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Project Runway Canada- The Finale part 2

April 16, 2009

The End of the End

The second part of the season finale to Project Runway Canada starts off exactly where we left off last week with Brian is in the workroom interrogating Jason’s creative input in the dress for Cheryl Hickey. It’s an uncomfortable and embarrassing moment for Jason whose work is possibly plagiarism, and for Brandon because he outed the news to Brian at the fabric shop.

Brian, to Jason: “Brandon was concerned that you were going with one of his dresses from the lookbook. That can’t happen.”

Jason: “We’ve all made bubble dresses. It’s the bottom of a dress where I knew he was experienced in and with the time constraints and using Brandon properly and diligently then I think it’s a really good move.”

Brian, to Brandon: “Does it look like your dress remotely?”

Brandon: “Uh no. No.”

You can tell that Brandon is really uncomfortable here and totally back-tracking. Brian backs off and says that he’s satisfied with these answers and while we occasionally catch a glimpse of Kim eavesdropping with glee in the background, we can’t help but wonder just how different this new dress will be. After all, the bottom of the dress is the only innovative part of it; the top is a one-shouldered piece- not exactly what you’d call fresh design.

The stakes are high and the designers are working hard to finish their garments and get them ready for the runway. Jessica and Sunny are excited, working on their garments. We hear from Sunny again that this collection is his last shot as a fashion designer.

Sunny: “If I don’t win, I will call it quits with fashion.”

And again, at the end of the last day before the show at Fashion Week,

Sunny: “I want my comeback. I mean if Britney can, so can I!”

Sunny is the favoured designer in this competition and to hear him repeat these words shows the tremendous challenges facing young designers. No matter what happens when the winner is announced, Sunny most certainly has

a larger fan group in Canada than he did at the launch of his label, Vawk, and I would be surprised if he wasn’t picked up by another design house if not personally endorsed to produce his own work. Besides, we could handle a Britney of our own, couldn’t we?

Back in the workroom, Brian arrives with an announcement about the business opportunity with Winners. Brian tells the designers that they will each be giving a presentation to Winners the next day. The presentation is about their collection and the designers are expected to cover three specific points:

1. Knowing your brand

2. Knowing your retail price point

3. Telling them who is the target customer

Jessica: “Brian needs to stop being the bearer of ridiculous news.”

I completely agree. Don’t these designers have enough to do without having to put together a presentation for Winners-? This seems a little richer than just throwing an additional challenge in the mix, although it’s probably a good opportunity for them to discuss their line with a major retailer.

Last Day Before Fashion Week: The Winners Presentations

The Winners Presentations

The Winners Presentations

Jessica describes her collection as “ready-to-wear, high-end. The customer is 25-45 who is fashion forward and fashion adventurous.”

Winners comments: the luxury market is small and the 25 year-old doesn’t have the money to afford it.

I can’t help but agree with Winners on this one; other than celebrities, there aren’t too many 25 year-olds running around in high-end fashion unless it’s their moms buying it for them. Her collection doesn’t really seem to fit the Winners’ racks and I don’t think that anyone would argue that that was Jessica’s intent. Clearly she understands Winners; she did, after all, win the Winners challenge.

"I didn't want to leave anyone out."

"I didn't want to leave anyone out."

Jason’s turn is next and he describes “the Jason Meyers woman is 20 to 60. I didn’t want to leave anyone out.”

Winners comments: “I don’t see this on a 20 year-old. I see this on a 30 year-old plus.”

Again, I think Winners said what we were all thinking. When Jason said that “the Jason Meyers woman is 20 to 60” one of the Winners’ ladies made a sour expression with her face and I thought, that doesn’t look good. Apparently, neither did she.

Sunny’s collection barely seemed to get evaluated, although that could be the production of the TV show. We see him quote the price point of his show-stopping fur-trimmed coat: “$1,975.00.”

Winners comments: (Long silence.) “Okay. It’s couture.”

Off-camera, Sunny defends his price saying that he doesn’t want ‘to get lost’ among other designers doing fashion basics. That’s understandable, but for a new designer to try to sell pieces at that price may be a very narrow slice of the market that isn’t yet reachable. For that price, you could wear other big name masters in design from France, Italy, England, New York. Now that’s competition.

The Cheryl Hickey Fitting

Cheryl arrives for her fitting with the designers and takes a look at Sunny’s dress. Brian had cautioned him about the colour of the dress being  perhaps to bridal and Sunny worked hard to try to make it more interesting.

Chery’s opinion of Sunny’s dress: “It’s a beautiful dress.”

Next is Jason’s, to which she exclaims: “How much fun is that!? Beautiful!”

Cheryl’s really interested in Jason’s work and she looks really happy wearing the dress. It’s clearly her favourite so far. The best part: Cheryl coos, “I love the skirt. It’s so interesting!”

Cheryl Hickey: "I love the skirt. It's so interesting!"

Cheryl Hickey: "I love the skirt. It's so interesting!"

The camera instantly pans to Brandon, who’s just sitting by and watching, expression-less. I really wonder what he’s thinking right now. He’s a tough one to read when he’s got his serious face on.

Jessica’s dress doesn’t seem to go over as well. Cheryl doesn’t seem to understand it, she doesn’t like the fit, she’s confused about the look, and she generally looks unhappy. It’s only half-finished and when Jessica asks her what she thinks of it, Cheryl says of the poor fit: “It feels like one of the girls is gonna come out… I’m a little bit concerned. A little bit with all those people.”

Chery Hickey: "I'm a little bit concerned."

Chery Hickey: "I'm a little bit concerned."

Jessica is crushed. She’s really down about it and it’s understandable. Cheryl should have been a little less unhappy-looking; she was, after all, coming into an incomplete dress whereas Jason’s and Sunny’s dresses were nearly done. Big difference; huge.

Jessica’s really down and Kim comes to her emotional aid, encouraging and helping her regain her momentum to fix the dress and move on. “Screw up, fix it, then win it.”

The Day of the Show at Fashion Week

Fashion Week tent at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto

Fashion Week tent at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto

The designers arrive at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto where the large tent for Fashion Week is propped up and waiting to house their collections as the country and some of the most important international media and buying representatives watch. The designers arrive on the runway to check out the scene and last season’s winner, Evan Biddel is there waiting to greet them.

