Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘reality tv’

So Simon Cowell thinks he’s bigger than Springsteen.

But the real question is, is Springsteen bigger than Jesus?

British MP and general wackjob George Galloway has come under fire from Israel for promising to donate any money he wins from his participation on the reality show “Big Brother” to a terrorist front organization:

The Israeli embassy last night became the latest critic of George Galloway after it denounced him for choosing Interpal as his nominated Big Brother charity, claiming it is a front for Palestinian terrorists. The organisation vehemently denies the charge.

[ . . . ]

However, UK ministers are coming under increased pressure to ban Interpal. In August 2003, the US administration claimed it was “a principal charity utilised to hide the flow of money to Hamas”, branded it a “specially designated terrorist” organisation and froze its assets in America.

Interpal was also banned by Israel in 1997.

Surprised? Nah, not really. Galloway’s true colours have been clear for a long time, and this is far from the most shocking thing he has done. Then again, raising money for terrorists who blow up innocent Israelis is probably considered a good thing in Galloway’s twisted mind.

(Hat tip: Tom).

How did I live all these years without shows like Canada’s Worst Driver (The Discovery Channel’s idea of reality TV seems to be to cause accidents in cities all over Canada), The Kumars at No 42 (marathon on BBC Canada) and Was Hitler Gay? (why are they trying to claim him, anyway?).

What was that Springsteen song again? Oh yeah: 57 channels and nothing on…

When Paul Martin addresses the nation tonight, will his speech provide his sinking governemnt with a life raft? Or will he dig himself further into a hole?

More importantly, how many Canadians will tear themselves away from “Survivor” to watch the Canadian-politics version of the game: who gets voted out of office?

Update: I guess this occurred to Martin’s handlers too; they moved his speech earlier, to 7pm, presumably to avoid competing with prime time.

BNL doing reality TV? On FOX?

C’mon guys, please tell me you won’t stoop to that level!

What do you get when Canadians try to jump on the reality TV bandwagon? A hockey reality show.

Yes, we’re proud of living up to our stereotypes.

• What on earth is that William Hung kid doing performing on Jay Leno? Sheesh, he’s so bad it’s embarrassing! I’d feel bad for the poor kid… but he’s more successful than most real musicians in North America. For the next 15 minutes at least. I don’t watch American Idol or anything, but I’d venture to say he’s enjoying more fame and publicity than any of the finalists! From Beatles to Hung in less than fifty years. What is music coming to?

• Letters like this one are encouraging and nice to see. But they’re also easy. Too easy. It’s simple to act upset and shocked when assholes firebomb an elementary school. It’s harder to face down other forms of antisemitism that aren’t so obvious but are just as harmful. I’d like to see a flooding of support for the Jewish community when there’s a suicide attack in Israel. Instead, we get finger-pointing and Israel-bashing.

• Speaking of the UTT fire, Geoff has photos (via Celestial Blue). Disturbing to see the building that way. I can’t bring myself to drive by. Though the attack happened in the elementary school’s library, the high school is attached and so I spent 5 years of my life inside that building on a near-daily basis. I’m too used to remembering it as the place I dreaded seeing as we drove up every morning… and was happy to be let loose from every afternoon … only because it meant long days trapped inside boring classes. It meant a school that was falling apart, with leaky toilets and an ever-present smell of rotten fish. It meant all the things that are a normal part of high school. It never meant fear of being harmed or attacked. What will the building mean to the current students?

• Lynn has the latest about the Mel Gibson movie, and its convenient messages in the Arab world. Here’s a hint: It’s not a hit in Muslim countries because of Monica Belluci’s breasts.

• Michele has done a lot to restore my faith in the education system. It seems that there are actually teachers out there who encourage kids to think for themselves and debate!

• In the meantime, I’ve concluded that Passover must be sponsored by the gyms and fitness centres. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt in such need of exercise.

Finally, let’s just pause for a moment and appreciate the wonderful thing that is a LONG WEEKEND!!!

I was flipping channels the other night, and heard a teaser promo on – I think – the CBC on a story about trans fats and the drive to legislate them out of existence that went something along the lines of “Why don’t we eat the way we should?”

