Archives For reality tv/variety

Brazil’s Next Top Model

October 14, 2007 — Leave a comment

I saw my first episode of Brazil Next Top Model. Yes, the Top Model fever made it to South America. At first sight, BrNTM had really great aesthetics… so I just had to give it a peek. First, the colors are very ‘hot’ right now, with blacks, magenta and cyan… so it was hard not to be attracted to the brand.

Brazilian super-uber model Gisele Bundchen was to host, but declined – instead BrNTM’s got Fernanda Motta, who gives the show a whole lot different look than it would’ve gotten if Bundchen had accepted. Fernanda’s got dark thicker eyebrows, darker hair – she kinda reminds me of Amanda Peet. Anyone else think so? Check out her pic in the BrNTM’s site (here). She’s got a lower voice, than high-pitched Tyra Banks, who… let’s face it, has given ANTM a woo-ha-ha vibe to the show… so in the end, BrNTM seems a more serious version of America’s…………. Next…. Top…… Model. lol’

Technically, I don’t like BrNTM’s editing… seems a bit choppy at times, and sometimes it lengthens shots and *snores* – yeah, that’s basically it. While I was watching the episode, I couldn’t wait for the scene to end and get it over with. This first photoshoot was a bit boring too, and I guess I must’ve missed this bit in the subtitles, but some of the shots were f-ugly.

Judges have no personality. I’m sorry. I didn’t care much about what they were actually saying because they said the same thing over and over – I’d much rather watch Mrs. Jay talking to Tyra and Nigel… okay, Twiggy falls in the “same thing over and over” category. However, they did seem to be ‘harsher’ in their comments than the American version… kinda like how Janice Dickinson would say something, only LESS FUNNY and LESS ENTERTAINING. They would be better off showing us a report card with a checklist to see if they make it or not.

Contestants… I dunno if it’s because it’s my first time watching, but they or most of them seemed similar to me. I think there are like 2 that I can actually remember how they look. Livia, and Erycka – other than them, I can’t remember their faces or won’t tell them apart. There were like two others that had pretty faces, one of them reminded me of a friend… needs hmm, more variety?

On the subtitling part, this is on Sony – I feel like I missed a lot from the show from the subtitles. I’ve no idea why, but it is what it is. Better subs? Or maybe I’m just not used to hearing much Portuguese, but I’ve seen films in Portuguese and I know there are better subtitles than the ones you’ve been showing me, so don’t go there blaming my ability to read subs, because I know I’m good at it.

Overall, I’ve still to make my mind about this. I will probably give it another shot, but it needs to be less slow, less boring, and please keep the Brazilian Soap Opera vibe to a minimum (yeah, saw the commercial for next week’s episode). And of course, BrNTM in the end could be more talented and more serious, but THAT DOESN’T MAKE GOOD TV VIEWING.

Here is the shortlist:

  • Better editing.
  • Cut boring shots short.
  • Add spice (a.k.a. personality) to the judges, or…
  • Change jury to a simple checklist… check!
  • More physical variety to the contestants.
  • Better subtitles.
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A little more blogging!

October 11, 2007 — 2 Comments

October 15th is Blog Day or something… and we are supposed to get talking about the environment that day. Oh yeah, blog day is a day when all people could blog about this one topic… I think it could be interesting, yet I really don’t know what I could talk about relating to the environment, so if you’ve got an idea, let me know.

Also, I re-started watching America’s Next Top Model Cycle 7, which has just began last week in Latin America through Sony Entertainment Television. So people, if you get Sony – tune in every Wednesday at 8pm Chile/7pm Peru Colombia and support CariDee, AJ, Megg, Megan, Michelle and Amanda! Lol’

I’m gonna show-off and say “zomg! I still can’t believe Megan left a message in my MySpace” haha – she’s awesome! Megg also sent a short message, so Rock ON!!!!!!!! ^^

Also began watching The Tudors, season 1, on People and Arts – I missed the episode on Sunday, and the repeat seemed like it was censored because it kept on going to commercials at weird intervals. It was okay, though… I was expecting more. I guess I’m gonna feel like this with The Other Boleyn Girl, which is a shame – it might be a better read, than watching it on screen.

