What can be said about reality television? To begin with, is it even one cohesive thing? Or is it an entity made up of numerous component parts, many of which operate independently? How does this reality speak and express itself? How real is this reality? One thing is certain: if we the viewers are to speak of reality television, we must first ( Read more... )

Indulge me while I nerd out for a second.

There's a strange tendency in the Trekverse where, despite the fact that many many MANY episodes have established the presence of an infinite number of parallel universes*, the Federation that WE get to see** is invariably shown to be inhabitating the best of all possible worlds. Just for clarity's sake, the ( Read more... )

The second episode of Toddlers and Tiaras' second season was eminently more palatable than the first.  For one thing, none of the girls appeared to be contemplating suicide, and none of the mothers were Baby Jane.  As much as it galls me, the show did a lot to confirm one of my major suspicions: that the pageant industry is largely self-propagating ( Read more... )

So I watched the season 2 premiere of Toddlers and Tiaras with some friends last night. I was familiar with the basic premise of the show, mostly from clips played on The Soup, but I'd never seen an entire (hour-long) episode. My friends and I were excited, especially when the show directly preceding it on TLC was titled "I Didn't Know I Was ( Read more... )

I do:

Candy:

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Meat (the most fucked up one):

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(Soviet-era) We want your eggs:

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Juice:

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Beer (or women dancing in the desert, it's a tough one):

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I think I understand cyberpunk a little better now. It started with this video of a FOX news report on "hacker gangs." Initially, I was intrigued because I didn't expect FOX to treat this story properly, and I wasn't disappointed. Watch the video, and once it gets to the point where the reporter equates "posting on someone's MySpace profile" with ( Read more... )

This is a good technique that we could all stand to learn.

Nancy: So, Mr. Trial Lawyer, tell us about ________.
Lawyer: Well, Nancy, what's really interesting--
Nancy: Uh uh! Uh uh! You've had your chance. Now, when I was a trial lawyer, I had to try a case that was 14 years old!

Watching him try to stand against the flood that is Michael Moore is rather satisfying. Again, I'm not a diehard Moore supporter, but he took the talking heads to task better than anyone has since Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire. He gets close to hysterics a couple times, but for the most part everything he says is pretty valid.

What struck me ( Read more... )

Most people who know me know that I have a deep and abiding love for Nancy Grace. I think she's one of the most important women of the century, and certainly the paragon of journalistic integrity. Nothing quite says "I'm interested in provoking insightful and fact-filled debate about current issues" than shouting your guests into submission and ( Read more... )

Do you think it would be possible to have a retroactive Sweet Sixteen? People could shower me with all the presents they neglected to give me 5 years ago. We could hire some performers who were popular back in 2001, like Ace of Base and Marky Mark for an authentic feel. My parents could even give me the Blazer that was never mine and that they sold ( Read more... )