Bridal Plasty

OK I can't take seeing the commercials and hearing about the show without saying something anymore. The new reality contest show, Bridal Plasty, has got to be the most disgusting premise for a show, ever. The idea is that these soon-to-be-brides go on the show and compete for a series of plastic surgery procedures. The longer they stay, the more work they get done. The girl who wins the show will have spent four months away from her fiancée and he will only get to look at her when he unveils her at the ceremony. Yes, that's right, after not seeing their fiancée for that long, the Groom will literally unveil her new Bride. Not the woman he proposed to, but a girl that sounds the same with a new body and a new face.

America, this has gone too far. I understand that we are getting dumber. I understand that we all enjoy at some time or another, to be entertained, and even that such entertainment is often violent and involving sex. This show takes all of these understandings and sprints past the line of decency. This show is not entertaining. This show is disgusting and it is terrible to know that Americans watch this show, giving the producers money, to essentially ruin women's self-images and tell people that no one is perfect, but perfection is achievable at the risk of your health, sanity, finances, and marriage. This is America at it's best folks! What a glimpse at the future this is...

After reading all of these books and discussing such topics in class, I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned that all of this shit is really depressing, but that it's depressing because it's true. Since we've been reading the Powers book, I have really begun not only to assess my media usage, but to think about the ways I take breaks. Sometimes I'll think about how addicted I am to my phone and to facebook and I get angry almost at my lack of willpower. I begin to wonder what negative effects this is having on me.

Every few nights, I write. I don't post on this blog or update my twitter, but I sit down and write with a pen on paper in a journal all of the things I feel that future me would benefit from knowing, that I currently have seen, done, or gone through. I write because it calms me down and because in the end when we're all killed by a plague or we turn to zombies, no one is going to be able to use the internet. I don't want my memoirs on a hard drive or in cyber space where, ultimately, culture and history aren't measured. I will never trade in my Moleskine for a keyboard and from the looks of it, I wouldn't trade my books for a kindle. All in all I'm pretty proud of my inadvertent, much needed breaks from technology. I feel much better about my situation now.