Surprise Surprise
While all you cliche suckers were watching the parade today, I pretended it was 1992 and caught up on some “Real World” episodes. (What else was I supposed to do with the last day of my 5 day weekend, really?). And quite surprisingly, I did not regret it.
If anything, The Real World : Brooklyn is somewhat a return to the past seasons from the early 90s. Somewhere between the Hawaii and Las Vegas seasons, the producers decided to use people who looked like porn stars, and as one would assume, the idea of “people start getting real” turned into people just getting naked, drunk, sexed up, and bitchy. As that happened, ratings slowly plummeted to the point where even I, as a guilty pleasure tv fanatic couldn’t possibly tell you anything about past recent seasons. Apparently, sex may sell for a little while, but why settle for the blurred out cable tv version of it?
It’s taken producers nearly a decade to catch on to this, and they finally returned to its roots. Some things have been switched up, as the show now has 8, not 7, cast members. And, on a whole, the people look normal for the 18-24 yr old range. Even the girl who aspires to be a dancer is portrayed as a cutie, not a sexpot. And going past looks to story lines, although I only watched for a half hour or so, there seemed to be many good issues afoot, among my favorites being the transgendered cast member and one guy asking “Why is it that we are so open-minded about certain people, but not about fraternity guys?” (which I think is a very good topic as the majority of people who refer to themselves as open-minded will shoot you a dirty look if your facebook profile political views don’t say “liberal”).
Anyway, if you find yourself bored on a Saturday afternoon of “Dirty Dancing” on TNT, I suggest for once to click over to MTV and see if RW:BK is on. 
homogeneous monogamous.
During a recent discussion with dear friends, we discussed the ever entertaining Girls Next Door starring blonde bombshells Hugh Hefner girlfriends. Anyone who stands next to magazines while purchasing groceries knows that all three girls have moved out of the Playboy Mansion, but as one of E!’s most popular shows, new episodes are pumping out and its bound to be synidcated for reruns soon enough. The discussion that evening was based on whether the show should be on television. And as it is one of the few shows making us, even if only at a superficial level, question where nonmonogamous relationships belong in our culture, I think we need more and definitely not less.
Pop culture has thus far shown these relationships at the extremes. On one hand, we have Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends which are protrayed in a lovable, adorable, at times upright innocent manner. On the other hand, we have those images of the polygamous camp news story of marriages performed to girls as young as 12 that exploded some time this fall. And in the middle, we have probably the most provocative take which is the HBO show “Big Love”. But still, in these three perspectives all we see is either Mormons or girls using an old man for his money while they still have their looks.
Is this really the best our culture can come up with? Even in Sex and the City the closest they came to discussing nonmonogamous relationships was probably a three-way. According to a recent article in the New Yorker, there is, albeit limited and super discreet, a number of couples who enjoy relationships beyond physical commitment barriers. Beyond the occasional Real Worlder who has a boyfriend back home and is doing the open relationship thing until those four months in a different city end, where the heck are these couples?!? I’m not particularly advocating CBS to pick up this as a new after-school special but couldn’t we do better than just that measely side plot in “How to Make an American Quilt”?
Not to point my finger and blame the industry for society’s ills, but it seems that when such a subgroup exists, sometimes it is best to illuminate it in some spotlight. Whether it’s fiction like Queer as Folk which brought real gay issues and softcore porn to Showtime or documentaries such as MTV’s True Life, these shows do bring into our living room the realization that these people exist and are not to be merely joked about. We all can likely name one couple we know to be swingers in our hometown and probably all giggle when we hear their name. And although private lives are private for a reason, a relationship based on consentual decisions by two or more adults that harms no one should in some way be respected.
Update: I did recewntly see some hour long special on one of those TLC type channels. I believe it was called “My Three Wives” and followed the drama of a nonmonogamous man who had two wives and kids with each and wanted to bring a long time friend in to be #3. The kids didn´t like, the wives didn´t like it, so in the end, the potential #3 ended up in tears and moving out of the house. At the end of the episode, they show the “where are they now” text and apparently, wife #2 moved out and wife #1 filed a legal divorce and the man now says he is going to try to remain monogamous. Dang, if they can´t make it, is there any hope for the rest of us?
in the meantime, stay, let me watch you break it down.
So I don’t really listen to the radio as I don’t have a car and it’s wintertime and only weird people listen to radios indoors. I only watch MTV for the shitty reality shows. My friends think my music selection is hopeless. So basically I’ve been left to my own resources when it comes to finding new music, and, unsurprisingly, I rarely find anything at all.
So I read about Lady Gaga on a few celebrity blogs. And since most of these blogs are written by gay guys, I kinda wrote off their obsession with this artist who wears blonde wigs and bathing suits on stage. But when boredom reaches a certain point, it is sometimes replaced with curiousity and a few youtubevideos/myspacesongs later, I’m regretting ever having avoiding it. If David Bowie had sex with Britney Spears while listening to Daft Punk, she would be the product. God, I wish I could be that cool.
More likely than not, you’ve heard “Just Dance” alredy (it is the number one song in America, although I’ve had the convenient excuse of not being there for the past two weeks) but here’s the video just in case. I love it. It makes me want to have a dirty, sweaty dance party so badly. Has it really been out for eight months? God, I live under a rock.
I also recommend “Starstruck”, the chorus of “Paparazzi”, and the line “Love it when you call me Legs / In the morning, buy me eggs” in “Boys Boys Boys”.
Update #1: Not so sure how I feel about her inability to wear pants. But I guess since she makes the majority of her own outfitis, I will forgive.
Update #2: Oh yes, three tickets to her sold out show on my desk. I am pumped!
Lost and Found
Whoever has the Twilight copy I used during my Greyhound trip, please return it. I would like something brainless to read while on mass transit the rest of my winter vacation, thank you.
How I Will Remember 2008
Since I’m almost a week late and too lazy on my “vacation”, dear readers will not be receiving a year in review from me. But you will get an insight on how I will remember this year in pop culture history. 2008 is the year I stopped liking Madonna. And it had nothing to do with her turning 50.
This year started out like many others in the past. Debating whether or not my “Hung Up” ringtone was outdated at this point, illegally downloading some songs before release, and excitedly checking Madonna tour dates and then being deeply disappointed when comparing the ticket prices to the amount in my checking account.
And then things changed. The woman started acting like an idiot.
1) She’s always been a bleeding liberal and I never particularly minded so long as she articulated either well or in a highly artistic manner (ex- the performance of American Life on her Reinvention Tour). But on this year’s Sticky & Sweet Tour during summertime whem every person and their dead grandma had an opinion on the election, Madonna threw on the giganto screen photos comparing John McCain to Hitler. This whole argument of not liking someone so you compare them to Hitler was funny in the 9th grade classroom, but the first person who uses it in undergrad is seen as the most unoriginal person ever with no sense of what a real genocide is. So glad I didn’t pay $75 for that rubbish.
2) Breakups are always difficult and I would never judge any one for getting a divorce. But dedicating a love song on stage to “the emotionally retarded” when it was obviously written about her now ex-husband sounds like any idiot girl who can put up a passive aggressive away message. On a related note, when rumors swirled about her affair with A-Rod, it was a pretty selfish move to dress her and Guy’s son up in a Yankees jersey less than a week after the divorce was announced.
3) Showing up on the Britney Spears documentary like she was some mother figure. Where were you the last 5 years, woman?
The sophisticated, smart moving Madonna is gone. All we have now is some old woman who can’t keep her gap-toothed mouth shut.
