Moral Perversion in TV Today -- The Omarosa Example

I came across half a thought today that disturbed me. I did not feel like being disturbed, so I ignored it. But it was persistent. I kept getting this image of Amarosa, the woman who has become the "villain" of reality TV by acting like a total and complete bitch. She first gained notoriety by acting unscrupulously towards her teammates in Donald Trump's The Apprentice . She lied, refused to participate in the team's efforts, and behaved overall appalingly. After she was kicked out, she appeared on a series of TV shows alongside movie stars and celebrities. Then, she participated in the Celeb Reality Show, which concluded a few night ago. Again, she was rude, mean, and an overall bitch. After calling one of her housemates a crackwhore and a bad mother, she gloated that she had forced her nemesis out of the house. Then she left the show, smiling, saying that she regretted nothing and said that a whole new category of actors had been created because of her -- the reality villain. This idea -- and the fact that she was absolutely right - disturbed me immensly. She winked at the end, as if to plant a seed of doubt in our mind - that maybe she was just acting like a bitch the whole time and wasn't one in real life.
Of course reality shows are anything but real. Of course producers like having a shock factor in their shows. Of course we like to sit in our comfortable chairs and get the feeling that we are at least better than one person in this world. But that she is actively sanctioned and her actions condoned by not getting booed off stage when she comes on the show to talk about her life -- that bothers me. It bothers me that she should have left the Trump show with her tail between her legs and never gotten a real job after that and instead she became rich and famous. It bothers me because it sends the wrong message. It sends the message that immoral people-- people for whom the ends justify the means-- when put in the right setting, get to be someone in this world. She lied, she cheated, she broke all rules of common courtesy and respect. How does she get invited to gala dinners and red carpet events? How does she dare to stand next to people of talent, honor and integrity? She lives as a parasite, feeding off of our culture's desire for scandal and moral degradation.

Reason for a drumroll...

I would like to take this opportunity to create an environment of excitement. Drum roll, please. I have been...
rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, still rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, still rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, still rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, still rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, still rolling)
...AWARDED A GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIP!
This means I can afford to go to graduate school in the spring.
It also means I will stay in Charleston for two more years.
It also means I am super excited about life right now.

The Thanksgiving Plan or How to Land a Great Meal as a Foreigner

Every year around this time, I thank the gods that I don't have family in the United States. About a month before the big day (of Thanksgiving, that is) I start setting up my plan that inevitably lands me with a great meal. This is how my "get-invited-to-the-best-thanksgiving-mean" plan works:
I set my strategy up by ask the unsuspecting friend or renowned good cook what their Thanksgiving plans are. They respond and, if the answer sounds appealing, I proceed to phase two: setting myself up for the reciprocal question. I do this by leaving a lot of silence and looking slightly embarrassed. When they ask me what I am doing, I go in for the kill. I change my countenance to look like I am slightly sad but trying to look strong. My words usually go something like this:

"Me? Oh, I don't have any family in America. The closest person geographically to me is my brother, and he lives in the western extremity of Canada. So I don't know what I'm going to do. Probably nothing. I'll just stay at home by myself and try to enjoy the quiet, I guess."

And that usually does it. I am always invited to Thanksgiving dinner. Any American who hears the words "alone" and "Thanksgiving" automatically feels a tweak of compassion and sadness. And since I am also cute and not from here, I make a good conversation piece.

After I have raked in a few invitations, I consider my options and try to find the best cooking/family atmosphere combo. Then I make my calculated selection and wait for the big day to arrive when I can shower my host family with compliments on their fabulous American cooking and assure them that theirs was the best Thanksgiving meal I have ever had.

Brilliant.

November 21, 2005

Nothing much to report. Life is good. I'm excited about turkey day and my friend Siobhan's mother's fantastic cooking. This weekend we had a keg party at the house. We played lots of games and drank lots of cheap beer... fun times. I also put in a bunch of hours doing research for a writer who is finishing a book on the 1886 Charleston Earthquake. My young eyes went through lots and lots of old newspaper articles...
Everything else about this weekend is either incriminating or boring. Mostly incriminating. So I will refrain from mentioning it.

When You Are Old

William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

When you are old and gray and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

So I like this poem for one, because it's got such cool imagery. For two, because it's the neatest thing to think of the person Yeats was writing this for opening a book and seeing a poem about her... regardless of what happened in the end. And for three, because of the sentence in bold -- the pilgrim soul. What woman can't identify with that?

But I Am Le Tired

So I am exhausted after staying up til 3:30 to see Harry Potter. But it was so worth it. Oh yeah.

So this French lady came into work today and I gave her a tour in French of the building and we ended up talking about everything and nothing... she was really interesting but I am so tired I can barely speak English and so my words were coming out all garbled and messed up and I just made up words when I couldn't think in French, it's been so long... And anyway... she left to go back to Bordeaux and all I can think of right now is:

"Fire ze missiles!"
"But I am le tired."
"Well, take a nap. And zen... fire ze missiles!."

On that note -- guess who can't wait to take a nap?

There's something about Harry

HARRY POTTER IS COMING OUT TONIGHT!!!!

I'M TRYING TO CONVINCE ANNA TO GO TO A MIDNIGHT SHOWING WITH ME... YOU KNOW, BE MY HOT DATE AND ALL.

But don't you have work in the morning?, you ask

I do, I answer.

But it's HARRY POTTER!!!