Puntabulous

I tried Gossip Girl last season but was unimpressed and gave up on it after a few episodes. But everyone loved it and I was kinda sad that I gave up on it. Then the OMFG! ads were plastered all over the city and I seethed with jealousy that I wasn’t a part of the phenomenon. So I gave it another shot on Monday with the season 2 premiere. Still unimpressed. But I loved The O.C.! Could it be that I was over the teen drama genre?

Then the new 90210 came along tonight. And I fell in love. It was so good.

And she’s shamelessly flirting with a devilishly handsome rogue pilot played by Billy Campbell!

So I finished the first Season of Babylon 5 this weekend. I really like the show despite its flaws and inferiority to Star Trek: The Next Generation. Here are my thoughts:

1. The basic premise is great. All those different species and civilizations living on a space station in the hopes of creating peace between worlds is an interesting concept. Each of the characters and species have their own motives, which gives the show a mysterious vibe that really works well.

2. As you know, I enjoy shows with major story arcs rather than monster-of-the-week type storytelling, so I really enjoy the continuous flow of the story, and I’m really excited about the introduction of “the Shadows” because I have a feeling they will play a major part in the entire series. Am I correct in assuming that?

3. This show features some of the most god awful hairstyles of any show ever. And I’m not even referring to Londo! I’m talking about Commander Sinclair (bouffant!) and Michael Garibaldi (balding and spiky!).

4. I’d have to say that Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova is my favorite character, followed closely by Garibaldi. What is it with me and strong women?

5. The special effects are generally pretty awful by today’s standards. I can respect the fact that they were pioneers in using computer generated ships, especially on television, but Star Trek did so much better with practical models, it seems silly to use computers just because you can.

6. The music is even worse than the special effects. It sounds like everything is done in MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and it just comes across as cheap.

7. I was disappointed to see that Season 1 didn’t wrap up Commander Sinclair’s storyline. I know he’s no longer the Commander in Season 2, so I hope that gets resolved and not brushed aside like “Here’s our new commander!” I also looked ahead at the cast lists for future seasons and it makes me worried, especially for Season 5. Where is Ivanova?! (Don’t spoil it for me.)

Now that I’m done with this, I’m switching to Season 2 of Star Trek: Next Generation. I’ll be flip flopping between series after each season. I popped in the first disc of Season 2 just to see if Dr. Pulaski was as awful as most people have suggested, and while she’s not as good as Dr. Crusher, I think I’ll survive this season without her. And there’s Guinan! Yay!

Ambassador Delenn of Babylon 5 = Deliciously Crazy Rousseau of Lost

Both characters are played by Mira Furlan, which I just found out, and for some reason it makes me really happy. Almost done with Season 1 of Babylon 5!

Craig’s brother Adam here. I have been a fan of reality television since 1994 when I saw a marathon of the entire season of The Real World – Los Angeles on MTV. As far as I was concerned that was the peak for The Real World. San Francisco and London seasons were both very boring and I stopped watching. Until 1999 when I was in the US NAVY on my second Western Pacific Deployment aboard the USS Santa Fe. About 5 months into the 6-month deployment we pulled into Guam and since Guam has a giant Navy base we were all able to get barracks rooms to stay in for the week, which was a welcome treat after five months aboard the ship. Each of the rooms had television and guess what MTV was running that first weekend? It was The Real World – Hawaii season marathon. This was a great thing for a group of young homesick Hawaii based sailors to be watching a group of young people going to the same places we like to go and partying in the same clubs where we liked to party.

In any case, my point is that reality television is here to stay and I have been watching for a long time. Here are a few of the reality shows that I currently watch or watched in the past:

Reality Show: Survivor
What I Like: I think this was the first “main stream” reality show so you have to appreciate the fact that this show was the first to bring reality television to the masses. I started watching because everyone that I knew was watching it.
What I Hate: After watching two seasons of this show, it seemed to me that the people that won were always the ones that lied, bullied and cheated the most.
Why I Stopped Watching: I quickly got tired of watching the worst people win all the money.

