Back to Real Life
Oh, thank God. Yesterday, after 110 days of addiction, distorted life and ignoring of other people outside Big Brother house, the second Big Brother season came to an end. I know I said I won’t watch it like I did in the first season, but I can’t help it. I get attached to those people. It wasn’t as emotional as the first season, and the battle of good vs. bad wasn’t as meaningful as that on the first season. But there was an obnoxious fella who should not have won, and somehow [evil gamblers] he managed to reach the 2nd place. However, the GOOD guy won.
Eliraz Sade, Israeli Big Brother 2 winner
Everyone I know are now relieved. For the season’s end, and for the sweet winner. Wow I’m looking at the ratings of the night, 36% share. What other show gets these ratings?! Everyone in this little country was either watching the finale or watching the basketball game where Maccabi Tel Aviv won 97:82 with 43 (!) points in the last quarter. I’m sad I missed that!! Either way, big big joy.
However, this little blondie did not reach the place she deserved, in “only” 3rd place.
Alin Levi
She entered the house under the stereotype of a dumb blonde model, but even though she had her silly under-educated moments, she was very funny and good hearted. More than that, she just reminded me of myself. Not by looks of course (yeah right) but other than the fact she always had a SHOCK expression on her face, she was also very shy, emotional, and underestimated. Almost everyone degraded her and took her for granted, but she showed them she’s more than long, long legs. She was very bad with people, and it took them a while to realize she’s not a snob, just insecure and bad communicator. I don’t know how someone like that can live in a house with cameras all over the place and millions of people analyzing every little thing she does. Kudos to her!
Finally (and after I took THAT out of my system) now, after I’ll finish the paparazzi surveillance of how the finalists got back to earth, I can return exclusively to my university papers. Who doesn’t like academic articles, eh?
Cookies and a movie
Recently I’ve become the house cookies baker. My mom doesn’t bake stuff ’cuz she eats it on the way (I never got the raw-dough eaters) and since we’re a “healthy” family (diet pepsi healthy, not energy shake healthy) no one’s a big cookie eater. Except for me. I’m a cookie monster, a white one. My dad can eat 1 or 2 cookies a day with his coffee and say he ate too much… oh yeah, a real crazy eater. I, however, can eat 10 cookies and feel it’s not enough. I tend to bake cookies in the weekend, when the siblings come and take some back to their homes. Since I try not to eat 10 cookies a day on a regular basis, the cookies tend to dry out before we eat the majority of them and then it’s just like eating a rock with sugar and chocolate. Not that it keeps me away from those rocks, but it doesn’t taste THAT good.
I have a silly dream to actually take a baking class so I’ll know how to make GREAT cookies and not just average. And then, obviously since I don’t have a big cookie-crowd I’ll open a bakery of some sort and sell it to people. Unfortunately, those classes costs way too much, and that money already went for 3 years of actual academic education. But when I really think about it, it’s hard to see what communication and film studies will really bring me in life. It’s nice to take classes about Back to the Future and all, but how will that make me money? Wow, if I could make money from film and tv watching, I’d be a billionaire. A zillionaire. Can’t someone make that happen?
An ideal future will be combining cookies and film somehow. I’ll bake the cookies and screen films in my cute little bakery. I won’t just download them, I’ll buy DVDs and show special dvd features. How’s that for a money making idea. Since I can’t direct (and have no will to do so), and no one taught me how to write a screenplay (which I did have a will to do) and my communication skills suck ass, that seems like a good solution. I’ll just bake my cookies, listen to my kind of music (in the back room) and in the front room people will enjoy the Back to the Future trilogy or a Buffy marathon. Or perhaps my shop will have private booths and each will have an LCD (probably LED since it’s my dream and it should be perfect) that shows a different program for every group of people. And since my third love is dogs, I’ll have trained pups in the shop, who’ll be handing out change or something. But most importantly, there’ll be cookies allll over the place. Maybe, even cakes! And muffins. And cupcakes. And doughnuts. Yum yum I like my imaginary diabetes factory!
