• That’s twice in one day, Tyra. []
• Lupe Fiasco continues to “Dumb It Down.” []
• So the marketing people just want this album to fail? [C&D]
• Melyssa Ford celebrates her birthday, another chance to wear something skin-tight. [CL]
• Condoleezza Rice says, “Ask not what your country can do for you…” [CNN]
I’m going to stop making fun of Tyra Banks, because her ridiculousness has now gotten to the point where I find it hard to believe she’s not actually making fun of herself. The alternative — that this woman’s earnest silliness is actually genuine — is something I’m not ready to face.
Her newest exciting idea for her talk show is to have a vagina day. All vaginas! The whole hour!
She added, “We should be able to talk to our daughters, sisters, mothers and friends about our bodies and not be embarrassed. I hope after this show women will not be ashamed about what’s up down there.”
Banks gives her audience an anatomy quiz, welcomes two gynecologist to the show, and shows a segment in which she takes a 28-year-old Plano, Texas, woman to her very first gynecological appointment – all in an effort to educate women about what can be an uncomfortable topic.
Or maybe I’m being to hard on T.B.? I mean, teaching the modern woman about “what’s up down there” is as noble a cause as any.
Tyson Beckford is going reality television on us. Thankfully, he’ll be hosting a show, not starring in the Surreal Life or something. He and former model Nikki Taylor will host a Bravo competition show that should be named The One That’s Not America’s Next Top Model but is actually called Make Me A Supermodel.
Unlike the CW’s Tyra Banks-fronted America’s Next Top Model, where a panel of judges decide who stays and who goes each week, Supermodel results will be determined by viewer voting. Each week, one would-be catwalker will be sent home, until only one contestant remains.
I hope the producers are prepared to get a bunch of ANTM rejects in the casting room for the first few seasons. Tyra might have drained the entire market of people who aren’t good enough to be models on their own but are either pretty or tall enough to play at it for 12 weeks.
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Say what you will about not wanting him to be president, but how could you not like Barack Obama? I mean, he’s kind of great. In my opinion. But as I watched the first part of his appearance on the Tyra Banks Show yesterday, I just felt kind of embarrassed. Sure he’s charming, but why is he being forced to engage in Tyra’s innane chatter? And why couldn’t Tyra smarten up her usual fare at least once? For Barack’s sake? That doesn’t seem like too much to ask. But I guess it was.
On the other hand, let’s not forget that fluffy appearances like these are part and parcel of a political campaign. Bill Clinton played his sax on Arsenio Hall, didn’t he?
You can find the rest of the interview here. If you can stomach it.
No matter how rich small screen entertainers might think they are, there’s always Oprah, who, according to Forbes‘ recently released “TV’s Top Earners” list, made $200 million more than the 2nd person on the list over the past year. Eat your heart out Jerry Seinfeld! You think you can top Oprah making just $60 million a year! You’re crazy.
Tyra Banks also made the top 20 at #12, with $18 million earned from June 2006 to June 2007, proving money can buy a lot of things, but not necessarily a good wig. Check out the full list after the jump.
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• Of course, you’ve subconsciously been dying to take a peek at the sports memorabilia OJ got nabbed trying to steal back. It looks like it’s totally worth the 10 felony charges. []
• Well, Tyra does like to tell people how cheap she is. [Gawker]
• I was watching this press conference this morning, and I didn’t think for a second Bush thought we’d believe he got a B in Econ 101. [QT]
• Naomi Campbell is really trying to segue into a movie career. []
• Essence does its version of Blind Date, which means no staged, forced dates culminating in awkward hookups. Sorry. [Essence]
• Did you see people rocking the all-black for the Jena Six today? [TFB]
Tyra knows that if one of the contestants on America’s Next Top Model posed like this in a photo, she, Twiggy, Nigel Barker, noted fashion photographer, and Miss Jay would be ready with all sorts of faux-witty disparaging comments. But I suppose she operates under different modeling rules — one of which is that its okay to pose like you’re squatting on the toilet as long as you look fierce doing it!
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We didn’t think that Tyra Banks was going to let fashion week pass without a photo op, did we? Earlier today at Port Authority in NYC, she launched a showcase with Tracy Reese for her talk show. And took lots and lots of pictures, of course.
[WI]
Last night, stars came out in droves for the Fashion Rocks concert. Most of them looked adorable (see Mary J. Blige in her cute Bonnie & Clyde look) and others need to start looking for new fashion and/or hair stylists. You’ll know who I’m talking about.
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It was the era of the Supermodel — you know, when they all went by their first and last names but certainly didn’t need to — think Naomi, Christy, Linda — and claimed they didn’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.
New York Fashion Week shows were more glamorous (read: they weren’t sponsored by Olympus or Mercedes Benz and were held in lofts, clubs, and restaurants instead of tents). And Sam Fine was behind the scenes — at Geoffrey Bean, Fernando Sanchez, Tracy Reese, Todd Oldham, Isaac Mizrahi, etc. — giving the models faces to match their designer looks or rushing from show to show with Naomi and Tyra.
It was the first half of the ’90s when Sam Fine both assisted the late Kevyn Aucoin and worked the shows on his own. Those were the good ol’ days… that he doesn’t really want to go back to.
“It’s a fun gig, but I leave it to the young at heart and the ones that really love fashion,” he told Stereohyped.
And it’s not like being a celebrity makeup artist, which is the the job Sam Fine graduated to when he left the fashion show world, is any less glamorous. Or that much different.
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