reality testing

Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus (of Nanny Diaries fame) co-authored a new teenybopper book called The Real Real about the reality behind reality tv shows and the actual scriptedness of them. I went to Border’s tonight for a reading. Here is their theory on the matter of reality tv. When these shows start getting filmed, such as The Hills or Laguna Beach, the idea is to take ordinary teenagers and to film their ordinary lives. Yet in a way the shows wind up detracting from the the plainness of their lives when the ‘actors’ are introduced to fame and public attention. As the show becomes popular, the result is that they have to struggle insanely just to keep paparazzi out of a single scene because the characters have become so famous. So the result is an attempt to extract the fame from their lives in an effort to showcase the ordinary. And this is called ironic.

Oh, they also explained that according to their producer friends at mtv, they try to keep reality tv characters as “sleep-deprived and inebriated as possible” at all times. And they choose emotionally unstable individuals on purpose. Audrina is starting to make alot more sense to me now..as in..maybe it’s not her fault?

If you recently graduated (or something to the effect) and do not currently have a job or class, here is how to plan your day(s):

Step 1. Get OUT of bed before eleven

Step 2. Check the weather

Step 3. If it is 73 degrees or above and there is some semblance of sun, pack your bag (book, sunscreen, frisbee, & cheese crackers) and go to the park. Or rent a bike.

Step 4. If the weather is awful, start looking at job posts

Step 5. Look online to find out what is happening in the city today, preferable that is free.

Step 6. Call your other friends who also hang out during the day.

Step 7. Depending on an the succes of step 5, drag your friend(s) to a museum, a movie, or something du jour.

Step 8. If all else fails, go to the gym(!) The resulting endorphins will at least motivate you to leave your apartment and find something productive to do, anything.

~the sixties

~reading about the sixties

~praying to see the sun at least one day a week so i can feed my park obsession

~being determined to bump into anne hathaway while she’s been spotted frequenting upper west side hangouts

~looking for colors to paint our apartment walls

~making fun of people’s blogs that list their daily lunch consumptions

~my straw hat

~eating cocoa krispies for breakfast

~brb-breakfast time

I would like to modify the post that is five posts below this one -

I would like to replace #10’s ‘To be Determined’ with

10. Stanley cup—go pens!! the parade was awesome (ok, at least according to my sister…i might’ve forgotten to go..)

shoutout to JF

Events of the Night..

~Guacamole + cocoa krispies dinner, check.

~Getting shooed away from movie theater at 10pm because it was “closed”, thus not seeing Brothers Bloom for the fiftieth time, check.

~Instead, eating frozen yogurt (surprise, surprise) at lovely berryanonmyous yogurt establishment, check.

~Overhearing the following conversation in said establishment:

Upper east side high schooler #1: They should just put the calories up there.

High schooler #2 + kooba bag: The calories ARE up there (points up), just look.

High schooler #1: (freaking out) Why would they not be up there?? (Runs out of store frantic and likely in tears). yup, check.

~~Shoutouts to brown bear and polar bear(?)~~

Mk, where were you…when everythin was falling apart..

~Oh, and seeing a man verbally abuse his passenger while stuck in FDR traffic, check. how did we lose that car again?

How nice it is to be back in this freak show of a city. Ah.