- I think part of the reason I don't sleep well is because of my mattress. It's soft and comfortable, but I noticed that I always feel so much more refreshed when I sleep on the stiffer bed at home in Darien. I don't toss and turn as much, and I don't wake up in the middle of the night either. It seems that stiffness of surface is key. Maybe I should just sleep outside on the concrete in a sleeping bag from now on.

- A highlight from the weekend: A few hours of No Limit Hold'em with the boys at Rod's graduation party. It was good times, so I think we should make it a regular thing. Except, I would feel too much like a 40-year old guy having "Poker Night" with his buddies to escape from his wife for a day out of the week.

- I think the main reason we all decided to play Hold'em that night was probably because they have been showing the World Poker Championships on ESPN a lot lately. Makes me wonder about how much TV influences our lives, especially subconsciously. For example, I always find myself itching to play football more during NFL season, and softball more when it's baseball season. It's not just the weather, it's the exposure to watching games of each sport in each case. Something about the visual effects of seeing a nice tackle, a nice touchdown catch on TV must trigger the desire to play football with your friends. Same goes for watching baseball, and now Poker.

Then again, I'm probably just overanalyzing it like I do to everything else. But it does make you wonder if seeing too much violence on TV, movies, video games, etc. really does cause people to become more violent. I've never really believed in that school of thought, mostly because it seems like a cheap excuse for people who commit violent crimes. I mean, it's quite a jump to go from watching someone get murdered, to murdering someone yourself. But there are always the sickos who enjoy killing for some reason, and who knows how they got to be that way?

See, normal people (like me) watch a show like Jackass and just laugh about it. It's quality entertainment. But stupid teenagers can watch the show and end up thinking that it would be a good idea to jump off a moving car or something. In the same way, normal people might play Mortal Kombat II (or, for this generation of controversial video games, GTA: Vice City), and just have fun ripping a guy's heart out after kicking his ass in round 2. But what about the wacko kids out there who are mentally ill or emotionally unstable? You gotta figure that out of all the people playing this game, someone out there might grow up and end up becoming obsessed with ripping people's hearts out from playing MKII as a kid. In that case, who do you blame? You can't expect the video game companies to be responsible, when their game is perfectly fine and fun for 99.9% of people who play it. But for that 0.1% of sick people, they wouldn't have turned into violent killers if not for playing MKII.

Dang, my head is starting to hurt. My brain is running on empty, and I think I need to take a nap to avoid thinking.

Notes

- Bought 3 DVDs the other day for $45: There's Something About Mary (Collector's Edition), Can't Hardly Wait, and Happy Gilmore. This increases my DVD collection from 4 to 7. Now I need to either get a DVD player or hook up my computer to my TV, so I can watch them on something bigger than a 14" screen.

- I guess you can't expect much out of high school kids, but the employees at Best Buy are either really stupid, ignorant, or just liars. I was looking at the PS2 display, and I asked the guy there if he knew anything about the newer models that do progressive scan and have remotes and stuff. It would be one thing if he just said "I don't know", because I'd understand. But then he had to start saying stuff like "oh, that's just misinformation, don't believe in that". Since I knew I wasn't talking about "misinformation", I was like "hmmm.... are you sure, because I've heard about this and read about this from a bunch of different sources". So he paused, before continuing on with his little "that was just misinformation, you should ignore it" spiel. Man... stupid employees piss me off. The reasons left to shop at Best Buy instead of getting everything online are getting fewer and fewer.

- Does anyone else think that the whole country is getting Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, and Bruce Willis? That's my theory, because I just don't think that Ashton Kutcher is really dating Demi Moore. For Demi and Bruce, it benefits them because they are both in Charlie's Angels 2 (albeit minor characters), and the added publicity probably translates to higher earnings from the movie. For Ashton, it benefits him because he likes to punk people, and what could be bigger than punking an entire nation that is hopelessly obsessed with celebrity couples?

By the way, doesn't it also seem convenient that Justin Timberlake started seeing Cameron Diaz a few weeks before the opening of Charlie's Angels? Kind of like a couple months ago, when Colin Farrell was seen with every hot girl in Hollywood just as his movies were coming out. Maybe Cameron D is using JT for publicity. But hey, I'm sure he wouldn't complain too much about being used.

- A couple people have told me that Terminator 3 is entertaining, so I want to see it. Too bad I don't think anyone would go with me, it may end up having to be one of those "Loser Rentals" for me. I'll add it to Blue Crush on my LR list, of DVDs that I will probably end up watching alone on some Friday night in the future.

