:: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 ::

Guilty Pleasures

And on another note...I just updated my Guilty Pleasures links. Damn summer and its slew of mind-sucking reality programs!
And for the most part, they are nothing but guilty pleasures.

The Amazing Race actually has slightly more going for it - it's actually interesting, with fun challenges and exotic locales.

America's Next Top Model, is all about becoming, well, America's next top model, courtesy of supermodel Tyra Banks. Ain't nothing wrong with hot chicks! Plus you have the tensions between the Bible-studying inhabitants of the "holy room" and the self-professed atheists Elyse and Adrianne. It's great, bitchy fun!
Go, Elyse! I want her to win - her comments about the other girls are priceless!

Dog Eat Dog, of course, I talked about earlier.

And finally, there's Paradise Hotel. If ever there was a guilty pleasure, this is it. And it's on Fox, so that should tell you something. Ugh, I feel dirty just watching it. Nevertheless, here I am watching it, and talking about it on my blog. It's that good, and that bad. Definitely check out the website - the show recaps are better than the show itself! It may be mean, but hey, you parade yourself on national television, on a show where you're supposed to "hook up" with someone or get kicked off, and that's what you get.
Seriously, that's the point of the show - to hook up with someone and stay in "Paradise" as long as possible!

It's the decline of American civilization, and I'm right there watching it, popcorn in hand.

Anyhoo, check out the links, and have a little mindless fun!

:: posted by Rob 5:31 PM [+] :: 0 comments
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Going topless

WOO-HOOOOO!!!!

Summer is finally here, and that can mean only one thing - the top and doors are off the Jeep, baby! I cannot describe what it's like to drive down the highway at 70 mph with the top off - exhilirating, fun, WINDY, like total freedom. Anyone with a convertible knows what I'm talking about - but you can't take off your doors, too! Looking outside and seeing the pavement rush by right next to you - it's a thrill, a sense of danger. Once again, exhiliarating! And it's been two years since I've taken the doors off!

WHOOOOOO!!!

Now if only it dosn't rain for the next few days....

:: posted by Rob 5:03 PM [+] :: 0 comments
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Oh, and in case you didn't know it, the links on the side are constantly changing, as I change what I'm listening to or watching, or what new CDs or DVDs I've acquired. So when you check the blog, check out the links too! Who knows, you may find something really good. I just updated them, and believe me, there's something good over there...

:: posted by Rob 6:06 AM [+] :: 0 comments
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Yesterday at work, we found a raccoon in our next door neighbors' Dumpster. Ever since I was a little kid, I've liked raccoons. I just always thought they looked cool. Of course, I don't think I've ever seen a real one except on the side of the road as roadkill. So it was really cool being able to see one up close. Of course, it was scared to death, huddled in the back corner of the Dumpster while all of us crowded around looking in at him and talking about how he got in there and whether or not he would (or could) get out on his own.

So we had all these different people discussing the best thing (if anything) to do with this raccoon, along with remarks about rabies and biting and how hungry he looked. None of us had any clue what to do. But one of the guys I work with went inside and came back out with a stepladder, which he put into the Dumpster. I told him there was no way that was going to work. The raccoon, obviosuly scared, and with all of us standing around the Dumpster scaring him more, was not going to risk trying to climb out, in the middle of the day, with all us humans around, if it could even figure out that was the point of the ladder.

The raccoon climbed out.

Less than 30 seconds after I dismissed my coworker's idea, that raccoon was up the ladder, over the side of the Dumpster, and headed for the woods. I was happy that the raccoon was safely out of the Dumpster, unharmed, and I felt like an idiot. Here my coworker was, "thinking outside the box" as they say, and there I was, essentially calling him a fool for trying an unorthodox idea, when I was really the fool.

This was just a raccoon in a Dumpster, but how many times has someone had an idea that would work, that could help people, that had some sort of value, but they never tried it because someone told them it wouldn't work? So I'm going to try and keep a more open mind, and try more "thinking outside the box" myself. There's enough crazy shit going on in this world right now....maybe a few unorthodox ideas would help, if only someone would get the chance to try them.

P.S. This is by no means some kind of tree-hugging animal lover blog, what with the geese and the raccoon stories. It just seems like wildlife is playing the most interesting parts in my life right now. And I do like animals and nature and all that, I just don't plan on devoting my whole blog to them...
Ramble, ramble, ramble....bye!

:: posted by Rob 6:02 AM [+] :: 0 comments
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And I have to give a shout out to my friend Evan, whose birthday is today.

So Happy Birthday, E!

Hope it was good one for ya. Cheers!

:: posted by Rob 5:42 AM [+] :: 0 comments
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Dog Eat Dog - what a great fucking show! I have it listed to the side as a guilty pleasure, and I can't get enough of it! I sat through the whole hour with a big, wide grin on my face the entire time, and loving every minute of it. Laughing out loud, cheering, booing, the whole works. And this isn't even a show that really has any redeeming value - no well-rounded characters portrayed by skilled actors, no dramatic tension, no sitcom setups and funny one-liners, no "Law and Order twists," nothing. It's just an hour of sheer escapist fun.
It doesn't hurt that the host, Brooke Burns, is hot, or that you get to see girls in bikinis getting wet in the "tank" (you get to see guys in their bathing suits, too - it's not that sexist). But it's not just that - there's fun, creative stunts, sometimes stupid and sometimes erudite trivia, as well as ever-shifting alliances and good old trash-talking. But most of all, everyone on the show, including Brooke, is having fun. You can clearly see it, and it's infectious as hell. And it translates right through the screen into your living room. I have fun watching it. And for a summer (or almost summer) weekday evening, what more can you want? I'm hooked!

Oh, and if you haven't seen the show, there actually is kind of a "Law and Order twist" - at the end, the contestants that have been eliminated and sent to the "Dog Pound" have one last chance to beat the winner, or "Top Dog." If the Top Dog wins, he or she gets to take home $25,000. But if the Dog Pound wins, they split up the money amongst themselves, $5000 apiece, and the Top Dog, the winner, the champion...goes home with nothing.

I love this show!

:: posted by Rob 5:34 AM [+] :: 0 comments
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I just updated my links along the side - check 'em out! I was hoping to add The Italian Job to my Movies list, but I never left my apartment this weekend. I hate being sick! I usually only get sick about once a year, but when I do, I really get sick.
On the plus side, being at home all weekend gave me more time to work on my website. It's still not completely finished, but it's coming along nicely, so I put the link to it on the side. Take a look - hopefully, I'll have most of the rest of the pages finished in a few weeks.

:: posted by Rob 10:59 PM [+] :: 0 comments
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