With all this hubbub about "Tyra put models in blackface!!" this week I was expecting something actually offensive.

All she did was copy another photoshoot she did years ago (I suspect this will become a Signature Shoot just like the nude shoots used to be) that wasn't offensive then. It's not about portraying the actual ethnic culture or getting anywhere near that. It's just her silly fashion version of "races".

That said, I thought WonkEye looked AMAZING. She kinda looked like a member of the Bushmen ethnic group. They are Africans who have the highest genetic diversity of any people on the planet and quite a few of them have "Asian" eyes.

To be honest, all the girls looked better with a tan (in WonkEye's case, a considerable tan). The only difference is that this year Tyra didn't give a black girl a white face like she did with Keenya when she made her Korean.

Beside that, I think BEN is going to win it just like Alice won Australia's Next Top Model from like, two seasons ago. The stoned, skinny redheaded model look never goes out of style.

Lolo, the graphic I had of your bad boys flopping up to smack you in the face made me laugh almost as hard as your comment that you look forward to the cheesy 'we're in an airplane whee!' graphic each cycle.

Anyway, I was just grateful she didn't dress one of the girls in peyes and a keffiyeh. Oy. Although, if Tyra's reading this comment, you know she's going to slap her head and wonder why she didn't come up with that idea herself. Well, read it again Tyra, so you can slap yourself a few more times... Next cycle: solving political tensions through photoshoots.

Any-anyway, 'you people' cannot get me to dislike VE. Not even VE can get me to dislike her, try as hard as she may (of course I don't have to be in the room with her). That's because in terms of this competition, she's the only the girl, other than BEN, who even remotely seems modelish.

But I always get completely confused when they rag on one picture and praise another. And ever since I started watching this ridiculous show, I keep looking at photos in the wife's hidden (she thinks) collection of wimmin mags. And I keep scratching my head. How the fuck does one decide when one model is boring and the other is intense? They ALL seem to have the same vacant, vapid expression.

But yeah, no way VE will win this -- unless of course she has an 'epiphany' moment (brought on by Tyra of course) in which she realizes that she needs to be different.

I'm guessing she's a rich kid anyway, so no matter. Her dad will buy her a Ferrari (she'll whine about it of course, why can't it be a Maserati wah wah) and she'll eventually overeat and put her kids on Toddlers n' Tiaras...

Oh, excuse me for prattling on, just had three cups of coffee, but suppose they came up with this competition for Laura's benefit, since they gave her that nasty sunburn through their own negligence? What will they do next week? Make them model in burkas?

LoLo...you live in Chicago?! You lucky thing, you! (FANTASTIC city!)

By the way, helicopter tours of Hawaii run between $400 and $500 per person…not a cheap prize, and certainly not something to bitch about. Most people have never gotten the privilege of an all-expense paid trip to an island paradise…much less a fantastic helicopter tour just for not falling off a surfboard. VE needs to shut-up before someone slaps her silly…which I would happily cheer for.

As for the hideous National Geographic nightmare that passed for a fashion shoot…I suspect if the girls had shown up at a Halloween party dressed in these costumes, Tyra would be among the first to flap her yap about how racist and insulting it was. And, again…what were they selling? I’m not likely to have cause to purchase a full-feather headdress anytime soon.

BEN’s neck is weirdly too long…which makes it appear someone is trying to pull her head off, and her neck is stretching. Not a fan.

I guess I’m team Laura.

BEN is definitely winning this thing. The people at the go-sees loved her, the judges love her, it's over. She would have to have a Brittany-from-cycle-8 massive tantrum breakdown to lose this thing.

I personally think Sundai should have been gone this week, or even a while ago.

Ahem, here comes the I'm-The-Asshole-Correcter-Everybody-Hates, but Botswana is the country (although I just learned that the people of Botswana are Batswana, plural, or Motswana, singular) and it's Dalai Lama. Now I leave to crawl into a hole and hopefully you'll let me sneak back in here next week with no hard feelings, LoLo.

I thought everybody looked so pretty in their shoots this week, maybe going in blackface should become fashionable, and then Tyra's head will blow up so much it will explode, and everybody wins, right?