Oh, and I can't believe Arnold Schwarzenegger might run for governor in California. Even worse is that people there might actually vote for him. I mean, have they not seen his movies? He's not even good as an actor, how can he possibly be good as a governor? And when he talks, the Unintentional Comedy of it all has me laughing for hours. Can you imagine him giving a speech about some political issue and actually expecting anyone to take it seriously? "Up and at-dem! Up and at-dem!" "My eyes! The goggles do nah-thing!"

Real World Lookalike



You be the judge.


Real World Paris

Another season of Real World has been quietly underway for a few weeks now. I don't think I've ever followed an entire season, beginning to end, because my TV watching habits are too erratic to stay with a weekly series. But I've been able to catch scattered patches of episodes here and there throughout the many seasons.

The thing about RW is, by most standards, it fits the genre of trash television pretty closely. Part soap opera, part Jerry Springer. Let's put a ignorant white guy in a house with a strong black personality and see what happens. Are you homophobic? Great, we'll put you in a house with a homo roommate and be shocked when conflict or tension arises. The more mental/psychological issues you have, the better you'll fit in as a cast member. Of course, we'll also have to make sure you are young and attractive, and have no issues with hooking up with the other attractive cast members when you know cameras are around you everywhere. Are you Asian? Well, as long as you're whitewashed and female, come on in. Sorry, yellow males need not apply.

When you think about it, there's very little about the scenario that makes it the "Real World". How many of us in the real world were given a pimped out house to live in for no reason? And how many of us have been offered automatic jobs that have little, if anything, to do with your qualifications?

Even with all that said, you have to give credit where credit is due. No matter how predictable the episodes are, or how stupid the whole thing is at times, I gotta admit that the show has produced many entertaining moments that make it worth watching. And it was reality TV years before reality TV became huge. With all the stupid gimmicks in reality shows these days, it's somewhat refreshing for me to be able to just watch a bunch of people live together and see what happens. You don't gotta trick a bunch of women into thinking some guy is a millionaire. You don't have to make anyone eat moose testicles. You don't need to vote someone off every week. There's no lifelines to use, and no wannabe singers getting ripped apart by a British guy.

So anyways, just for kicks and giggles, I decided to write some short analysis on each character in this season's RW. It's still kind of early in the season, and I already missed parts of some episodes, but oh well. I did the best I could.

Mallory

Looks-wise, she's the only pretty one in this house (except maybe for Simon), but it already seems like she might become this season's version of Trashelle. Maybe she won't be as messed up, but who knows. Some warning signs:

- Says she likes to make out with random guys at clubs
- "Drinks like a fish" and uses drunkenness as excuse for stuff
- Not afraid to lie to people
- Phone call home involves parent worried about her embarrassing family - like Trashelle
- She's from Palatine... cesspool of America's filth

Christina

Don't know why, but I can't stand the way she talks. I think something about how she accents certain words just irritates me. The other thing is, the word "butterface" seems to pop up in my mind every time I see her. (to remind everyone, definition of Butterface: a girl who would probably be hot, based on body, hair, clothes, etc. - "but her face...")

I found the peanut butter episode to be very entertaining. Actually, it kind of made me realize that I am now older and farther along in life than all of these Real Worlders, so to speak. I'm too mature and I have more important things to worry about than someone eating my food. Then again, I don't think there was ever a time in my life when something so trivial could turn into such major drama.

Ace

So far, probably the guy I dislike the least. Maybe a little too in love with being the "cute Southern boy from a small town". I personally hate being called "cute" by anyone, because I believe only girls, babies, and certain animals should ever be considered cute. Nope, not even small digital cameras should be considered "cute".

Leah

Quickly and easily became my most hated cast member of this Real World. I've said it before in this blog, but the worst kind of girl is the ugly biatch. It's one thing to be a biatch if you are attractive and can get away with it. However, if you are not hot, but think you are, and still act like a biatch, then it doesn't get much worse than that.

The ongoing feud between her and Adam is the most compelling reason for me to continue watching the show. Those two characters were meant for each other. It's just fun to observe idiots pissing each other off, makes for a good show. So hopefully there will be more Adam-Leah conflict in the rest of this season.

Simon

"One of these is not like the other...." Everyone else is straight and from the US, and MTV decides to throw in the token gay guy, who is also the only non-American. He's got an interesting British accent/gay lisp combo going on. I'm kind of curious to see if there will actually be any future episodes that involve him, or if he's just gonna be the guy they only show once in a while, a side character to make remarks on the other roommates. That's pretty much all he's done so far. But for now, I guess I'll be content to just be entertained by his resemblance to Keith Van Horn.

Adam

Here's the token angry black guy, with a twist. It's a well-known Real World requirement to include exactly 1 black male cast member who gets mad about stuff - no more, no less. Except this time, it's different. Adam isn't ghetto, he's not intimidating, he's just a whiny loser.

