Sound Off: Top Design 2 Season Premiere

Did you watch last night?

I'm so, so happy this show is back. I know Season 1 had issues, but in my book, Top Design is still miles better than Design Star. Plus, Kelly Wearstler's hairstyles alone will make this worth watching. (Did you catch the little hairstyle montage in the upcoming-episodes teaser? Oh. My. God.) And Flipping Out's Jeff Lewis as a guest judge? I'm in heaven.

My prediction for Season 2's breakout star: Wisit, the so-gay-it-hurts, opera-singing sprite. He's a strange little bird, but I think he just might have what it takes to create a beautiful and unusual space.

And my prediction for breakout bitch: Andrea (aka Mrs. Ricky Schroder). I like her, and think she has some design chops (even if her aesthetic veers dangerously toward "shabby chic") but suspect it's only a matter of time before she starts ripping her competitors a few new ones.

Anyway, what did you think of the completed lofts, and of the parameters of the challenge? Granted, the $2,000 budgets were a major roadblock, but please spare me from designers who whine about spending that much on a table lamp. Hello! Welcome to the real world, folks.

I don't want to spoil anything for those of you who Tivo'd the show, but I feel bad for the contestant who was sent home for working hard laying wood floors in an entire loft in two days when there was clearly another train wreck on that team ...

And one question: Why was Todd Oldham even there? India Hicks has rendered him completely extraneous.

Thoughts? Discuss.

P.S. I'm going to be seriously despondent if Tom & Lorenzo -- aka the Project RunGay guys -- aren't blogging this season. TLo, I know you must be utterly exhausted from blogging Project Runway and Shear Genius and Mad Men so brilliantly these last few months. But please, for the love of God, I need you and your exquisite bitchery now.

P.P.S. Update: Woo hoo!

Cool Stuff: Team Zoila!

Did any of you guys watch Flipping Out this season?

Remember that portrait the lovable (if slightly sadistic) hot mess Jeff Lewis commissioned of his feisty Nicaraguan housekeeper, Zoila -- without telling the artist that the portrait in question was a gift for the person she was painting? And that he then gave to poor Zoila in lieu of the one measly weekend off that she requested for her birthday?

The resulting portrait -- while kinda cool in an arty sort of way -- was unflattering in the extreme, and Zoila was understandably hurt. Umm, nice move there, Jeff.

Anyway, Bravo has decided to auction off the offending painting, with the proceeds earmarked for Miss Zoila's own bad self. (That's Zoila busting a move with my other Flipping Out favorite, executive assistant Jenni Pulos, swiped off of Jenni's Facebook -- because, yes, I am Facebook friends with the divine Ms. Pulos. Well, me and 913 other people. Is that cool or sad and pathetic? I can't decide.)

The auction started a little while ago with an opening bid of $500, and is already up to $2,550. Bidding ends on Tuesday, August 19.

So what are you waiting for? C'mon -- don't just do it for Zoila. Do it for put-upon reality TV minions everywhere.

(Via Scented Glossy Magazines -- which, by the way, just published a kickass interview with way-too-good-for-that-job former Jeff Lewis houseboy Chris Keslar.)

Sound Off: Design Star 3 vs. Top Design 2

Season 3 of Design Star starts Sunday, June 8. Do you care?

I did Tivo Season 2 of HGTV's ratings juggernaut, and enjoyed it well enough. (Though I think winner Kim Myles' new home-makeover show, Myles of Style, is disappointing.) But I can't work up much enthusiasm for Season 3. I dunno -- the cast looks pretty cheesy, for one. And the location: Umm, Nashville? I'm sure it's a beautiful city, but I don't exactly think of it as a design center. I predict lots of has-been country singers getting their basement rec rooms re-done by the eager contestants. Zzzzz ...

Personally, I'm more excited for Season 2 of Bravo's Top Design. I love me some Jonathan Adler, and can't wait to see the atrociously entertaining hairstyles and getups Ms. Kelly Wearstler trots out this season, what sort of politely veiled bitchery Elle Decor's Margaret Russell dishes up, and what we can expect from new host India Hicks. (But I wish they had lost the painfully awkward and wooden Todd Oldham.) Oh, and we can't forget the return of Tom & Lorenzo's deliciously vicious postmortems of each episode. When's the premiere, oh Bravo gods? I am so there.

What about you? Will you watch the new seasons of Design Star or Top Design -- or give both a pass?

P.S. Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

Good Reads: Project RunGay

Confession: I could care less about fashion.

That might sound strange coming from someone who hyperventilates over things like paint colors and the exact placement of the painstakingly procured accessories on my coffee table. But, y'know, I have two kids. I work from home. We never go anywhere worth getting dressed up for. And, let's just be honest here: Skinny is but a fond memory. (Or, as my offspring take great delight in reminding me -- as often as they possibly can -- my ass is "the size of the sun.")

Basically, I live in sweats. Maybe if something is a really big deal, I might pull on a pair of jeans and put something other than my trusty flip-flops on my feet for the occasion (but I'll wear the flip-flops if I think I can get away with it). Seriously -- give me $100 and a half-hour at Old Navy, and I'm pretty much set for the season. Sartorially speaking, I am a horror show. (Does that shock you? Don't hate me because I'm a slob ... )

So why, you might ask, do I eagerly await the latest episode of Project Runway every Wednesday night?

Two words: Project RunGay.

It's true. I'm not big on TV in general, and am even less-keen on reality shows. But I tune in to the wildly popular Bravo fashion competition for one reason and one reason only: So I can then read the wickedly hilarious blog devoted to it. (OK, fine -- two reasons: So I can read Project RunGay, and so I can coldly declare "You are OUT" every chance I get, in ode to a certain steely Teutonic blonde.)

I didn't even bother to watch the previous seasons until I discovered PRG, and then I went back and Tivoed the repeats just so I would have a point of reference for the catty commentary that blog authors Tom and Lorenzo (TLo to devotees) gleefully dish up every week.

Because, OK -- working from home can get a little lonely sometimes. I miss the proverbial water-cooler banter. I miss the funny, bitchy repartee from the office's resident 'mos. Plus, Tom and Lorenzo are really freakin' funny. Brilliantly, geniusly funny. And mean -- but in an endearing way.

I reality, I am nowhere near as fabulous as I would need to be to qualify as this longtime couple's devoted fruitfly. (Besides, that distinction is reserved for Season 3's elegant Laura Bennett, who's been known to have TLo over to her mindblowingly ginormous Manhattan loft for intimate little soirees and such.)

But in this fantasy world otherwise known as the blogosphere, I can log on and pretend that we're BFFs and that I'm chuckling into my martini during our weekly PR viewing party while TLo call me "Kitten" and toss out one scathing bon mot after another, dissing Golden Boy's tiresome draping fetish; dubbing Princess Puffysleeves "a hyperactive hamster on meth"; sticking up for poor, sweet, underappreciated Sissy Bear; mocking VictorYA's delusions of grandeur; and noting Buellerbot 3000's total lack of facial expression.

In actuality, I'm sitting in front of the computer in my pajamas the morning after, ignoring both my whining kids and the work I really should be doing, choking on my coffee and wiping away tears as I read. But whatever -- insignificant details.

Which is all just a really long-winded way of saying this: TLo, I think I love you.

Check out Project RunGay right here -- and don't miss TLo's other brilliant (though currently woefully neglected) blog, Tom & Lorenzo. (Guys, please tell me you'll be dusting off Project: Top Design and the Shear Genius thread on T&L when the sophomore seasons of those shows hit the airwaves. Please.)