Project Awesome

I'm addicted to a TV show. It's been awhile since that happened. I mean, addicted to the point of buying show merchandise and rewatching episodes and listening to podcasts of the show "mentor" Tim Gunn (free on iTunes!). And needing to relive it over e-mail with my homie who got me hooked in the first place. And discussing it with a couple other fans at work. What is this ungraven image that I'm worshipping? Project Runway, the Bravo show where young designers compete weekly to create the winning garment that will wow the fashion icon-ish judges and host Heidi, wife of Seal, Klum.

It's crazy entertaining pour moi, because it's about clothes and drama queens and creativity on a deadline. I find myself at a loss for words in attempting to convey the kitschy joy this show brings me, but this FourFour fellow named Rick does an amazing job in his blog, complete with clips, quotes and sound bites--like MP3 files of my favorite part of the show, when the egotistical Santino does his hilarious impression of Tim Gunn's voice.

Plus, they have, like, really neato challenges, like having to make a dress out of leaves and the like. Or having to make an outfit by deconstructing whatever they wore to the studio today (the attached pic is of an outfit Santino made out of his treasured vintage leather jacket).

And then there are the personalities. Like (the recently cut) Andrae who broke down during the runway judging while blaming the weaknesses in his design on being "emotionally bedraggled." I mean, c'mon. Reality-based shows are not usually known for the impressive vocabularies of their contestants.

Speaking of vocabularies, Tim Gunn has an impressive one, although it's not represented in my favorite quote of the week from his Episode 9 podcast:

"I mean, I have to tell you. I'm a sucker for a topiary. So by definition, Andrae had me seduced."

I can say the same about Project Runway. You had me at heliotrope organza.