New book challenge

I'm trying to get myself to clean out my list of "Books to Read" and so I'm going to be doing a book challenge this year. The lovely Lenneth is doing the Mythopoeic Award Challenge:




I'll be listing the books as I read them, along with links to where I'll be reviewing them on this space. Book #1 is one I've had about three stops and starts on and never gotten past chapter one:

1. Sunshine by Robin McKinley.
2. Tithe by Holly Black.
3. Valiant by Holly Black
4. Deerskin by Robin Mckinley.
5. The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue.

Lighten up, it's just fashion.

I had trouble getting myself to write this critique because I actually have a problem with the latest challenge. Thank goodness most of the designers resisted the urge to be jerks to these women for not being model-thin (I actually thought Kevin's attitude was quite refreshing) but I get the distinct feeling that the only reason they weren't bellyaching all the time was because these women had lost so much weight, so calling them fat on top of that would have been cruel.

I realize that fashion is apparently only for thin people. But PR can stop making it such an important point. Last season, the designer's comments about designing for each other's mothers in the Everyday Woman challenge were ridiculous. They all came off sounding like whiny brats. "But...these women are fa-at. How am I supposed to make an outfit for a fat woman! Fat women don't like FASHION! Fat women aren't supposed to want to look nice!"

Instead, this year they treated these women like their most important thing about them, indeed the only trait we learned about them, was the amount of weight that they lost.

Overall, the idea is interesting. It's just, something about the way it was done that just got under my skin. Not to mention that I've become such a big believer that focusing on mostly meaningless numbers like weight or BMI instead of health is one of the worst things you can do for yourself.

I'm going to try to leave all of that behind and just talk about the clothes.





As an aside, I am going to miss Jack but it really was the right decision to make. Your health should always come first, and I think it's safe to say that even leaving this early on he made his impression on the viewers. Good luck Jack!

I'm happy that Chris is back, because I really wanted to see more from him. I agree with the producers in their decision to bring him back as well. Last season they gave Angela and Vincent a change to return, so why not go back to Chris? Also, there was a sentiment that Dale talked about on Top Chef: you want to win because you're the best in the competition, not on some technicality. So eliminating a person early would make the competition too much easier for everyone else.

To the clothes! I don't understand the bow, I really really don't. It's just, wrong. It's bright and out of place and just, pointless really. I like the little colored pleat, but I think if you made it in the blue of the shirt instead of red, it would be more fun. So if you changed those two things: no bow, blue pleat, then I'd actually be pretty happy with this. Actually, I would considering buying and wearing that top. I think it's fun and structured, and it fits her really well. So I hope that all this hate for this outfit is focused on that bow.





I'm kind of over Christian in so many ways. But I have to admit he did really well on this one, especially considering his picky client. But she looks good, it's tailored so well, it's fun. You get the sense that Christian made it, but it's also very much what a normal person would wear rather than being "fashion."

It's pretty modern and fun, and just well done. I have very little to say about it besides kudoos.





Okay, this is something that bugs me: how much time to the judges spend with the "clients" in this type of situation? Because all of them kept saying it was really "Elisa" and not at all what fit her client. But Elisa spent more time with the lady than they did, so how do they know? They kept saying things like "It's so you!" to other ladies as well. Are they making assumptions based on their appearance? How confident they seem? Or do they actually know these women?

All that said, this outfit doesn't look that great. It reminds me of when I try to dress nice, she looks short. There's something odd going on with the skirt hems, and the boots weren't really a good styling choice.

But I actually really love the jacket, I think it's cute and flattering. Nobody talked about it because paired with that skirt it's not really that great. But with a nice pair of slacks, I think it'd be a nice jacket. A little boring maybe, pretty commercial, and not a challenge winner. But a nice jacket nonetheless. I do not think this was the second worst look of the day. I don't know what else was, but this isn't as bad as they made it out to be.





I won't deny that Jillian made a really cute dress. There were things about the way it moved on the runway that I didn't love, but overall it's a really nice article of clothing. I think it's styling is nice, the color is nice. In fact, if I saw it in a store I'd probably try it on but halter tops don't really fit my figure.

I completely disagree with the judges that it was okay that she didn't really do the challenge AT ALL. I hate how they pick and choose who they will hold to strict standards based on the challenge, and who can get away with not doing what they were told. They were told to transform the existing clothes. Jillian decided that fabric wasn't good enough for her and just didn't use it. She used it for an idea, sure. But she didn't do the same challenge as the other contestants, and I think it should have disqualified her design for consideration. I don't think she should be eliminated for it, but they absolutely shouldn't have called her out and praised her either.

Other people adhered to the spirit of the competition, she didn't bother. When a teacher tells you to do a homework assignment, you can't just randomly decide to do a different one and hope that if you do it well they'll ignore that you did something else. The judges need to consistently apply the rules or not bother.





