THE PRICE IS DRACULA
(CBS)
Suck from the neck of the Barker Beauty and you too can have life everlasting.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 10:29 AM, October 30, 2006
Before we get to that, a seemingly unrelated Patrick Swayze anecdote: Even as a little girl, Eye of the Potato had always found Patrick Swayze too fug in the face to contemplate. So why was it that a few weeks back during a viewing of Dirty Dancing—a movie she had seen 8,000 times—something, well, happened?
Watching Swayze dance, watching Swayze perform, watching Swayze swayze...it became electrifying......it even...um..awakened her woman within. Four hours later and Eye was still up reading his IMDB profile. Patrick Swayze met his wife at 15 and believes in the healing power of crystals.
Eye rightfully felt like a pathetic loser for getting Swayzed 19 years too late—until a few days ago when she learned of someone who actually had sexual fantasies about Tina Yothers. Yothered? It made her feel better, like others were out there. And were there more, still?
Email Eye of the Potato at tvblog@villagevoice.com
with your most embarrassing TV/movie crush, old or new, in the past or current, and she'll slap them all up here. (And—as important—please explain what was appealing about him/her/Alf.)
Posted by Corina Zappia at 5:55 PM, October 27, 2006
A press release from NBC:
NEW YORK – October 26, 2006 – At 48, Madonna is still making music, headlines, and controversy. In an upcoming interview to air on NBC, hear about her recent adoption, the crucifix and much more when one of the world's favorite pop icons sits down with NBC News' Meredith Vieira. The interview will air on "Today," Wednesday, Nov.1 and Thursday, Nov. 2 (7:00-10:00 a.m. ET/PT), and in a primetime exclusive on "Dateline NBC," Wednesday, Nov. 1 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT).
Posted by Corina Zappia at 12:17 PM, October 26, 2006
Old geezers who lived through the 80s will remember Menudo as the predecessor to NKOTB, N'Sync, Backstreet Boys, and England's active choice to keep up with stupid, Take That. They'll also remember that there was a time when Menudomania was no joke. And that the members were famously kicked out of the band when they grew to the grandpappy age of 16 and were no longer appealing to prepubescent girls and congressmen.
With the new reality show, similar to MTV's Making the Band, the cutoff age is 19. Holla.
In honor of this new reality TV coup, here's a post from hunky USA blogger Ken Barnes (sweet Menudo jeans, asshole) and a Youtube clip from the Menudo golden years, when they appeared on an episode of Silver Spoons performing the "choo-choo train" dance.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 4:40 PM, October 25, 2006
And now, the news:
Elizabeth Hasselbeck Upset 'Elizabeth Hassenbeck' Raped and Killed on Law & Order SVU
(Best Week Ever Via TV Tattle) "This morning on The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck related an incident between herself and an executive producer on Law and Order: S.V.U. On last week’s episode, they featured a character named Elizabeth Hassenbeck, who was raped twice and murdered."
Politicians Avoid The Colbert Report (LA Times) "...after a couple of House members stumbled badly on the show, some incumbents decided that the dumbest thing to do with Colbert's offer of free TV exposure was to take it."
...And Top Hair? (Business Wire via TV Tattle) "TV production company Revielle LLC, conducting the auditions on behalf of Bravo TV, will give talented hair stylists the opportunity to show America their skill and creativity"
Farrelly Brothers to Do a Show for NBC
(Variety via TV Tattle) "The Farrelly brothers are taking another stab at TV, partnering with scribe Wil Calhoun ('Friends') and producer Ben Silverman ('Ugly Betty') to adapt the BBC skein 'I'm With Stupid.'"
Grey's Anatomy Star Apologizes for Homophobic Slur (People via TV Tattle) "Grey's Anatomy actor Isaiah Washington has issued an apology in a statement exclusive to PEOPLE for his behavior during an on-set argument with costar Patrick Dempsey."
Posted by Corina Zappia at 8:44 AM, October 24, 2006
(Photo: Courtesy of Bravo)
I talked with Project Runway Season 3 winner Jeffrey Sebelia about why a man who's dressed Gwen Stefani even needs to be on a reality TV show, who gets his free Saturn, and yes, how "Uli was robbed.”