Upgrade needed
Big Brother, here we go again
The countdown has started to the second season of Big Brother Israel, and now stands on 1 hour, 40 minutes. It’s not my sick head, it’s the channel’s craziness that reminds me on every commercial break. I don’t know if I’ll watch this season, but for some reason I’m actually excited about the big opening. I watched the first season online [and more on that later] since my satellite company didn’t show it on tv. Then there was a quick VIP season, this time on tv, with a special fee [plus 2 main edited episodes on a free channel]. I wasn’t really hooked on that season. The people were lame [and most of them were singers of the same "clique"] and the house design was the same as that of the 1st season. I just kept thinking of the original housemates and their “hold” of the bed or couch. Yes it’s pathetic, but it was hard watching someone else sleeping in Leon’s bed.
First season was amazing. And horrible. Touching. Disgusting. Sad. Shocking. Aggravating. Funny. But most of all, addictive. I first watched it to see what the fuss was about. Then I watched to see how the friendships and romances evolve. Then there were fun parts. Then I felt close to these people. When the people I disliked gossiped and made fun of my favorites, I wanted to punch them and go tell my favorites they should think carefully who to befriend with and trust.
When it became a group of the “good people” [if it was a movie they'd all be wearing white hats] against the group of bad people [black hats] I watched through the bad people parts just so I won’t miss my good people. If it meant waiting until 2am when they’ll have alone-time in the backyard, I waited. They could be pretty quiet and I’d still stare at them. But mostly they had conversations, the kinds I never have so it’s nice to hear other people do them. When they lost their friends one by one [by evil votes] it was really sad, and my people seemed like poor sad puppies. They cried, and I cried. The pressure on them was too much, and the closed house with people who hate them for 3 and a half months was making them extra nut and depressed. It actually made ME depressed. The hate in that house was like nothing I’ve ever seen. Outside of it also, amongst viewers as bullies as the ones on screen. Considering it was the most watched show in Israel, and Israel is a small country, I always encountered people who dissed my white-hat people and it felt like they were hurting my friends. Or myself.
There was no getting away from it. It became the most talked about subject in the university as well. It was mentioned in almost every course, if not them all. Either the main subject of the lesson [it happens on tv & film studies] or as a quick note in other lessons. And the talks were mostly about the “funny” guy who became the biggest tv star ever, and happened to be my most hated character in the house. Since he was evil. Not funny. Just an evil bully. And I have no sympathy for those…
So, this addiction made me stay up almost all night [not good before an 8am class], made me upset for my “friends” being humiliated and bashed all over the country, made me depressed thinking of the way the people in my country seemed to prefer the disgusting bullies, got me too active online to defend my white hats [hence caused another addiction to posting comments on forums and blogs] and pretty much took a chunk of 100+ days of my life. I couldn’t leave my computer. When they ate, I ate with them. When they laughed, I laughed with them. When they slept I said thank heavens and finally went to sleep. Who wants to miss the action, and then be left out?..
However, one by one of the white hats got kicked off, until one remained. And she eventually won against all odds, with double of the votes the “biggest star” got, and most votes to ever cast on Israeli tv. It was a sweet win. Eventually I can say none other reality show got me so involved [physically and emotionally] and this one was insane, insane, insane. It made me hate the production also, and understand the power editing has over the main big-rated shows.
Yeah, that been said.. I don’t think I’ll watch this season. Sucks the life out of you really.
What was I thinking?
Media literacy seminar? Really? Possibly the most boring subject in communication studies. And I already knew that from a pointless course I took last year. So why again? “Oh I know this lecturer. She’s nice. Kinda funny at times. She uses stupid videos from youtube to show her point. And she has the same political views as mine and she’s not afraid to talk about them. It’ll be alright.. it’s right after that other fun course about children’s cinema. Fits fine in my schedule. It’ll be alright”…
Stupid! Nothing is interesting or innovative about media education! There’s new media, and people need to educate themselves about it!
