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| I didn't post about Episode 5 because I ended up putting off talking about Jack for an entire week and by then it was pretty much pointless. I didn't post about Episode 6 because I was at work when it aired and I was too depressed about Elisa being aufed to say much. I was going to stop posting about it altogether but then I noticed that I was getting a lot of search engine referrals for PR-related searches. So I decided to start up posting again, but actually do something by way of a recap instead of just observations.
The previews were very obvious about the nature of this challenge. It was definitely a cute idea but I feel bad for the "real" models this season. On the other hand, most of them aren't as talented or attractive as those in the past, so maybe Bravo is trying to use them as sparingly as possible.
So, the designers are sitting by the runway. Heidi asks if they're ready to hear what their challenge will be and they sound unenthusiastic. She announces the bringing out of the models, and it's a bunch of girls in uniforms. They aren't actually allowed to wear their shirts untucked in school, I guarantee it. Heidi tells the designers (who didn't already know what was going to happen from the promos) that they're going to be designing prom dresses for these girls. The designers' reactions seem to mainly be focused on how short the girls are instead of on the challenge itself (with the exception of Christian, who is predictably annoyed at the "tackiness"). I was really worried that they would choose their clients the way they normally do with the models, but luckily the girls had already had the opportunity to choose which designer they wanted to work with. Most of the designers actually seemed flattered to be chosen.
For my prom, I wore a black ankle-length sheath dress (I was skinny enough back then to pull it off). It had a straight neckline and spaghetti straps, with rhinestone X-shaped beads on the straps. I forget what material it was made out of (something stretchy) and it had a slit up one side. I got it for $20 at a secondhand store.
Why is Sweet P so concerned about Nicole wanting to wear white? Lots of girls wear white prom dresses and manage to avoid looking like brides. (By the way, if anyone getting married is reading this, buy a white prom dress during the off season when it's on sale. Once you add a veil and a bouquet, you have a beautiful wedding dress for >$200.)
Christian in high school looked kind of like Kevin in Sin City.
Wow, Kit isn't a natural blonde? Seriously? Honestly, her current hair color looks a lot better than the brown.
Aww, Ricky is calling his mom and talking about his past (the "loser" edit). This means he obviously finally gets eliminated. Yay!
Christian is very depressed throughout the entire episode about his design. Essentially, he is trying to turn his client's wishes into something fashionable and true to himself but his results are falling short. He's convinced that he will be eliminated. So obviously, he isn't going to be. In fact, he might be one of the top. Goddamn predictable editing. Hell, the last time he had a demanding client, he was nervous but it worked well for him.
Wow, Tizi's mother is horrible. She is calling her daughter fat on nationally-televised TV. Points to Kevin for defending her, even though I think he's mainly defending his design.
Sweet P listened to her client and made something resembling what the client wanted, but she focused more on what she knew would work and the client ended up loving it and saying it was exactly what she wanted a la Jay McCarroll's wedding dress. Let this be a lesson to everyone in future PR challenges. I don't think anyone has ever been eliminated for making a beautiful dress that their client hated.
Why does everyone keep focusing on Kevin's hemline? This must mean that it's going to be his undoing. FORESHADOWING! I do understand his point that the length is getting dangerously short though.
Is it just me, or is the music that plays whenever the girls walk in the same that was playing during Uli's Fashion Week show?
SWEET P WORE A WHITE DRESS TO HER PROM! Was it that someone made fun of her for wearing a "wedding dress"? And now she's trying to spare her client the same fate?
Sweet P-HIGH-Beautiful. Yeah I could've seen Nicole Kidman wearing it, but I didn't think it was unsuitable for prom.
Victorya-WINNER even though I don't know why. I would've put this among the low designs. Her client looks geeky and awkward, and I think wearing a weird short dress makes it even worse (at my prom I think I only saw one dress that was shorter than tea length, and it was on a freshman who was taking tickets at the door). The gems look very early 90's, and that neckline only looks good on a very select group of people, and only for swimsuits.
Chris-SAFE-Aww, I wanted to see the Christmas dress. His design actually reminded me of the dress that my sister wore to her prom. I really liked the slit up the middle, it was long enough to keep things interesting and make the dress walk-in-able without being creepy. I would've put him in the top 3.
Kevin-OUT-The judges refused to say it, but I think they were upset that he put a babydoll dress on someone who was kind of, um, chubby. In real life, girls who are HUGE wear dresses like that, but when you're doing the runway thing it's important to wear clothes that are flattering, in this case long vertical lines. I think the halter neck worked pretty well, but empire waists do tend to make anyone who isn't tiny look pregnant (on the other hand they look great on pregnant women).
Jillian-SAFE-I wasn't crazy about the color or bodice of this dress. The asymmetrical hemline and back worked pretty well though.
Christian-LOW-I got the feeling that the judges had him in the top 3 until he started complaining about his client. I don't think they ever had any intention of aufing him but they wanted it to be a lesson in taking responsibility for one's own designs.