Reality Show: Ice Road Truckers
What I Like: Just some regular guys trying to get a very difficult job done. Some of the guys are very smart hard working guys and others on the show are just a bunch of chuckleheads. It’s a broad cross section of humanity that is pretty fun to watch each week.
What I Hate: Season 1 took place on the Yellowknife ice roads. For season 2 they have taken four of the season 1 truck drivers and got them jobs driving on a different ice road further north and it feels a little contrived.
Why I Continue to Watch: So far the good outweighs the bad and the Sunday evening time slot makes it a great way to finish the weekend.

Reality Show: The Biggest Loser
What I Like: Just a bunch of normal people trying to lose weight. As someone that struggles with my weight, I find this show both entertaining and inspiring.
What I Hate: The show is a little too much like Survivor in that at the end of each show one of the players gets voted off the show. I think it would be better if the players were eliminated solely on the basis of weigh loss to eliminate a lot of the “game playing” that makes it almost impossible for the best players to make it into the finale.
Why I Continue to Watch: The good still out weighs the bad and it seems like they are constantly fine tuning the rules each season to ensure that the hardest working people make it further in the game.

Reality Show: Little People, Big World
What I Like: Just a nice normal family trying to lead a normal life on their farm selling pumpkins and peaches while overcoming the challenges of being little people.
What I Hate: The first season they were a nice normal family working several jobs to make ends meet. After the first season, it’s apparent that the Roloff Family has hit the big time. Remodeling their entire house, going on vacation every other week, etc., it’s all very contrived.
Why I Stopped Watching: After the first season, I just could not identify with the Roloff Family anymore.

Reality Show: Shear Genius
What I Like: Yes, I am a straight man and I like to watch a reality show about a bunch of hairdressers. But these are not fabulously wealthy hairdressers to the stars, these are real down to earth people. Some have been in the business for many years and some are fairly new to the business and they compete each week doing a job that they love. Besides that, I have had a crush on Jaclyn Smith since the late 70’s.
What I Hate: Sometimes the contestants get saddled with a client that is hard to deal with. For example, a client that doesn’t want their hair cut or colored. Why are these people on the show?!!! Don’t they understand the premise of the show?!!!
Why I Continue to Watch: What’s not to like about this show? Real people, a fair competition, Jaclyn Smith, this show has it all.

Reality Show: Project Runway
What I Like: Okay now I know that my manhood is really in question here but hear me out. It’s very similar to Shear Genius. Real People competing in a contest doing something they love and the beautiful host, Heidi Klum.
What I Hate: I am totally clueless when it comes to fashion so the designer that I think is the best never wins.
Why I Continue to Watch: Again… What’s not to like about this show?!!!

So there you have it, my take on reality TV. In case you did not see the pattern, I like real people doing real things. I don’t enjoy watching rich and fabulous people spend 60 minutes each week showing me how fabulous they are or how much money they can spend. Yeah, I am looking at you, Real Housewives and Gene Simmons. And I also don’t like when reality shows deal in matters of the heart like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

So tell me what you think about reality TV.

This post is a forum to discuss your outrage over this year’s Emmy nominations. For me, it’s the usual snubbing of Battlestar Galactica in the Acting and Best Drama categories that annoys me the most. Apparently people are upset about The Wire not being nominated as well, but I’ve never seen it. Which nominations (or lack thereof) grind your gears the most?

Or maybe we can just discuss the So You Think You Can Dance eliminations that took place last night instead.

So who else is watching So You Think You Can Dance? Anyone? Anyone? Well I am. It’s fantastic. Mark is my absolute favorite. He’s so quirky and fun, not to mention adorable. Otherwise I like Kherington, Twitch, Joshua, and Chelsie. Matt and his super incredible toe-pointing abilities kinda of freak me out. He’s so long. (That’s what she said.) And what’s up with that dick judge (not to be confused with dick judge, which is a completely different show) Nigel? You’re a judge on a dancing show! Enough with the gay jokes. We get it! You’re pretending to be straight!