Project Runway Canada season 1 winner, Evan Biddel

Project Runway Canada season 1 winner, Evan Biddel

Evan Biddel: “One of your lives is going to change entirely, so take it all in.”

We find out that Biddel is going to be the guest judge for the final collection and with a few words of advice, he sends the designers backstage to prepare their models for the shows.

Backstage pre-show

Backstage pre-show

It’s a huge rush to get the models ready for the runway: hair and makeup with L’Oreal backstage, Jessica’s still sewing and bleeding all over her garment, Sunny can’t get his models done on time, Jason is trying to adjust all the dresses to each of his model’s body. It’s pretty intense and it’s non-stop running around. Finally, the show is about to begin and after Iman’s introduction, out comes Sunny.

Iman wears a dress by PRC season 1 winner, Evan Biddell

Iman wears a dress by PRC season 1 winner, Evan Biddell

Sunny: “It all began with fashion is a battlefield so I chose Alexander the Great as my inspiration. This is my last battle; enjoy.”

"This is my last battle; enjoy."

"This is my last battle; enjoy."

Selections from Sunny's collection

Selections from Sunny's collection

Cheryl Hickey wears Sunny's design

Cheryl Hickey models Sunny's design

Sunny’s collection is distinctively his style. There’s no question that you can see the influence of Alexander the Great and the detailed bead work on the garments is spectacular. The headlining coat that opens the collection is lovely- everyone stares. One of the models has a mask reminiscent of battle head gear, while the other models have a faux-hawk similar to his own hair style. We see pants, skirts, leather, chiffon, fur, beading. It’s a very cohesive collection and very well-received by the audience. So far so good.

Jason‘s turn is next and he announces that his inspiration is his family and that this collection “is global glamour.”

Selections from Jason's collection

Selections from Jason's collection

Cheryl Hickey models Jason's design

Cheryl Hickey models Jason's design

Out comes his model wearing skimpy black underwear beneath a see-through black lace mini dress, topped with the puffy collar piece that Brian tried on in the work room a few days before. It’s a little odd as a starter outfit and it feels like a Victoria’s Secret show, minus the angels. Other pieces follow that are less revealing but not much more interesting: sequins detailing on black tops and dresses, poofy skirts with fitted sweetheart necklines, tight black skirts so tight that the models can’t walk (really can’t walk- it took them forever to get to the end of that runway!) gold sequins dresses in his typical short at the front, long at the back shape. Other than the Brandon/Jason collaborative dress (which fits Cheryl Hickey rather poorly in the bodice), it’s a very ‘Jason’ collection but it doesn’t offer much that is inspired or happy, least of all the models who had to walk in those tight skirts.

At last, it’s Jessica’s turn.

Jessica: “My inspiration is Greta Garbo 1930’s Hollywood glamour meets hip hop swagger of today. Hope you all dig it, peace out!”screen-capture-341

Selections from Jessica's collection

Selections from Jessica's collection

Sheryl Hickey models Jessica's design

Sheryl Hickey models Jessica's design

From Jessica, we also see a lovely coat as a start to the collection with beautiful shaping and detailing. It’s a lovely piece and it’s widely applauded by the audience. Next come deep-neck fitted satin-finish dresses with a cowl bum, probably not the most flattering concept and hardly easy to keep looking nice (I sat down; ah shucks my outfit is ruined!) These dresses aren’t impressive and it’s only when we get a few more coats and structured pieces a one lovely flowy dress that we get excited again, like that mini jump suit that’s probably too short for the real world but looked great on the runway. Somehow, Jessica’s crazy “hip hop/1930s” inspiration is clearly visible in all of this.

The Judging

Guest Judge: Evan Biddell, Project Runway Canada season 1 winning designer

The judging begins and Jason is first on the chopping block. He explains his collection is aimed at the Los Angeles crowd and that the most challenging aspect of the work was using sequins as fabric and as a way to translate his vision.

Rita doesn’t mince her words; she obviously doesn’t like the all-out sequins dresses in Jason’s collection.

Rita: “Using a lot of sequins can look cheap and I feel that some of your collection was just not as sophisticated as you probably intended it to be. There were a few hits, but there were quite a few misses as well.”

On the other hand, Biddell liked the sequins pants with the ruffle top, which I must say was also my favourite look in Jason’s collection.

Iman lays it down about the tight skirts on the runway; she’s very upset.

Iman: “I take it really personal when the model couldn’t even walk! Especially one was unbearable to watch- the model can’t walk- the whole room gasped for her. The skirt was so tight that she couldn’t walk.”

Jason says nothing.

Biddell: “Also, you’re saying L.A. but the lacy bit that opened was very Playboy Mansion. Did you think Playboy Mansion was gonna win Project Runway?”

That was harsh. Jason doesn’t say anything here either and I think that that was a touch unfair and far too sensationalist of Biddell to say. Biddell is just a guest judge- it’s not like he will decide who wins the show; we all know Iman does. Ha!

The judges are all confused about his collection; they don’t really see his perspective and they’re not really sure what the point is of these 12 looks. Jason looks really discouraged and uncomfortable. He knows it’s pretty much over for him now.

Iman, to Jason: “What kind of a designer do you really want to be?”

Jason: “I guess I gotta figure that out.”

Moving on to Sunny, there is no shortage of superlatives crowning him with positive feedback.

Rita: “In a word, you’re a superstar. You have amazing talent, you have amazing taste. Your clothes could be on any runway anywhere in the world, anytime.”

Biddell: “Your collection was great. I’m really happy you weren’t on my season.”

Shawn: “I would say that you’ve definitely shown us that you’re a designer with this collection.”

Iman is beaming; her Sunny is happy. You can practically mop up the love radiating through the TV from Sunny’s end of the runway.

Jessica’s collection gets a very positive review.

Biddell: “I know girls who would love your clothes. I love your clothes. I think we need to hang out.”

Shawn: “I kinda felt that you were showing us two different collections..?”