I know it's a personal preference, but I don't like things without straps. I think they make the top part of the torso look too long, and it just doesn't do any favors for most women. I don't know why I think this but I do.

That is about the only critique I have for this outfit. Kevin, besides being a good sport, really transformed the clothes he was given. And you can even tell in the picture, his client LOVED it. She really enjoyed the look, and he was happy that she liked it. I think that I wanted him to win just because he was so darn nice throughout, without any of the catty comments we keep getting from Christian.

Overall, I think this outfit is a success. I think the only reason it didn't win out was that it wasn't as "everyday" as what Christian did. This is really an occasion outfit. I can't figure out what occasion, but it's not something you could just wear to work.





This outfit is so close to great...I can't put my finger on exactly what bothers me about it, to be honest. I don't really like the color, to be honest. And I think the white patch on the front should be black, or there should be another white accent somewhere to balance it out. But overall, it's cute. Actually, it's not as inventive or odd as most of what we see coming from Kit, which I suppose means that she really tailored it to her client, which is good.

I think it's really that coming from Kit, it's a little boring. I also think the bottom patterned piece needs to flare out more so that it looks a little less like she's wearing a skirt over a dress.





Somehow, this outfit left no impression on me after the show. But looking at the picture, I think it should have taken Jillian's place in the top three. It's really cute, it's fun, and it's everyday enough. The model certainly seems to enjoy it, and it's very Rami at the same time.

Rami seems like such a clear favorite that I hate to be nice to him. I'd rather root for the underdog, but it's a really good outfit. I'd probably pick up that top at the store, it accents all the right parts of the woman's figure. Good job.





I think Ricky is on borrowed time just because he's not innovative or interesting. That said, there hasn't been a lot of really out there fascinating stuff this season, has there? It's become so boring. Robert Best is probably screaming at his tv every week.

The top is cute. If it wasn't for those big gold things, I would probably wear it. Well, if it wasn't translucent. I think the top of the jeans somehow don't fit the bottom of the jeans...there's something odd there. They fit strangely on top.

Otherwise, this outfit is just so...standard. I've got nothing more to say about it. Please stop being so boring PR contestants! Take risks! Do something really weird! Even Elisa stopped being so crazy after the first episode. I want baboon's asses exploding! Project Runway isn't always supposed to be about sellable and wearable, fashion is also part art, and art is about being out there to make a point.





First and foremost: the only thing French maid about this is that it's black and white. That's it, it was ridiculous for the judges to harp on that. It has NOTHING to do with the typical French maid idea.

That said, it also was the worst showing of the night, sorry Steven. He was so daunted by the wedding dress that like Jillian he didn't actually do the same challenge as everybody else. He didn't bother to do what he was asked, and yes it was a really hard challenge but that was a chance to shine and he didn't do it.

I get a little tired of the designers this season when they talk about their fabrics. So it was some sort of weird lace that catches in machines or something. Your point? This show has had outfits made out of corn husks, lawn chairs, peanut sacks, scrap paper, ferns, Spanish moss, etc. None of those things were so easy to sew either, I'd wager.

Also, as a costumer I have little sympathy. I've made costumes out of some really really low quality stuff. I'm talking $1/yard stuff from the Wal-Mart bargain bin. I doubt this wedding dress was made out of something so much harder to deal with.

Of course, I don't think this dress is that bad. It fit her strangely as she walked on the runway, but the fact is I've seen a lot of dresses like this in my day. Which is why I was fine with it being the worst of the night. There was nothing new about it, it didn't fit quite right, and it didn't personify the challenge in any way, shape, or form. I want to know what this lady thinks about all the hate being spewed towards her wedding dress. So it didn't fit her anymore, that was still the dress she chose for a very important day in her life. I would be really angry if people were talking that way about my wedding dress, I loved it so much I'd never bring it to a challenge like this. She took a big risk bringing that in, and she wasn't rewarded at all. And yet she's still smiling. That woman is a hell of a good sport.





It's a shame this dress didn't make it into the top, it's really cute and fun. I don't like the color, but that's what she had to work with. I probably wouldn't pair it with black hose either, but that's just me. I also hate pointy toed shoes, you don't see anybody in the fashion world agreeing with me there.

The only thing that's going against this dress is that again, it's sort of unremarkable. It's very safe, very nice. It was a success, but it took very few risks. Where are the risks this season? I can't believe it's making me long for Santino.





I actually really don't like this dress. I think the chest was all kinds of weird, which you can't really see in the picture here. I don't really know what it was about it, but it just was off. It didn't seem properly tailored to the model's body or something. There was also some odd bunching going on, if I recall correctly.

Maybe it's just that I really don't like green velvet. But this dress just doesn't appeal to me at all. But again, it's BORING. What can I say about it that's positive or negative? Almost nothing! Because it's just a dress.

