Monday, September 28, 2009

Reality


My favorite reality tv shows are the dancing shows, in particular "So You Think You Can Dance" and "America's Best Dance Crew." I'm not so keen on "Dancing with the Stars" because I don't think the dancing is all that great. Face it, Tom Delay can't dance -- nor can many of the other "stars" on that show. Plus is seems unfair, of course an Olympic figure skater and skier are going to do better than Cloris Leachman.

I've seen SYTYCD more than ABDC, so I am more familiar with that show. I don't watch regularly but I do love to watch the choreography and different dance styles. It seems to me that each season the dancing gets better and stronger. The choreographers can be pretty amazing too. They come up with very creative and at time cutting edge dances to go with usually interesting music. Last season they added disco, which was very entertaining.

I've only seen a little of ABDC. I watched more this season because there was a go-go dance crew from DC. They were ok. Lasted for a while but weren't as good as some of the other crews. They tended to be a bit sloppy and not always together.

The other reality show I watch is Celebrity Rehab, my secret addiction (like the diet coke I have almost every afternoon to help me get through the rest of the day). I love that show. It is a good one for thinking about how "real" reality tv is. In this case, the show is oddly compelling, so at times, it feels very real. I love Dr. Drew who seems earnest in his desire to help these people. Sober Living was pretty good, but that one felt less "real" than the other.

Dr. Wahl is probably going to ask me to support my opinions (inform them in reading speak). I have offered lots of opinions but haven't really provided much evidence to support them. I hope you can do better...

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Music

Right now I am listening to the mooing, meowing, "ehh ya", "whoo," and grand piano sounds of my son's brandnew, and I mean just dropped-off-by-his-grandmother-today brandnew, keyboard.

I have all sorts of music, but most of it, I'm sick of. I have tons of CDs that I bought before my son, and I have tons of music I have bought for my son. I have an iPod with exactly 282 songs on it -- pathetic. And I recently bought a cord that allows me to plug the iPod into my highend receiver (something I bought before my son when I actually listened to music), so I don't have to listen to the same 6 CDs over and over again simply because I can't decide what to listen to and those are the CDs in the changer --instead I can listen to the same 282 songs over and over again. I wish someone else would load my iPod up with music I would like--also pathetic.

My son is the one who is totally into music these days. He likes to "rap" and dance (both of which he learned at school). He listens to some of the same stations that Dr. Wahl listens to on the radio -- PGC and KYS. Sometimes what the djs say is inappropriate for my son. I hope that stuff goes over his head.

I feel pretty backwards about music right now, and my son seems to be taking the lead. Maybe one day....

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Jay Leno Makes Kanye West Cry



It all started Sunday at the MVAs. Taylor Swift was accepting her award when Kanye took the mic from her and said that Beyonce should have won – not Taylor Swift. So he was booed, lots of upset (though Taylor Swift seemed to handle it pretty well; well I’m not sure she really knew what had happened but she never did finish her acceptance).

Apparently Kanye was asked to leave the venue and may have even been escorted out.

Flash forward to tonight -- Monday. Flipping channels, catch Jay Leno and his “new” show (which seems to the same as his old one – same bits, same Kevin the music guy, same Leno – just on earlier).

So sounds like Kanye was already scheduled to appear with Jay-Z and Rihanna. Kanye decides after getting a lot of flack all day that this is a good time to talk about what happened at the MVAs (before performing with the others). He seems genuinely upset and contrite. Had just had a really bad day. Takes responsibility for his actions (yes!) and is really upset that he hurt someone. Realized he had made a big mistake when he handed Taylor Swift the mic, but she didn’t finish her speech.

That’s when Jay hits him with a really hard one, “I met your mother a few years ago. How do you think she would react to what happened?” Wow. Kanye can’t speak, covers his face, are those tears? Long pause, at least for on tv. Finally answers, something about touring and performing and working all the time, not time to heal and reflect. So he is going to take some time off to sort himself out and try to be a better role model.

Then he grabs his shades and jacket and performs with Jay Z and Rihanna.
Or was the whole thing a performance?



Friday, September 11, 2009

Sadly

Today, I ended up blocking a bunch of my followers. New semester, new group of students. Greg and I decided that it would be too complicated for our new Pop Culture students to follow us and add each other if there were all these other followers from last semester. Sorry Pop Culture Spring 09! If you write and still want to follow this blog, I'll for certain unblock you.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Back to School


Classes started. Looking forward to blogging with a new group of students. Welcome Pop Culture Fall 09.