Now, I’m not disputing the findings of all the experts who say that trans fats are bad for us, or are a health hazard even. But I am a little wary of attempts to ban unhealthy foods. Even if fat is “the new tobacco”, as the Heart and Stroke Association sensationally warns, well, heck, even tobacco’s legal.

Every day, we’re assaulted by shocking warnings about different kinds of food. One day, it’s watch out for the water – it’s polluted and will kill you. The next day, don’t touch that protein. The day after, protein is king (thanks Atkins) and it’s the carbs that’ll kill ya. Sugar is bad so sweeten artificially… no, artificial sweetener will cause cancer; use real sugar. It’s an eternal yoyo going by with such dizzying speed that nobody can possibly keep it all straight.

In the end, everything’ll kill you. But that’s ok cause life will kill you. Death is one of the only two certainties in life. You can eat only vegan all-natural vegetables your entire life and get hit by a car.

As long as they are eaten in moderation, most foods won’t do you grievous amounts of harm. So if I want to be bad and occasionally eat something that’s bad for me, that’s nobody’s business but my own. It’s certainly not the government’s. If these interest groups get their way, every guilty pleasure will be illegal, and all the causes of death will drop drastically… but when people realize what kind of dry existence they’re left with, suddenly the suicide rate will spiral out of control. After all, what is life if you can’t indulge in a slice of triple-chocolate mousse cake on occasion?

I don’t smoke. I don’t do drugs. But I have the occasional drink, I’m positively addicted to chocolate, and I don’t always eat my recommended daily intake of the four food groups every day. Even more shocking: Sometimes I read romance novels, watch cheesy movies, and I’ve even caught an episode or two of bad reality TV. And the guilty pleasure derived from doing each of those is the same as the guilty pleasure derived from eating greasy onion rings.

So to the NDP and their proposed bill outlawing trans fats, I say try being bad once in a while. Sometimes, it just feels good.

For those of you who thought North American reality TV had hit rock bottom, Allison’s got the scoop on the latest and greatest in Israeli viewing entertainment:

My latest guilty pleasure is watching “Project Y,” the local reality show, which is a hybrid of “Big Brother” and “American Idol.” With a little bit of “Fame” mixed in.

The 20-somethings are all trapped in a house, and the viewers vote them off one by one, but they’ve all got show biz ambitions and spend their daytime hours in the house taking acting, voice and dance lessons — with the usual gossiping, partying and casual sex in the evenings.

The winner — the sole survivor — gets a contract for their own TV show.

So, I’m unloading the dishwasher and I’ve got it on in the background, and suddenly I hear screaming, “You Arab dog, you Palestinian terrorist! Go ahead blow yourself up, you suicide bomber! I dare you!” and a response, “I’ll kill you, you shiksa Russian whore sleazebag!”

Thinking that things are heating up in the house, I head over to the TV screen.

There were two of the show’s participants, Camilla, a Russian immigrant, and Fares, an Israeli Arab, engaged in a massive tickling and wrestling match on a bed and laughing their heads off. They were completely joking with each other.

Interviewed afterwards, they said that getting all this stuff out in the open and joking about it defused the tension. Hey, whatever works.

But I’d love to put THAT clip on Peter Jennings newscast and let him sort it out.

Does Israel have equivalents to raspberry awards?

Still, it’d be worth it to air a few episodes here, just to see the heads of the ultra-politically-correct wackos explode.

This sums up pretty accurately how I feel about Canadian Idol:

People like [music journalist Kerry] Doole don’t believe a televised contest, one built around cover versions, is the best way to find Canada’s next musical star. “It can assess a very limited type of musical talent – the talent of mimicry,” Doole says. “The stress appears to be on vocal ability, rather than any kind of originality or creativity.”

For Canadian Idol’s detractors, that’s the central issue – since the contestants only do cover songs, it’s impossible to assess how much raw talent they have. After all, Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell and Neil Young didn’t become music legends by singing covers.

“Ultimately, the only way you make music is by listening to your own voice, certainly not putting yourself in front of a panel that’s trying to create hit songs,” says Jim Cuddy, one of Blue Rodeo’s two front men.

In other words, it’s nothing but a glorified karaoke contest. Which is why I don’t watch it.