Keeping up with reality

May 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

My beautiful and intelligent girlfriend is in love with reality shows, and she isn’t alone by a long shot. Throw in a few washed up or irrelevant celebrities into an “unscripted” show and you now have the makings of a hit primetime series.

I just don’t get it. And I don’t think I ever will.

I can only shake my head in disgust when my wonderful and caring girlfriend turns on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” or “Giuliana & Bill.”

What is the public’s infatuation with celebrities? Why the general interest in how Giuliana and Bill spend time together? Who really cares about Kendra?

Most people would never open up to a stranger sitting across from them on a bus, but we’re all so happy to spy on the lives of celebrities. I’m thinking it has something to do with the general distaste of the average person’s everyday life.

The majority of Americans live by the clock. For example: take Joey to school at 9 a.m.; get to work at 9:30 a.m.; have lunch at 12:30 p.m.; pick up Joey from school at 3 p.m.; take Alice to soccer practice at 5 p.m.; drop Nathan off at piano lessons at 6:30 p.m.; pick up Alice and Nathan at 7 p.m.; make dinner at 7:30 p.m.; watch “Rock of Love” at 9 p.m.; fall asleep at 10 p.m.

It’s safe to say our society tends to fall into a repetitive schedule and most days pan out a similar way. But thanks to the fresh and intuitive minds at networks such as E!, VH1 and MTV, we can watch other people live a completely different life. Imagine how exciting it would be to escape your average 9-to-5 life and spend 30 minutes watching Kendra do laundry and bake a cake, all while being pregnant.

Sounds exhausting.

It seems our lives have become so hectic and repetitive that we feel the need to escape into a fresh and separate personal struggle that Kim Kardashian consistently finds herself in. “Should I wear my $2,700 pair of Gucci flip-flops today or my $700 pair of New Balances?”

Give up on living through another meaningless individual that’s seen on television every evening and bring some variety into your personal struggle.

And with that ramble, my girlfriend has just left the house and I get ESPN all to myself.

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“The Ruins” Blog: Boom! Pow! Surprise!

November 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Well, like I promised this post would be ridiculously huge. So huge, in fact, that I will probably post it into two separate parts.

Let’s start with last week’s episode. I think this episode should be dubbed “Surprise, surprise.” This episode was filled with so many shock-and-awe moments that I decided to just leave my jaw hanging on the floor instead of wasting energy picking it up over and over again.

The non-shocking parts were when Ibis, Johanna and Susie were plotting to get Veronica sent into the elimination. The surprise: Veronica sitting underneath the balcony hearing the girls’ entire conversation. Another no-brainer was Wes telling KellyAnne that he was planning to go into the elimination to take out Cohutta. The surprise: Cohutta defeated Wes, pretty handily in the elimination. Last but not least, no one was surprised when Susie and Ibis decided to gang up against Veronica.

But the biggest shocker of all time was when the Champions were forced to come up with a decision about who to send in the elimination for the girls, since they had used up the allotted 30 minutes discussing the matter. What happened next will be forever ingrained in my memory.

Veronica filibustered her way out of an elimination and it was magnificent. When the Champions were deliberating who was going to be sent into the elimination, going into it I can’t see how anybody watching thought that Veronica had a chance of avoiding the elimination, but she pulled it off. I don’t know if she did it on purpose, but regardless it saved her tail for another episode.

She talked and talked, and continued talking until the 30 minutes ran out. “The Ruins” host TJ Lavin told the six representatives to make a decision by voting. Derek, Susie and Ibis voted for Veronica to go in against KellyAnne, while Wes, Evan and Veronica voted for her to go against Kimberly.

Stalemate.

What happened next was anyone’s guess, because this was a first.

TJ then pulled out the trump card and said the entire Champions team would have to come in to vote. I still can’t believe it, but somehow it went from Veronica definitely going into the elimination to Ibis going into the elimination against Kimberly. WHOA!

(Had to take a breather)

It made for great television. With Ibis getting the proverbial kick in the tail, I knew for sure that nothing else would top it. I was proven wrong.

In a elimination that relied less on strength and more on agility and patience, Cohutta demolished Wes in the elimination and the Challengers went for the sweep by having Kim defeat Ibis, as well.

It was one helluva an episode.