I’ve also been meaning to watch Weeds, I’ve seen the first 2 or 3 episodes, and it was really good. I was looking for the DVD, and it was really cheap, but it turns out season 1 of Weeds is only Fullscreen, instead of Widescreen – and Lionsgate has no plans on re-releasing this as a Widescreen DVD. STUPID LIONSGATE. They just want $$, so people that don’t wanna buy the Fullscreen DVDS have to get the Widescreen Blu-ray discs – now, I haven’t even started buying neither HD or Blu so I won’t start just now.

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Miss Universe 2007

May 28, 2007 — 3 Comments

What’s up with a Dallas sportsman, the Heroes guy, and all those judges in the panel for Miss Universe, lol.

I wonder which countries could be in top 15, if you had to vote without knowing the country of the candidates. Just… you know – throwing this out there, so it can be considered for the next one. xD – seriously, if you get a panel of judges who are American, they are probably going to vote for the US – and the hosting country will always get to at least top 5.

But, oh no! Imagine not knowing who the heck is the hosting country candidate… maybe she will not even be top 15. Now that’d be an interesting thing to watch.
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So, Top 10 was announced, and no Europeans were in it. Noticing all the contestants, you could notice all countries have chosen clear skin, and the most noticeable was almond-shaped eyes, over big eyes… very Asian-like shapes, without being just lines. You could noticed that even in South American contestants. Europe, on the other hand, seemed to send contestants that were not that ‘exotic’ looking. It was odd. The first thing I thought was ‘Europe has not redefined their beauty’ – While there’s been a huge increase in Asian contestants… the funny thing was that I could hardly notice any difference between Japan and Korea… and even Thailand that made it to the Top 15.

Perhaps its my Western eye that can’t quite make the difference, or perhaps it’s because Asian countries have made their standards and are closely following them.

Okay, my theory is rubbish, at least the hosting country one. No Mexico in Top 5, and there’s too much booing right now, and I’ve got no idea why. My question to Venezuela – lol, what’s your opinion of what’s happening in your country right about… now? xD – – – Seriously, these questions are retarded. What would you choose, a wild spontaneous man, or a goody one? Superpowers, wtf? How about asking some really hard moral/ethical/logical thinkers like what’s your position on same sex marriage, what is your definition of family? – And… was Miss USA being booed? Lol, seriously – Miss USA shouldn’t have been there. Tripping over during competition should automatically kick you out.

Best moments:

  • Miss Japan on the country/candidate introduction.
  • Miss Korea saying she enjoyed photography, and the archive footage showing her taking herself a digital photo… Korean style.
  • Miss USA falling. The unexpected expected~~ xD

Lol, shit – Miss Japan won. That’s cool. Well, I called it!! Asian-like eyes… clear skin. She was ‘the one’ (lol, sorry… Matrix just began) – she was the one when she said “hola Mexico!” – oh you all knew it. That sealed the deal. You gotta admit.

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Oh! I call it! Just a few seconds after transmission~~ this is a HEADLINE! xD

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Kahlen Curiosity

April 15, 2007 — 1 Comment

It’s 4 a.m, and I have decided to blog. Why? Well, I did my website statistics, and finally remember what program I was using to read my logs. I ran the logs, and found something I thought was funny.

For those of you who don’t know, I run the Kahlen Rondot Approved Fanlisting – Kahlen was the America’s Next Top Model runner-up for cycle 4 – and, oh well… I’ll show you the picture.

Kahlen Curiosity Search

Over 30% of the searches are for Kahlen. So sad… people need to start searching for me! LOL

Anyway, I think that’s about it. I’ll see if there’s anything else I’m forgetting. I wonder how everyone is doing…

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Hell Friday!

March 31, 2007 — 1 Comment

Ok, this last Friday sucked!

First, there is NO sign of episode 6 of ANTM8 coz YouTube sucks. Then, computer was supposed to arrive today, but it hasn’t and my uncle said maybe later in the night, it’s Saturday already and nothing… I also decided to format my cousin’s laptop… HP laptop. For some reason, it didn’t wanna accept and wipe clean the whole Hard Disk with a copy of XP Professional, so now I’m stuck with a useless HP laptop with only 2GB free. I have to wait for the freaking HP installation CDs now.

