The rest of my 2NE1 CDs and the FBND OST finalllllly came in the mail today

I ordered 2NE1's first and second mini albums and their first album, the special edition Flower Boy Next Door OST + poster and 2NE1's lightstick from YesAsia. It took a while for everything to arrive, but it was so worth it because everything is beautiful. I love the packaging of the CDs. And all the little extras that the FBND soundtrack came with. It's perfect and I'm so happy with it.

My Rakuraku Dinokun came from eBay. I used to have a white one, but yellow is nice, too.

The Good Guys of Reality TV

If you have ever watched a reality show competition, you know the people on those shows are usually less than friendly and quite a lot of them are only out for themselves. They will do whatever it takes to win, whether it is saying their grandmother died or throwing a teammate under the bus. These shows make people ruthless and it is incredibly rare that you will find one person who has convictions and a kind enough heart not to fall into that trap. So imagine finding two of them.

When the first episode of Project Runway season 8 aired, I immediately wanted A.J. Thouvenot to win. His designs were fun and whimsical, like a cross between Betsey Johnson and [the now defunct] Heatherette, only better. (His taste in music is impeccable as well, but that really isn't the point.) There was something about him then that really interested me and I wanted nothing more than to see him make it all the way to Bryant Park, just based on his work alone.

And then came the dreaded team challenge. That was honestly one of my least favorite challenges in Project Runway history. For whatever reason, the designers threw away their own aesthetics and decided to create a cohesive collection that had none of their signatures on it. Because of this, A.J.'s team landed in the bottom. Before appearing in front of the judges, they all decided not to put the blame on any of their teammates. When asked who the weakest member was, however, they caved and used Michael C. as their scapegoat. Only A.J. refused to do so, naming himself instead. That is when I wanted even more for him to go to Fashion Week. He was not like the others. The garment he made was not something he ever would have sent down the runway during an individual challenge. It was unfair that he went home because of something that just wasn't him and because he refused to give someone else's name to the judges. I had so much respect for him in that moment, and I still do now.

Face Off is another talent-based show, featuring makeup artists from around the country. On the first episode of season 3, Rod Maxwell rushed over to help two of his fellow competitors who were having trouble with one of their molds. Actually helping the people you are competing against? Unheard of! Not only that, but when he appeared with his teammate before the judges during the first challenge, Rod talked him up so much that I was sure he would be the one to win. Instead, Rod won. And I was really happy for him because it is so rare to find someone who thinks of other people while competing on a show where they are supposed to try to win.

Unfortunately, Rod was eliminated tonight. It broke my heart because he seems like such an amazingly nice person, with such a good heart, and only good things should happen to him. This is what he said on Twitter after the show aired:



Even after his elimination, he was still so gracious. It's very admirable and it only makes me wish he would have won even more. He is immensely talented, so even though he is no longer competing on Face Off, I know he will do well elsewhere.

There should be more people like A.J. and Rod on these shows. I would rather see friendly competitors than all of the drama between contestants.

Talent-based reality TV shows

I’m still so disgusted with Joe’s behavior on Face Off the other night and I was thinking about it earlier…

I will never understand why people walk off of reality show competitions after working SO hard to earn a spot on them to begin with.

What I do understand is that the time constraints are stressful. It can’t be easy to work under so much pressure. And then to be critiqued and have every negative thing the judges say aired on TV for other people to hear…I’m sure that’s really hard. Maybe even embarrassing, depending on how you felt you did. (If you’re as deluded as Joe was, that last part doesn’t apply to you because you will never recognize that what you did wasn’t deserving of appearing on the show to begin with.)

Face Off is in its third season. Project Runway is in its tenth season.

You cannot tell me that the artists and designers have no knowledge of the way these shows work prior to filming. You WILL be forced to work in a high-stress environment. Your work WILL most likely be torn apart at some point. You know all of this when you sign up for it. If you don’t have thick skin, don’t audition. All you’re doing is taking away a spot from someone who really wants/will appreciate such a great opportunity.

Walking off is so ungrateful and immature. Especially with the way Joe did it. And Andrea (Project Runway). As a teacher, Andrea set a terrible example for her students. With Kooan…I don’t blame him as much because he seemed so sad when he left. It wasn’t a matter of shattered pride or a huge ego, he was broken. (And I’m sure Irena had a lot to do with it, I don’t even blame him for leaving after that. She has scared me since her own season.)

I’m rambling now. The point is…Joe’s attitude was disgraceful and even though I think it’s terrible that he walked out, I’m glad he’s gone.

I have been awful about updating this month

There's really no excuse for it, other than the fact that my computer did kind of die. Okay, not kind of. It completely died. And I had to pull a Dr. Frankenstein to get it up and running again. I'm not the most computer literate person on the planet. I have a habit of breaking computers. Often. DVD players, too. I'm not really sure why, but if I get a month out of them, that's pretty lucky.

And aside from the computer issues, I started watching seven hours of Boys Over Flowers a night. First of all, if you know me at all, you'll know that I don't even have the attention span to watch a two hour movie. I watch the same movies repeatedly because I can't stay focused long enough to watch one I haven't already seen. So for me to be able to watch this show for seven hours a night...That means I'm really emotionally invested in it.

I watched one episode of Ouran High School Host Club on Netflix (Operation Haruhi and Hikaru's First Date) because I didn't feel like putting the DVD in. And then Netflix decided to recommend Boys Over Flowers to me, so I thought, okay. I'll give this a try. Whenever I get tired of American TV shows/movies, I tend to move onto media from other countries.