There’s one article about parody in The Simpsons, and how it’s sooo critical blah blah blah. I saw The Simpsons and locked my eyes and mind on that article. Now the problem is I can’t find 4 more articles that would elaborate on this issue for a 20 pages seminar paper! Doesn’t matter I’ve already been through every article on google scholar and my library. The world is against me. Even my TV decided to show green people now. It’s the martian attack on the fat TV. Time to switch to LCD full HD. How ridiculous, a TV-addict who watches green-filtered shows on a big belly television.
She was right in her presentation. Trying to come up with a subject for this paper WILL make you look like this:
And it’s only the end of the 3rd week of the first semester.
My current TV routine
One thing that is really close to my heart, brain, eyes and any other limb is television. I’m an infamous couch potato, and been such since early age. I remember myself about 6 or 7 years old, starting elementary school and trying to adapt to the new wonders of cable TV. I used to sit on the living room’s rug, behind the table, my eyes fixated on the tv while my hands were trying to get myself dressed. My mom would urge me to get ready but I would not let go of the tv. Now I wonder what was even on tv that early in the morning, when cable tv in my country was only in its diapers.
Today, after many tv shows in my record, and tons of unnecessary trivia facts in my brain, I can say it’s my destiny. *Dramatic music*. I’m on my third and final year of Film & TV, mixed with communication BA studies. There’s too little TV in the film & tv section of the art faculty in my university, and for that I’m a little disappointed. However I can say when I did have to study and write about tv I did it well, and even got my first 100 since elementary school, in a long and detailed paper I wrote about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This week I had my first lesson in another course of the same lecturer, and the subject may be suitable for a paper about another Whedonist treat, Dollhouse. I’m very happy about that, and hopefully it’ll be easier than reminiscing 7 seasons of Buffy (even though I had my precious boxet to help me with the last paper).
So right now I’d like to take a quick look at the TV routine of this fall season. Even though uni started and it may keep me busy, I can not give the cold shoulder to my darling TV. Since I live outside the United States, I *take an illegal action* and watch the shows at least one day after they air, on my computer screen. Some shows I do put on hold, and wait for them to air on my broadcast TV, and I will not mention them now. So here we go:
Monday is the day I can say hello to Larry David and his hateful friends on Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s kinda sad that each episodes ends badly, because he’s a pretty rational guy. But maybe I think this way since I’m as a bad cynical person as him lol. Another monday watch is The Cleveland Show which honestly I missed its episodes since the pilot. Being a Family Guy fan, I sort of got tired a little bit of the Seth Macfarlane humor, and a couple of things started to annoy me, but that’s for a different post.
Tuesday brings with it Heroes which is sort of a family experience. Dad watches it and my sister comes early on fridays so we could watch it together before dinner. It gotten weird but I still enjoy Syler and funny Hiro on my screen.
Thursday brings along South Park, and thanks to southparkstudios.com it’s very easy keeping updated with every new episode.
Friday is a busy day, in which The Office, Survivor, Flashforward and 30 Rock all hit my screen. The Office is the longest and most intense addiction, and it recently refreshed my desktop with new wedding wallpaper. Yay! All hail the greatest sitcom since Seinfeld. Survivor has been an on and off addiction, I missed maybe 5 seasons from the middle of the 19 seasons so far. This season is kinda lame and the Russel craziness sucks. Flashforward is the newest addiction, also a family experience. I like the Shakespeare’s in Love guy. What a flawless accent. And finally 30 Rock, not my favorite but a nice way to pass 20 minutes.
Saturday finishes the routine with Dollhouse. Hopefully it won’t get cancelled so soon. I’m still waiting for some Spike/Buffy/Xander/Willow guest appearance. C’mon Joss… Even if Andrew pops up for a seconds, that’ll make my day.
Of course there’s much more joy with The Amazing Race, Entourage, The Big Bang Theory, but this is getting so long now. Well it’s suitable for the core of my life… television.