So in conclusion, Mark Kanemura is my new boyfriend. The End.

There’s a special kind of lady in the world that delicately walks the line of sporty and butch. They are the Tomboys. Being a tomboy isn’t easy and there are several rules that one must follow if they wish to become one. To help you understand these rules, I’ve enlisted the help of Kara “Starbuck” Thrace from Battlestar Galactica. The following are some basic rules that Starbuck has demonstrated throughout the series that will help guide you through the process of becoming a tomboy:

Rule #1: Let your hair dictate your mental state. One wouldn’t think that tomboys care that much about their hair, but they do! To be a tomboy you must either have short hair cut well above the shoulder, or wear it in a constant ponytail. Take Starbuck’s time on New Caprica for example. She let her hair grow long, and didn’t bother to keep it pulled back in a ponytail. What was she thinking? Suddenly she was a weeping, solemn mess, who fell in love with her cylon captor. Even when she got back to the Galactica, she wasn’t the same Starbuck we all know and love until she cut off her mane.

Rule #2: Have issues, and plenty of them! There’s gotta be a reason why you’re a tomboy. If you have no issues, then you’re obviously some sort of poser trying to make yourself standout from the crowd. So you should just put on your apron and get back to the kitchen where you belong. Real tomboys have issues. Perhaps you didn’t have a good enough relationship with your batshit crazy mother, so she wasn’t able to teach you the finer traits of being a good woman like wearing dresses and throwing poorly. This of course spiraled out of control and you were essentially damaged goods for the rest of your life, never being able to commit to anything. But that’s the sacrifice you have to make if you truly want to be a tomboy.

Rule #3: Hate on women. As a tomboy, all other women are threats to you. As you make your transition to full on tomboy, you will begin spending all your time with men, and you must sever all emotional connections with women. You will need to show your dominance over other women not by outsmarting them or outworking them, but by being a complete asshole to them. The notion that two smart, outspoken women can work together for a common goal is absolutely ludicrous. No one wants to see that. They want bitch fights. Possibly involving mud pits. As Starbuck has demonstrated with her relations with Kat and President Roslin, the only time you will be allowed to feel any kind of emotion for women is when they are on their death bed. Too late you say? Not for a tomboy!

Rule #4: Don’t be afraid to girl it up every once in a while. As a tomboy you will be required to wear a dress approximately one time a year, but only so everyone can make comments about you. When you wear a dress, you will be paraded around like some sort of show dog while people say things like: “Wow, you really are a girl!” or “Looking good, lady!” or “Show me your vagina!” Yes, it’s insufferable, but you have to do it. You will be required to smile and say things like: “Enjoy it while it lasts!” and possibly stumble in your high heels, because that’s what tomboys do. Get it? Because they don’t wear high heels often. Who cares if you’re the best viper pilot in the galaxy? High heels require coordination beyond your level of comprehension.

Rule #5: Sleep around…with men! Tomboys are not lesbians. I repeat, tomboys are not lesbians. But people will think you are. Just because you’re awesome at Pyramid Ball doesn’t mean you play for the Sagittaron Sapphos. If you are a lesbian, you are not allowed to be a tomboy. Please stop reading immediately and refer to Admiral Cain’s Guide to Eating Out, which isn’t written yet. Starbuck has slept with three separate men throughout the series, four if you count Zak Adama, whom she had “relations” with before the series takes place. She even slept with Gaius Baltar for goodness sakes! I bet you tried to put that out of your memory, didn’t you? But these are the lengths you will need to go through to prove yourself as a true tomboy rather than just your average, run-of-the-mill lesbo.

There we have it. Go forth, my minions! Be the best tomboys you can be! Just be prepared for people to hate you because these rules also make you a bit of an asshole.

Oh Battlestar Galactica! Why must you always make us suffer through your mid-season breaks?!

Let’s discuss in the comment section, shall we?

Here’s hoping that tonight’s episode is better than last week!

Let’s discuss Battlestar Galactica in the comment section, shall we?