America's Next Top Model Continues to Rock

America's Next Top Model 2007 is off to a blazing start. On February 28^th, the second of a two-part episode introduced the 13 girls who would go on to compete for the title:

• Brittany,
• Cassandra,
• Diana,
• Dionne,
• Felicia,
• Jael,
• Jaslene,
• Kathleen,
• Natasha,
• Renee,
• Samantha,
• Sarah, and
• Whitney.

The girls come from all over the U.S. including Hawaii. One is Russian and another one might as well be with the way that she mumbles.

For their challenge the girls shopped through a thrift store to put together an oufit, which they modeled on the runway for shoppers. The audience, in turn, voted for the model of their choice. They choose Jael who put together a cute, trendy outfit and worked the runway like a pro.

For their first photograph, Nigel Barker took pictures of the girls in political settings, which included pro and anti fur, pro-choice and pro-life, life in prison and the death penalty, straight and gay marriage, vegan and pro-meat, and both anti and pro-gun. While a few girls managed to pull off their shots, many more came across like fish out of water.

Brittany's pro-fur ad was classy and sophisticated and could easily have fit on the cover of a magazine. On the flip side, however, Kathleen appeared lost in her anti-fur stance as well as where furs even came from in the first place. I predict Brittany will make far in this competition, perhaps even to the final three. It was no surprise, however, that Kathleen was the first to get the boot off the show. Although beautiful, it seemed doubtful that she'd be able to handle a photographer's direction.

Both Natasha - - pro-choice - - and Jael - - pro-life - - photos failed to sell their political themes. Both models came across lifeless and unable to show anything behind their beautiful eyes. I suspect Natasha will be in the first few to go, but Jael should be around for a few more turns. However, if she wants to remain in the long term, she will have to learn to speak more distinctly. Slurring and mumbling is not going to work in the audio-visual commercials that are sure to come up at some point.

Although Sarah's life in prison shot was a bomb, Jaslene totally sold the death penalty from her physical bearing to the determined look in her steeling eyes. Sarah's a long shot in this show. She definitely has the look of a model but not the personality. Jaslene has both, if she can learn how to control her emotions, which are all over the place.

Felicia's straight marriage photo was cute; not perfect, but cute. She has a lot of potential that this show may be able to develop over the next few weeks. Whitney's and Samantha's gay marriage shot was, unfortunately, one sided. Felicia easily upstaged Whitney in the photo. Felicia has a great deal of potential. The camera loves her. However, it remains to be seen if she has the chops to really pull out all the stops.

I'm pulling for Whitney - - one of the show's two plus-sized models. She is truly beautiful, without being haughty and could make an excellent role model for today's young girls. However, I'm on the fence about Samantha. There is no denying her beauty but she is very young (at just 17) and seems a bit lost among these sharks. She may not yet be ready for the modeling business.

Dionne's vegan photo was unconvincing but Cassandra's pro-meat shot was - - in Tyra's famous words - - fierce. I think both of these girls will be around for a while longer.

Diana's pro-gun shot was very much in the Angelina Jolie Tomb Raider mode and she rocked the shot in spite of her own uncertainty. Renee's anti-gun photo was lacking absolutely everything. Diana, the other plus sized model, may well be just the girl to break through to top model mode if she can take direction and learn from all the experts at her fingertips.

On another note, however, Renee needs to go, and soon. This troublemaker stirs everything up just to feed her own ego, cries "unfair" at every single turn, and sets out to hurt others just to make herself feel better. Sorry, but that kind of top model already exists and we don't need another one.

Overall, this is a pretty strong group with a lot of girls that have something to offer. I predict this will be one of the toughest and best years yet.

If I had to make an early prediction, at this point my bet would be on Brittnay and Jaslene as the final two duking it out at the end. I'd give the edge to Jaslene if she can learn to control her demons, strengthen her language skills, and toughen up a bit. She has a distinctive and unique look. However, my favorite at the moment is Brittnay. What can I say, I want to see a red head win. Of course, with makeovers coming up soon, who knows what color her hair will turn out in the end.

There are always a lot of mixups and changes throughout the course of Top Model and I don't think that this year will be any different. It could just be anyone's year. I guess we will just have to see.