Prior to Project Runway, you were already an established fashion designer in LA: Your clothing sells at [the prestigious LA store] Maxfield and you've designed for celebrities like Gwen Stefani. Why did you feel a need to go on this show? Agreeably, I've had more going on than the other three who were in the finale with me, but that's like saying I'm one of the world's tallest midgets. Because really I only had a little more going on. I slugged it out for three years, I've been self-financed. Every penny I've made has gone back into my business, and I support my family on a really tiny income. And from season to season, it's still tenuous. I literally could go under next season, and it's like that every season.
It does cost thousands to show at Bryant Park. Yeah, it's ridiculous. I wasn't anywhere financially close to being able to show there.
Did your friend Santino from season two encourage you to do the show? He admits it helped him, even though he was painted in the light he was painted.
What are you going to do with the prize money? Are you taking the mentorship with I.N.C.? Not sure where [the money is] going to go yet. [The mentorship,] I don't know; I have to find out what that means. We'll see. The car I'm going to donate to the MAP fund, the organization that helped get me sober five years ago.
Where does the phrase 'Cosa Nostra' come from? There was a Johnny Thunders album called the Cosa Nostra World Tour. It was one of my favorite records when I was younger. But the actual name was what the mafia called themselves when they came to America. But before that, in Sicily, the police were really corrupt in most of the towns, so people had to form their own police force to protect themselves against the cops. And it was this protective, benevolent group, called the Cosa Nostra. It means 'that thing of ours.'
Who would be your dream person to dress? Kate Moss.
What designers do you admire? Alexander McQueen, Rick Owens, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld. People who've forged their own path.
What about for how they've grown their businesses? Rick Owens for sure. He started with the same way I started, just having a few items pieces here and there and dragging them over to Maxfield and selling them.
How have things changed since the show ended? The most marked change? Recognition on the street. I feel like the mayor today. I'm just now figuring out what 5.6 millions viewers translates into.
Has anyone said anything negative to you? No, not at all. And I agree with most of the comments. I love the ones that say 'Uli was robbed'…I understand the confusion with a lot of the people, that every woman would wear one of Uli's dresses, and I agree, they're beautiful dresses. But it's the search for the next great American designer. And I'm not saying that's necessarily what I am, but if greatness were measured in sales, then the people who design for Wal-Mart would be considered great. I'm not trying to make clothes for everybody.
Were you happy with who made it to the final four? Or do you think another contestant should have had a chance? I don't know who I would replace of the other three, but Robert Best, Keith and Allison were people I would have loved to see show.
A shame that Keith brought the pattern books… Maybe he thought he needed a crutch. A lot of us talk about it. I mean, I was reading my pattern book on the plane, cramming, knowing they were going to take them from us.
What did you learn about reality TV from this experience? That it's very predictable. It's everything I thought it would be.
How so? I prepared very heavily to go on the show. I love satire, I love TV villains. I guess the one thing I didn't expect is really how wrapped up people get personally in what they see on TV. I would caution people to take it all with a grain of salt. Even if it's preceded by the word reality, it's still TV.
You mentioned in the Bravo website interview that you wanted to be the underdog, that you planned on being that person. Why?
I think it's entertaining. I knew I would show up and everyone would put on their best front and try to be nice. And also because if I make it to the end, I want it to be on my design merit. I want even some of the people who hate me to be like, 'I really couldn't stand that guy but I like his collection.' I wanted to know I got to where I got not because I was a nice guy and the fan favorite.
Did the show follow with this 'underdog' idea? Yeah. It's hard not to be a ham for a camera, no matter who you are. At one point, I think we were eating lunch, and we all acknowledged the stereotype that we were going to fall into. Michael said, 'Oh I'm the black hip hop guy.' And Laura said, 'I'm the uptown bitch.'
Whose representation was furthest from the truth? I think that about a lot of the other designers, because none of us are one-dimensional beings. I know that Laura loves her kids, I know she's a great mom. Uli is very smart; she sort of came off as a ditzy party girl.
Right, Miami Miami Miami. Yeah, party party party. And she was just playing that up.
What upset you the most about the outsourcing debacle at the end? I showed up exhausted cause I worked so hard to get there and just wanted to celebrate and prepare myself for what we all thought was going to be some last minute challenge. And when it happened, I can't stand drama. I didn't even want to be involved in the Keith thing, even though I was his roommate.
There was this whole notion that because you didn't seem enraged, it must mean you're guilty. That was ridiculous. The only time I got really pissed on the show was with Angela's mom, and that's because I was scared and really threatened. I was like, 'Oh no, because of this woman being passive aggressive and not telling me how unhappy she was, now I feel set up and might be eliminated.' In the case of the accusations with Laura, I wasn't threatened, I was just annoyed. It was so childish.