Rita: “I think it was your best work so far. Without question, that opening number was fantastic, and then it started to drift a little bit. And then you came back about half-way through your show with this amazing Boho chiffon dress in that gorgeous print and I would have loved to have seen more of that.”

Iman: “Great outerwear, great sportswear. Everybody gasped when they saw that and everybody thought, Wow, now that’s a show.”

And with that, they wait.

Final Judging

Rita, about Jason: “There was not one design that you could say, Ah, I see what you’re about.”

Biddell, about Jason: “I felt like he knew it wasn’t that good.”

Rita, about Jessica: “She showed so many original ideas that was fantastic to see. Fantastic.”

Iman, about Sunny: “Sunny The Great! He’s unbelievable. He’s unstoppable.”

And the winner is…

Sunny Fong!

Not a huge surprise, nor a disappointment for too many viewers, I think that the winner of this season is more than deserving of the prizes and the recognition. He’s proven himself to be consistent, attentive, and meticulous when creating garments for the various challenges and the final runway collection. Jessica’s collection was a great start and I think that she’s going to break out with her own successes as a result of her publicity and the popularity of her work on the runway. As for Jason, I think that he’ll also find himself customers interested in his work.

This was definitely a feel-good season; we wanted Sunny to win because we loved pretty much everything he produced, and he sure won it- no big suspense there. Let’s hope he, Jessica, and Jason deliver creative designs that make us feel excited about Canadian fashion. We, too, are dreaming big.

Images courtesy of Global TV’s Project Runway Canada website.

2 Comments leave one →
  1. April 17, 2009 8:41 am

    Oh good! We can talk about it now! I didn’t get in the tents but three seconds after the show ended there were hundreds outside talking about it and there were lots of fuzzy cellphone pictures.

    Was there ever any doubt that Sunny would win it all? Really? He’s been 100% consistent throughout the show. His collection was outstanding in both craftsmanship and imagination. He understands that concept means nothing if the designer can’t bring it to life. His collection was pure luxury. Some pieces made me think of Gaultier when he first burst on the scene. No wonder Iman loved it, she’s been wearing quite a lot of Gaultier on the show this season.

    Jason’s collection: Cougar-riffic. 20 to 60 years old? On what planet would a 20 year old want to wear the same dress as a 60 year old. I know 60 is the 50 and 40 is the new 30…but let’s be real here. No 20 year old will wear something she’s seen on her mother. I thought the bulk of his collection was far too cougar-ish, for “The Real Housewives of Mississauga” or “Suburban Kitchener” I know hundreds of 40-somethings in Kitchener who would trample each other for the black dress with the gold growth on the back.

    Jessica seemed to have an identity crisis, presenting two distinct themes. One was young, saucy, sassy and streetwise; the other was none of the above. The gold hot pants were sexy and sassy and I would have loved to see more of that sassy swagger. The one comment that buzzed around the square after the show was that Jessica’s Cheryl Hickey dress made her look short and fat. That was obvious on television when the show aired.

    The right person won, no question. Canadian fashion needs more free thinkers, more creativity, more pushing the of the style envelope. I hope next season (if there is one -what with Canwest’s financial situation) brings us more designers with Sunny’s talent, and fewer with Kim’s drama.

  2. April 17, 2009 10:59 am

    Thank you so much for your great comments! It’s so much fun to read your thoughts about the show and I agree with you about the collections and the PRC season in general. Jason’s collection was a bit of a What the Heck Was He Thinking? in terms of classifying as a 20 to 60 year-old customer in L.A. of all places. I don’t think people dress like that in L.A. (perhaps in Mississauga and Kitchener, as you suggest… :)

    Too bad that Jessica’s collection was a bit of a mixed bag since that did hurt her in judging, but I guess that can be expected from a young designer. Perhaps Brian should have come into the picture earlier to help her sort out her ideas; after all, she did scrap all of the work that she showed him when he came for his check-in visit.

    I agree that we need more creativity and wild ideas on the runway- we’re a relatively new country on the international fashion scene and since the other runways of the world show distinct big names that we know, love and respect, why not use the Canadian forum to explore risky ideas?

    At Fashion Week, I met Louis Bompard, the Fashion Editor of Paris-based L’Officiel magazine and he said to me about Canadian design, “I want to see something different otherwise I’m not interested.” I think we all feel that way; we don’t need more of the same beautiful but recognizable fashions that we see elsewhere- let’s make something new and unique that gives us all something to think about.
    – Johanne

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text:
Saturday, November 01, 2008

Let a Sister and a Brother Tell It.

May I just say that I have been terribly remiss in writing lately...not that so many will be affected! None the less for those who care, there are many things to write about. I have been sort of caught up in the drama of children lately, both my own and those about whom too few seem to care. Then, too, there is this awesome election that is ongoing. And I just happen to be a swing state this year! In the past few weeks, I have had the absolutely awesome privilege of listening to Barack Obama and Madeline Albright in person! I was at the Obama rally in St., you can NOT see me in the photo! Madeline Albright was at Christ Church Cathedral to promote her new book, "Memo to the President Elect". I even shook Ms. Albright's hand -twice!

The point of this is that I have been involved in my own self and have failed miserably to note the absolute idiocy of the current bishop of Fort Worth. May God have mercy on his silly self. Who needs enemies when one has such an ego?

Regardless, because I am so far behind, please, go to my sister Elizabeth's site...or to Mark Harris...both say it well. And surely it is not worth repeating. Elizabeth also has a fine post about the rally in St. Louis that I just happened to attend. I am one of the 100,000 that attended!

I bow to their eloquence...and I thank them both profusely.

PseudoPiskie said...

You have been missed! Hope you get back to posting regularly soon.

Barbi Click said...

Thank you! I hope so too! I miss writing. Soon...

David said...

Cut yourself some slack dear sister

Life does have that habit of intruding. A person of as many talents and passions as yours is bound to experience some interference and delays.

I think most everyone [including we Canadians] is alternately holding our breathes for the 4th, and equally exhausted by the whole thing.

Barbi Click said...

