[Do you ever feel like you can’t pull something off? Have trendy pieces in your closet that you would never have the courage to actually wear out? Well take those pieces out, shake off the dust, and continue reading!

In this series, I will choose a different piece that can be difficult to incorporate into an outfit and give you ideas on how to wear it. If there’s anything you would like to read about in the future, please leave a comment!]

Those of us who live in New England are extremely thankful to the designers of labels like (above) Brian Reyes, Cynthia Rowley, Giambattista Valli, and Givenchy for incorporating highly structured collars into their lines this fall, which provide some protection for our necks against freezing winds. No more ugly neck warmers! No more frozen necks!

This look is very trendy right now and definitely makes a strong statement. The structured trend is all about volume and creative construction.

One great way to rock this look is with your winter coat. Obviously it will look amazing and chic while giving you the added bonus of extra warmth! You can throw a scarf on underneath for extra warmth, or just let the oversized neckline work its magic. Here are some coats with high structured collars (click to see more):

Tops with high collars look very chic and sophisticated, especially underneath a blazer or winter coat. You can tuck em into a pair of pants for a more tailored look, or let them hang loose over your favorite skinny jeans tucked into a pair of knee high boots. Avoid any large necklaces or earrings and accessorize with some great bangles, or a big cocktail ring.

[Runway pictures are from Style.com.]

The challenge consisted of constructing a catapult to launch raw chickens from (flashback to hottie, circa Flava Flav Season 1) and the first team to catch and place five raw chickens on the plates, wins the challenge and seals their fate away from elimination for the night.

As always, alliances began to form between teams before the mission even started. At the route of all problems was – surprise, surprise – trashy, plastic Megan, who formed too many alliances, causing Destiny, Mr. Boston and Brandi C. to be chosen as the three bottom players.

Originally, Megan, Brandi C. and Mr. Boston formed an alliance with 12 Pack, the winning team’s captain, to try and get White Boy’s name into the box, as he’s seen as the biggest threat. However, plans were brought to a halt when Megan and White Boy formed an alliance together to save each other, which they did, but not before Megan threw her prior “partners in crime” under the elimination bus.

It’s safe to say that Mr. Boston cracked; his ranting and hysterical screams were on par with a ten year old girl’s temper tantrum. He felt it was wrong that the alliance was broken and, while his argument was valid, his behavior (stomping around, the waterworks, etc.) pretty much gave 12 Pack enough validation he needed to send the semi-unstable New England boy packin’ — but not before Mr. Boston and Brandi C. called Megan out on her traitor like ways. Still, she was not in the bottom three, so she sat there, holding her little Chihuahua dog, oh so Paris Hilton like.

While she may have been safe last night, next week’s challenge looks like it’s centering on The Entertainer’s main squeeze to go home. Teammates gang up on Destiny, causing a rift in both teams mentalities, but who knows how the end will turn out.

People are gunning for White Boy too, but he’s been smart enough to keep himself from landing in the bottom bunch. I’m rootin’ for him to win…so let’s hope he stays there.

Tune in next week, folks!

[photo courtesy of vh1.com]

Everyone thinks living in a small New England town — especially a small New England town by the water — would be the best thing ever. It would be so safe and homey, everyone thinks, so quiet and rustic, no stress! Just miles and miles of cute little houses and a cute little pier to launch cute little boats from.

Let me tell you something – that thought process is sh*t.

Everyone is up in arms about these Gloucester girls who made a pregnancy pact, and no one can understand why anyone would just throw their life away by having a baby before they can even legally buy cigarettes. But I understand. I totally understand. It makes sense. You know why? Because not every small New England town is picturesque and middle class. Some of them are cramped, poor, lonley, and boring as f*ck.

How am I such an expert? I grew up in one. Not the kind that’s stitched onto potholders and immortalized in cute Cape Cod beach shops — the kind where front lawns are strewn with old car parts, you can hear your neighbor’s drunken fist fights from your living room, and schools barely manage to give out textbooks printed before 1983. A town kind of like Gloucester, Massachusetts.

And while my friends in high school didn’t make pacts to all get pregnant at the same time (we were too lazy for that), I knew lots of girls who had babies in their arms before they had diplomas. Why? Some of them were just plain stupid and couldn’t wrap their head around the fact that sperm can get you pregnantt, but others…others simply wanted something to give their life meaning.

When you live in a podunk town where everybody’s dad is either a fisherman or a permanent lackey for some bigwig who lives in Sweden, and the nearest mall or movie theater is 30 minutes away, — there isn’t much money or action to go around. Nothing really happens. Over and over again. Sure, you grow taller, grow hungrier, and have to buy bigger bras, but the passage of time in these small towns is so nondescript that sometimes you feel like you might go crazy. The world seems so big on your television screen — and yet, none of the stuff you see on your rabbit-eared TV will ever be within your grasp.