My fear is that BEN is too pretty and that Tyra will get mad and find a way to eliminate her, like she has done with the very stunning model wanna be's in the past seasons!

Lay Low, BEN!

The long long neck is an asset for modeling. I would think it'd be even more of an asset in a shorter model, because it makes her look taller.

Itchy, to me, facial expression is pretty unimportant in a runway model and even, to an extent, in print work where they are focusing on the clothes. Where it IS important is commercial work, catalogues, and "beauty" type work, like for makeup, hairstyles, etc. Otherwise, I believe that models are supposed to be a bit of a blank slate. Of course, "supermodels" are a different story.

What struck me as odd was that they painted them so dark, but the pictures make them look fairly light. I mean, look at the screencap of WonkEye, then look at her official Tyra picture. You'd think she was just in shadow. They all look like they just tanned a bit, instead of being slathered in makeup (as they obviously were).

I hope Nicole wins. I like Laura too, but Nicole strikes me as more of a model.

Ok I just have to say a big THANKS to sayhuh about the corrections. "Batswana" was driving me crazy. And I LOVE WonkEye's photo this week I think the makeup made her look so youthful and fresh and wasn't offensive at all. Actually I liked everyones shoots this week.

Except in the case of McKey, I seem to think that the girl who is the clear winner of the season loses because they can actually have a real, financially successful career (Anya, season 10). Therefore, I predict a Laura victory, with BEN coming in second place, VE in third.

ooo, late to the pahty again! Hadhas, I'm a photo shop artist, and I can tell you exactly what they did to that pic, they put a gold overlay on it which warms the whole image and opens up the darks. Obv they do a lot more than that, one day I should send an application in to whereever they do that work--wouldn't that be some insider dope for us to dissect . . .

Pics didn't suck again, I thought wonk was a pretty amazing transformation. At first I didn't think they were going to paint them up, but BEN and Laura were completely transformed--quite amazing to truly look like another person.

I tend to be touchy about race etc, but i didn't find this offensive. I find mixing of the races fascinating actually, and I say more . . . one day we'll all have a little bit of everything in us . . . then who can judge who . . .

BEN for the win, if she doesn't it's just the f'ed up politics in Tara's world (hee)

For whatever reason, I could see VE being second, I could also see a Laura win--as I always say, and perhaps it's true, it's going to depend on the still CG shot--whoever pulls that off will win, because that is a real tangible object that will be on a billboard, and no longer just a part of Tara's secret circle of hell . . .

You're always right on, LoLo, I still can't see through it all like you, but I pretty much agree on the first to speak edit . . . like the sidekick from hell . . .

XOXOXOXOXOXO

Okay. I had to stop right there and take a moment to make a comment. Because I am so glad that someone else does the same thing and I can come out of hiding.

"I don't think that it really looks that bad, but maybe that's because I tend to wait to do the dishes until I've run out of things to eat off of. I must admit I've also chosen to eat my dinner straight out of the pot rather than wash a plate. And why wash a wine glass when your $6 Pinot Grigio tastes just as good coming out of the bottle a coffee mug? Ah, the benefits and shame of living alone..."

Except that now I don't live alone. So I have to kind of still do it in hiding or just ignore the pleas to do dishes. Or to serve dinner on plates and not a pot.

I don't believe Tyra has all that much to do with picking the winner, at least not this time.

It's the guy who owns the agency that's promising the one-year contract who'll be doing the choosing. And I have to believe he's already chosen.

The rest of this is just good times with a bunch of cute girls playing model.

I don't remember if the agency owner guy was this present for the other seasons -- seems to me he was not?

Anyway, juddfan, I wasn't offended by the culture-mixing thing either. For me it was just another example of the show's inane goofiness. I really do enjoy Tyra, she's having a blast at all of this.

Did you guys know that Yaya from season 3 plays Nico on Ugly Betty? Or am I the only one that watches that ridiculous show? She looks skeletal - which I guess is not surprising..

Thanks for reminding me, reckless . . . yea, I can be guilty of such things, eating soup from the measuring cup I heat it in, etc, but I've been working really hard at change, and it is f'in hard to change . .. . ugh! Still, I love all you peeps here on the gasmi . . . makes me feel a part of the world . . . sigh, over TV . . . see, I do need to get out more!