Finally! Recognizing Michael Knight

Nice to see an online presence from my favorite Project Runway Season Three designer: Michael Knight, now on Myspace.

He's emerged as a favorite of fans (and thankfully the judges) once he finally got some face time around episode, what, four? Why did that take so long? Long stretches of episode after episode had him completely absent. Maybe we will find out in the end and maybe it's a producers and editors secret.

Anyways, he had me at the coffee filter dress. If innovation means anything, that was a highlight of the season.

I loved Project Runway from the very first episode because of it's emphasis on displaying the creative process. Many times it was inspiring to anyone who works in creative or artsy endeavors. I also liked, and still enjoy, the friendships built among designers.

But I felt like this season had in some ways devolved back toward stale reality show devices like controversy and conflict. That made Michael Knight stand out even more as he stayed out of the stuff while consistently producing good products in each and every episode.

The September Atlanta Magazine has a feature on Mr. Michael. You can read it here at the all-inclusive all-knowing Blogging Project Runway.

Never Forget New Orleans

Listen to Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans via Rhapsody performed by:

Rosemary Clooney
Earl "Fatha" Hines And His Band
Pete Fountain
Billie Holiday
N'Awlins Gumbo Kings
Louis Armstrong

The New New Orleans?

I was reading a story from the fine series Black America Web has put together about the continuing impact of Katrina one year later when I saw this ad in the middle of the story:



I clicked and it took me here.

Is this the beginning of the new New Orleans?

Survivor Brings Back Segregation

The PR ploy has worked because I've never watched an episode of Survivor and here I am taking the time to think about it.

So the daddy of American reality shows has revived segregation to get the buzz back and get the ratings back. The only story I've read all the way through is Lisa de Moraes' on washingtonpost.com and it does a good job getting to the point of big dumb labels that would put say, a person of Mexican descent and a person of Cuban descent on a "Hispanic" team. But it also neatly describes CBS's "The Early Show's" transparent and limp attempt to get some network buzz going.

I don't know, how about a show where "different" families try to move in to an all-white gated community. Too real? Or too close to ABC's never aired "Welcome to The Neighborhood."

All Growds Up

As "T" said in Swingers, "Our little baby's all growds up." Rich Juzwiak, better know as the purveyor of the fourfour blog is getting paid now to do this stuff for VH1's Celibreality.

Rich sits in Brooklyn and provides such an acerbic wit and keen perspective on everything from pop music to America's Next Top Model. But carrying it all is a love for -- if not an obsession with -- pop culture. We can all roll with that can't we?

Congrats to Rich on getting paid to do something he enjoys. That should be everyone's goal, shouldn't it?

Building Tween Cred

In reading this LA Times story, I immediately thought of the little beast Ari Gold had dispatched to Kazakhstan for a movie shoot to get him away from his daughter.

But asking a kid star (or their agent or their parent who sometimes inhabit the same body) "does she have a little brother/sister?" is as old as show business.

Rick Mercer: Brilliant

The Culture Wars Are Over ...

... and the trailer park people won.

K-Fed reminded me of a young unwashed Vanilla Ice at last night's Teen Choice Awards, after being introduced by wife Britney whose latest pregnancy "just kind of happened."

Kevin Federline Photograph by: Kevin Winter / Getty Images
Britney Spears Photo from MTV.com

Ms. Aguilera's Cultural Footprint

My goodness. Christina Aguilera is putting out a new album and I've already been sucked into reading three stories (all good in their own right) about her pop culture standing, significance in the bigger cultural drift, and even whether the CD is any good or not.

Over at Salon.com (watch the ad to enter, Salon is always worth it) Cintra Wilson rightly points to the August attack of the blondes in record release world and how if one squints and pumps up the volume, you can't tell them apart. I've found you can also apply this test to the blond female former prosecutors commenting all over cable and the blond female Republican "political analysts" commenting all over cable.

On the New York Times site, Kelefah Sanneh uses Ms. Aguilera as a reference point for the incredible shrinking pop star who has basically been reduced to fighting for her right to, well, be a pop star.

Beyond implications for women in the music industry and the blonding of said performers, Christina's music is a mess, too. If you want it straight up, you can't beat Rich over at the foufour blog.

The Dude in the Vader Helmet?

All you writers and filmmakers out there (especially anyone doing anything "fact-based") who fear going over your audience's heads: Your fears are valid. Here's the quote from DCist:

___________

American History Museum, Americans at War Exhibit:
Young tourist couple pushing baby stroller. They see a propaganda poster with a soldier in a black helmet.
Husband: "Wow, that really looks like Darth Vader."
Wife: "Whoa, that is weird..... So, did Star Wars come out before or after World War II?"
___________

And pity the hardworking people who probably spent two years developing this exhibit, too.

Imagine how confused this couple would be if they knew about or had seen "The Great Dictator."

Oh, and the Allies won World War II because they developed the light saber before the Nazis.

Because things still aren't right

Spike Lee's documentary "When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" premieres on HBO on Monday August 21st. This will be very hard to watch but there is no way to not watch it.

A lot of people talk about how America should be. Mr. Lee shows us how America is in "When The Levees Broke."

I hope you can watch. As the director said in an interview, "Because things still aren't right."

Here are a couple of related stories:
Washington Post
The Times-Picayune