With Angela's mom, did everything not come across with the editing? Yeah, there are two sides to every story. And there was more that happened in those three days than just that 10 minutes, but who cares, really. I don't take any of it back.
What would make Project Runway a better show? Were you pleased with who they chose to be the guest judges? Entirely. And to have Fern Mallis as the finale judge, instead of…
Debra Messing? Debra Messing. Mallis runs the entire [fashion week], in New York, in India, in Los Angeles.
Is this really the search for the next great American designer? Does this make me the next great American designer? No. It means I have some more money and a car. And a lot of opportunity.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 2:19 PM, October 23, 2006
There was a debutante in my hometown and even an annual beauty pageant where one lucky girl got to be crowned queen of the beautiful brown river than ran through my city.
But sadly, no muskrats.
Airing on PBS at 12:30 a.m. Halloween night, Muskrat Lovely is a documentary film about the National Outdoor Show in the tight-knit hunting community of Dorchester County, Maryland. Half-beauty pageant, half-skinning contest, it is the only annual city celebration where beauty queens share the stage with skinned rodents.
Here's a trailer from YouTube. WARNING: The first minute or two is violent and not suitable for the squeamish or the occasional muskrat empathizer. FF.
Look tasty? The documentarian has also taken the liberty of including muskrat dish recipes on the film's website.
So we learn from about four different sources this week that our favorite Aviator is shopping around his new reality show E-topia, which will transform one lucky run-down American town into an eco-friendly city of the future with the help of a few goodly-hearted corporate sponsors. Alas, Leo’s just exec-producing and not starring, a missed opportunity if we ever saw one. Dude, every economically devastasted town wants to learn about global warming from a eight-figure movie star. Leo, Eye of the Potato has ideas—they start with Giselle chained to a burning tanker and the genius just keeps on coming.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 12:08 PM, October 19, 2006
Since 11 p.m. last night, the Project Runway site and other blogs have been bombarded with fan posts. Fans who feel like they themselves were eliminated, fans who wonder where Uli got her kicky tunes, fans who wonder why Laura is the honkiest honky in America, fans who think Jeffrey's head is the perfect penis shape! Superfans with super thoughts!
Hey, Laura come home to New Orleans. Since Katrina, there's no place to shop. Bring Uli & Michael too. Jeffrey's line looks what was left in my house after 6 feet of flooding, serious ugly that was thrown out with all the other caca.
Valerie | 10.18.06 - 8:19 pm | #
Congratulations! I think I held my breath from the start of your runway show until the end...and was quite weepy there when they announced you as the winner. Is it weird that I jumped up and cheered when they announced you as the winner? The cat thought it was a little odd...but then again, I think she always does!
sadira | Homepage | 10.19.06 - 8:29 am | #
mamamugg wrote:
Knew it ALL along Jeffery!!! Ya' tattoos, style, ya' mouth, ya' 'tude intimidated the weak!!! Add ya' could sew Jeffery...DUH at the designers whom couldn't even sew, LOL!!! Break a leg!!! Keep ya' 'tude...Ya' will DEF' go far in the fashion world, as well as life!!! Make over Laura, LMAO!!!...Until...Yes, Angels Do Fly, mamamugg
posted on October 19, 2006 at 8:28 AM
I knew you were my favorite when you said "I have a lot going in my head". You always had "laser" focus and madz skills.
BPRfan | 10.19.06 - 11:54 am | #
larkie
2006-10-19 03:15 am UTC
I am glad I have seen everything jeffery made at Hot Topic.
androganus
2006-10-19 03:11 am UTC
At least Angelas fat mom is probably upset by the win, and is crying in her icecream. Cant stand that woman.
Jeffery should use the money to buy a chin implant.
heartisbruised
2006-10-19 03:47 am UTC
Well, at least now all the Japanese ghosts will have something to wear.
b00bee
2006-10-19 05:06 am UTC
Wtf Laura's husband is Albert Einstein?
You are a producer on The O.C., a show where the California sun once shined, the mommies were MILFs, life was gravy. The Walkmen played, bands like Rooney got five more seconds of fame than was really okay or necessary, Chrismukkah moved into the common vernacular, and actor Adam Brody shamelessly plugged Chuck Klosterman's ass on national TV.
