Game review: Jojo's Fashion Show

There has definitely been a sudden influx of fashion-based casual games. Few of them really had anything to do with fashion though. Well, things are different now. Jojo's Fashion Show is definitely about the fashion and nothing else. You play Jojo Cruz, a retired fashion designer. She's trying to come back to the fashion scene and it's your job to help her. The goal is to make the best outfit you can. You are given three models, a variety of clothes and a couple of themes. It is your job to create the best outfit for the given theme with the clothes you have.

Sounds easy, right? It's a lot more difficult than you would think! Sometimes you don't get the right clothes and you are forced to just throw something together before the model walks onto the runway naked. But sometimes everything comes together and you create the absolute perfect outfit.

This is definitely a game for those interested in fashion. I can't imagine someone who doesn't like clothes enjoying this. Clothes are the game. And this is most definitely the best fashion game I've come across so far.

America's Most Smartest Model - Episode 10

Angela. VJ. Andre. The final three. At the start of tonight's episode, they pack up for an overnight trip to Palm Springs. The three are treated to an evening with Mary Alice. It basically devolved into a night of "My life is so much worse than yours!" Though I'm not sure that Andre participated in that. He seemed to be pretty quiet through most of the dinner while Angela and VJ compared stories of why their daddies left them. For once, I think Andre had the right idea in keeping his mouth shut. After dinner, Mary Alice revealed the first challenge. The finalists would be doing a photoshoot bright and early the next morning. A group of models were brought in to meet the contestants, who had to choose which of the new models would be in their shoot. The group got to know each other and the contestants were ready to pick their models. The next morning, Mary Alice brings in a troupe of stylists and a world-class photographer and just a ton of people, which wakes up Andre and VJ.

Once again, VJ is sleazy and I think Mary Alice shows her favoritism. Individually, she asks each of the models which of the new models they are picking for their photoshoot. VJ, who had originally picked one of the female models, overhears Andre telling Mary Alice that he's going to use the other two women. (I forget the names of the new models. I think VJ's was Heather and Andre had Jane and Lisa but I'm not sure about that.) Angela went with the two male models. When it came down to the official picking, VJ decides to take two female models, basically stealing one of Andre's. I'm not sure why Mary Alice let this happen since she knew beforehand who Andre had picked. Andre went with the flow and headed off to his shoot.

Andre, as always, did amazing in his shoot. He has a very intense look so he can pull off these crazy intense pictures. VJ tried to copy his poses but came off totally wrong. Mary Alice told him that his pictures weren't coming out and to try to be more natural. So VJ hops in the pool with the girls and gets some OK shots but nothing spectacular. Angela's shots all look the same. Same poses, same look on her face, same everything.

At the end, Andre wins the challenge and Angela gets booted from the show. Mary Alice did make a comment about how some of VJ's shots look almost exactly like Andre's. This, of course, makes Andre chuckle. Since Angela was singing through the entire music-themed photoshoot, Mary Alice told her that she would probably make a better singer and that she is not really cut out for photoshoots. She might make a good runway model but not much else. After hugging everyone, Angela leaves saying that she wanted this more than anyone. I'm sorry but just wanting something isn't enough. You have to work really hard and I don't think Angela did.

So now we're down to VJ and Andre. For their final challenge, they each have to make a media-based presentation on why they should be America's Most Smartest Model. Since Andre won the Edge Challenge, he is given a cell phone with picture and web browsing capabilities. Each of the boys get a PowerPoint expert to help them. We get a few inklings of what is to come but then.....To Be Continued. I hate those words!

I'm really hoping Andre wins this. Granted, I actually wanted Australian!Rachel to win but she fell short. I will be ecstatic if VJ loses to Andre. I can't wait for the finale!