Amen to the holding breath!


text:
Tier 13 for Affliction

As the wave of valor point gear hit the PTR, and now I have choices for slots, I’ve started getting together my BiS / DO WANT list.  For Firelands, my guild did a thread where we listed the drops we wanted from each boss, and I feel like it’d be a good thing if we did it again.  I make a list for myself regardless, but it’s fun sharing it anyway.

I’ve also been gearing up alts, and it’s a relief to find a gear list, just to make sure I’m on track with how the secondary stats work for my character.  I’m especially a fan of the Vexryn’s paladin tank lists from Maintankadin, so I may copy that format a bit.  Though, warlock stat priority isn’t as dynamic as tank or healer gear, so it ought’nt be too hard for people to guess.

But first, I want to talk about the tier gear: the set bonuses, the overall feeling of the stat allocation, combination & completion of set bonuses, and the looks.

The Look

Nanoprecise Cape - 1250 VP

Since I care about looks of gear, I looked at it first before I looked at the stats.

I realize there is going to be transmogrification in 4.3, and I even have my outfit picked out for it.  I’m dressed in it on the PTR, and even just running around for a little bit on the PTR, I’ve grown a bit used to my “current gear” look, and while being Putress is awesome, it’s just not the same anymore.  I might use transmogrification to be Putress for a while, but I will probably end up going back to the current tiers if I like them.

So, the cape first, because the cape is what I stare at most as I play my character.  I’m not fond of the rounded / pointed capes (squarish ones wave in the air better), which is what the tier 13 valor one is, but the design at least uses the pointed edge to look cool.  The Avengers cloaks of this tier are not my favorite, and I think the design looked better on the squarish quest Mantle cloaks.

I think when I took this I tried to put all the non-tier VP gear on myself (+tier shoulders), so I know that’s the VP wand in my right hand and the VP gloves.  That might be the VP helm and VP chest; both look like warlock tier again.  Unfortunately, there were no VP shoulders or legs, but there are substitutes for tier; there’s a drop for shoulders & crafted for legs.

Tier 13 -- Click for bigger image.

As for the tier 13 itself, we get three recolors from the three sources: raid finder for ilvl 384, normal raids for ilvl 397, and heroic raids for ilvl 410.  (In my hands are Incineratus (w/ Power Torrent) & the Talisman of Kalecgos, which are my chosen items for my Putress mogging set.)

I like the Raid Finder recolor, though the color scheme reminds me heavily of shaman tier 10. Maybe ours is a bit more fel with the green, but I do like that scheme best of the three.  The 397-ilvl color isn’t as bad as the heroic recolor; the heroic recolor looks like they just played with the color sliders, rather than actually looking like a put-together set of colors.  While the helm on the other two seems to float on top, the heroic helm just feels…heavy and almost obtrusive.

Considering my guild is considering doing the Raid Finder as learning runs, I might grab some pieces, at least for the plain looks if not for the stats.

Tier 13 — Set Bonuses

Both set bonuses are a bit meh in terms of damage boost for affliction.  Of course, tier bonuses aren’t supposed to provide a huge jump in DPS, but something more like 5%.

2pc | The duration of your Doomguard and Infernal summons is increased by 30* sec and the cooldown of those spells is reduced by 4 min.

* 20 sec for demonology, but I’m only discussing affliction.

The Doomguard being out longer and possibly every wipe-attempt or twice a kill-attempt is definitely an up.  It’s not a spectacular increase for affliction, but it’s an increase I’ll take anyway.

4pc | Soulburn grants a 10% increase to your spell power for 10 sec, and Soul Fire cast with Soulburn active now grants a Soul Shard.

This bonus would be more interesting if affliction actually had things to do with Soulburn.  Technically, if you want to be sim-perfect in your DPS, you’re already adding in three Soulburned Soul Fires, despite SF hitting like a wet noodle even when you’re Destro.  Blizzard keeps wanting warlocks to use Soul Fire — who knows why — but so far they’ve been pretty terrible at actually fixing the spell to make it useful.

If a spell doesn’t hit for a good use of its resources, nobody will use it.  Throwing in a spell power buff just makes using the spell necessary.  It’s still a pain in the ass to use.  The pain in the ass that is Soul Fire is its cast time and it hits for crap, especially if you’re not specced into fire.

Blizzard has attempted to fix Soul Fire and make it appetizing for players to cast.  They’ve buffed the spellpower coefficient for Soul Fire (so it hits a bit harder), and they’ve added a refund of shards to the Soulburn mechanic into the 4pc bonus.  With a refund of shards, I can cast this on cooldown (45s for Soulburn) and get a decent spellpower boost out of it.

I still feel like I’m being forced into using a spell that’s neither useful for me nor flavored for me.  Affliction flavor (RP, whatever you call it) is important to me.

Tier 13 — Drops and Stats

This tier they’re going back to, I think, the Burning Crusade model of tier piece acquisition.  This time, all of the tier gear is acquired from tokens that drop from the bosses; nothing comes from Valor Points.  To turn in the token, however, you still visit the Valor Point vendor in your faction capital.  Our token is “____ of the Corrupted Conqueror,” which we share with paladins and priests.

  • Hood = Warmaster Blackhorn
  • Mantle = Hagara the Stormbinder
  • Robes  = Ultraxion
  • Gloves = Warlord Zon’ozz
  • Leggings = Yor’sahj the Unsleeping

Here’s the secondary stat pairings on each piece.  The math symbols are for which stat is bigger on the item.  I’m not putting specific numbers on the pieces since I figure we’ll all mix and match between the three source sets.  It also helps in my head to figure out reforging; if the trashier stat is higher, then I’ll get more out of it.

(t12) Balespider’s Slot (t13) Faceless Shroud
mastery > haste Head haste > crit
haste > hit Shoulders mastery > crit
haste > hit Chest haste > hit
haste > hit Hands mastery > hit
crit > mastery Legs haste > mastery

The general affliction stat priority is hit (to cap) > haste > crit > mastery.  Of course, your own specific priority will vary with each piece of gear you gain, so you can run your SimC yourself if you wish to have those very specific numbers.

Affliction likes hit like snickerdoodle cookies: you either eat until you’re full (1742/17%) or you eat until maybe one cookie short of full (~16.90-16.99%) before you give yourself a tummy ache (>17%).