Boys Over Flowers...I believe was a Japanese manga? I could be wrong. And then it was made into a Korean TV show. The show is about a girl who gets a scholarship to an elite school for the rich and fights (and eventually befriends/falls in love) with the school's most influential student, who happens to be a bully. It's 25 episodes, I'm on episode 15 so I don't know how it ends. But it's really cute. And I'm so invested in the romantic triangle. It's not even a triangle at this point, now it's become a square. All the characters are so likable that I can't choose sides. I hate getting like this over a show, but I definitely do like the love story.

You can see why I'm MIA, right?

There's also the fact that this blog still isn't set up the way that I want it and people are still going to Melo instead. Which is not what I want people to do because Melo is unreliable. I'll get back on track as soon as I finish the last ten episodes of this show.

You're going about this the wrong way

About a year ago, E.L.F. had a sale and I ordered a ton of products from them. I would say I probably ordered about a good...33% of the makeup on their website. And ever since then, I've been getting e-mail from them about "special offers." Every. Week. It's not just once a week. They send me reminders. Like this.

Final notice!!!

Oh, no. E.L.F., do you have any idea what this reminds me of? I'll tell you. But it's not pretty.

There was an episode of Tabatha's Salon Takeover where Tabatha went to Touch of Elegance and the owner of the salon, Debbie, would constantly send out coupons with discount offers to potential clients. They said things like, "I'm confused." As in, why aren't you taking me up on this offer? That's what E.L.F.'s "Final notice!" reminds me of.

Constantly bombarding people with coupons and discount offers gives off the impression that you're desperate. You are willing to do anything to get people to spend money on whatever it is you're selling.

Admittedly, I get a lot of e-mails from MAC about free shipping and Sephora is always sending me e-mails regarding their Beauty Insider program (but I'm a V.I.B., so I understand that). However, they don't ask me multiple times a week to spend $25 on their products and then offer me six free lip products in return. It screams, "PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR MONEY!"

I don't want to give them my money. E.L.F.'s makeup is very affordable, so you can buy a lot with $25. But I already own so many things from them. I don't need more. I don't even use most of what I have. (E.L.F. is very hit or miss. There's a huge post about everything I bought from them and what I would/would not recommend.)

Take a note from Tabatha, E.L.F. E-shred your coupons and stop flooding your customers' inboxes.

Have you ever thought about what you would do during a zombie apocalypse?

Of course you have.

I know what you're supposed to do when Z-Day arrives, I read the Zombie Survival Guide. Grab a crowbar, hop on a bike (because it requires no fuel and it's quiet) and find the nearest two story house, where you'll proceed to chop down the staircase and hope that you have enough supplies to keep you going until help arrives. It sounds simple enough, doesn't it?

If there is anything that The Walking Dead has taught me, it's that I'm overconfident and naive.

The zombies are easy enough to deal with, assuming you don't run into a large group of them. They're slow. You can outrun them. I'm pretty sure I would never have to worry about a zombie killing me.

The other people are the real trouble. Because when a society crumbles and things become that chaotic, all bets are off. Anything goes. People can do whatever they want without facing the consequences of their actions. People who have been nice and law-abiding all their lives will be overcome by the stress of the end of civilization as they know it, and they'll do things they never would have done otherwise.

I have no doubt in my mind that another person would eventually kill me. I know, who would kill someone with such a sunny, wonderful disposition? (Are you laughing along with me?)

I don't believe in the death penalty. Eye for an eye...Aren't we taught as children that two wrongs don't make a right? How is it okay to kill someone because they killed someone else? Aren't we trying to teach people that murder is wrong? That's a very hypocritical way to go about proving it, don't you think? What right do we have to take another person's life? No more right than they do.

This is the mentality I have. And it's exactly why I would never survive, in a zombie apocalypse or otherwise.

Last week's episode of The Walking Dead dealt with this subject. I felt like I was watching 12 Angry Men, with Dale starring as Juror #8. (Chris Hardwick even mentioned this on Talking Dead. I felt validated by the man who used to host Singled Out.) He immediately became my favorite character because he was the only one who didn't want to kill Randall. He's the only person who seems to have retained his humanity through this ordeal. And I agreed with every word he said, regardless of how dangerous it may or may not be to let someone like Randall live. 

 "He could be an asset. Give him a chance to prove himself.
 "So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never even attempt? If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead, there is no civilization.
 "You're talking about this like it's already decided. This is a young man's life! And it is worth more than a five minute conversation. Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with them? You saved him. And now look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?
 "Not speaking out, or killing him yourself. There's no difference.
 "You once said that we don't kill the living. Don't you see, if we do this, the people that we were, the world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly, it's harsh. It's survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't want to live in. And I don't believe that any of you do. I can't. Please. Let's just do what's right.
 "Isn't there anybody else that's going to stand with me?
 "Are you all gonna watch, too? No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. I won't be a party to it.
 "This group is broken."

This is probably debatable, but I'm going to say Dale was the voice of reason.

I could never sit back and watch another person be killed. Even if I didn't have to watch, just knowing it was happening would make me sick. That's not something I would ever be able to erase from my memory. I don't think it's something I would be able to live with.

So when the apocalypse comes, you're probably better off not having me with you. I'd just slow you down anyway because you KNOW I would be bringing all three of my cats along, too.

It took Finnick five days to go in this cat tunnel

Now he won't come out.

And I can't pet him, because then he does this.

And INSIDE the tunnel, he looks like one of the demons from Supernatural. Look at Finnick's eyes.

And look at Ruby's eyes.

Someone get Tory Burch a color wheel

"I'm not sure blue and orange are that complementary."

I am referring to what she said during judging on Project Runway this week. Maybe Amy's design was flawed, but it had nothing to do with the colors.