Super weekend

A note to readers:

The Jerc Store will be on a brief hiatus this weekend, but will be back again with vengeance Monday--have no fear.

Enjoy your weekend and the Super Bowl. I'm eager to blog about the results on Monday, heh.

Update: Heath Ledger's death

From The New York Post's Page Six:

January 31, 2008 -- HEATH Ledger had become a regular user of cocaine and heroin in the past year, getting so high on drugs that an exasperated Michelle Williams was forced to boot him out of their Brooklyn home, The Post has learned.

"She couldn't take it any more. Heath wouldn't show up for two to three days, and all of a sudden he would show up on her doorstep, an absolute wreck," a member of Ledger's entourage who did drugs with him told The Post's Lorena Mongelli. "He was partying, doing drugs. She didn't like the company he was keeping. She gave him an ultimatum. . . . and threatened to get custody of the girl. He wanted to make it work, but it was this scene he was wrapped up in. Was he an addict? Yeah."

The revelation comes as "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider" said that "out of respect for Heath Ledger's family," they would drop plans to air a video of Ledger snorting cocaine with a rolled-up bill at the Chateau Marmont. The video was taped without Ledger's knowledge following the SAG Awards two years ago. PageSix.com reports that Ledger quips on the tape, "I'm gonna get so much [bleep] from my girlfriend. We have a baby together, Matilda."

Heath's drug pal told The Post the 28-year-old star's mushrooming fame had him constantly exposed to drugs. As the pressures of work grew, he couldn't say no, and then wouldn't get help. "He was hanging out with a bad crowd. He wasn't cleaning up his act. He was making absolutely no effort . . . He was really into heroin. He wasn't sleeping or communicating with anyone."

Page Six usually has the hook-up, but I don't want to validate any rumors. I'm just passing along information that could eventually turn up something significant.

Writers won't strike against Taco Bell

So now in addition to the World Series free taco, the Stephen Colbert presidential endorsement and the Chicken Dance football bet, Yum! Brands Inc. has offered up yet another current event-inspired marketing ploy.

This time, Taco Bell is asking striking writers to consider writing the material for they clever (but sometimes creepy) sauce packets.

Some highlights of the saucy sayings: "If you throw this, would it be a flying saucer?" and "Use your stomach, nacho mind." [click here for a comprehensive and illustrative list]

Ten winners --who must be members of the Writer's Guild of America-- will be selected and receive a year's supply of free Taco Bell (up to $260)."

The writer's strike is now in its second month, and Taco Bell wanted to show its support for the thousands of creative minds itching to press pen to paper, or in our case, Border Sauce packets." - David Ovens, Chief Marketing Officer, Taco Bell.

Some of those packet lines are great, and personally, I'd love to have the opportunity to write for them. That would make my life much more complete than my current full-time writing position (not kidding), but sadly, the WGA has not extended an invitation to me just yet.

And just as an added bonus feature, if you visit this site, you can dress the sauce packet, and it actually responds with sayings to what you dress it in. It's some fun times, seriously!

RELATED LINKS
Yo quiero free taco
President of Poultry
Don't be chicken, bawk-bawk-bakawwk!

Bringing the 'Right Stuff' back to the block

GASP: The New Kids on the Block could be reuniting.

Hold your childhood fantasy squeals, though. It has not been completely confirmed, but the band's previously defunct Web site, NKOTB.com, is back online and letting visitors sign up for "exclusive information."

TMZ also reported that the boys are making new music together. A source close to the band said they are "making a comeback and they're desperate to relive former glory."

And glory they had. Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood and Donnie Wahlberg sold more than 70 million albums throughout the '80s and '90s.

But after breaking up in 1994 and various mediocre solo careers, NKOTB fell step by step into the "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I still own this album" collection.

The "New" "Kids" on the Block are all now in their 30s, which should make for a hilariously entertaining reunion tour (if that's the case) of arms waving during "Hangin' Tough" and soccer moms hoping to leave their husbands for the still dreamy Joey McIntyre.