There is no way this is the most talented group of designers the show has ever seen. Maybe it's that the challenges suck, but for the most part they're just talented seamstresses. They're not showing much vision, innovation, or anything that makes me think they're "cutting edge." They aren't envisioning the future of fashion, they're following along what's been done already.

I'm so bored, please PR, make them make an outfit out of electronics!

The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass - Film Version.

We're going to take a break from Project Runway, because this last week was just a little bothersome. I'll talk about it later, but the fact is the challenge bothered me. So instead I'll talk about the movies I went to see this weekend, starting with The Golden Compass.

Now, I'm interested in how many people are griping about the title. But honestly I like it because it fits better with the idea of "His Dark Materials." Also, it being a noun describing a thing that is very important to the plot of this particular story, I think it fits better.

What interests me is how everyone seems to be making comparisons between this film adaptation and Lord of the Rings. The reviewers keep saying it was made to cash in on Lord of the Rings, it's like LotR, etc.

It isn't. In the slightest, please don't go into it believing you'll have a similar experience at all. This film is made with almost the exact same formula as the Harry Potter films.

I walked out of the Harry Potter movies saying, "You know, that felt like a mash-up of the best scenes in the book, rather than a true adaptation of it." While I never got past the second chapter of The Golden Compass, I felt the same at the end of this movie. Like I had seen a bunch of random bits, strung together as loosely as they could, so that you could cram in as much of the story as possible.

In the case of Harry Potter, it's a forgivable strategy. There's no way you could actually adapt any of those books (or indeed this one) into a single film. But the difference here that even Lord of the Rings couldn't rely on is that most of the people going to see Harry Potter HAVE read the books.

Most people, myself included, have not read The Golden Compass. So the screenwriter desperately needed to take a page from Peter Jackson and make a story that is deeply rooted in the original, faithful to the feeling of the book, but actually a film adaptation. It needed to be it's own entity, and I don't know that the director alone was capable of that feat. He certainly didn't manage it, I'm sorry to say. His heart was in the right place, and you could tell he did love the books very much. But even Peter Jackson had massive amounts of help, a whole team of people working to make it perfect. He had people who had devoted their lives to these books helping him envision this world. While I'm sure His Dark Materials are good books, they don't inspire that sort of devotion.

It wasn't a bad film. The problem was it had the potential to be a great film, it could have been so amazing. But the truly fascinating characters had these great actors to portray them and they had nothing to do. They were there for a split second and given very little motivation or story. Lee Scoresby and Serafina Pekkala could have carried the movie, if they hadn't had to redub all of Eva Green's dialogue in ADR, making her voice and her face just so slightly off that it bothered me and I couldn't watch her talk. That's a personal pet peeve though.

Lee Scoresby introduction was brilliant, I looked forward to seeing more of him and I saw so little. His interaction with his daemon Hester was comical, and hinted of a calculated casualness. I hope that in the books he is explored in much more detail.

I'm happy that Iorek Byrnison got his due, and had his story told. But couldn't we have discovered anything more about Mrs. Coulter's dual-faced character? Couldn't we have gotten into the fact that even though I only read two chapters of the book, I got the distinct feeling that Lord Asriel wasn't a very nice man?

I suppose the problem really lies in the fact that I just didn't identify with or enjoy Lyra very much. Is it the character? The original writing? The adaptation? The acting? I don't know. But I didn't care what she did from one moment to the next, except that it allowed me to see the gyptians, or get to see one of Pan's many adorable forms. She seemed to exist only as a catalyst for everything else, not so much as a well-developed character.

While lesser movies have had their sequels, I don't know that The Subtle Knife will be made at this point. Sure, there was religious controversy surrounding the film, but I don't think that was what killed it. I think the type of people that would avoid a film because they see some persecution in it wouldn't have seen it anyway, and wouldn't have amounted to much of a box office difference. I think the movie itself just isn't that good, and that's the real shame of it all. It seems like the story only gets more interesting as the books progress, they should get their day in the cinema.

A final note: this is not a children's film, or I think so much a family film, and that is part of what will hurt it's repeat business. The fact is it's violent, and I don't make that claim often. In fact, while I called Pan's Labyrinth a violent movie I also heartily recommend it and say people should look past the necessary violence into the great fable that it is. In this film, it isn't so necessary for the battles to be so full of death. While there isn't a lot of blood, there is a very distinctive moment when anyone dies that shows without a doubt that they are completely gone. I don't think death should be thrown around so flippantly, even of the bad guys. It stops having an impact when you just chuck it out there left and right.

I think in the end it's a movie that might be worth renting, especially if you liked the books and can view it as an adaptation and not expect it to be perfect. If you liked the Harry Potter books AND movies, then maybe this is for you. But I won't be watching it again.