Kit-SAFE-I didn't really know what to make of this. The color was nice but the fabric was weird and non-promish. The bow in the back was pretty, but the panels overemphasized her breasts, and not in a good way. The overall look reminded me of bad interior decorating from the 70's.
Ricky-LOW-This one should have lost. I think it was supposed to be a bubble skirt, but the hemline looked more like it had been tucked under into her panties or something. The color would've worked for a more dramatic silhouette, but an oversimplified one like this might have benefited from something bright and with a nice texture. I didn't like the mosaic belt thing at all. I feel sorry for Ricky's high school girlfriend.
Rami-LOW-This was basically his Episode 1 dress, only green and shorter. It wasn't THAT bad though (Someone who wore it to my prom would've been gotten "Ooh, interesting dress, where did you find it?") At prom, everyone is worried about wearing the same thing as everyone else. Bianca even specifically stated that she wanted something "different" and she liked the dress and it was flattering on her. I guess they were expecting him to do better?
This episode had four halter neck dresses (Kit, Sweet P, Victorya, Kevin), three spaghetti strap (Jillian, Rami, and Ricky), and two with thicker straps (Christian and Chris). There were four above the knee looks (Victorya, Ricky, Kevin, and Christian), and two mid-calf (Jillian and Kit). I expected at least one designer to do a strapless A-line floor length thing (which is what pretty much everyone wore to my prom) but I guess they thought it would be too cliche?
The unofficial Marie scores for the remaining designers are:
Victorya: 10, Rami: 12, Jillian: 11, Ricky: 3, Chris: 6, Kit: 8, Christian: 8, Sweet P: 6
The gap is getting wider.
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| Christmas decorations are lovely, they really are, but please make sure when you're putting them up that you don't do it in such a way as to obscure your house numbers. For example, if the only numbers you have are on one of the wooden posts on either side of the stairs leading up to your door, don't attach bows to the posts by nailing them on top of the house numbers. I'm just a sandwich deliverer. I can't see through solid objects.
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| Entering the store
-The hours are posted on the door.
-If we haven't opened yet, the Mudhouse isn't too far away and it opens at 7.
-If we've already closed, there are lots of restaurants in Springfield (a bunch within walking distance) that stay open longer, some even all night.
-If you come in within 15 minutes of closing you will have bad service and/or bad food. Also, God will smite you.
-I'm glad you think it smells good in here, I can't smell it anymore after a year and a half. It's a combination of marinades and smells that linger in the oven after sandwiches go through.
-Order at the far end of the counter, not at the cash register. There is a neon sign that says "Order" to help you.
-Nutrition information is available online.
-Yes we deliver. For several months now.
Baser station
-If I am in the middle of making five sandwiches for the people in front of you or for a delivery order, I will not be able to take your order. If I am looking down at the food I am preparing, please do not order. Wait until I make eye contact and say "can I help you?" If you order while I am concentrating on other things, I will probably not remember anything you said and just not make it, or make it wrong.
-Will this be for here or to go?
-What sandwich would you like? Be specific, say the name of the sandwich as it appears on the menu board (don't just say "chicken"). Please don't order a "classic sub." We have a Classic Club and a Classic Italian and a Traditional, which everyone forgets and calls Classic.
-If you have multiple sandwiches, please order them one at a time. Don't rattle off "two X, one Y, one Z" and scurry away without specifying any of the information below. I will make them the way I like so I can eat them after you yell at us for making them wrong, even though you never told us what you want. Also, we like it when you say at the beginning of the order that you have four sandwiches to order or whatever.
-Will that be on white or wheat bread? We don't have a display of plastic loaves of bread like Subway does. Stop looking around for it, you look stupid. Bread is in baguette-esque loaves. The white bread has sesame seeds on it and the wheat bread has bran flakes. We also have rosemary parmesan bread available for .39 extra. It's quite tasty. Both white and wheat breads are good, please don't ask which is better or which goes better with a particular sandwich. It's really a matter of preference and I'll probably recommend the one I have in front of me so I don't have to get out another loaf. Don't say Italian bread or "regular bread," I'm not sure what exactly either of these mean.
-Would you like lettuce, tomatoes, onions, olives, etc on it? This part is important. Remember, we are not Subway. You need to let me know any special requests, like no tomatoes or add mushrooms or substitute mustard for mayonnaise. I will list off the vegetables and ask you if you want them. If you mention that you don't want something after the sandwich has gone through the toaster (when the ingredients you didn't want have been cooked in), every employee in the store will hate you. Let me repeat this. YOU NEED TO MAKE SPECIAL REQUESTS WHEN YOU ORDER. We wouldn't hate you for this so much if we weren't required to list everything to make sure you want it. Extra vegetables and dressings are free. Meat, cheese, and guacamole costs extra.
-Don't say "nothing on it" or "plain." These mean different things to different people. It's better to say exactly what you want or don't want. If you say "everything" I will make the sandwich exactly as it appears on the menu. If you want all the possible ingredients we have, please specify this.