Thanks, Rand!

New meaning to 'cock pit'?

Good news for nudists!

OssiUrlaub.de, a German travel agency, will begin taking reservations for a July 5 flight where passengers can be nude the entire time.

In Germany, Naturism --or "free body culture" (FKK)--is a normal thing, and the flight is not intended to promote membership in the mile-high club, according the agency's director.

The flight will be a trial nudist day trip from the eastern German town of Erfurt to the Baltic Sea resort of Usedom, and will cost 499 euros, or $735.

Passengers must remain clothed until they board and put their clothes on before exiting the plane. The flight crew will remain clothed the entire flight due to safety reasons.

The flight holds 55 people, and the director said the plane is very small. So...great - as if flying weren't uncomfortable enough; now you've got some wrinkly, naked man crammed up next to you. But I guess if that flies with you, you can fly the nudist flight to Usedom.

How does it go? Jesus is the light of the world?

Okay, some Internet scanning yielded this entirely phallic and very creepy-looking light switch cover. Thoughts? Look at the children's faces. Father, forgive me, but this is terrifying.

Chester Cheeto going pink

New on the shelves of Tokyo food stores is Frito Lay's newest creation: Strawberry Cheetos.

And no, they're not strawberry puffs; they are actual Cheetos covered in some sort of strawberry chocolate-ish coating. They also make them in straight up chocolate flavor.

I...don't know about this. But if anyone has tried them, by all means, let me know how they are. I mean, I hate Cheetos because they make your hands messy, but these seem a bit more pristine, right?

Pristine and horrendously vomit-worthy.

'Give to me your paraphernalia, take from me my Lace'

You might not be pumped for NBC's reinvention of American Gladiators, perhaps because it's a WWE-ified version of its former self? Whatever happened to Zap, Diamond, Nitro...?

Well, I don't know about the rest of them, but Los Angeles PD busted former Gladiator babe Lace for possession of drug paraphernalia last week.

Lace? Drugs? Gosh, the joke is almost too easy. Maybe Blaze will get busted for marijuana next week.

Lace, also known as Marisa Pare, was held on $250 bail.

RELATED LINKS:
"Gladiators, are you ready?"

Chimp triumphs yet again

Please recall the case of the chimpanzee beating a bunch of college students in memory testing last month.

And if you thought that competition was mismatched--with the chimp easily owning the college kids--this story should prove once and for all that we should fear these animals and their superior cognitive abilities that will someday make us their slaves.

Ayumu the chimp was once again tested, but this time he was pitted against British memory champion Ben Pridmore, a man who can memorize the order of every card in a shuffled deck and memorizes 400-digit numbers on the weekends.

But still, the chimp reigned supreme.

[click here to try your hand at the testing Ayumu, the college students and Pridmore underwent]

The subject watches a computer screen on which numbers flashed up at various positions before being obscured by white squares. The object is to then touch the squares in order of the numbers they concealed, from lowest to highest.

The chimp got it right almost 90 percent of the time. Pidmore, on the other hand, came in with a 33 percent success rate.

Coverage of the testing will appear on a television program in London called "Extraordinary Animals." How embarrassing for Mr. Pidmore that he got beat by the chimp, but more so that he memorizes big numbers for fun.

And a partridge in a pear tree?

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said more than 200 animals were seized from a Texas home last night, including: 68 dogs, 26 hissing cockroaches, 16 rabbits, 15 guinea pigs, 13 gerbils, seven doves, two dwarf hamsters, two bearded dragons, two hedgehogs, an opossum and a pink toe tarantula.

What the...?

The Harris County Sheriff's Department issued a warrant on the house for medical neglect. The SPCA said some animals were found in outdoor pens while others were in sheds scattered around the property. Others were in a doublewide trailer living in filth.

No word yet on who was responsible for the property or if arrests will be made.

Don't be chicken, bawk-bawk-bakawwwk!

