Reality TV-American Idol I

Okay, so I know I already posted one this week, but I can't hold my tongue any longer. This is about reality TV in general not just American Idol, so keep that in mind as you sit at your desk sipping from your DWTS (that's Dancing With the Stars) or Americas Next Top Model coffee mug thinking what losers the fans of Idol are.
I don't get it.

I mean, I watch it. Everybody does. When people claim they don't watch reality TV, then you have to believe they'd claim they don't sing at the top of their lungs when the Carpenters come on the radio while they're alone in their cars. EVERYBODY watches some kind of reality TV. For the purposes of this rant, however, I'll isolate my comments to the shows that involve voting. Most of them involve some form of public voting, but there are still shows where the results are decided by three or more judges. Actually, most use some form of combining the two throughout the season.

So, back to the subject. I can't believe how many people vote. American Idol had something like 69 million votes last night. 69 million is a lot of people, especially when nobody watches. What I'd like to do is give this a little perspective. This is a singing competition where America votes for the person they like. Did I get that right, the person they like? I've seen phrases batted about such as, "...I'm shocked and saddened by the results" and "...I can't believe how wrong this is", oh how about my favorite, "...a travesty". Are you kidding me!
Those who know me know that I'm not a tree hugging environmentalist, I don't like animals anywhere but on my plate, and I don't give a crap about politics, but really? Who got voted off (by the way that could be a whole other post, this isn't Survivor people, you don't vote someone "off" American Idol) isn't and never will be a "travesty", should never "shock or sadden us", and it certainly isn't "wrong". It's a TV show. Incest, rape, child abuse, kidnapping, those are things you could describe using those words, not who doesn't get to sing on TV next week.
Am I wrong? I mean there are some times when I get upset. When I saw the results show from Hells Kitchen last year, I was actually nervous for the contestants. I was ticked when the wrong guy won. I was more angry at the results of the Next Food Network Star than I was about the elections. EVER. Not this years elections, but any elections ever.
So here we are, sitting at a precipice. What can I say? Only this.........

I really think Kris Allen should win AI because he has talent and he's relevant. Adam will make a great lead singer for an 80's cover band, Gokey will do fine because he's the next incarnation of Michael Bolton. Allison, I'm not going to say America got it wrong, but..........

Facebook I

I'm writing what I hope will be the first of many blogs about the New World Order. I have so many things to say and although I can't discuss them all right now, I hope to live long enough to be able to perfect this new age of communication known as the blogosphere. Please bear with me as I try and get my thoughts on paper, or whatever this would be called.
Where was I? Oh yes, Facebook. Facebook has some really great attributes. It allows us to innocently stalk our flames of yesteryear, it gives us the ability to post years old pictures of ourselves (you know, the ones where we had a little more hair and a little less weight), it gives us the ability to make fun of those people who don't know you're supposed to post older better looking pictures of ourselves, and it even gives people free reign to completely slaughter the English language one....word....at a time.
What's not to love? How could someone find a complaint about a community that lets you whine about everything from your job, to your chores, to your church, and even your spouse for the whole world to see. Especially when the list of your friends (for those who live in a cave or have recently emerged from a coma, that would be a list of the people who can read your comments, see your pictures, and in turn comment on them) includes co-workers, your parents, the people you go to church with, and yes your spouse. What's not to love. I can't wait for the first time I see someone ask for a divorce on their spouses wall (once again for the remedial group, your wall is where you and others post comments for your friends and their friends to see). I've seen everything else, why not that? So here we are at a crossroads. I plan do post several essays on the subject but for now I think I'll just give one piece of advice. Writing on Facebook is today's version of passing a note in class, except the whole school gets to read it and comment on it, except with this one you can never claim it isn't yours (or is you'res? Maybe is theirs, or they'res, or even theres or there's. Oh, who can tell any more.