Last night’s episode didn’t disappoint either. With the Champions down to nine players to the Challengers seven, tension was simmering. Veronica was still on the outs with most of her team, even after her surprising avoidance of last week’s elimination.

After defeating one of the strongest competitors to ever grace the show, Cohutta and the Challengers had a newfound swagger, but were still looking to win another challenge, so they could have some power as to who would going into the elimination.

This brings me to Casey, my least favorite person on the show. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear she was throwing the challenges. There’s no way she’s just this bad. And, if that is the case, why come to “The Ruins?”

I won’t lie, I’m rooting for the Challengers and she’s worthless. If you were to look up dead weight in the dictionary, Casey would be smiling ear to ear as she ruined another mission for the Challengers.

She’s so inept, that the Champions feel that they have the final challenge locked up. I believe they’re thinking since practically every man on their team is a behemoth – naturally and unnaturally, if you know what I’m sayin’ – they should be able to dominate the rest of the challenges from this point on. And, regardless how strong they are, as long as Casey is on the Challengers, she is their biggest asset.

Man, I hate you Casey.

Part II will be posted tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Filed Under: Blogs, Kamari Stevens, The Schoolboy's Musings Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

“The Ruins” Blog: A Tanya-plosion

October 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Whoa Nelly!

This week’s episode featured all the makings of classic: Drama, tension, fighting, backstabbing and despair.

I’ll start with Tanya, who I said in my first post is the wildcard on this challenge. Well she went from wildcard to sympathetic figure. On this challenge I feel like a lot of personal relationships have merged onto the actual. Usually what’s going on in one of the castmates personal life is left to the unknown, but on “The Ruins” I’ve heard about Johanna and Wes owning a house, Tanya being separated and basically living an unfulfilling life, rumored steroid use by KellyAnne and much more.

As far as the way Tanya was treated on the last week’s episode, I thought it was very immature. Evan, Johnny and Kenny – who I disliked after I heard him open his mouth on the first episode of “The Ruins” – are plain jerks. Yes, they are likable for the most part, but to exploit Tanya while she was very drunk was across the line.

It was just the boiling point for Tanya. Later on in the episode, she slapped the s dot-dot-dot out of Veronica. I’m not a violent person, but I wished they wouldn’t have broken up the fight. Veronica deserved everything she got and it’s hard to believe that majority of these people are nearing 30 with the way the bicker and talk behind each other’s backs. The fighting incident led to Tanya’s immediate dismissal from the show, but the entertainment never waned.

Katie had one helluva episode. First, she goes on a tirade after someone leaves a plunger in her bed. Most of the words were directed at “Challenger” rookie Sarah. Katie also declared that “The Ruins” would be her last challenge, seeing as she wants to settle down with her fiancée and have kids – yeah, right.

This week’s challenge featured a dominating performance from the “Champions.” The “Challengers” had a great chance of winning until Casey had to step up. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m starting to believe that Casey made a deal with the “Champions” to throw every mission if they would give her a cut of their winnings. She’s ABYSMAL. If Katie, a 4’ 11” chain-smoking drunkard with no kind of athleticism, is able to compete decently in the challenges, why can’t you Casey? I seriously hope she get’s voted off next week but that would require the “Challengers” to win a challenge and with Casey on the team, those chances are slim.

Danny and Sarah were sent into the elimination from the “Challengers” squad against Darrell and Katie. In my opinion, this was the best elimination in a long time. The competitors were suspended in the air while they were force to hold onto a wooden hula-hoop. The first to let go twice was sent home. Both Katie and Danny fought hard, but took a L. I had an idea that Sarah was strong competitor, but after her performance in the challenge and in the elimination she has reached the official status of a strong player in this game. The “Challengers” are down to seven people and they definitely can’t afford to lose another male player, with only Brad, Dunbar and Cohutta remaining.

Moment of the week: Two moments make up this special portion of “The Ruins.” After Evan and a few others had pulled Tanya off of Veronica, they consoled her and told her how she was a part of their “family.” I’m assuming this the RW/RR family. Well, earlier in the episode, during the challenge, some of the “Champions” called out to Darrell, pronouncing it “Dare –ull.” Darrell’s name is actually pronounced “Da – rell.”

So much for family.

Filed Under: Blogs, Kamari Stevens, The Schoolboy's Musings Tagged With: , , , , , , ,