-If you want a custom sandwich, just let me know exactly what you want on it and we'll figure out what to charge you at the register. We don't mind being creative, and sometimes customers give us good ideas of ways to combine ingredients.
-Sorry, we don't have pastrami or meatballs or smoked turkey anymore. We don't have green peppers, but we do have banana peppers which is kind of the same idea. We don't have salsa, ketchup, veggie patties, corned beef, provolone, or American cheese. Mozzarella is kind of like provolone. Please don't say white cheese or yellow cheese. I hate it when people do this. We don't have spicy mustard anymore, but we do have honey bourbon mustard, which is sweet and spicy.
-All of our sandwiches are toasted unless you say that you want them cold. Please say this when you order, instead of "Oh gross, you toasted it? That's so disgusting, why would you do that? I can't eat that!" when you receive your sandwich.
-I am shaking a spice blend (basil oregano I think) on your sandwich. It doesn't really have a strong taste, most people can't even taste it. We put it on everything. If you put a lot of it on a sandwich, it smells like pot as it is being cooked. If you don't want the spice mix, please let us know when you order.
I'm going to set aside a special paragraph for certain types of customers. There is a male-female couple. They can be any age. The man orders like normal, then turns to the woman and asks what she wants, and repeats it to me. If I ask her what kind of bread she wants or something, the man glares at me, then repeats the question to her, then passes on her answer to me, even though she's standing right in front of me and I heard her. It's not like there's an obvious reason for this to be happening, like she's taking care of the kids and he's ordering for the whole family. I've never seen this dynamic in a same-sex couple, or with the genders reversed. It really really bothers me though. If she's socially awkward enough that she can't make herself order in a restaurant, should she really be in a relationship? (I make an exception for older couples where one partner is probably more senile than they used to be and needs the other partner to help them out.) If he's making food decisions for her, why would he ask what she wants? If they're only pretending that she gets to eat what she wants, why wouldn't he tell her what to order before they get to the counter? For anyone who's saying that there is probably a D/s thing going on, remember that the main concept in these types of arrangements is consent. Even if she didn't give consent for him to tell her what to eat in this specific instance, she did consent to obey him in general. I, however, never consented to be a part of your relationship, so please leave me out of it okay?
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| Jillian, Rami, and Kevin- <a href="http://gratzindustries.blogspot.com/">Alan Gratz</a> called this the Dream Team. Rami and Kevin have been two of the highest scorers so far and Jillian has been the one performing well but flying under the radar. Additionally, all three are quite attractive. Ashley (Rami's model) actually looked attractive for once. I could tell that they were going to be the winners from the runway show. Kevin's look was the weakest out of the three but it obviously fit in with the other two and it wasn't a liability.
Christian, Kit, and Jack-Jack <a href="http://www.franklouis.com/site/?page_id=12">looks really good naked</a> by the way (obviously nsfw). Their collection was my personal favorite out of the four but I understand why they were in second place. Points to Christian for toning himself down well. Lea seems like the model to steal this season. I hope someone else braids her hair like Elisa did, she looked cute.
Ricky, Victorya, and Elisa-This was a very eclectic team. Points to Elisa for staying out of the drama and producing a cute little dress. I've been on Ricky's side for the first three episodes, but I can't support the guy who didn't get kicked out instead of Chris. I think the reason why he stayed was that Victorya was obviously partially to blame for problems, whereas Chris screwed up on his own. I got very pissed off at Victorya in this episode. She's the type of person who bosses everyone around and expects them to boss her around back. Some people like to respect each other, okay? I've dealt with people like Victorya before. After they try to micromanage me to death a few times, I decide that they aren't worth dealing with and cut them out of my life however I have to do it. When they realize this they say that they expected me to come on as strong as they did and fight them. I don't get into power struggles unless I absolutely have to, and I certainly wouldn't expect to with someone who willingly lets me be "team leader."
Chris, Steven, and Sweet P-I think Sweet P had it pretty easy, big sweater dresses are popular right now. I was sad to see Chris go, but he had the most literal interpretation of the faux pas out of everyone and he probably should've insisted that they "incorporate each element in every design" like the other teams did. Steven's look wasn't very dancy in my opinion but it was better looking than Chris', which I think saved him.
The current point standings are: Kevin-9, Victorya-6, Elisa-3, Rami-8, Jillian-6, Ricky-1, Jack-6, Steven-2, Kit-5, Christian-4, Sweet P-3.
I really feel bad for Jack next episode. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Google Jack Mackenroth. At least he's dating Top Chef's Dale Levitski (I don't have a link but people are talking about it everywhere). I noticed that Jack's Myspace said that he wanted "someone like Dale from Top Chef" and Dale was complaining about being recently dumped throughout Season 3. I didn't think they would actually get together though, because Jack seems like he's significantly more attractive than Dale is, but the HIV+ thing might be a liability that Dale wouldn't want to risk. Anyway, they look really cute together and I hope they work out well.
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