So you have a baby. Because it’s the one thing that you can make happen. It’s the one thing you have complete power over. The one thing no one can take away from you. Mothers are revered and honored and people give up their seats for them. People notice you when you’re a mom. They don’t notice some 15-year-old walking 2 miles down the road to her jack-sh*t job, but they do notice a young mother who needs help getting her baby carriage onto the bus.

I’m sure reports will come out stating the “real” reasons why all these girls decided to have babies together, but just in case it doesn’t, just know that when your future is bleak and lonely, your past is forgettable, and your present if full of mind-numbing boredom, having a baby — someone that will actually need and care about you — isn’t really all that horrible of an idea.

I’m not condoning it. These girls are probably nowhere near mature enough to handle a child. But I understand it. I completely understand it.

As many of you have figured out by now, I just can’t get enough of Bret and Jemaine these days. For starters, I just bought the first season and then had to purchase their new album. I took a trip up to Portland, ME yesterday and couldn’t wait to listen to my new CD. Having bought their most recent album (the release date, as I said in my first piece about them, was April 22, 2008). In fact, the album was so funny, I found myself ignoring the scenery.

It turns out, this CD, not surprisingly, is as equally as funny as the television show. In fact, I was so distracted from its hilarity – my face actually ached after listening to all the songs and laughing so hard – I had to turn it off for a while. You see, I’ve never been to Maine, and this is the time of year to go (it’s breathtakingly lush and devoid of humans, which is odd for New England). So after touring parts of Portland and Portsmouth, NH, I had to get my FOC fix.

Once the sun went down, and I was no longer driving, I had the pleasure of listening to the CD all over again. Of course, most of the songs were remade (indicated by “album version” next to the title of the piece), but are just as pleasing. As the sensitive reader can appreciate and understand, the songs are ingested by the ears in a way that is quite different from seeing them woven into the story line of each episode. (For those of you who have followed FOC for a while, you might be a little disappointed with this CD – it received mixed reviews . That’s not because the music was bad, but people were disappointed by the fact that a lot of it is their “old music.” If you’re a new fan, however, I highly recommend it).

If you haven’t bought this CD, go do it now! You won’t regret it. Word to the wise: if you’re on vacation, and want to enjoy scenery, I’d advise you to hold off on listening to this album until it’s dark and you’re through sight-seeing. Likewise, if you’re heading to a job interview, finding yourself in a new part of town, wait until official business time is over, then pop in “Business Time.”

Here is an annotated list of album’s songs and links to live versions from youtube:

1) Foux da fafa – an absolutely hee-larious and (naturally) parodic song, in which Bret and Jemaine sing about, oui, oui, baguettes, Bibliotheques, etdiscotheques (not in that order)

2) Inner city pressure – one of my favorites, a “remix” or, better yet, spoofed reincarnation of Pet Shop Boys’ “West End Girls“

3) Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros [feat. Rhymenocerous and the Hiphopopotamus] (Album Version) -furiously funny, hip-hop song

4) Think about it – “kids killin’ each other with knives and forks . . .” One of my favorite lines from this song. Enjoy a casio-sounding background music, little drum beats, and Jemaine bursting out in Barry White fashion.

5) Ladies in the world – the best about this piece, they praise HERMAPHRODITES! “Lady, man, lady!” Don’t forget, they’re hot, too.

6) Mutha’ uckas - as I already stated in my previous post(s), this hip-hop piece gets at censorship and blurbing out cuss words so well. What’s so great, Bret and Jemaine create that effect! At one point, Bret sounds like he’s choking from all the censoring.

7) The prince of parties – beautiful, Indian-inspired music, mixed (naturally) with a funny story line

8) Leggy Blonde [Featuring Rhys Darby] – childish lyrics inspire a type of puerile giggling

9) Robots – pokes fun at the robotic voice in Radiohead’s song

10) Boom – catchy little tune

11) A kiss is not a contract - instead of a girl being coerced into making out, we find a man (Bret is the primary vocalist for this cutesy song) feeling uncomfortable when a woman makes the advances

12) The most beautiful girl in the world - see my comments for “Sally“

13) Business Time – socks and sex. Aaaah, yes! It doesn’t get any sexier than that, particularly when they’re black socks, worn by Jemaine

14) Bowie – remarkable piece that really demonstrates their musical talent, along with their great senses of humor

15) Au revoir - super short (22 seconds), but ties the whole album together