Just as they hatched a marketing plot on the heels of Stephen Colbert's presidential bid, KFC has set up a Super Bowl marketing campaign centered around the most loathed song and dance of all time: The Chicken Dance.

The fast food restaurant has offered $260,000 to charity in the name of the first Patriots or Giants player to do the damn dance in end zone during next week's Super Bowl showdown.

This could also be made better if KFC offered free sauceless wings during an obscure time frame on some idle Tuesday when the players does the dance, following in Taco Bell's World Series speedy footsteps.

The player would need to do the "flapping part" of the dance for at least three seconds. (And the $260,000 is what it would cost for three seconds of advertising time during the Super Bowl, with the going rate for a 30-second segment at $2.67 mill.)

Click here for instructions on how to do this chicken dance. No, seriously, there really are instructions available.

But leave it to the NFL to not have a sense of humor. Spokesman Brian McCarthy said that players can celebrate as they normally would during the Super Bowl, but if anyone busts out that chicken dance, they will be subjected to fines.

He made some obscure American Idol reference to try to be funny, but really, don't you think they're getting just slightly bent out of shape over this? I mean come on, it's for charity. They're letting freaking Paula Abdul perform during half-time - they must be fans of charity.

Mars erects!

(from Reuters.com) An image from Mars taken by NASA's Sprint Rover shows an image that resembles a figure walking among the planet's rocks.

Maybe it's just a rock, but I personally like the commentator taking bloggers' observations seriously, including the mention of a lost garden gnome. Check out the video here.

It does kind of creep my out though - it totally looks like some martians erected a statue of their female goddess.

Tons of television updates!

Normally meetings for work have me missing the 'fabulous' television that is Wednesday night, but I was fortunate enough to be home at a reasonable hour last night and caught a smattering of reality programming.
First off, if you ever thought American Idol was entertaining throughout it's 25 years of being on television, please feel free to comment, but I watched some of the singing show last night and thought it was worse than ever before. And if you never thought the show was worth a glance before, well, now is certainly not the time.

This season is not funny. Anyone who sucked at singing didn't suck badly enough to be amusing. Too many personal segments, especially about people who didn't even make it--why did we learn all about the female fighter pilot if she was just an average singer was gonna get rejected in bland manner? Or the guy whose wife went into labor but then the entire new family got the boot out the door. And Simon was a watered down version of his former seasons' self. Snooooozefest.


I was watching AI mostly because it was the lead-in to the 9 o'clock hour premiere of The Moment of Truth, Fox's new reality game show that pushes contestants to truthfully answer personal questions for $500,000.

The critics may rip this show, but it makes for an rousing hour of smutty, midweek television. If you like people embarrassing themselves and ruining their lives in front of their family, friends and the rest of the nation, you should probably tune in. (Now that I think about, that's probably why they put this show on post-Idol; same sort of results, eh?).

The premise is slightly difficult to follow at first. I think it's that contestants have several tough questions posed to them while hooked up to a polygraph test (yes, I know, how reliable are those?) to create a final report of which answers are truths and which are lies. Producers select 21 of those questions to again be asked of the contestant --this time on stage-- and they can choose to answer the same as before or change their answer if they believe they lied the first time around. The questions get more personal and harder to answer as the contestant moves up the pyramid, but if they answer everything truthfully, they walk away with a nice chunk of change.

Last night's first contestant seemed to have little trouble revealing that he believes he is the best looking one of his friends, has checked out other football players' goodies in the shower, has given his wife a reason not to trust him and that he believes she will not be his lifelong partner.

But that could all be worth it if you go home with half a mill, right?

Wrong. When asked if the guy touched his personal training clients more than needed, to his wife's relief, he answered no. Unfortunately, the lie detector test decided that was a big, fat lie and the guy lost all the money he had accumulated to that point (which was something like, $25,000). And his marriage is probably ruined.

The show should really be called "The [long pause] Moment [long pause] of [long pause] Truth" because sometimes there is a little too much dramatic pausing, but it's really just an entertaining Jerry Springer-like game show hosted by Mark Walberg (former host of Temptation Island, the greatest show ever created.)