But something happened on the way to the bank that last season. Ratings fell, sharks were jumped, desperate last-gasp lesbian kisses were enacted, and even the lead actress (and let's be honest, weakest link) wanted off the show.
What to do? How to restore former glories and lift this one out of the crapper?
Posted by Corina Zappia at 4:15 PM, October 16, 2006
This from Sohh.com via Ohnotheydidn't: Tiffany Patterson, aka "New York" on seasons 1 and 2 of Flavor of Love, has signed on with VH1 for reality show Flavorette, a similar date-elimination contest like Flavor of Love but with the prize being the love and admiration of a woman Flava dissed twice. Regular watchers will also remember New York as the recipient of the most fantastic superloog ever to hit reality TV, from the mouth of fellow competitor/superskank "Pumpkin". Swear to god, VH1 had to have digitally enhanced that spitgobber and cranked the mike, because you'll never witness a more superhuman mound of saliva in your life. That was like a good pint of phlegm flying four feet across the room, no loss in velocity, volume, nothing.
In honor of New York's score, here's the YouTube clip again:
Posted by Corina Zappia at 1:12 PM, October 13, 2006
Behold Ugly Betty, a paint-by-numbers sendup of the fashion industry, culled from the pages of Devil Wears Prada and Pret-a-Porter. Gee, will there be a catty gay assistant? An arrogant Eurotrash photographer who beds lotsa ladies? Will Betty, the ungainly newcomer, bump into doorways and commit a damnable fashion faux pas? Trade Anne Hathaway’s clunky loafers for Betty’s Guadalajara poncho, and voila, a new ABC show.
The show has received kudos for its depth—“It differs from Prada,” claims Virginia Heffernan of the Times, “mainly in its focus on inner beauty, rather than outer. (No makeover montages here.)” What there is, however, is a perpetuation of the smart/ugly girl myth, and its comely reverse, the attractive bimbo. Just as in Prada, the unlikely ed assistant never imagined herself having a career in the fashion sphere. Could it be she’s banking on the New Yorker, New York Times, Harper’s? Prime time is no time to vary from the formula.
There are one or two high points, mainly, the casting of America Ferrara as Ugly Betty; she brings an intelligence and warmth to the role, and gives her an authenticity not seen in the rest of the cast of tired fashion stereotypes. In molding the other characters, the producers would actually do better to crib not from Prada but Simon Doonan’s column for the Observer, "Simon Says". (We’re particularly fond of his one on the raw-food trend and a lamentation for the closed Times Square Hojo.) The finest skewerings of the industry come from those well-entrenched.
Family Guy: The Museum Exhibit (Variety via TV Tattle) "The Museum of TV & Radio in Beverly Hills next month will host the world premiere of 'What the Deuce Are You Staring At!?! A Collection of Interpretive Work Inspired by 'Family Guy.' "
K-Fed on CSI (People via TV Tattle) "As Federline tells PEOPLE while on the set of the CBS show, 'This is pretty much my first time acting. It's the first time I've actually had a speaking role.'"
Devil Wears Prada, the TV show? (Variety) "Fox TV Studios has nabbed the TV rights to "The Devil Wears Prada" and is developing it as a series project for sister net Fox."
Posted by Corina Zappia at 10:10 AM, October 12, 2006
Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) of Friday Night Lights
In his review of NBC's new critically-acclaimed (and poorly watched) Friday Nights Lights, a show about a small football team in the made-up city of Dillon, TX, Edward Wyatt of the New York Times has this to say: “All the football players are scrubbed and buffed, looking as if they hail from the O.C. rather than the oil patch, while the cheerleaders — even the town “bad girl” — have haircuts rarely seen west of the Hudson River, much less west of Dallas.” I agree; I spent the first 18 years of my life in small Texan towns, but the Friday Night Lights's imaginary city of Dillon, TX is unlike any Texas town I’ve ever seen.
Namely:
1. No one is over 200 pounds.....yet this is supposed to be the South, home to artery-clogging dishes like biscuits and gravy, fried catfish, chicken-fried steak, and the mindboggingly counterintuitive chicken fried chicken. You can't tell that from looking at the cast, but you can imagine the craft services table packed with Crystal Lite and whatever bulghur suppository passes for food in LA.
