SRC: Summer TV Extravaganza

we haven't talked much about tv recently, so let's get it all out there. in the absence of the fantastic summer program, Kid Nation, what is everyone watching to pass the time? i am watching:

Shear Genius - Bravo's haircutting reality show started up again a couple of weeks ago and i forgot how much i missed it. the very first challenge, the contestants had to cut hair blindfolded. how can you not want to see that!? there's also a contestant named Oshun (pronounced 'ocean') who said at least 5 times in the first 10 minutes that he's "deep, like an ocean'.

Project Runway 5 - the last season before it heads to Lifetime (i think) starts off July 16. It's weird to have two project runways in one year, but there isn't a lot of stuff competing for attention.

American Gladiators - i love this show and only a little bit ironically

I Survived a Japanese Gameshow! - i initially dismissed this show because i thought it was going to be like that other MXC ripoff sans hilarious dubbing (wipeout i think it's called)...i thought every week a new group of silly americans would try out crazy japanese takeshi's castle-like games. what it really is is a season long challenge with the same, unchanging group of silly americans. each week, they compete on the same japanese show, and whichever team loses has to choose two of their own to go against each other at elimination. i missed the first episode, but the challenge in the second was called "Crazy Crane Finds Fluffy Bear" -- one team member was hoisted in the air like a crane from those grabber machines with large crane arms, while the others operated the controls of the crane. amazing. also, when a contestant gets eliminated, a door opens and a gaggle of japanese men in suits and sunglasses run after the contestant, hoist him/her up in the air, and carry him/her off stage, all while the audience is singing the Sayonara song. as i said, amazing.

so you think you can dance - tonight will take us down to 6 couples, which means its time to get serious. and how can you resist cat deely? you can't!!!

celebrity family feud - i love family feud, celebrities or no...my love of celebrity family feud was recently renewed when watching some old school richard dawson celeb family feud eps with a dear friend of mine, and even though the dawson creeped me out with his affection for the female celebs (and one innocent little boy), at least he wasn't as nerdy as al roker is. seriously, you should've seen the dude when the playmates from The Girls next Door were on. oh also, they don't use last names for the families, instead they are "The Dog the Bounty Hunters" and "The Raven Symones" and "The Ice-Ts"

a non reality show that i'm really getting into is Swingtown. I don't know if it's the show that grabs me, or the fantastic Molly Parker ( Alma Garrett from Deadwood), but i look forward to it every week.

so that's what i've got going on for summer fun. do you guys have anything else you're watching that we should know about?

i am now a shear genius by association

not that this really applies, but...i was inspired by jacklyn smith's hair on shear genius so much that i got my hair cut just like hers! i brought pictures of her and to the hairstylist...and then the hairstylist shit her pants when i told her that jacklyn smith was 61...and then i shit my pants when i saw that my hair looked so good!

SRC: Shear Genius - HAIR COMES THE BRIDE

Umm. Ben shows up to the shortcuts challenge wearing a full ninja outfit. I want to call him Benny Ninja.

If you mix Gerard Depardieu, Steve Irwin, Meredith Grey and autumn, you get Jose Eber, the guest judge this week and celebrity hair stylist extraordinaire.

The contestants pair up to recruit people to get haircuts at a shopping mall. They can charge whatever they want and must keep a record of their sales. Tyson chooses Tabatha and then pairs Ben and Boogie together and Anthony and Daisy.

Quote of the day: "I don't even like walking up to girls in a bar. Drunk. Much less in a ninja outfit and sober." - Ben, who i am starting to love.

Boogie and Ben get a lot of clients at around 10 to 20 bucks each. Anthony and Daisy go for the 30 dollar range and tab and tyson are around $60 or $70. Tab and Tyson win with a total of $790. Even though they had less customers, they reamed the ones they had.

For the elimination challenge, the stylists must remain in the same teams. A whole team will be eliminated. This week, the challenge is bridal do's. They must do a bride, a mother, and a maid of honor within the two hours. Boogie is kind of a bitch to ben the whole time and is really just mean to his face. and ben takes it! anthony gets to see up close why daisy is awesome and more than just a chatty cathy. tab respects tyson professionally, but still hates him as a person.

Anthony and Daisy do a wonderful job and guarantee themselves the top spot this week. Tabatha might get herself in trouble by mouthing off to the judges about how much she hates tyson. and...yes, she does. tyson and tabatha are sent home!! Its shocking because they are both scads better than boogie and ben as stylists. i guess past work really has nothing to do with the decision here and it's all challenge based. makes it hard to pick a winner, i'd say.

four left!

