stumbling toward divinity

early morning TV

So, I should probably be in bed.  What's the saying?  "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."  Yeah...  Apparently that's not me.  In so many ways.

But, needless to say, I am not in bed.  It is nearly 1:00am and for some reason I am wide awake.  Of course, it could be because I haven't attempted to go to bed yet, as I've been distracted by a large amount of sketchy television.  If you need a good, working definition of sketchy, then I invite you to check out this entry over at Urban Dictionary.  However, if you are new to the world of the UD, and have delicate sensibilities, then I would suggest you not surf around too much on that site.  But I looked over most of the entries for 'sketchy' and they seemed fairly tame.  While most of the submissions are valid in this case, I specifically like entries 1.1, 2, 3.2, 4, and 6.  There were 48 definitions.  I only read the first page.

Anyway, back to the television shows I've been watching.  Right now it's the Real World Award show.  Where it takes all 19 seasons of the Real World that have been the air, invites all of the people that were on those seasons, and then gives them awards for things such as "hottest male" and "best run in with the law" and "best phone call gone bad."

One thing I've noticed is that, even though earlier seasons like Boston and San Francisco - when it actually seemed to address real issues and include real people - are nominated for some of the awards, the audience that now watches MTV and would have gone to vote for the various awards only really remembers the more recent seasons like Sydney and Las Vegas and Denver where it mainly consisted of seven self-centered young people coming to live together, get totally smashed, and find out what happens when you hook up with your roommates on national TV.  Granted, occasionally there are some rare gems, and so I optimistically keep watching each season hoping that somehow, some way it will get back to what it once was.  But it doesn't.  And so, on this awards show, a lot of the earlier, better, more relevant seasons get overlooked, and the young people that are doing the voting opt for the newer and more vapid seasons.  Which I think is unfortunate.

But yeah.  I'm not sure what's worse.  The fact that MTV is giving awards to these people, or that the people that are getting the awards are probably not some of the most deserving, OR the fact that I'm awake at 1:00am on a Tuesday morning watching it...  And I'm pretty sure I don't want to know the answer... 

i am excited

FOR THIS:

MovieWeb - Movie Photos, Videos & More

MovieWeb - Movie Photos, Videos & More

MovieWeb - Movie Photos, Videos & More

MovieWeb - Movie Photos, Videos & More

I'm Edmund, I met the Queen in the woods, she told me to come here... I'm the Son of Adam!

Well, I'm still alive, in case you were concerned.  In fact, I'm completely unharmed.  I won't expand on that anymore.  It's ok to keep some things mysterious.

In other news, I don't have much to add but I thought I should compose a new post lest those who are aware of what I'm referring to in the above sentences should start to worry.  So, I decided to share some pictures of Edmund Pevensie who, apparently, would be my Narnia character, according to that internet quiz thingie I took.

Here is Edmund according to Pauline Baynes, who is the illustrator for the Narnia books, along with Ginarrbrik who is the White Witch's sleigh driver:

There was a British cartoon released by the Children's Television Workshop in the late 70's/early 80's of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." I vaguely remember watching it. I was unable to find many pictures from it online, but I did find a picture of what looks like the case for the video cassette. On it, you'll be able to see Edmund riding on the back of Aslan and looking like a complete doofus:

Now, the BBC did a mini-series based on four of the seven Narnia books. I videotaped them, and I think the cassettes might still be at my parents' house, but I was not a big fan of them. The beavers were large and frightening. Lucy was annoying and seemed as if she was some weird crossbreed between a human and one of the frightening beavers. Edmund was played by the actor Jonathan Scott who hasn't gone on to do much afterwards, according to IMDB... but here is a picture of him:

Then there's the more recent and well-known adaption of the movie that was released in the theaters in 2005.  The actor who plays Edmund in that movie is Skandar Keynes and I think he does a better job, by far, than the animated Edmund or the BBC Edmund.  Here's a picture of him:

So, there are the many faces of Edmund Pevensie.  And that draws this most amazing post to a close.  With that, I think I will head for bed with much excitement because I get to sleep in tomorrow!!

p.s.  I have to admit that I am a bit upset.  I ended up being Edmund, but I really wanted to be Mr Tumnus...

what does this mean?

Someday, ages from now, archaeologists and historians will be researching what life was like way back in the beginning of the 21st century.  They'll find artifacts and bits of information, and they will try to piece them together to obtain some sort of accurate depiction of what our society is like.  And I'm afraid that this is what they'll find:

A couple seasons ago, VH1 had a television show entitled, "The Surreal Life."  On this particular season, the third, there were two out-of-the-spotlight semi-celebrities that happened to spark an unusual friendship.  These two were Flavor Flav, from the rap group Public Enemy, and Brigitte Nielsen, who was famous because of her film career, which was mainly Red Sonja, and her marriage to Sylvester Stallone.

Their relationship was unique, and apparently entertaining, enough that VH1 decided to give them their own spin-off television show, and called it Strange Love.  It was another reality tv show, meant to document this outrageous relationship and their potential [editor's note: and extremely repulsive] romatic escapades.

Apparently, this strange love didn't last long, because soon Flavor Flav was given his own Bachelor-esque show entitled Flavor of Love, with the intention that he would meet his true love.  So this television show arrived at it's conclusion, where Flavor Flav presented the clock to the "woman of his dreams," whom he nicknamed Hoopz, and turned away the other contestant, whom he had nicknamed New York.  As he handed Hoopz the clock he said to her this romantic line:  You know what time it is.  Alas, [editor's note: and not surprisingly, in the least] after the television show ended, Hoopz forsook Flavor Flav and chose, in light of the men and magazines that were now newly interested in her. 

Not allowing this setback to discourage them, VH1 gave Flavor Flav another try with a second series entitled Flavor of Love 2.  Once again, in Bachelor style, Flavor Flav dated (and many other things) these women, and finally worked his way down to the final two.  Then, he presented the clock to the woman of his choice, once again spurning the affections of New York, who had been brought back for this second season [editor's note: probably because she was dramatic, obnoxious, and had a potential personality disorder], and had, once again, made it to the final 2.

For some unGodly reason, VH1 decided to give New York her own show, calling it I Love New York.  Similar to the Flavor of Love episodes, New York dated (and other things) these men, hoping to widdle it down to the man of her dreams.

Now, apparently, this didn't work out in her favor, because they've begun doing an on-line casting call for their latest show I Love New York 2.  Where people can try out to be on the show and win the affections of this crazy, delusional woman, while simultaneously being tormented by her deranged, Drag Queen of a mom.

But that's not where all of this ends.  Wanting to get in on the fun, the actress known as Mo'Nique has a new show on VH1 entitled Flavor of Love Girls Charm School.  In this show, her stated intention is to help reform the girls that were on the show, as well as give them a chance to redeem themselves for their less than classy introduction to the American public.  What it really is, however, is another opportunity for people to watch these women misbehave, fight, and find various other ways to create drama with one another.

So, many ages hence, what will it say about our society today that people found this type of entertainment enjoyable?  I suppose at that point that I will be in a place where I won't especially care what their opinion is, but at THIS point I'd like to think that our society will be remembered for great technological and medical advances, and perhaps some great humanitarian efforts, such as the One Campaign, and that this whole Strange Flavor of Love Charm School debacle will be less than a blip on the radar, and not the open, seeping wound that it seems to me to be right now.