Friday, August 3, 2007

Workout: Chatting With Jesse

Wow first Brian, then Rebecca and now Jesse has drop by the blog to chat with us. Welcome to Bravissimo Jesse!


Us: Tell us a bit about yourself.
Jesse: Um, let's see... I'm 27, born on June 19, 1980- which puts me on the cusp of Gemini and Cancer. I am originally from Seattle, WA and am the middle child of three (though, it should be noted I now have a baby brother who is 5). I am very close to my family and I speak to my Grandma Jean at least once a week.

I have an endless love for my best friend Jasmine and my dog Sammy. My celebrity favorites are Oprah, Martha Stewart, and Mariah Carey (if that doesn't make me QUITE gay then I don't know what does). I love cooking for my friends and family- I think that is a result of having a Southern mother who always cooks for everyone.

Um, I could go on and on... but let's see what your questions have in store and I will give you more if I feel like we haven't covered all the bases!

Us:Why did you decide to become a trainer?
Jesse: Became a trainer when I enrolled in culinary school- simply because I didn't want to gain a TON of weight!


Us: Were you working at SkySport&Spa when Bravo came calling?
Jesse: No- I was a new hire... I was actually the only trainer hired ON-camera.



Click HERE to read more.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Flipped over Flipping Out: Or OCD in the OC

Jeff Lewis has to be one of the most unique bosses in America, yet his absolutely nutty relationship with his staff makes for great television. No detail goes unnoticed with this confessed OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) fanatic while few details are attended to by his largely lazy staff. Here's a photo of Jeff and staff praying for feng shui. I kid you not.

Jeff is a talented and successful house flipper with a knack for turning properties around. Aside from thinking the universe revolves around him, he loves to make lists. He should love mine.

List One:
  1. Watch show
  2. Take notes
  3. Observe carefully the interplay between Jeff and his henchmen - Jeff right, henchmen wrong
  4. Observe Jeff doing all the work
  5. Observe Jeff obsessing about minutia that don't mean a hill of beans
  6. Observe Jeff imposing perfect geometric and spacial order in his physical universe
  7. Observe Jeff unsuccessfully imposing order in the minds of his assistants
  8. Watch assistants generally do what they want to do any way
  9. Watch assistants perform the easier tasks to keep their jobs
  10. Watch yet another reality t.v. personality enjoy a close relationship with paid staff, with no significant other or family in sight
  11. Remind oneself not to recoil when one sees a throwaway property sell for $800,000
  12. Keep laughing as Jeff seeks out psychics and relieves his stress by shouting into a pillow
  13. Watch some amazing renovations
  14. Ask Bravo why Zoila the maid doesn't have her own show
  15. Make note of when the next show airs

Here's Jeff with Jen, the executive assistant who minces no words with him. She calls him a genius behind his back and speaks her mind to his face, such as calling the Commonwealth property a TD (total dump.)

Click here for videos of Brant getting fired for parking his car and talking on his cell phone while on the job. This spat is as petty as two 13 year olds disagreeing over a song choice.

Stephen, first house assistant, scoops dog poop, runs errands, and makes sure all Jeff's water bottles face outward in the frig. I'm sure the labels must be arranged exactly as well. As Jeff says, he's found the perfect vocation for his OCD. "I found a business that validates and celebrates my disorder." Right on, bro. Keep on movin' on.

Posted by Ms. Place

Top Chef Chat Tonight: Don't Miss the Supersized Show!

Click here just before the show starts for instructions to enter the chatroom. Chats start at 9:00 PM EST and continue through the Pacific Time showings.

Tonight's guest judge is Rocco De Spirito. Who do you think will be the next cheftestant to go?

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Redecorating: Hey Paula Style

Did any of you enter the la la land that is 'Hey Paula' last Thursday?
Here's Bravo’s official synopsis of Episode Six:

Paula plans to rent a house while her home is being remodeled and asks her best friend/hairstylist Daniel to help her decorate. Daniel tours the rental house with Deb the interior designer to determine décor. Daniel and Deb make decorative executive decisions, and move in new furniture the very next week. But when Paula arrives to look at the house, she hates it and calls Deb to complain. After reconsidering, Paula decides to hold off on remodeling her house, and lets go of the newly decorated rental house.