Affliction loves haste like it’s hot, homemade apple pie (moar! MOAR!), and then crit is like not-in-your-top-ten-favorite-cookies-but-still-mmmm-cookies (it’s okay), and mastery is like the raisins in raisin-oatmeal cookies when you hate raisins (ewwwww raisins).

Alright, which ones should I replace / mix first?

I think I was spoiled by the hit/haste combos from Balespider’s tier 12, honestly.  That, and I must be crazy, because I appear to be the only warlock I know of (though I don’t know many) who actually likes the aesthetic look of the Balespider set.  It’s a great set all around for me, and it’ll be hard to part with.  (Definitely a mogging keeper!)

For Faceless Shroud, the pieces by themselves are less appealing, but they aren’t horrible.  The mastery should appeal to the Demo locks, and as they’re simming as highest warlock DPS on the PTR now (!!), they’ll be plenty happy.

I love the chest piece; it’s a straight upgrade of Balespider.  The Faceless legs are better than Balespider, so I’ll trade those quickly.  The helm has thankfully flipped the higher stat to haste, and switched out mastery for crit, so I like that piece too.  The hands are usually the token Piece of Suck for affliction in the warlock tiers I’ve worn, so I’ll hold onto my Balespider’s Handwraps as long as I can, but the hands are also often the set bonus completer for me.

The shoulders, oh dear.  I think something is wrong with the itemization; else, mastery really IS that bad.

Currently, on my spreadsheet with my own SimC values and a list of all the gear since I began it at the start of Cataclysm, the Mantle of the Faceless Shroud scores oddly.  I thought the chunk of intellect from an item tier’s upgrade would offset the switch from the favored haste/hit to the unpleasant mastery/crit combo, but it’s not doing it.  Even filling all the gem slots (red & red with 20 Intellect for the bonus) with rare gems just barely gets the normal raid (397) above my current t12 (378).

And when I gem the raid drop substitute (Mosswrought Shoulderguards, 397 off Morchok), which has the same gem sockets & gem bonus but a crit/haste combo of secondary stats, it’s within 12 points of the heroic tier 13 shoulders, which are half a tier higher in item level!

o_O WTF Shoulder Slot.

My Choice

Needless to say, for now my target 4pc is head/chest/hands/legs.  My 2pc will probably be chest/legs.  I’ve re-evalutate if the shoulders get re-itemized or if SimC tells me I smell funny.

The shoulders and hands from Balespider are still delicious with their haste/hit combos, Faceless chest is haste/hit also, and Faceless legs, while less awesome than Faceless helm, will probably be easier to get as Yor’sahj is hopefully one of the earlier / easier bosses in Dragon Soul (he’s been tested first with Morchok, and he’s also listed earlier in the Dungeon Journal).

As for the other gear pieces…I’m still sorting through to do decide my priority for VP spending and EPGP rolling.  That post will be later. 🙂

Tier 13 for Affliction

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Affliction Strats?

I’ve seen various blog articles of how to do X Fight as a Y Spec Class.  I’ve thought about doing my own, but there’s always that nagging “Really?  You need a guide on how to Caster DPS?  It’s like…Faceroll on the Keyboard.  And sometimes you have to move.  /boggle”

(My inner self-defeater is a jerk.  :|)

Then there’s the other side of how I convey strats to myself.  Everybody likes to do the whole read the ability/debuff/buff verbatim and then maybe the strategy of what to do with it, but mostly it’s a read & hope everyone gets it, especially when being read on Vent.

I really dislike that.  I prefer the conceptual explanations and I like them short.  I write out flash cards to myself for boss strats.  Fit all of one boss on one index card, often on one face of the index card.  (Both sides if there’s a pause between phase changes, maybe.)  It involves pictures with colored markers and descriptors like ” CRYSTAL = GG WASTE DPS.  FLAME = FFS OW.”  I’m thoroughly rude to myself on these things, but it gets the point across to myself faster.

So I’m not sure if posting my strats would end up looking very stupid or end up somewhat entertaining.  Ditto for what would happen if I included a Paint rendering of my index card along with explanation.

Anyway, it’s an idea floating around.  That might happen anyway.  (The Paint idea would be fun…)

Affliction Strats?

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No, really. Don’t pext me.

Just how pleased is a woman to receive a picture of a penis? An exchange on a recent Happy Endings episode may help answer:

 Peggy: (glances at phone in horror) Ugh. He just pexted me.

Friends: Pexting? What’s that?

Peggy: Penis text. Gross.

Max: (the Puck-ish gay friend, reaching for phone) Want me to pext him back?

Interestingly, this episode came out before Congressman Anthony Weiner let all his junk hang out. After that, in one of The Daily Show’s many, many bits about Weiner, Kristen Schaal took the pains to explain that really, a penis just looks like a sea slug, and no, we don’t want to see it.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Rash of Penis Photos
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Jon Stewart points out a double standard: Straight men like to see naked women, so why don’t straight women enjoy seeing naked men? “Because the female body is beautiful, Jon,” Schaal replies. And the male body – well, that particular part – is not.

An explanation for this double standard can be found in The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf. Wolf explains that the female form is idolized in most advertisements, male or female. You can see this in men’s and women’s magazines and on nearly any TV commercial. To sell a guy a beer, a pretty model drinks it. To sell a woman a pair of shoes, a pretty model wears it. Men’s advertisements play to their lust; women’s advertisements play to their envy and emulation. Men desire, and women want to be desired – this even shows itself in women’s sexual pleasure.

Exhibit A: Scantily clad women selling a crappy product to men.

Sex sells; this is nothing new. It’s just that women tend to do the selling.

Exhibit B: Scantily clad woman selling shoes to women. Because nothing sells boots like an almost-crotch-shot.

So maybe we’re not into ogling penises because they look like sea slugs. Or maybe it’s because we’re more obsessed with the female form in this culture. Whatever it is, I’d like to guess that Freud’s notion of penis envy was just a projection of his fascination with his own. I mean, women tend to confide in friends about almost everything, including sex, but I promise, Master P rarely comes up in conversation. If we do divulge about sex, we mostly brag or complain about a man’s skill set. And we would especially never ever ever pass around a paper-mache penis while smoking and drinking amongst pals. Just saying. I think that’s just a guy thing. (Ahem. To the bachelorette-partiers who wear penis necklaces, I must say: What the hell is the matter with you?)