Every time he talks, he makes it seem like he is about to say something brilliant. Actually, almost everyone that goes on Real World seems to always think they have something important to say. But when the words come out, they inevitably make me scratch my head and think "huh?" or "well, duh".

The most entertaining Adam part so far this season, other than the drama with Leah, was him rapping his lame song in one of the first episodes. What a big dork. But I hope they have a lot more episodes centering around him, because it gives me uncontrollable fits of laughter.

CT

I always liked the SNL series with Jimmy Fallon and Rachel Dratch as Bostonians, who have thick accents and rave about Nomaaahh all the time (The best one, naturally, is the one with Britney Spears - "that accent makes you sound retaaahhhded"... haha). But I always figured that their Boston accent was exaggerated, that nobody actually talks like that. Well, I guess CT proves me wrong, because this kid has a thicker accent than what I thought was possible. But other than that, I can't really think of anything interesting to say about him. Maybe we'll see more on the next episode, when we are promised the "biggest lie in Real World history". OOOOHHH BABY

4th Of July Weekend

I think the tradition of watching fireworks on the 4th of July isn't nearly as huge for me anymore. Taking its place atop my list of 4th of July traditions is barbequeing. Can't have the holiday weekend go by without the brats, burgers, beer, baseball, board games, and big booties. Well actually, there wasn't really much booty, especially with it being an Asian BBQ and all. But it was still a good time. Props to Cindy for hosting all of us and cooking in the crazy hot weather, what a beast.

Saturday, didn't do much other than watch baseball, and then saw Charlies Angels 2 at night. It was pretty entertaining, I think if you liked the first one (like I did), you would probably like the second too. The first one is still better though, mostly because it had "the Chad".

As usual, went to church on Sunday, took a nap in the afternoon, and then stopped by Waste of Chicago for a couple hours. Mostly, it was not worth the drive and parking fees, but at least it wasn't that crowded and hot. And I had one of those big turkey legs too, which is always a plus.

Other notes from the long weekend:

- Used a credit card at McDonalds for the first time. Looks like the fast food industry is finally caving into the age of electronic money. Now that we can get Filet-O-Fishes, buy movie tickets, and even pay toll on the highway without having to deal with bills and coins, maybe I'll be able to convert from wallet to money clip soon. But I haven't taken the plunge yet, because I don't want to damage or lose my Britney Spears stickers.

- Played mahjohng on Thursday night with the original Pact members plus Dennis's Mom. The highlight was Mrs. Wu talking to Chras and P in Chinese. Also played some pong that night, makes me feel like playing a lot more.

- I HATE BILLY KOCH... someone who has such blatant disregard for protecting leads should never be a closer. Ok, so Carl Crawford got a little lucky for homering on that pitch. But why do these things seem to happen so much to Billy Boy? It doesn't matter how hard you can throw, if you blow saves regularly, you don't deserve to be the guy to finish games. I can take some solace in the fact that we don't have Alfonseca, but at least Alfonseca isn't the closer.

I Hate People

Seems like everywhere I go, every time I wanna just relax or have some fun, PEOPLE have to be there and mess it up for me. I'm really starting to hate people. It'd be one thing if they stayed out of my way, but why do they always gotta be where I am?

I wanna ride the Whizzer, but no, first I gotta wait an hour cause PEOPLE are in front of me. I would like to drive home on 53, set the cruise control at 95, kick my feet up and just steer, but too bad there's PEOPLE taking up lanes on the highway other than me. Even worse, some of these PEOPLE have flashing lights on top of their car and write tickets. Then I'm trying to enjoy a White Stripes concert, and guess what? MORE PEOPLE. I go to the Sox game -- yes that's right, MORE PEOPLE. What do I have to do to get away from all these PEOPLE??

Alright, I know I'm just being angry now. Seriously though, it would be nice if the places I went weren't always so crowded. Especially when they're mostly high schoolers or college students. I'm sick of being stuck in a herd of sweaty, obnoxious kids. And I really think the young'ns are getting stupider and more annoying these days. I refuse to believe that I was anything like these punks when I was that age.

Maybe I'm just in a bitter mood because I have to be at work today, while SOME PEOPLE have started their weekend already... biatches. Well, actually I was a little pissed this morning, but now I don't really mind that much. This day is pretty chill so far, and I think from lunch on thru the afternoon there will be some sort of "America Day" celebration out in the parking lot of NGC-Rolling Meadows. There's a certain buzz in the air, and I see red-white-blue decorations all over. It looks like the 4th of July! Makes me want a hot dog REAL BAD... haha