Let's consider the version I saw, shall we?
Paula plans to rent a house while her home is being remodeled. She asks her best friend/hairstylist Daniel to help her decorate, explaining how she likes a unique and eclectic décor. Daniel, thinking he can work with someone whose consideration of others is that of a newt, takes on the task.

He and a nice interior designer, Deb, walk through a luxurious rental house discussing Paula's wishes. They wait for Paula, who is late. In fact, Paula is shopping for jewelry with friends. Recalling the pesky detail that she's made an appointment to walk through the house and provide input she calls Daniel to say she'll be late.

How late, asks Deb, who has her own busy schedule, and who lets Daniel know she must leave at four. Daniel reassures Deb that Paula will honor her commitment. Deb, who seems normal, believes him.The viewer is now treated to an uber awkward version of Waiting for Godot, in which Deb swallows her pride and waits alongside Paula's stooge because this assignment could lead to other bigger assignments if she plays her cards right.

Only Deb doesn't realize that Paula isn't playing with a full responsibility deck.

When it becomes painfully apparent that Paula isn't coming, Daniel tours the rental house with Deb to determine décor. Rather than bother Paula with iddy biddy details like how and where she wants the furniture, Daniel and Deb make decorative executive decisions, and move in new furniture the very next week.

The camera then pans through a nice looking house with Deb saying that she did her best and thinks/hopes that Paula will like the house. Deb is still nursing a hope in her breast that she will meet Paula. At this point my regard for Deb - who has been ignored and stepped on by Paula on several occasions - goes down a few notches.

The Loony Tunes theme song starts up and canned laughter is heard in the background. The viewer is made to understand that Deb's dreams of meeting the singer are being flushed down the toilet.

After Deb leaves, Paula arrives to look at the house. Seeing the tasteful, restrained decor she has a melt down.
Paula walks through the house shaking her head and muttering, then inexplicably demands that Daniel help her drag a birdcage from its unobtrusive position in a corner, saying in effect, Anyone who knows me should know I hate bird cages. Uh, Paula, Deb never met you. How would she know?

Paula nearly tosses her cookies when she sees the gleaming white and chrome bathroom with state of the art glassed-in shower and sunken tub. She calls Deb to complain, saying that even though they've never met and even though Deb has never received direct input from her, Deb should have known instinctively what was in Paula's heart and misunderstood soul. Daniel begins to understand that perhaps he couldn't read his friend's mind after all.

Paula continued to spew her thoughts and bemoan the fact that no one understood her and how she needed ... blah ... blah ... blah .... blah.

I turned the channel off.

Submitted by Ms. Place

Friday, July 27, 2007

Kathy Griffin: D-List Finale















So why does Kathy Griffith fail to make me smile as much as she used to? I still laugh, but not as loud. Is it that her shtick is getting old? Could it be that she has played the D-List card too long? How many times can we watch her try to out do Oprah? Or charm gays from another country? Or date celebrities who are almost recognizable? Or try to get the paparazzi to take photos of her? When is a joke worn and old? Like, right now.

The final scenes of the final show when Kathy and her assistants tossed her father's ashes in the Irish wind were touching, and (unlike Paula) there is true camaraderie between her and her three assistants. The affection is obvious. ("All the love and friendship money can buy."Hah!)

But how D-List is Kathy these days? She’s recognized by all the gays of America and quite a few straight folks; she lives in a fabulous hillside house; and she earns enough to pay a contingent of people – assistants and agent I presume, and a cut of the take with her booking people, not to mention a percentage to the clubs and venues she’s appeared in. If the flight, hotel room, limo, and meals are included on top of Kathy's appearance fee, she must be doing quite well. Witness her lovely and exclusive hilltop home.

Does all the activity I just described sound like those of a D-lister to you? Former child actress Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady) is a D-Lister. Kathy is not.

So, my suggestion to Bravo for the next Kathy Griffin go round is to take Kathy off the D List and change the direction of the show. Otherwise there will be a lot more viewers like me the next season – tired of the same old shtick.

Posted by Ms. Place

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Workout: More Rebecca!




While the show is on a break we finally got a chance to pin Rebecca down and ask a few lingering questions we had from the last...hmmm...surprising season.
Is that the right word?


Anyway, we wanted to know more.... You know you want more too....

Monday, July 23, 2007

Shear Genius

Here's a couple of tidbits about two of my favorites from Shear Genius.

