Make it Work!

Isaac Mizrahi reveals the contents of his head. Without surgery!

The competition is getting fiercer and fiercer on The Fashion Show. With only eight contestants broken up into teams of two — and only four designs to judge this week — it's getting pretty hard to sort the haute couture from the clearance rack.

This week, Isaac sits out the mini challenge so he can make a dramatic entrance later as the inspiration for this week's assignment: design a dress for his collection! They're on the job this week — and appropriately they have an eight-hour day to complete their finished designs.

As if that's not bad enough, Daniella gets randomly assigned to work with Reco. Not only do they have to deal with each other (or not deal, as the case may be), but their colleagues, and we the audience, are treated once again to their bickering.

Daniella and Reco (don't) feel the love. More importantly, what IS Merlin wearing? He looks like an extra from the Mos Eisley cantina scene in Star Wars.

There is a ray of light, however, when the producers pull Becky Newton (Amanda from Ugly Betty) out from behind the curtain to judge the mini-challenge.

Previously... on Ugly Betty...

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Eat Your Heart Out, Trekkies!

Vox Popular

Improvement of public transit is always exciting for me, especially when it happens in Queens as well as the other boroughs. It's not just having shiny new stuff. It's the evidence that we're making progress, growing up, that thrills.

So the semi-electric buses run more green. The subway cars have clean blue seats and windows free of etched tags and doodles. Some subway stops have new tilework on the floors and walls.

But by far the best improvement is the voice I hear on the new E trains running express in and out of Queens. She tells us each stop we've arrived at and what to do next. And she is kinda hot.

"This is ... Queens Plaza. Transfer is available to the R ... and ... V train."

It's the way she says "transfer is available" that catches my attention. It rolls off her tongue like candle wax gaining momentum as it runs down the length of a taber. It's a little richer, more throaty, more lusty, than the station announcement. It all runs together in one suggestive vocal gesture.

"Transfer-is-available..."

It's like she's waiting for you after work after a few cigarettes. The ice tinkles in her second, slightly stronger, gin and tonic. She's given up the pretense of waiting for you before she starts her evening. She hitches one leg up across the other knee and leans back. Her lacquered fingertips dangle. She tempts you to switch trains. Go on.

"TRANSferizavailable..."

You know you want to do it. Get off the express. Take your time through the city. Do it ... slow...

But those R trains are still using an intercom. The seats are an ugly orange. And it just wouldn't be the same.

The Fashion ... Shoe?

These shoes rule.

Finally, an episode of Bravo's The Fashion Show that does not involve teams! Reco isn't the only one getting sick of this team business week after week.

With the designers unencumbered by each other, and left to their own devices, we got the best runway show yet this season. They really shone through as individuals, and even poopy-pants Isaac had kudos for them.

Episode 4: The Shoe Must Go On

The challenge this week was all about working from the ground up: Design a dress inspired by a pair of shoes.

Maybe the best part (for the designers) was the field trip to Fifth Ave landmark Bergdorf-Goodman so everyone could pick their own favorite among the impressive inventory of Jimmy Choos, Manolo Blahniks and Alexander McQueens.

The designers are transported to Shoe Paradise! One pair... How do you even begin to choose?

Anna and Haven have a little spring in their step after their little Bergdorf's shoe-stravaganza. *Sigh...* I know just how they feel.

Even without teams, the judges narrowed down the field down to the worst two designs. By creating their little drama about whose look they’re "not buying" and who is left "hanging by a thread," the judges force themselves to make a 50/50 decision. Let's call it their "which is worse" moment.

Last night's "which is worse" moment was a decision between the designer who made a bold but disastrous choice and the designer who made a safe but boring choice. The judges made a bold choice themselves.

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Dream a Little Dream Coat

Markus pricks his finger on the needle of criticism. [bravotv.com]

This week on Bravo's The Fashion Show, our twelve fashion apostles were challenged to design a coat for every season with more than meets the eye. I was hoping to see something that transformed into an alien robot or a sports car, but I guess hidden pockets and detachable hoods will do in a pinch.

The host with the boast, Isaac Mizrahi, sums it up well between the two hapless hopefuls at the bottom of this week's challenge. Who is the better designer: the one with good ideas and poor execution, or the one with good execution but no confidence?

In one corner, Markus was disappointed in the craftsmanship of his high-concept jewelry wrap — but we have people for that ... right?

Where is my team of sewers, dammit? [bravotv.com]

Haven, on the other hand, was ready to throw herself off the show for sending a sub-par spring coat down the runway.

A southern girl needs her hairspray, sure, but ... a little too much junk in the trunk? [bravotv.com]

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Das Reboot

Who cares if the new Star Trek doesn't make sense? I still love it. This is not academic science fiction. The less sensical, the better.

OK, love Zachary Quinto and John Cho. My crushes on those two boys has gone into warp drive. The guy who played McCoy was brilliant. And Uhura gets some strong screen presence. We have Leonard Nimoy to titillate all the old-school fans. Chris Pine as Kirk, however, was probably the weakest part of the film.

What troubles me more, though, is this whole time travel thing.

By Nero accidentally going into the past and killing Kirk's father, and Spock haplessly following him in, haven't they changed the conditions that would have led to Romulus exploding, thereby eliminating the circumstances that led Nero to seek revenge and Spock to seek redemption in the first place? Maybe, maybe not. Clearly the future that Spock is from will no longer happen. So every interaction he has in the past might actually negate his existence in any point in history.

Back to the Future handled this in a handily visual, albeit simplific, way by disappearing people from a photograph from the future after the conditions leading to their birth in the past were eliminated.

But these temporal paradoxes are not to be contemplated.

The important thing is that we now have an alternate reality. The writers have free reign to deviate from the know story line, to boldly go where no Star Trek writer has gone before. They're already on their way toward a sexier, more dangerous iteration of the beloved franchise. Spock is in love with Uhura. Vulcan is obliterated, and its people are now an endangered species. There are two Spocks — for now. (Bad news for George Takei.) And the elder of the two can still make references to the orginal film series to thrill the old folks.

One thing is for sure, though. These actors have landed themselves a money-making franchise.

I Heart Betty White

We're down two Golden Girls, with two to go. Oh, it pains me to think of losing Rue McClanahan and Betty White. Yet it's hard to resist the speculation: Who will be the last Girl standing?

Meanwhile, this is hilarious! Betty White calls Ryan Reynolds an "ab-crunching jackass," and he tells her to suck a hot cock. And Sandra Bullock slaps Reynolds around for picking on poor Betty.

Sandra Bullock & Ryan Reynolds: Behind the Scenes of The Proposal from Betty White

I know I'm totally falling for this viral marketing, but I'll probably never see the movie its meant to promote. The worst part: I have an irrational dislike of Sandra Bullock, but this clip is actually making me like her.