America's Most Smartest Model - Episode 8

With last week's booting of Daniel, we are now left with Australian!Rachel, Pickle, Brett, Andre, VJ and Angela. This is where the competition should get pretty interesting since these people are all fairly intelligent as well as very pretty. And, well, VJ knows how to cheat a lot, which, according to Mary Alice, isn't cheating but good strategy. Oh, I'll talk about this in a bit. For the Edge Challenge this week, the models are once again put into teams of two. Our Fearsome Foursome Alliance paired up into teams of Pickle/Brett and Andre/Rachel. That left VJ with Angela. One person in the pair would have to answer as many trivia questions correctly in 60 seconds as they possibly can. The results will determine how fast the other person has to run on a treadmill. Pickle completely blanked on so many questions that Brett ended up having to run 9 miles an hour. If you couldn't tell, Brett couldn't take that and dropped out early in the competition. Angela and Rachel tied with 13 correct answers so VJ and Andre started out with 6 miles an hour. The boys stayed neck and neck even when Ben and Mary Alice raised the speed on the treadmills.

This is where VJ's cheating sets in and I have no clue why the judges let him get away with this. While Andre was running like a champ, VJ started holding onto the bars to put most of his weight on his arms. Considering this challenge was about endurance, in my opinion, this was completely and totally cheating. Andre tried to bring this to the attention of the judges but Ben Stein was too busy playing with his cell phone to take any notice. If VJ does win at the end of the series, it will be a direct result of things like this. Of course, it was VJ and Angela that won the Edge Challenge. Andre decided to try to save his strength for the Callback Challenge.

The Callback Challenge was a quick-change runway show. VJ and Angela would get to change in the dressing room closest to the runway and they had to choose one other model to join them. They picked Rachel. The rest of the boys would be farther from the runway so they would have to race back and forth to change into their different outfits. Each team had 15 minutes total with three different outfits. To make it a little more difficult, Andre, Pickle and Brett also had to run through an obstacle course for each change.

I think this is where we got to see Angela and VJ's true natures. They could see that Rachel was having some trouble with some of her outfits - her shoes were too big on the first outfit and her earrings fell out on the last - yet no one bothered to attempt to help her. Both of them were out for themselves and no one else. Meanwhile, Andre, Pickle and Brett decided to make this a team effort to make their runway show the best. They helped each other with difficult parts of their outfits and made sure that everyone made it through the obstacle course. So while Mary Alice didn't like the way these three walked down the runway, I felt that they made the better show since there were no gaps between models. There were gaps between models in the Angela/Rachel/VJ show. I'm really starting to think that Mary Alice isn't as much of an expert on this stuff as she thinks she is. However, after everyone was finished, it was Angela that won the Callback Challenge and I do agree with that result. Angela really did have the best showing of everyone there.

So this takes us to the Elimination. Angela was safe from elimination and Mary Alice decreed that Rachel was not in the bottom three either. The bottom three this week were Andre, Pickle and Brett. At this point, I was completely prepared for Brett to be kicked off. Out of these three, I really felt that he was the weakest model. To my surprise, it was Pickle that got the boot! I was just stunned. Pickle has pretty much been the sweetheart of the show. He's been in the top of almost every competition, he has the looks, he has the smarts and he's a nice guy. I really am sorry to see him go.

Oh, and at the Elimination? Mary Alice and Ben decided to totally throw the models under the bus and told VJ about the alliance between Pickle, Brett, Andre and Rachel. Now, we can see that the alliance failed this week. Why bother to tell VJ about it? There was nothing to accomplish there besides getting the models to argue with each other. I was very disappointed with Mary Alice this week. Maybe she should be thrown off the show. I'm sure that Heidi Klum or Tyra Banks could do a lot better. Hopefully Mary Alice will get her head out of her butt and pay attention to what is going on in front of her.