And to Mr. Weiner, who is now reportedly taking some time off to enter therapy (if there is such thing for morbid embarrassment), we have to say well, thanks! Your gaffe led to the PSA heard ’round the world: Death to pexting!

–By Tara Cavanaugh

2 thoughts on “No, really. Don’t pext me.

  1. I’m a woman, and I don’t think that dicks look like sea slugs at all. I think they’re gorgeous. Imagine if men told us our cunts were like slimy vats of tuna; it would be completely misogynist. And while I don’t disagree with Wolf, her point is that just because our culture trains us to fetishize the female form and revile/ignore the male one, doesn’t mean we have to buy into it; I certainly don’t. And FTR, my straight and bi female friends and I talk about dicks all the time. Also, I don’t think there’s anything hotter IN THE WORLD than a man self-pleasuring in the shower. Kristen Schaal is entitled to her opinion, but she doesn’t represent all women.

  2. Pingback: No, really. Don’t pext me. (via FemThreads) « satriayulian

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Wins and Fails of the Week: SAG Awards edition

The Ladies of Modern Family

Not only did they win for best ensemble, but the ladies of Modern Family also definitely win for best dressed in my books.

Yet again, Ariel Winter shows up to the red carpet looking so cute and age-appropriate.

Ditto Sarah Hyland who was also looking lovely.

And I loved the vivid colors and details on the two leading ladies’ dresses.

The draping back of Julie Bowen’s dress was fab. (Mostly because she has the back to pull it off.)

And the structure of Sofia Vergara’s gown showed off her curvy figure to a T.

A Splash of Color

My other favorite dresses of the evening included just a little splash of color.

Dianna Agron also rocked a frock in the same fuchsia color palette as the Modern Family ladies. I even dig her Heidi hair (probably because I always secretly wanted to figure out how to braid my hair like that when I was little and had just seen Heidi for the first time).

Diane Lane, on the other hand, let the fantastic color of her dress speak for itself and went simple with her hair and accessories.

Now, if I were Kyra Sedgwick and had a body like that, I would totally wear a stunning red dress that showed off my tattoo, too.

Michelle Williams also looked stunning in red although I think I liked her dress more during the telecast and before I realized it wasn’t a full-length gown. I’m still counting this as a win for the lovely lace detailing.

There’s just something about a redhead in green. I particularly enjoyed Ellie Kemper. Maybe because she always seems so happy everywhere she goes.

But my favorite hue of the evening? Emily Blunt’s bright choice.

Back to Basics

Sometimes it pays to keep it simple. It worked for the cast from The Help.

Viola Davis was stunning in this white Grecian-looking Marchesa.

And I even liked Emma Stone’s tea length McQueen. I think the perfect lippy and updo saved it for me.

And if you’re going to go with a basic color, then put a little va in your voom a la Naya Rivera.

Nah to the Neutrals

But then sometimes neutral colors are just boring. I’m looking at you, Juliana Marguiles and Tilda Swinton. C’mon, Swinton, pull it together. You were supposed to swan into this thing with an intriguing outfit, not some boring ol’ bedsheet.

And Zoe Saldana, hon, you’re hot. Why would you ever wrap your body in gauze and saran wrap? You deserve better.

And Kristen Wiig opted for yet another baggy neutral dress. Snoozefest. Except she decided to mix things up a bit by wearing a dominatrix-esque choker with it. Who even does that?

What the What?

But I saved my big WTF?!? moment for  the lovely Rose Byrne. A beaded pantsuit??! I don’t care if some people think you took a fashion risk, take it back to wherever you found it and leave it there.

In other news, Kaley Cuoco looked like a walking cloud. (With bad Heidi braid!)

Amber Heard looked like her torso had been wrapped in ace bandages.

And Shailene Woodley looked like she was wearing really bad wallpaper.

Win for most melodramatic pose of the evening: Lea Michele natch.

That's not a thigh-high slit, honey. That's a HIP-high slit.

–By Lindsay Ray

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Introduction to BTW – Teacher Workshop for Prince William County Schools

This workshop is an introduction to Bridging the Watershed (BTW) and watersheds for Prince William County teachers who have not received training in the Bridging the Watershed program.

Date/Time:
January 9 & 10, 2013

3:30 pm – 6:00 pm each day (must attend both consecutive days)

Location: Potomac High School

Registration: To register, please contact Joy Greene: 703-791-7995,

What to Bring: Bring the following to the workshop, reusable mug for beverage (coffee, tea, and light snacks will be provided), note-taking materials, or other items for your comfort level

01/09/2013 - 01/10/2013
3:30 pm - 6:00 pm

Map Unavailable

Potomac High School


text:
Lynn Hollyfield & Friends

September 28, 8PMLynn Hollyfield & Friends

Blend a powerful singer, crisp acoustic guitar player and a heartfelt observer of the world and you have singer-songwriter, Lynn Hollyfield. Her “indie-folk-pop style” (Leicasterbangs, UK) reflects an infusion of many influences including great jazz artists, such as Ella Fitzgerald, to contemporary influences of John Hiatt, Shawn Colvin and CSNY. The resulting blend~her own voice mingling wit, a smoky sweetness and thoughtful reverie to her songwriting and performance.

Find out more about this event here.

8:00 pm

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Hard Bargain Amphitheater


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Friday, April 26, 2013

Book Reviews: Conversations with Greil Marcus, Ed. by Joe Bonomo

Text © Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 2013
Images from the Internet

Conversations with Greil Marcus
Edited by Joe Bonomo
University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS)
Literary Conversations Series
217 pages; 2012
ISBN: 978-1-61703-623-1

Greil Marcus is… well, if you don’t know who he is, and you regularly read blogs like this, you should be ashamed of yourself. His wide-ranged knowledge of history and culture fueled through music as a foundation is unique and inspiring, whether or not you agree with his conclusions. I have read three or four of his books, which still remain on my shelf, and I even had the pleasure to see the off-off-Broadway mounting of the play, Lipstick Traces, based on his tome of the same title.