And that brings us to the best premiere of the night: The Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Gauntlet III.

All I've gotta say is this series has been the best show on MTV in the last 10 years, and this season should be no different. Already plenty of hook-ups and CT rage, and the challenges seem like they'll be no holds barred. I was pretty happy with the result of last night's first Gauntlet. I won't spoil it, but the person who goes home is the biggest tool on the Rookie team.

This season has a few new twists, as well. It's Rookies v. Vets, which are people who have participated in more than one challenge to date, and you've got a total of 32 people, adding even more to the drama. In addition to the episode's winning team selecting who from the losing team will enter the gauntlet, they can also select someone from the other team to be safe. This prevents the person going into the Gauntlet from knocking off the weakest person on the team, and making the team less effective in the long run by saving its weakest link.

A very welcome change is that there is no "team bank account" this season, so you must win the entire challenge to go home with anything. This leaves the guys on the Vets team already plotting to throw the female missions so that their team will be all men (and arguably stronger) going into the finale.

"Oh my God, I'm gonna die of barfness"

WARNING: SPOILERS
Some big lead changes on this week's Project Runway episode. Those at the top (ehem "Team Robot Monotone" according to David Dust ehem) landed in the bottom, and unfortunately, a certain someone won the challenge...

The remaining designers took a "field trip" to a docking site where they were introduced to this week's raw materials: over 500 pairs of Levi's jeans and white cotton. The challenge was to create an iconic denim look that embodied the spirit and creativity of the Levis brand.

Unfortunately for our "BIG man on campus," Chris March," the designers were given three minutes to sprint to the materials and gather as much as possible. Another running challenge?? It seems like they're just targeting the big guy.

Anyway. Back in the design room, the drama seemed to flare up here and there, between Chris and Christian bickering--"Give him a bottle and send him to bed"-- and Jillian crying about how she was pricking herself with the sewing machine and bleeding everywhere.

Ricky had his own little confessional moment being voiced over as the designers worked on their garments. In his blabbering, the conductor-hat-wearing designer lists all his accolades. Hey Ricky, we don't care what you did in whoever's lingerie show. We still liked Kit better than you...and Kevin...and Jack...

Coming down the runway, nearly everyone pulled off something decent looking. The judges seemed to like Rami, Christian, Sweet P and Ricky's looks, while former frontrunners Jillian and Victorya fell to the bottom with Chris.

Yes, that's right. The judges liked Ricky's look this week, which honestly, infuriates me. Just when you think, "Okay, maybe he'll go home this week. There's no way he can be so lucky and get all the way to Bryant Park," the SOB pulls off something that's actually good looking. The judges deem him the winner.

The best part - What does Ricky do when they call his work impeccable (which no one has used to describe his work since he's been on the show)? He cries. Yes, surprising as it may be, Ricky let loose a river of tears all over his winning denim dress. GO HOME!


And on the other end of things, Jillian (rightmost) and Victorya (my other least favorite people) were left standing on the runway after both designers dressed their models in boring and mismatched jean jackets. Victorya was sent home, mostly because Michael Koors thought her design looked like a "party skirt got glued onto a jean jacket."

Nine down--six to go. Make it work!



RELATED LINKS:
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8

Sounding like a freak on a leash

A girl being lead around London on a leash was thrown off a bus earlier this week, but the bus company has apologized for its actions.

Tasha Maltby, 19, is a self-proclaimed "pet" of her 25-year-old fiance, Dani Graves.

"I generally act animal-like and I lead a really easy life. I don't cook or clean and I don't go anywhere without Dani. It might seem strange but it makes us both happy. It's my culture and my choice. It isn't hurting anyone." - Tasha Maltby in an interview with the Daily Mail.

Hmm, yeah, that actually does sound like a really relaxed lifestyle. And I'm sure happily being referred to as your husband's pet (possession, object, whathaveyou) is going to do wonders for you as a woman.