I was also trying to make a small network between the computers in my house, because I’m tired of running around when I want to print something from my laptop in the printer of the desktop. So that also blows!! I mean, it’s supposed to be so easy, but for some reason it just REFUSES to work properly. I have officially rebooted my machine over 10 times today. And the Microsoft Support Center? Yeah, not much support in there… It figures.

After all was said and done, I ended up having a chat with Mrs. Cow inside a bun. It turned out she was from Hamburg – actually, I learned some things today. First, that thing we, in Spanish, call “Gentilicios”, it’s called “Gentilics” or “Demonym”. I also learned that people from Croatia are not Croatians, but Croats, and that people from Hamburg are NOT Hamburgers, but Hamburgians!

There you go, tell other people!

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Buzzy Bee

March 16, 2007 — Leave a comment

This past week has been really really busy, while designing CD Artwork, re-programming a website, talking to clients for future projects, writing my series pilot, trying to write my short film, and designing a book. *phew*

I feel tired just thinking about it all…

It seems like a lot… but not a lot of money, so it kinda sucks.

Anyway, I took some time off to watch ANTM8, the episode was OK. I felt sad for Jael, but holy crap~ Britanny’s photo kicked ass. I loved her expression, it was great~ I was also glad to see Sarah doing good… she had great eyes in her picture. :)

Brittany on the Candy Photoshoot

Enjoy,

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YouTube keeps on removing stuff!

March 11, 2007 — 2 Comments

I wanted to rant about this on Thursday, but I totally forgot about it. So, Peru sucks… television-wise. I mean, I would love to be legal about all sort of stuff… for example, watching TV shows on TV, but I can’t do it, so I watch it on YouTube because I’m not willing to download 300MB for an episode. I can’t watch shows that I want on TV, because they either take 6 months for Sony Entertainment (in the case of America’s Next Top Model) to bring the new episodes, or they NEVER bring the episodes. So, networks, SUCK IT UP!

Recently, DirectTV just set up their signal in Peru, but they pretty much show what Cable Magico is showcasing in its regular lineup, and it doesn’t include channels like ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX (America), FX (America) or CW Network. About 8 or 9 years ago, Cable Magico used to have ABC, NBC, CBS and The WB, which was GREAT because I used to be able to watch the episodes of my favorite shows the day they premiered in the States, and I didn’t had to wait for Latin American networks to subtitle them. For the past 7 or 8 years, I haven’t been able to.

What’s the point in me getting DirectTV, or any other Satellite TV Company when I will ALWAYS have to wait for shows because they don’t buy the rights to American broadcasting companies. However, if they DID give me the chance to get these channels, or channels from Canada, or the UK or all over the world, I would totally get Satellite. Right now, it doesn’t bring ANY benefits to me.

So, here’s the other problem~ YouTube keeps taking things out. You fucking bastards! (I said this was a rant!) – Ever since Google bought it, it’s been sucking more and more. One really fun video of Anya as a bunny got suddenly removed, and the account of the user who did it was removed- that was seriously not breaking any copyrighted material, that fan had all the right to do that video. I know of other 2 or 3 users whose accounts got deleted.

So, networks, if you don’t want your material to be watched online because it hasn’t aired in one region, then start airing your effing episodes everywhere, so people, who watch your show and are not able to get your signal, don’t watch on YouTube. And continuing with the CW Network example, you effing bastards – just send the signal to Cable Magico (and other cable companies around the world), so they can broadcast the same day. It WON’T get rid off the problem, but it will decrease the amount of people who watch online. Just like what happens with movies that open worldwide… There’s still online files, but there’s also people around the world who go to the movie and watch (unless your movie sucks) – but even IF YOUR SHOW SUCKS, they don’t pay to watch it… so there will still be people who will watch it.

For instance, I wanna effing watch Dirt… by FX – BUT, Cable Magico shows FX Latin America~ SO, they are not even mentioning Dirt… and I don’t even know if FX Latin America will show Dirt, because sometimes all programs jump around networks here. For example, since there was no The WB, Buffy used to be shown on FOX… but Dawson’s Creek was on Sony Entertainment Television. Other examples are… Nip/Tuck that airs on FOX, instead of FX… Lost airs on AXN, and According to Jim (who also belongs to ABC, the same as Lost) airs on Sony… and CSI airs on Sony, while CSI NY and CSI Miami air on AXN~ so many crazy jumps and changes.