I picture Marcus as sort of the anti-Lester Bangs. The work of Bangs was intelligent, but his stream of consciousness reviews – a large share of which I am going to posit were foisted by an indulgence of mind-altering substances – were of the moment and full of instantaneous fervor. Marcus, on the other hand, is an author of careful measure and import, even when he starts in one place and meanders through time and space, as he does in most of his books, covering diverse topics and managing to tie them into a larger picture. Ironically, Marcus also edited the works of Lester Bangs, Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung: The Work of a Legendary Critic (1988). Another polar difference between the two writers is that Bangs would always include himself as part of nearly any story, whereas Marcus prides himself as keeping his work and personal life as two separate entities. But more about this later.

Joe Bonomo
As Marcus did with Bang’s work, this one is edited by music scholar Joe Bonomo, who has also written books on such diverse subjects as the Fleshtones, Jerry Lee Lewis and AC/DC. Here, we are introduced to a collection of interviews conducted over decades of Marcus rather than by him. The sources vary from printed works, on-line questions from various music fans, and Canadian radio (transcribed by Bonomo). Each interview chapter is listed chronologically over three decades, done in Q&A fashion.

One of the many reasons this book is important is that Marcus has pride, as he states in this book’s prologue written by Bonomo, in that he keeps himself and his non-music life as separate entities. Of course, there actually is no such thing as objectivity, as all observations are filtered through our own experiences (in the same way that all films and novels about the past and future are actually about the present). In fact, Marcus states, …I think there’s a tremendous amount of showing off that goes on, a lot of self-promotion. I think that if you want to use the word “I” in a piece, you have to earn the right. I don’t mean that you have to be around a long time. I mean that in terms of the writing of a given piece, you have to justify leaping out, and you have to see that somehow the authority is backed up. You can’t just assume that the reader ought to give a shit about you or anyone else. You have to earn the reader’s attention, you can’t take it for granted. (42; 1988) Of course, the “I” was one of Lester Bang’s fortes. But I digress…

Part of what makes this collection so important is that Marcus is the interviewee, rather than the topic originator, so he gets to go beyond the academic and can discuss his personal drives and motivations. He explains, I’ve lived a very conventional life. I was never a hippie, I was never into drugs. I was married when I was twenty-on and I’m still married. I have two kids, I live in a house, I’ve made my own career. I don’t work for a company, I’m an independent writer. I’ve been really lucky…. (26; 1984) I don’t waste my time writing about why I hate Journey, or why the Jefferson Starship is beneath contempt, or why I haven’t listened to a Grateful Dead album for God knows how many years. There’s just so much interesting stuff to write about … Kenny Rogers might be interesting in a sociological sense, he’s not interesting musically. I have to have both: If can’t write about music in a purely aesthetic manner. It doesn’t intrigue me. (5; 1981) …I know there’s all kinds of stuff there I never really caught. I never really heard. Well, I’d rather spend three or four weeks listening to Pere Ubu, and missing being knowledgeable about a whole load of stuff that wouldn’t matter to me. It would mean eventually I’d be able to write something interesting about Pere Ubu, rather than something that is ultimately meaningless about a whole lot of other stuff. (95; 1994)

Marcus further posits: My role as a critic is to intensify the experience other people might have with a given incident or object. That’s not how all critics see their roles. My role is not to tell people what’s good and what’s bad. I don’t want to make too big a claim for it. (27; 1984) I know that I have always worked on the assumption that I have no power. I don’t want any power. I just want to figure out what it is I have to say, and find a good way to say it. (30; 1988) I’ve basically always said that if I have any concrete role at all, or goal, it’s to expand the context or dimension in which people listen music, so that music can be understood as an integral part of any person’s life, rather than as a sideshow, or compartmentalized aspect, or just as symbols, or meanings of sounds. (33; 1988) … You make a fool of yourself when you say, “Mick Jagger wrote ‘Gimme Shelter’ he meant…” Who cares what he meant? The point is, what’s happening to that song when it is out there in the world being heard? (33; 1988)

There is no denying that Marcus has a sharp mind funneled through a life experience out of San Francisco in the 1960s, and writing about some of the most revolutionary music in modern history, from Dylan to the psychedelic, to his own pet topic, the rise of punk rock in England. His specialty is what Marshall McLuhan referred to as viewing life through an extreme rear view mirror. He finds the connections of diverse and seeming disengaged movements from the further past that meld into what we now know as modern culture. Some of it is reporting how Malcolm McLaren was influenced by the Situationalists, leading to the Sex Pistols, and others are wild and imaginative intellectual jumps, such as seeing a correlation between Elvis and Bill Clinton.

Likewise, this book casts a wide net over topics. One, in particular, has Marcus discussing what it was like to go to college as protests and riots occurred regularly around him, while he fulminates elsewhere on the phoniness of some of its leaders, such as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. But just as he describes that all of his work, no matter how diverse, originates from the music, that is where much of the direction of conversations touch on, if not directly focused, throughout the many Q&As in this book. It’s clear that as much as he is a music critic, he is also a social analyst and historian, easily flowing through all the topics and tying them together in a unique way that is the core of Greil Marcus’s work.