Regardless, they probably shouldn't have been discriminated against in the way they were. Maltby and Graves, dressed in Gothic-style clothing and being lead by Graves on a leash, boarded the bus but were reportedly told by the driver: "We don't let freaks and dogs like you on."

Arriva, the bus company, said Wednesday they would not comment on the instance but apologized for the way the couple had been treated. A spokesperson did say that the driver was concerned for the safety of those on the bus.


And judging by all the reactions (and one death wish) I received from the last entry I used the word 'freak' to describe someone, I must mention a disclaimer: The title of this entry is just a play on words. These people are allowed to do, wear and say whatever they want. Just a play on words. Thank you.

BREAKING NEWS: Actor Heath Ledger found dead

Updating a post from earlier today:

Heath Ledger, 28, was found dead today in a New York apartment he'd been renting (not Mary Kate Olson's apartment as previously reported by the New York Times).

A masseuse with whom Ledger had an appointment arrived at the apartment and was let in by a housekeeper. When no one answered the door of the actor's room, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Ledger naked and unconscious on a bed, with pills scattered around his body.

Police said they did not suspect foul play, and earlier reports of suicide have been denied by family and friends claiming that the "Brokeback Mountain" star was suffering from pneumonia.

Police discovered presciption medication around the apartment and the pills around Ledger's body were sleeping pills. In reading a previous New York Times article, the insomnia factor is a little eery:

"'Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night,' he said. 'I couldn’t stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going.' One night he took an Ambien, which failed to work. He took a second one and fell into a stupor, only to wake up an hour later, his mind still racing." - New York Times, Nov. 4, 2007

An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. More updates as information becomes available.

Bud Selig is a wife beater??

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig slipped up a bit last week when his cell phone rang during a press conference the other day. But it wasn't just the ringing that was distracting - it was Selig's accidental threat to his beloved wife. Watch and see.

Side effects may include...anything you want

If you have a few minutes and the urge to create your own erectile dysfunction or bladder infection television spot, check out this Web site.

You seven pre-made slides to create some really wacky commercials, or at least, that's what I came up with. The actions are a little delayed at times, but it's pretty entertaining.

Feel free to post your work in the 'what do you think' section.

Flipping out

To me, wrestling has always been a questionable sport, and not even the phony WWE wrestling. The rolling around, half-naked, on a gross mat, with another half-naked man kind of wrestling.

But you've gotta check out this video of a high school wrestler who uses an incredible flip maneuver to escape his opponents grip. Apparently his coach wasn't all that fond of the move at first, but I'm sure he doesn't mind his winning team being all over the news and Internet.

The thing I find even more unbelievable is that half of the crowd isn't even watching! But you definitely should.

Police: 'Olly olly oxen free!'

It was like a game of hide-and-seek when a group of burglars broke into a 21-year-old woman's Utah home Thursday morning.

The college student had just returned home from class when she saw the men, who had been scoping out homes that looked unoccupied, knocking her door. After she didn't answer, they broke in through a downstairs window. She ran upstairs, grabbed a cordless phone and hid in her closet to call 911, while the men ravaged her home.

Then, one burglar entered the closet where she was hiding, looking for anything valuable, and literally knocked into the woman's boots but did not see her.

When police arrived, they called out in the most cliche way possible: "Come out with your hands up," and the men, who had now gathered in the same room as the woman, grew frantic. One of the men scurried back into the closet, hiding right up next to the woman.

An officer entered to home and approaching the room, the woman fled the closet, yelling, "He's in here! He's in here!" when really she should have been yelling, "Tag, you're it!"

"He just kind of looked at me with this really confused face, like, 'What the hell?"' she said.

Adam Cloward, 22; Jake Hampton, 26; and Tony Cone, 19, were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of various charges including aggravated burglary, theft and criminal mischief. All of the men were also either on parole or probation. Police also recovered two knives and brass knuckles from the men.

"I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"

Even though a Green Bay television station decided to have a little fun at Eli Manning's expense this weekend, I'm pretty sure he won't be crying like a baby...unlike some other football players we know.