Reality Corner...in REAL LIFE!!!

i'm normally not one to name drop really because, you know, it's tacky. But, in this situation, it's necessary. Worlds collided for me yesterday, with a clash of reality corner starz.

the show i work on has celebrity guests every now and again. Yesterday, we had two; the normal weekly idol castoff that we get as well as one of my heroes (who...was slightly disappointing. word of advice - try not to meet your heroes.) So, side note -- LaKisha Jones is kind of amazing and it's sad that we didn't get to see too much of her personality on Idol because that show really made her seem like a dud. And she's nothing like that.

Ok, so I go out to greet my hero, amy, and she steps out of the car with a fellow who introduces himself as Jim. This fellow looks really familiar to me but i'm assuming it's her rep, so the context i'm placing him in doesn't logically meet up with what i'm seeing him as. we walk in and he asks me if there is a place that he can touch her up. So i'm like "okay, he's not her rep. i was right. This guy was totally on Shear Genius." (unfortunately, he was eliminated before SG was inducted into Reality Corner, so unless you watch the show, you won't know who he is...) So, then i'm overcome by the need for confirmation. We're all hanging around waiting for amy to go on camera and i say "excuse me, jim?" and he says "yes, sweetheart?" and i say "Umm...Were you on Shear Genius." To which he said "yes", laughed, and added "Shear LOSER!!" So i said something like 'oh no, you were great! you went too early!' -- which...who knows if that was true, i can't even remember that far back. but he graciously accepted that with a "Oh, thank you!!" and we are now bff. ok, not true, but he's definitely the nicest celebrity hair/makeup person i've ever met and we did a lot of arm-grabbing with each other.

The only thing that could've completed the day was if I walked into the greenroom at the end of the show and tyra was in there nibbling on some wings.

SRC: Shear Genius

Shortcuts Challenge - Men's Cuts

My girl Tab does a wonderful job. She's joined in the top by Dr. Boogie -- master clipper. Tabatha gets to choose her look for the elimination challenge first, and then assign the remaining looks to everyone else. Kristophe (baono) is the accented judge for the shortcuts challenge. I think ben also does a great job here.

Tab takes 80's Punk Rock and assigns the rest as follows:
Anthony - 60's, Danna - 40's, Ben - 20's, Daisy - Victorian, Tyson - Elizabethan, and Dr. Boogie - Medieval

They all seem to struggle at first when trying to figure out their concepts. I think Daisy does an incredible job. Tyson also does well -- they both make up the top 2. I think Anthony, Ben and Tabatha all did a good job, but could've stepped it up a little. In my opinion, Boogie and Dana were the worst, but the judges felt it was Danna and Anthony. I liked both, so i was a little bummed...but someone's gotta go.

***Who's excited for "Straight Up", Paula Abdul's upcoming reality show? Me.

I didn't know who should go here. They're both really talented and have crazy accents. Danna's hairstyle was worse, but she's won a lot of challenges. Anthony's shown good work and he's really hot. Everyone left is really good, so it's really anybody's guess who's gonna go next week -- it all depends on the challenge. This week, it's Danna.

SRC: Shear Genius - 1st EDITION

I love Tabitha. I'm fond of Donna and Anthony. I think it's the accents of these three that really get me. I appreciate Daisy's work, but I can see how she might get too talky. I don't know yet where I stand on Ben. I think he's supposed to be the Sebelia of this bunch. Neck tat and all.

I don't like Tyson. or Dr. Boogie. Because. Really. You're gonna wear the same bandanna in a variety of colors every single day AND make people call you doctor? Evangeline is alright, but she's way annoying.

Donna wins the shortcut challenge.

ROWR. There's a catfight about hedge trimmers. Damn. Uh oh. The Tab brings it up to the host and guest judge...maybe taking it too far, but seriously, girl was getting ridiculous about those hedge trimmers. nothing really gets resolved.

Challenge - Red Carpet Hairdo for Vanessa Williams

God, this Rene dude has such a hard time with English. Is that his name? Did I make that up? I also kind of can't stand his catchphrase "Go shake it!!" He's no Tim Gunn.

My girl V is the guest judge. Top 2 this week are Daisy and Danna (winner). Bottom 2 are Ben and Evangeline. Evangeline and her hedge trimmers go home this week. But not before a way too long and awkward goodbye speech. See you next week, when maybe I will feel more confident about predictions...

Shear Genius

Is anybody else watching this wonderful show? Or should I keep my comments to myself.