2. The redneck fullback=saucy Scott Stapp! It’s the best high school team in the country, and yet overly muscled “football neck” affliction seems to have passed over character Tim Riggins, played by actor and onetime Abercrombie & Fitch model Taylor Kitsch. Cheerleader-with-a-heart-of-gold Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly) suffers from Hamptons blowout hair but at least she still makes you want to kick her in the face. Aw, just like back in high school.
3. Swear to God, they eat at the Peach Pit. Is that the high school cafeteria or the local after-school hang?
4. Baggy jeans? No western shirts? If not for the accents, I would have forgotten that this show was even taking place in this state. The producers try to get around it by claiming the show’s set in the present day—and not, like the book, in 1988. But as much as this pains them, dead set on prettifying the reality—people in Texas listen to country and dress like Tim McGraw. And this has always been a pet peeve—ever since watching my cross-eyed lovely James Van Der Beek play a football player in Varsity Blues in flowing blue jeans—men often wear their jeans tight in small towns in Texas. The further up north you travel, add one more inch of breathing room for the boys.
"Only one thing in the world could've dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window."—Ralphie
TMZ reports that A Christmas Story, the classic movie on TV every December, will have its own museum and the original house from the movie will be open for tours. The man behind the project and owner of the home, Brian Jones, is a Christmas Story superfan who gave up a corporate job to sell reproductions of the movie's infamous leg lamp. Brings a tear of happiness to Eye of the Potato's..um..eye?
Posted by Corina Zappia at 12:08 PM, October 10, 2006
Last night a real Inside the Actors Studio was on, none of those "Teri Hatcher, thespian" disappointments. It was the rerun with Robert Downey, Jr., an actor who has enough tales to entertain even when sitting across from Living Dead Lipton. Downey delivered the druggie anecdotes with his trademark self-deprecation, the kind of charm that got studio execs to fund his dainty little blow-and-firearms habit for years.
We spent the entire time hoping he'd cop to doing coke off the Judd Nelson super schnoz, but alas. Here's what our boy had to offer:
On meeting Mike Figgis:
I was in pretty bad shape and probably weighed about 140 pounds, was carrying a firearm and didn't have any shoes on...I think I told [Figgis] that I had a cousin in the IRA and he was in town and I didn't trust him and I have a kid now and if we ever throw down in the street I want my rubber grip 357 with the dum dum bullets.”
On getting arrested:
I don't know if you know what chilly willies are, but you put them on the outside of a beer can. it was the fact that I had three bags of different multi-colored chilly willies in the car that indicated I'd been on some strange shopping excursion.
On working high:
Lipton: You said Home for the Holidays was for me one of the most relaxing performances in the history of cinema. What was relaxing you?
Downey: Black tar heroin....I'm not saying I wouldn't have a relaxed performance anyway. But I'm saying if you came into my trailer when I wasn't working, I might have been constructing a large 1/8-scale model of the spaceship and I had lots of "projects" going on in the room.
Lipton: You were high on the set? How did Jodie handle it?
Posted by Corina Zappia at 2:12 PM, October 9, 2006
It is over: According to the Washington Post, Google is expected to buy YouTube by the end of today for $1.65 bilion. But CNNMoney.com discusses a possible bidding war that could drive the price up to $3 billion to $5 billion, if Microsoft, Yahoo, or News Corp. try to compete with Google's offer.
And earlier from BusinessWeek, news of YouTube's recent partnerships with CBS, Sony, and Universal.
Genius use of the TCM graveyard shift: This Friday the 13th is the start of TCM Underground, the channel's new lineup of cult classics hosted by Dr. Satan himself, ROB ZOMBIE. It starts at 2am with Plan 9 from Outer Space, followed by a 3:30am showing of Bride of the Monster.
The upcoming issue of horror magazine Fangoria (on sale Oct. 24) has an interview with Zombie about his involvement with the show (he apparently chose all the films himself), and we pulled this excerpt from Fangoria's website:
Speaking against a backdrop that resembles a movie-savvy New York hipster’s posh loft, Zombie will serve, at least on an appearance level, as a refreshing antithesis to the network’s starchy and educated Robert Osborne. “Because Turner doesn’t have commercial breaks, I’m bookending the films,” Zombie says. “And in some instances there will be double features, so there I’ll have more segments. What I’ll do is very similar to what Osborne does for Turner: I’ll come out, tell a few stories and anecdotes, we’ll show the movie and then I’ll wrap it up. I’ve seen all of the films before many, many times, so I knew a lot of facts about them already, and Turner’s people helped out a bit in the research department.
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