Thanks, Ogged, I wasn't depressed enough after the sexless thread.
Jesus Christ. I read stuff like this and feel like we should be able to draft these pricks and send them to Iraq or something so they can get some perspective smacked into them.
I think Sartre got that sorted out a while ago.
Nothing about this is new except the lack of shame.
I felt like I was getting covered in stupid just reading the first couple of paragraphs, so I quit. Next thread.
Is "Najjar" an Iranian name? Sounds like it.
The only thing I can get to load is a Range Rover advert. Have the myrmidons of Unfogged taken down the server, or does Firefox just hate stupid?
Is "Najjar" an Iranian name? Sounds like it.
Almost certainly.
Also not sure this is a "guys are dicks" issue:
That these relationships are totally contrived is the point: Manufacturing fake realities is--read slowly here--the only real dimension of Jenner's and Pratt's lives.Isn't this just what we expect from all participants in these little dramas? A life created for consumption by Enquirer readers? It's creepy as hell, but it doesn't seem all that rare.
DE, that pictures goes with the story. Try here.
This is all redirection. Ogged just doesn't want us to realize that he invented the Swede and the Pool Girl and this whole blog thing is totally contrived. He's sucked us in and now Spencer Pratt's going to monetize this shit.
Spencer Pratt.
Christ, I wish this story were actually a Dickens novel.
Is the reporter really on dropping the cash costs for each item they use in order to insult them? Or is that how a story in Details magazine usually goes?
/ex
ah, so the baudrillard obituary is finally up. thanks for the link
I think it's HI-larious, actually. Seriously, if those people were the worst that our culture could produce, if they were the worst of which capitalism was capable, I would be dancing down the street for joy. I mean, they read like something out of sixties science fiction--like "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" played for laughs.
I'm not sure I understand all of the sturm und drang. It's a story about two very superficial, very immature guys who involve themselves in relationships with (using "going on a reality show" as a proxy) similarly superficial people, written up in a superficial magazine sold to consumers who purchase the magazine for its superficiality.
16 - dsmint/ex, welcome. I've noticed you comment a couple of times in the last few days. Could just be me, but I keep getting your handle confused with a recurring character on this blog called the Ex. Anyone else?
Isn't this just what we expect from all participants in these little dramas? A life created for consumption by Enquirer readers? It's creepy as hell, but it doesn't seem all that rare.A good friend of mine was on a Very Successful Reality Show a few years back, and the short answer is "yes". At the end of one of the dates, which, natch, ended up in the hot tub, the producers were like alright we're gonna pack up in about half an hour" and walked away, with the understood message being "start making out in the hot-tub now."
I don't think it was exactly a hardship for either party, but there was nothing organic about, well, any of it.
12: Nope, still hangs up, no matter how I come at it. Now that I've figured out the story's about Brody Jenner... well, who the fuck cares?
written up in a superficial magazine sold to consumers who purchase the magazine for its superficiality.
That's the really weird part - that it's sold as a way of making self-selectedly superficial types feel superior to these avowedly superficial sorts who are at least getting paid for it...
16 - No relation I'm afraid. Only decided to delurk recently, and of course, all the good names are already taken.
dsmint
21.--A friend of mine was a producer/writer on A Very Successful Reality Show, one in which a popular character could be stretched over as many as three episodes. By the third season of the show, participants were coming in with a total awareness of the online message boards and the fan clubs. They would approach the producers and say things like "What do I need to do to be on TV as much as possible?" To which the answer was, basically: "Act like a lunatic." And the participants would get their entire families and all their friends to play along according to this script. And they filmed it and called it "reality."
Bill Simmons was outraged by this a couple of days ago; we're behind the curve.
But I was outraged by Bill Simmons a couple of weeks ago, so we're still good.
I mean, they read like something out of sixties science fiction--like "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" played for laughs.
Frowner wins.
Do the "double whitewash" comments really bother you that much, Ogged?
David Amsden, the author of the article, went to my high school a year ahead of me. My friends and I send around his articles to laugh at how pretentious and full of himself he is. (He also wrote a novel, which I haven't read)
I was somewhat less annoyed by this article than I usually him with his pieces, perhaps because these guys are such ridiculous douchebags that my awareness of Amsden's annoyingness was less.
What reality show was Baudrillard on? Will they ahve to cancel it now that he's died?
32 to 31; Baudrillard would be heartened to know that some of us believe his death did not take place.
5: The pets probably never belonged to the women in question. I bet they're just your run-of-the-mill neglected trophy pets and that tool tried to make them "famous" by association. At least he's not auctioning them off on eBay.
One of the blondes on "Beauty and the Geek," acknowledging that a whole lotta people thought she was an idiot, said something on the reunion special to the effect of, "They all say I'm dumb, but I'm on TV, so I showed them they're all wrong." The implication being that having achieved the pinnacle of her life's ambitions, being on TV, showed she was pretty darn smart.
I enjoy my reality TV (hey, never said *I* wasn't shallow), but it takes some of the pleasure out of it that some of the participants think this makes them better people somehow.
What a deliciously empty life. Still, it's not like Jenner is really harming anyone else. I'm not sure I agree with the "soulless" labeling. If he were torturing and murdering people, perhaps, but not for playing around and enjoying the rich life. I can assure you that there are plenty of people in LA that are worse than these guys.
Also, sexism much? Would this even be a story if the protagonists were female? If a guy can trade on looks and f*ckability to reach celebrity, all power to him, ladies have been running this gambit for quite some time.
I enjoy my reality TV (hey, never said *I* wasn't shallow), but it takes some of the pleasure out of it that some of the participants think this makes them better people somehow.
Well, she did achieve her goals. That her goals were, from our perspective, stupid doesn't change that she has a sense of accomplishment. Gold star there.
Is -gg-d objecting to the phenomenon of that web site (which yeah, I can see hating) or to the specific linked article (which is just right over my head -- I could hardly make out a word of it)?
Who's Najjar? The link took me to a story about somebody named Jenner who is apparently connected vaguely to somebody named Nicole and who is, to boot, a fucking hero to America. I did not see any Persians.
Aha! There he is on page 2.
I had never before heard of this "Black Card" which apparently is such a status symbol. Does this mean I'm hopelessly unhip?
essear, you and me both. Thankfully, there's Google to explain these things to us.
16 - No relation I'm afraid. Only decided to delurk recently, and of course, all the good names are already taken.
During your time lurking, did you notice anyone else signing his or her comments in the very comment box itself?
-ben
The link in 41 features an awesome quote from a credit-card company executive: "Our clients needed a better card for their wallets." Ben: certain Unfoggedtarians are in the custom of appending their signature to their comments; I am thinking specifically of Max (formerly Ash), but there could be others; for instance, dsmint/ex.
40: The Black Card is some kind of high-roller American Express card. I know I'm impressed.
The Black card is proof that people will spend sickening amounts of money for the privilege of spending yet more money each year. The best thing about it is the occasional good Clipse rhyme it inspires.
Oh yeah, and it does look kinda cool in person. I had a customer use one once when I worked retail, and it inspired long discussions of what the perfect ostentatious credit card would look like.