Sunshine, puppies, baby shoes

Posted by Dan February 8th, 2008 at 11:16am In Adverts Project Runway

It’s good news Friday! Yeah, man!

You can just call me DJ Goodnews, like in that Nick Hornby book “How to Be Good.” Except I won’t cure your eczema. And hopefully my life isn’t part of a book with a female narrator but is clearly written by a male author.

First item of good news: the racist pandas are gone! Yay! According to The New York Times, Sales Genie is going to stop airing those right-over-the-line-of-edgy-and-into-the-zone-of-uncomfortable commercials with the Chinese pandas. The ones with the accents that make them seem like they should be minor characters in an Adam Sandler farce.

Not racists.

The guy who was in charge of the commercials is named Vinod Gupta and is defending himself with the I’m-a-minority-I-can-say-anything defense. Fair enough (in a way), but when it’s that ham-handed and unfunny, I’m even less inclined to be forgiving.

There is another commercial which is ostensibly just as offensive and features an Indian-ish guy named Ramesh. I think I was probably embarrassing myself by shoveling guacamole down my gullet during that one, because I don’t remember seeing it.

Gupta justifies the commercials by saying:

“People have been making fun of my accent for years,” said Mr. Gupta, who described himself in the interview as half-Indian and half-Jewish. “And I love it.”

He loves it? Like I love it when people call me short and point out that I can’t smile on cue for pictures?

Whatev.

On to more good news. Bravo is bringing two Project Runway spin-offs to its Web site.

First of all, four-fifths of the season four cast will participate in Sew Not Over (”Sew” — like in sewing… because they sew…) where they have to create three looks on a budget of one grand. Fans will pick the favorite. Read: Chris March will win. The only people not participating are Simone, Victorya and Sweet P — there’s no reason given for this. I generally have misgivings about watching television on my computer, but I think I’m willing to make an exception.

The other show will follow season three castoff Malan Bretton. Apparently, he’s been followed by cameras ever since he got the boot.