After discovering Manning's favorite television show is Seinfeld, execs in Green Bay decided to pull the networks regularly scheduled 5:30 p.m. Saturday episode while the Giants were in town for today's NFC Championship game.

Somebody should be the Jerk Store's best seller...

This is a feeble attempt to 'disrupt the player's comfort level'. If Manning doesn't do well today, it's not because he couldn't watch the episode where George gets sexually aroused by fruit--it's because it's freaking 3 degrees in Green Bay right now...and that's without the wind chill.

But at least Eli had the man himself - Jerry Seinfeld - in his corner. The comedian caught wind of the situation and offered Thursday to send Manning an entire Seinfeld DVD set and a partial set of Hogan's Heroes for inspiration.

Viewers voted for the programming to air instead of Seinfeld: Of about 3,700 votes cast, some 60 percent were for a 30-minute special about former Packers coach Vince Lombardi called "God, Family and the Green Bay Packers," according to the Associated Press.

The game is on at 6:30 tonight. "The loser gets fired. The winner gets a Water Pik." Go Giants!

My super worst show ever created

Unlike a lot of television elitists, I haven't been crying over the writer's strike keeping quality programming off of my idiot box. There's nothing that the average person can do right now to fix it, so buck up and watch The Biggest Loser or Rock of Love in the meantime.

But I stumbled upon a few new show announcements and I came very close to vomiting in my mouth over MTV's upcoming show, Exiled!

The network is taking past diva teenagers from its My Super Sweet 16 show and sending them to far away places, such as Africa and Antarctica, in hopes they will gain a new worldly perspective on life.

“Some of these girls had very little awareness of what was going on around them and were very self-centered. We thought, ‘Here’s an opportunity.’" - Dave Sirulnick, exec VP

I didn't think television could get any worse than Super Sweet 16, but I was mistaken. The show is set to premiere this spring, God help us.

Get me a Sammie

Earlier today, I read an article about Quiznos' plan to reinvent itself and drive sales through online ordering, new locations, delivery and a new menu item called the "Sammie."

Being a recently displaced Quiznos enthusiast, I did not argue when my boyfriend offered up the sandwich shop as a lunch destination this afternoon, and of course, we wanted to try out the 200- to 300-calorie concoction of meats and greens folded into flatbread.

I'm not looking for a Quiznos employee to stumble upon this blog and offer me up some free Sammies for the free publicity (though that'd be awesome), but I'm telling you - go get one of these things.

...actually, get more than one. They are an incredibly delicious and light meal for only $2, and Quiznos offers a $5.99 meal that includes two Sammies, a fountain drink and side - good deal. There are currently six varieties of Sammies and the flatbread itself is just phenomenal. Totally going to put up some competition for the crappy KFC Snacker and the McDonalds Snack Wrap.

To read more about the Quiznos reinvention, click here.

Quiznos has also adopted a new slogan: Mmm, Quiznos. Love what you eat. And today, I certainly did.

But there will always be a place in my heart for the old Quiznos singing rats commercials of 2003.

Pack-ing tape

For my friend Dave, I'll say, "And they thought Philadelphia fans were bad..."

A story has emerged out of a Portage, Wisc. in which a boy who refused to wear a Green Bay Packers jersey during Saturday's playoff game had the shirt taped to his body by his father.
According to police, Mathew Kowald, 36, held his 7-year-old son down for an hour to make him wear that jersey.

Kowald was taken to county jail after being cited for disorderly conduct and released yesterday after paying a $186 fine.

When contacted by a local paper, the man said the incident started as a joke. He said his son challenged him, saying he wouldn't root for the Packers. Kowald claimed that when he restrained his son and started taping him, the boy was laughing and taking it as a joke...until the boy felt like he couldn't get out and got scared.

The man's wife was the one who called authorities during the incident and took pictures with her cell phone as evidence. She filed a restraining order against Kowald and he will no longer be allowed to have contact with his family. Sounds a little fishy to me...

