Sewing, cooking, hairdressing -- COME ON. These should be a huge opportunity for women to bust out of the traditional high/low male/female bullshit

I totally agree with you. How many American Idol winners have been women compared to how many have been men?

I totally agree with you. How many American Idol winners have been women compared to how many have been men?

Four female winners. Two male winners. link

Shear Genius finale:

Coming in to the final episode, it really felt (to me) like it was Daisy's game to win or lose. The recap strengthened this impression, by reminding us that she had finished in the top contenders in six out of eight challenges, and she was up on the Wall of Fame twice (I think?). I thought Anthony and Ben both had really strong shots at winning as well, but it really felt like Daisy was the odds on favorite.

And then came the actual final challenge. As happy as I am at Anthony's win, it really seemed to like Anthoy didn't really win the challenge, so much as Ben and Daisy lost. Anthony was clearly the winner for the challenge, but he didn't exactly knock it out of the park. No one did. Everyone's bob (as was noted by the judges) were off, mostly by not being short enough in the back. Some great ideas were displayed, but none were executed properly, and all three seemed to have at least one of their three dos that was pretty craptacular.

And what's with bringing in amateur models, and not telling them that they really don't get a say in the style they're getting? When Ben asked the one model if she didn't mind losing length, and she strongly protested, had I been him I would have had to tell her, "Look, I'm sorry they didn't prepare you for this, but this particular challenge is about creating a particular look on you, not pleasing you as a customer, so I have to give you the style I'm going to give you. I'm really sorry about that, but I need you to be able to accept it, and even be happy about the do I give you, particularly when you're modeling it."

And then poor Anthony, giving his models specific instructions, just before the runway walk, to really shake their hair and make it move, and then every last one of them walked out ramrod straight, as if everything above the waist was made of granite.

Bringing in amateur, unprepared models for a major creativity challenge is really kind of hobbling, don't you think?

On a slightly more superficial level, how incredibly awesome was Vidal Sassoon? What a neat guy. I know Ben was saying, "As a hairdresser, getting to meet Vidal Sassoon is a huge thing for me," or whatever he said. I was thinking, "Ben! I'm not a hairdresser, and I'd still be very impressed to meet Vidal Sassoon. He's frelling VIDAL SASSOON!"

I really liked that Vidal really seemed to make it a point to only say good thing about the competitors, and find what they did well in the messes they presented. He really seemed to get that the competition put silly and absurd constraints on the stylists that they would rarely have to deal with in the real world, and kind of refused to mark them down for the ways they failed because of those constraints.

I noticed toward the end of the judging, Michael Carl sort of rolled his eyes at Vidal's unrelenting positivity, and I just thought, "Bitch, don't roll your eyes at Vidal Sassoon!"

Anyway, good for Anthony, and I hope everybody in the competition gets a boost in their revenues from their appearances on this show.

Now it's time for the Top Chef cook off, and then TC3!

Talking about female contestants in Project Runway, what was the name of the ditzy brunette who loved to put rosettes on everything from the last season?

Angela?

Yeah, her! Well, I found out this past weekend that my aunt knows her.

Apparently, Angela was a "guest artist" at a southeast Ohio home for mentally handicapped children (they bring in someone relatively famous to work with the kids for a month or two and what the children produce is sold at the home's gift store to help raise funds), and what the children produced during her tenure was the tackiest crap imaginable. (Under other artists, they turn out lovely items.) Also, she participated in a pumpkin-decorating event that Aunt Francie was also in last October, and her idea of decorating was to take an autographed photo of herself and staple it to the pumpkin.

Ooh, Alton Brown is shooting a second season of Feasting on Asphalt!

"Bitch, don't roll your eyes at Vidal Sassoon!"

No Shit!

I was cracking up when Vidal was like, "Styling three heads, cut and color in three hours is hard work. YOU try it sometime, bitch." to Michael Carl.

I'm in total love with Vidal Sassoon now. Anyone know if there's a good biography or autobiography of him out there?

Anyone know if there's a good biography or autobiography of him out there?

He did a cool autobiography in the early seventies.

Hold on...

It's called Sorry, I Kept You Waiting Madam.

Looks like it might be out of print, but it's well worth finding.