America's Most Smartest Model - episode 7

Now that we are finally down to the really smart and really pretty models of the bunch, things are starting to get a little more interesting. This week the models were told that they would have a night off to celebrate Daniel's birthday. However, this turns out to the the Edge Challenge. The models needed to network with some important people that Mary Alice put in the club. A majority of the models didn't do so well. In the end, it was VJ that won the hearts of the networking judges. This means that he gets control of the Callback Challenge. Mary Alice tells the models that it's difficult to work with animals and children. So, of course, their Callback Challenge will involve animals. VJ gets to dole out how many minutes each model gets in front of the camera. As the winner, he gets a half hour. He gives Angela 10 minutes, Australian!Rachel 8 minutes, Pickle 6 minutes, Brett 4 minutes, Andre 2 minutes and Daniel one minute. Since Daniel's whining has been getting on everyone's nerves, it is now obvious that they are out to get him sent home.

Next the models get to choose their animals. VJ takes the horse, Angela takes the pygmy goat, Australian!Rachel takes the donkey, Pickle takes the chicken, Brett takes the pig, Andre takes the llama and Daniel is left with the ostrich. From here, things get difficult. The models aren't very good with the animals and the pictures prove it. In my opinion, none of the pictures were particularly good but Mary Alice liked Andre's picture with the llama. He is safe from elimination.

At the elimination that night, the three models called up are Angela, Australian!Rachel and Daniel. Angela is told to stop being a know-it-all and Rachel is told to step it up a bit. Daniel gets the boot. I completely agree with this decision as Daniel has been extremely moody the past few episodes. After the Edge Challenge last night, he was overturning tables and throwing things. It was definitely his time to go.

I'm really excited to see where the next few episodes go. There is now an alliance between Andre, Brett, Pickle and Rachel. Their goal is to get VJ kicked off but VJ seems to be Mary Alice's favorite. Let the drama unfold!

America's Most Smartest Model - episode 6

There weren't a lot of surprises this week. I was completely shocked at the end of the episode but we'll talk about that in a bit. The Edge Challenge was deceptively difficult. Our eight models had to split into four teams of two. Extremely intelligent Daniel made a huge mistake by taking on extremely stupid American!Rachel, Pickle paired up with Brett, Angela agreed to work with dominant Andre and Australian!Rachael went with VJ. The teams had to draw six shapes using specific angles and lengths and whatnot. Not very difficult, right? Neither American!Rachel nor Andre were able to create any shapes. (Andre blamed the metric system for his problems. Rachel is just dumb.) VJ came very close to winning but when guest judge Santos (from the second season of Project Runway) told him that one of his measurements was incorrect, Pickle snuck in and nabbed the win.

For the Call-Back Challenge, the models had to design some clothes. The winning team, Pickle and Brett, got to dole out shapes to the other teams while they were able to use the entire six-shape arsenal. They gave Australian!Rachael and VJ a circle, Andre and Angela got a triangle and a rectangle while they took pity on Daniel and American!Rachel by giving them the rhombus, pentagon and trapezoid. Overall, I didn't think any of the designs were absolutely terrible. None of these people are fashion designers. Pickle and Brett took the win for this challenge with a boxer-themed sporty trunks/skirt with a hooded robe.

This is where the surprises started. Immediately after the winners of the Call-Back Challenge were announced, Mary Alice calls American!Rachel up to the runway. After a bit of scolding, Mary Alice throws the dumb blonde out of the house. She didn't even make it to the very end of the episode where they are supposed to get rid of people! So Mary Alice dismisses everyone with the promise to see them later.

Would Mary Alice toss another model out of the house? If she does, who would be the next to go? At the elimination, she calls up Australian!Rachael, VJ and Daniel. Daniel gets a scolding for being a nice guy and picking the dumbest person in the house to pair up with. However, he refuses to put his integrity on the line and Mary Alice sends him back to the fold. VJ was called up for....I'm not really sure why he was called up. Mary Alice basically praised him for playing the game well and asked him if he really wanted to win. It's obviously a bad thing to come in second place in Mary Alice's book. Finally, she gets to Australian!Rachael. She gets Mary Alice's wrath for not having her heart in the game or something? Mary Alice doesn't think Rachael "wants it enough." If this is the case, why isn't Angela up there? Angela seems to have the personality of a brick wall despite having some book smarts. Anyway, no one else gets kicked off and they all go back to worrying about the next challenge.