Ben Mollin has a new video on his myspace page.

The dude is crazy!
LMBO

Check out the video here.
*WARNING:CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE*

Do you have what it take's to work for the amazing Tabatha Coffey? She sent this note out on myspace.

Hairdresser Wanted
Ok you guys know any great hairdressers in NJ or assistants??? Get them to contact me. I am expanding and looking for some fresh faces and new talent.

Thanks Tabatha

The number to call is...
201-251-4600
Or send an e-mail to...
info@industriehairgurus.com

(((MUAH)))

Posted by TheHoInMO and Brillke

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Bravissimo Does Brian Peeler

OK, we didn't "do" him, but damn, we would if we could!

Brillke (the lucky biatch), did a telephone interview with the sexy Brian Peeler from Work Out.

Click here to read the entire interview.
(((MUAH)))
Posted by Brillke and TheHoInMO

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Paula On "Today" show

Paula spoke with Matt Lauer this morning. Click HERE to watch.

She chats about her new show on Bravo... and more

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Kathy vs Paula

We've had an opportunity for quite a few weeks to watch Kathy Griffin and Paula Abdul star in their very own Bravo shows. Kathy is with us for the third time. This season we have seen her reaction towards her divorce, the death of her father, and the incarcerated. The lady is funny, complex, straight forward, and a consummate professional (although frequently late.)

People either like Kathy or they don't, but when they do they love her. Jim, a coworker, can quote her funniest lines. He and I review each show with a fine tooth comb, laughing hysterically all over again. Only Kathy can get away with saying 'fisting' in front of a bunch of hardened criminals and get them to howl with laughter. Her friendship with her gays is wonderful to witness, and, even though she purports to dislike children, her performance for her nephew's classmates was designed to make him proud. And it did. One knows with an aunt like Kathy he will always get the girl.
Paula, who is joining the Bravo stable for the first time in the hope of boosting her popular American Idol image, enjoys no such adoration among my office companions. While an entire group of people discussed Idol when it aired, no one discusses Paula without making a face. 'Hey Paula' points out the reasons why: The woman is totally self-absorbed, lacks a sense of humor, is always late and moaning about lack of sleep, and she's downright surly at times. In fact, there are moments when Paula seems scarily certifiable. In telling my friend Jim that I watch 'Hey Paula', I had to clarify, 'For Bravissimo, of course.'

To point out the differences between the two women, I've created a little chart.

I think my comparison points out why Kathy is liked so much. She's confident of her talent but not her looks, which adds a sense of vulnerability. Her sense of humor saves her over and over again, and she has genuine empathy for others. Paula's show is one long series of whining, moaning, and me, myself, and I. Oh, Paula. How could you willingly have placed yourself in a bad light like this? I'm sure you are the fine, talented, and compassionate person you claim to be, but don't you see how you are coming across?

Posted by Ms. Place

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Live Top Chef Chat Tonight!

Live chat tonight on Blogging Top Chef! Come join them 10 PM EST through 10 PM Pacific Time.

And for more fun, check out the Tim Gunn post below.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Tim Gunn


Word for Word Author Series: Project Runway’s Tim Gunn
Wednesday, July 25th. 12:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Tim Gunn with co-author Kate Moloney, Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style
Hosted by: Judy Licht, Full Frontal Fashion creator and on-air host
Talk & Booksigning

Whether you’re a seasoned fashionista or a style neophyte, Project Runway’s Tim Gunn shows you how to dress for success, how to shop, or how to be your own best fashion designer.

The event is FREE and open to the public. For updates and additional information, please visit our website at http://www.bryantpark.org/.

The Bryant Park Reading Room located on the 42nd Street side of the park - under the trees - between the back of the NYPL & 6th Avenue. Look for the burgundy and white umbrellas.

Rain Venue:
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
555 Fifth Avenue (at 46th Street)
212-697-3048

*A big THANK YOU to Jennifer for the information*
And while we are on the subject of Project Runway, check out Hedi & the kids here.

(((MUAH)))



Posted by Brillke & TheHoInMO

Reality TV

Do you think that reality television has gone to far?
That they exploit people and or situations?
They are gross, disgusting or just plain stupid?
Then be glad that you don't watch
Dutch television.

That's way too much reality for me!

(((MUAH)))

Posted by TheHoInMO