Lit, Flicks, and Pop Culture Hits: November 2008 Archives
New on the list of 'Things That Creep Me Out' is an ad I came across in the latest edition of Departures magazine (Obscenely Expensive Stuff That You Didn't Even Know You Needed Until We Told You), a periodical that we get free because we have some sort of credit card that is made of a rare element like tantalum or rhodium. Otherwise I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be subscribing to it, since we are somewhat averse to spending the average annual income of a typical village in many Sub-Saharan countries on a set of cuff links. And that's the main thrust of the magazine: lots of stuff you only need if the stacks of money in your bank account are getting so large that they may spontaneously combust.
Another television series we've had TIVOed (and am I allowed to use this acronym when we're really using the DVR supplied by Comcast?), for the last couple of seasons is Life. Excellent show, starring Damian Lewis who was so completely awesome in Band of Brothers back when. In any case, the other night there was an episode concerning a murder that occurred in a Southern Californian mall, which is kind of what I visualize when I reflect on what Hell might look like. Not that I do that frequently, just every once in a while when I commit the sin of gluttony, or think about committing the sin of gluttony or want to think about, ah yes, moving on.
A couple of years ago Mary and I were consumers of that most pernicious product of the airwaves, reality television. Oh, we watched it all: Survivor, Project Runway (well Mary watched that, not me...really), Top Chef, Amazing Race and so on. Nowadays, we pretty much only watch Amazing Race and Top Chef, and to large degree we check out the latter just to see what outlandish getup Padma is wearing. However, since during the last season she started dressing more like an adult than a seven year old with ADD, we may have to reconsider that stance.
In any case and getting to the point eventually, the one reality show we still watch with consistency is Amazing Race. I don't know precisely what it is that amuses us the most. The people who have a failing relationship and think the stress and frustration of a race around the world is going to make their love for each other magically shine again? The badly out of shape and overweight people that think that their superior brain power is going to allow them to magically outrun the twenty year old amateur Ironman contestants? Or my favorites, the ones who enter the contest and somehow, after thirteen seasons of broadcasts, still missed the memo that at some point you'll either have to swim or drive a car with a stick shift, since they make no effort to learn how to do either before starting the contest.
While watching the show we sometimes get ideas for things we'd like to do. For instance, several seasons ago the contestants tried out zorbing while in
So anyways, a recent episode on Amazing Race had the coolest event. The contestants had to take part in a wrestling match with Bolivian cholitas. This was magnificent for several reasons. It's 'professional' wrestling and I use the term professional loosely as indicated by the quote marks. It's unabashedly fake and hokey. And the wrestlers are woman. Tiny, little women. Who wear long traditional skirts and sneakers. It's amazingly fun. This is something that if I ever have the opportunity to go to
So check it out.
