Dwelling on the Dutch origins of the reality television show, most of Part One was taken up by a retrospective of Series One, and focused on the antics of "Nasty Nick" Bateman
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Last night a TV documentary about Elvis informed me that Colonel Tom Parker was of Dutch origin. It may be that the apartheid system was invented by the Boers who were of Dutch origin. And Nick Clegg himself is part Dutch. I'm sure you can think of more Dutch things (if you have nothing else to do).
Re: Dutch originron_broxtedMay 29 2010, 16:49:26 UTC
God made the world but the Dutch made Holland. The Dutch (in co-operation with the French) invented the nipple in 1910. Other Dutch inventions are tulips, windmills, cannabis, democracy, tolerance (but not throughout Holland) and Audrey Hepburn. Or Audrey van Heeerema.
"a downward spiral that the show never recovered from"
Could the David Laws affair have that effect? History will be the judge.
One of your co-bloggers has written a piece on Moral Hazard. Again, as with airmarshalls Sex and the City earlier, I expected it to be comment on the Laws case. But it isn't. "Moral hazard occurs when a party insulated from risk may behave differently than it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk."
He has done the decent thing and fallen on his sword.
BB's first series was actually quite ineterstng, and had a degree of commentary on the psychology of the household, and a certain amount of analysis of the social interatcions taking place in there.
Unfortunately, it was dumbed down, the producers went out of their way to recruit as many 'interesting' freakazoids as they could find and started pandering to the lowest common demoninator, revelling in humiliation and conflict.
I'm glad it's gone, to be honest. i know people fight amongst themselves, have sex with each other and wind each other up, however I've no desire to see a pointless display of this taking up valuable airtime and making short-term 'celebs' out of the folks hoiked into this media-wheeze.
Worse, the likes of Jade Goody managed to reduce the intellectual aspirations of a generation, and I'm sure I don't need to remind you of the importance of thinking for oneself, especially in the latter days of NuLabr. 'East Angular' indeed.
'Don't think, be thick, consume, gossip, watch telly': it could have been an edict from
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Dogs, always welcome. Interesting point. Jade went in as "Miss Piggy" not pretty enough to garner the red tops attention. Then she was vilified as being dumb. Yet she was the most successful of all BB House mates. Of course the show ultimately destroyed her (Shilpagate). Note that the other thick contestant (Brian Belo) was also a big hit. This raises issues about the role (or lack of) on intellectuals in the U.K. It is a profoundly middle brow nation.
I too worry about the diminished role of intellectuals in our media. QI's really popular, and so was Wonders of the Solar system, so surely there's some incipient demand there for 'clever stuff' that's not being met?
QI worries me in another way. During the audition for BB one of the punters said that Steven Fry knew everything. It had not occurred to him that Fry might have had answers on the card in front of him. Anyway, intellectuals are bitchy. Finally see France where philosophers et al are lauded and Ingerlund where Rooney is accorded demi-God status for kicking a bit of leather round a field. O tempora! O mores!
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bob
comment not fact
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Could the David Laws affair have that effect? History will be the judge.
One of your co-bloggers has written a piece on Moral Hazard. Again, as with airmarshalls Sex and the City earlier, I expected it to be comment on the Laws case. But it isn't.
"Moral hazard occurs when a party insulated from risk may behave differently than it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk."
He has done the decent thing and fallen on his sword.
Reply
Reply
Unfortunately, it was dumbed down, the producers went out of their way to recruit as many 'interesting' freakazoids as they could find and started pandering to the lowest common demoninator, revelling in humiliation and conflict.
I'm glad it's gone, to be honest. i know people fight amongst themselves, have sex with each other and wind each other up, however I've no desire to see a pointless display of this taking up valuable airtime and making short-term 'celebs' out of the folks hoiked into this media-wheeze.
Worse, the likes of Jade Goody managed to reduce the intellectual aspirations of a generation, and I'm sure I don't need to remind you of the importance of thinking for oneself, especially in the latter days of NuLabr. 'East Angular' indeed.
'Don't think, be thick, consume, gossip, watch telly': it could have been an edict from ( ... )
Reply
Reply
I too worry about the diminished role of intellectuals in our media. QI's really popular, and so was Wonders of the Solar system, so surely there's some incipient demand there for 'clever stuff' that's not being met?
I like to think so, anyway.
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