There is no effing Dirt, no Ugly Betty, no ANTM, no Hell’s Kitchen, no Iron Chef, no new episodes of Nip/Tuck, Desperate Housewives just beginning season 3 (which I began watching 6 months ago in Canada).

Other channels that we should get… Food Network, MuchMoreMusic, Showcase and Bravo!

Ok, rant’s over.

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ANTM8 has begun~

March 4, 2007 — Leave a comment

Cycle 8 of America’s Next Top Model began on Feb. 28th – my thoughts on it, after I saw it on YouTube (mainly because Sony takes like 6months to bring new cycles – stupid fuckers)

Now, I was never big on watching reality tv, but you know – it’s mostly all you see on television now. The first cycle I saw was cycle 4, the last 2 or 3 episodes, but I loved the photographs taken there. (if you haven’t noticed, I like photography) Then I saw a few eps of cycle 5, but didn’t like it – cycle 6 I saw while I was in Canada, and I sorta liked, so then I watched reruns of cycle 1 and 2. The formula is simple, get a nice candidate, get a shy one, get a tomboy, get a sexy one, get a sassy, get a crazy one, and a bitch one. Make sure you get color contestants, latinas, and if you can… don’t forget the asian one. The rest is up to you.

Cycle 7 – began with really interesting photoshoots, but then the pictures became less interesting. However, you could tell there were some good ones. AJ was my pick for that season, but she got the boot after 5 eps… then it was Michelle, Amanda and CariDee. CariDee was fun, most of them were fun… Megan was so sweet (she even left me a message on MySpace), Megg was “ROCK ON!!!”, AJ was great. The whole bunch was a great group of people that you could really like.

Cycle 8 – Episode 1-2 sucked talent-wise. The photos were WEAK, even though the theme was a really good one. I think they said it was “political views,” but I saw it as “ways of thinking”. It was really a thought-provoking theme, if contestants only had thought about this issues. “Pro-Choice,” was a great theme, but the Russian girl (natasha?) did a REALLY poor job at doing ANYTHING AT ALL. She just stood there being “pretty,” and she ended up with a horrible picture. The mom of the season did a poor job portraying “Anti-Guns” and let’s not get into “Pro-Fur”. Although, Kathleen (sp?) who did Pro-Fur was sorta funny accepting how she didn’t get the photoshoot.

Now onto contestants – Jael looks like a fused version of AJ, CariDee and Megg, drunk and doped… she’s got this way of talking like she’s tired or something, that sounds like a speech impediment. She’s funny, and seems nice, but it’s really hard to understand. There are two or three that seem uptight, total bitches or just plain stupid. The mom (who I can’t remember her name,) the Russian girl who seems like a total bimbo who thinks girls with short hair are not feminine enough, and the photographer chick who seems to know much, but doesn’t know shit.

Ok, I’m being harsh on the photographer chick, but she does seems uptight. There’s potential there, but she needs to loosen up. The mom needs to stop being the mom of the show, and the Russian girl needs to start thinking… that thing she said not wanting to get into political issues, she just wanted to be pretty. That’s gonna work against her…. and if she’s not careful on babbling about her marriage, immigration is gonna bust up her ass.

Some of the candidates I liked personality-wise were the two plus-size models… Whitney and Diana. They seem like really nice people, but they need to step it up! Their photos were weak, and Diana’s commitment to jumping around wasn’t there (she was Pro-Gun). Whitney had a Pro-Gay Marriage shoot with another contestant I kinda liked, Samantha. In her regular picture, she doesn’t look like much, but on the show she looks really great… almost like a fused version of Keira Knightley with Natalie Portman in a Girl-Next-Door sorta way. However, she seems too shy, and that might work against her. Another one that seems shy is Brittany, her picture was the one I liked the most, but it was still weak.

Pro-Gay Marriage

Anyway, not seeing much potential there…. we’ll see this coming week. Rant’s over.

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