This dog list bites

The American Kennel Club yesterday announced its annual rankings of the 157 recognized dog breeds, and arguably one of the uglier dogs has made a reappearance for the first time since the mid 1930s.

At the top of the list is the Labrador Retriever, which has been at the top for 16 straight years. Boring! The Yorkshire Terrier, German Shepherd, Golden Retriever and the Beagle followed behind.

The Boxer, Dachshund, Poodle and the Shih Tzu made up ranks 6 through 9.

And back in the top 10 for the first time in 75 years is the Bulldog. Ugh. My brother has one of these dogs and I think it is so incredibly un-cute.

But apparently owning a Bulldog has become as trendy as those little purse dogs that Paris Hilton put en vogue. Actors Adam Sandler and George Clooney both own Bulldogs, and the breed is the second-most popular dog in Los Angeles, according to the club.

My thoughts--Beagles are terrible, Poodles are hideous and Labs and Retrievers all look the same. Where's the Husky!?

"If I was a diva, my name would be Ferosh"

WARNING: SPOILERS
Ohhhh tonight's Project Runway made me furious. But before we get to the good stuff, let's cover the logistics.

This week, the designers selected their models based on their avant garde hairstyles and asked to create an equally as avant garde look to match. Each designer was randomly paired off, and halfway through, Tim Gunn announced that the pairs would need to create a ready-to-wear look that embodied the essence of the first couture garment.

Jillian and Victorya ended up together, and yawn-o-rama. Two of my least favorite people this season and they end up with the awesome girl sporting a crazy Sanjaya-inspired mohawk.

Team Fierce, aka Chris and Christian, was totally my pick this week. Not only did Christian inspire the title of this entry, but he was flamboyantly strutting around the design room showing female models how to fiercely walk the catwalk.

My girl, Kit Pistol, and stupid Ricky were matched up. He is a fashion designer--shouldn't he know that that conductor's hat is horrendous?!

Of all the teams, though, Rami and Sweet P butted heads the most and Rami's stubborn and demanding side came out tonight.

Post-runway show, Team Fierce and Team Yawn were the judges' favorite. Chris and Christian created this giant - completely avant garde - brown, marshmallow, frilly, monster of a dress, followed by a really cute ready-to-wear look. Jillian and Victorya took the punk/equestrian look, which I personally thought looked better before the model took the trench coat off. Thank goodness the girls didn't take this one because I'm seriously sick of them winning challenges. And as a prize, Chris/tian's looks were featured in an Elle fashion show.

On the other end were Rami/Sweet P and Kit/Ricky. The judges were disappointed that Rami has done nothing but create draped garments and he threw Sweet P under the bus this week. Kit was criticized for her arguably sloppy Scarlett O'Hara look(below, left) and the hideous baby doll dress that Ricky made (below, right). Sucks that the very first time Kit is singled out, it's for a negative.

For some reason, Ricky was safe first, even though he made probably the ugliest thing I've seen all season (yes, even worse than Simone's look from the first episode). Then Sweet P was safe, and at that point, Kit had to be thinking, 'Well, $#%!,' because Rami is a shoe-in for Olympus Fashion Week. And sadly, another one of my favs was undeservedly sent home this week.

WHY IS RICKY STILL THERE?! (Yes, I'm going to bitch about this until they send him home. He's so terrible!)

Eight down--seven to go. Make it work!

RELATED LINKS:
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7

Scary the Clown

Shocking news out of London today: Clowns are scary.

Seriously, I've been afraid of clowns for as long as I can remember. I'm glad I'm not alone on this one.

A study conducted by researchers from the University of Sheffield polled children ages 4 to 16, in an effort to examine the best decor of hospital children's wards. The report found that all 250 children surveyed did not like the use of clowns and that several of the older children were afraid of them.

"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable" - Penny Curtis, senior lecturer in research at the university.

That kinda makes me feel bad for the clowns, but then I remember the first time I ever saw the movie It and I get over it.