Apparently, much of his writing is split into two time periods, seemingly separated in the mid-1970s. For the 1950s and ‘60s, his focus was on the origins of rock and roll, and a fondness for Bob Dylan. But in the mid-1970s, his focus (much like fellow critic Robert Christgau) turned to Europe and especially the British Isles. He states, I first heard about punk turning on the television one Sunday afternoon, it must have been in January of 1977, maybe it was late ’76, and there was a little news feature and the essence of it was, Teenagers do even weirder new things in London, and it showed pictures of kids with strange hair and safety pins through their cheeks, and stuff like that, and said [adopts a newscaster voice], “This is a new cult known as Punk, the leaders are called the Sex Pistols.” And so I said, “Oh that looks pretty strange.” And I forgot all about it, until “Anarchy in the U.K.” arrived in my local record shop a week or so later for five dollars a single, and I said, “Why is that so expensive?” and they said, “It’s been banned in England,” and I said, “Oh, it’s been banned. I better hear it.” (79; 1993)

This is the point where I disagree with him wholeheartedly, in both an academic and emotional way. He claims that I always found the British stuff, and some of the European stuff, a lot more gripping, more interesting than the American stuff. In fact, it took me a number of years to get over my anti-American prejudice, and appreciate groups like X for what they really were. …But in general, I found the New York stuff a tremendous bore. Whether it was the Ramones, or Television, or Richard Hell, or Talking Heads – their early records were of no interest to me whatsoever – the New York Scene had nothing to do with what went on with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, X-Ray Spex, the Adverts, the Slits, and all the other groups I love. I still don’t find it all that interesting. They had the same name, and I suppose they shared a certain minimalist back-to-basics attitude, but I think they came from a very different direction. I never heard anyone say, “I heard Tom Verlaine and Television, and suddenly I knew that I could play too.” (37; 1988) In plain fact, what he refers to as punk (British) would never have existed in the both literal and figurative fashion if it were not for what the English bands heard coming over from New York, and Malcolm McLauren’s “borrowing” the styles from Richard Hell (safety pins) and the Ramones (ripped clothes), not to mention Tish and Snooky Bellomo from the Manic Panic store and Natasha with her outlet on St. Mark’s Place (hair dye, clothes, etc.). My belief is that the Pistols would have been just another failed noise band if they hadn’t built on the foundation of what was going on in New York.

But I also believe it is okay to disagree with even the strongest of critics, including those with the solid and vast credentials of Marcus. This come across in that somehow, I get the feeling that he has a very keen sense of humor, which is very dry (perhaps that’s why he has such a strong affinity with the British?) and subtle. Two chapters are a collection of questions sent to him on the Internet, and I found many of his answer quite amusing, sometimes in their handling, and other times in the brevity (for example, after a paragraph question about why no one talks about the band The Fall, his entire response is They never did anything for me.. For a man who goes to amazing lengths to explain the Situationalists and Dadaists in relation to the Sex Pistols, this is quite a commentary in a mere six words.

One of the things I respect about Marcus, even when I don’t agree, is that he is confident in what he believes, and holds nothing back. For example, when discussing the projections of the mentality of rock and roll singers through the years, he theorizes that: …the original figureheads weren’t supposed to act very smart. They were supposed to be extraordinary polite, as both Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis were, or they were supposed to be extremely circumspect, as Chuck Berry was. If Berry, as a black man, said half of what he was thinking at any given moment, he might have been lynched…The Beatles were the first group of people to come along who didn’t pretend to be stupid. They acted and talked as intelligently as they actually were. They allowed the Rolling Stones to come along and then be as cool, as obnoxious, as bohemian, as “fuck you,” as in-your-face as they wanted to be. (110; 1997) Johnny Rotten was someone who really schooled himself on James Joyce and Graham Greene and his sense of being an outsider because he was Irish and being just astonishingly smart and vehement and impatient. (112; 1997) I don’t think there’s any question that for over twenty years the Ramones have inspired countless people to do all kinds of things. They inspired the Sex Pistols and the Clash. I didn’t like them. I always thought they were a bunch of twits…Television as an arty version of the Grateful Dead. To me, it was just a new form of rock and roll. It was all just a downtown New York bohemian scene. It was a local story. I still believe that. This was local must as far as I was concerned. I don’t believe that the reason that punk came to life again and again all over the world is due to anything that happened in New York. (114; 1998)

Perhaps I’m wrong, but it seems he contradicts himself in that last piece. First he says that New York was not important to the music scene in England, and then he states elsewhere that the Ramones had an influence on the Pistols and Clash. But here is the thing, if you bear with me. Social critic Neil Postman once told me that the problem with being published is that people will reference a theory that “Postman says that…” Neil stated that over time, ideas changed, but the book doesn’t, so even if the idea has evolved, the writer is still locked into that printed page. And this from a man who firmly believed in the published word.

Likewise, this collection covers nearly 30 years, and in that time, new thoughts may see their way through. For example, at some point Marcus discusses how it wasn’t until his teenage daughter pointed out what was great about the band X that he started to appreciate it, many years later.

That’s not to say that I am always opposed to what Marcus is stating, and in fact I agree with him quite often, such as with his explaining that, When punk began playing with the swastika, first here [England], and then picked up as an imitation in the United States, the first explanation of it that I read was that these kids were too young to know what the swastika really meant, and they just knew it was a sort of bad symbol, and so they used it to show they were bad, and that they didn’t respect the pieties of society and art. I didn’t believe that for a minute. Everybody knows what the swastika is. It means Hitler, it means extermination, it means mass murder. There’s no secret about what the swastika means, and no one is too young to know that. (99; 1994).

My belief is that part of the reason the New York scene is a black hole to Marcus is because he is from San Francisco, and did not get the opportunity to have the scene grow and evolve around him. It took a mediated television program after the nascent beginnings to bring the Pistols to his attention, and who knows if he would have been attracted to it at all if it had not crossed his path that way (fate? coincidence?). As he states above, I know there’s all kinds of stuff there I never really caught. I never really heard. How would his world be different if it had not come to him on the telly, or if the shop he mentioned didn’t bring in the “Anarchy” single? A modern kōan, if ever there was one.

Bonomo does an excellent job collecting (and occasionally transcribing) both the familiar and unfamiliar topics to the readers that have been covered in the books by Marcus. It’s fascinating to hear him take off his supposed (and I say that with a twinkle in my eye) objectivity, and place himself in the role of the subject.
While it’s true, as Bonomo states in the introduction, that Little of Marcus’s personal life is revealed in these wide-ranging discussions,(ix), there is a lot revealed about how he thinks, the processes he takes, and the effect of what he is doing (and to what he is listening) has an effect on his life. I’m going to posit that the reader is probably not really going to care what he was doing the day Kennedy was killed (pick one), but rather why he chooses what he does, and in that way he opens himself up. Sure, he can be a clinical writer, but Marcus is a fascinating scholar (though he might balk at the word), and whether or not you agree, he is a worthy read.

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