sleepyThe only tv show that had gotten me really hyped up this season is Project Runway hosted by the gorgeous Heidi Klum (supermodel and wife of singer, Seal).
My ex-colleagues from Mediacorp have been waxing lyrical about it since they've gotten the first off-air tape and the people at TNP were clamouring over the only promo tape (the one who gets it will do the review) so I didn't get a chance to watch it earlier. Yes, it's a reality show but don't strike it off because of its genre. No amount of scheming, mucking ard the cam and canvassing for votes will get you anywhere here because it's pure talent that counts. The show premiered on Bravo channel in Dec 2004 and the first season generated incredible buzz and ratings. The Brits has even decided to do a UK version called Project Catwalk and Elizabeth Hurley was chosen to be the host (over Elle MacPherson!!!). This will air in 2006.
Not surprisingly, Mediacorp premieres Project Runway in Singapore long after the first season in US is over and the 2nd season of Project Runway is due to start on Dec 7..Fremantle (also the franchise owner of the Idol format) has the distribution & format rights to the show which may explain why it took so long to reach our shores. The former VP of programming at SPH Mediaworks is now the Sales Director of Fremantle, Asia so I'm guessing he probably played hardball after all the grief MCS had caused him at his former position hehe ..But that's the business aspect of programme acquisitions/negotiations and he's doing his part to get the best deal possible and it's the buyers job to bring the price down.. MCS will have a bigger migraine later with the negotiation of terrestrial rights for World Cup with StarHub next year..
Ok, I'm digressing..back to the show. The format is simple. 6 unknown aspiring designers competes for a chance to launch their own clothing line, a cash prize of USD$100,000, a mentorship with the banana republic design team plus their own show at New York fashion week which will be photographed for Elle magazine). What lends the show even more credibility (and respectability) is it's partners - the famous Parsons School of Design and its chair of dept of fashion design - Tim Gunn and having judges like fashion designers, Michael Kors and Betsey Johnson. The best part of the show is seeing how the outfits are created from scratch and the thought processes that went into it. Can't help but marvel at the wondrous talent and creativity of some of these designers. Today's episode was amazing..the challenge was to design a glamourous outfit made from materials bought at a grocery store. The design by Austin, the winner of the first ep challenge was awesome. His outfit made out of corn husk and duct tapes was certainly an 'out-of-the-box' design. He made husk flakes by rubbing the dried husks between the palms of his hands which he then applied onto the duct tape.The end result was simply marvellous and a true creation of art/fashion.
Here's Austin amazing cornhusk creation
Other Fab Designs
Nora's dress was made out of an aluminium and plastic beach chair
The designer Mario used vinyl shower curtains to create this beautiful dress
Well, guess I will be making it a point to stay home on Monday nights at 10pm!
(if you don't want to know who won, do not google Project Runway or go to Bravo's website)
By the way, Donald Trump has a blog..It's pretty interesting because you can see many people kissing his ass and 'auditioning' for a position as his next 'apprentice' by leaving their 'impressive resume' in the comments section..
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There's another show which I'm kinda embarrassed to admit that I will be tuning to faithfully every week. It's actually a kid's show on Kids Central..
Masked Rider 555!!
It's a live-action series where a superhero battles with monsters and super heroes. His battle costume is a cross between Power Rangers and Ultraman and he wears this weird bug-eyed headgear..It was apparently highly successful in Japan which led to the franchise owner, Bandai selling gazillion Mask Rider toys and lvarious spin-offs (a movie, X-box games etc).
Here's a synopsis taken from Kids Central site (too lazy to write one of my own)..
In the none-too-distant future, guerrilla fighters are waging a war with the Smart Brain Corporation to stop them from replacing humanity with Orphnochs. These are creatures that can look like humans, but transform into white-armored monsters reminiscent of animals or mythical beasts. The corporation's evil rulers include a cyber-council, a head in a jar and a shape-changing vixen. Their chief weapons are a villainous Masked Rider in white armor, a huge armored creature, and an army of Orphnoch warriors. The good guys are little more than a rag-tag outfit of rebels with conventional weapons who are hiding out in an abandoned amusement park. They have two mostly ineffectual Masked Riders on their side, but hold on to the hope that the best, Masked Rider 555 will return. Three Orphnochs who wish to live in peace with humans try to help, but inadvertently end up the pawns of the Corporation. 555 eventually returns to take on the corporation.
Gotta admit, I started watching because of the cute Jap actors, especially the protaganist ..ooh eye candy! The script is kinda lame but then again, the show was dubbed in English so I wasn't expecting much! The costume was even funnier ..what's with the bug-eye? But I was soon hooked by the interesting storyline *coff*...
Aidan didn't seemed impressed by the show and was chanting High 5 and Barney as he sat next to me but I ignored him so he had no choice but to watch the entire episode with me (evil mommy)...He probably gotta do that with me soon every Saturday morning at 11.30am for quite a while :P !