BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) JUNK TV or ANTIQUE TELEVISION?
I don’t get it. Remember back in the day when your grandma would watch “Antique Roadshow”. You hated it, but ended up getting sucked in because you were amazed that a hand carved box from 1924 was worth fifty eight hundred dollars. Assumingly thanks to the recession, people like the idea of a proverbial treasure hunt. These shows have snowballed without us knowing. There are antique shows like American Pickers where two dudes go around picking through people’s old stuff and bartering with them on buying it to resell. These are fun because they show us what the profit margin is and they don’t rip people off. Then there is Pawn Stars. People come in and try to sell their stuff. Often experts come in and give their opinion on the item in question. I don’t trust this show. They don’t tell us what they make and I always feel like they’re ripping people off. And now I’ve caught more than enough hours of a newer discovery called “Storage Wars”. These people buy old storage shelters in an auction and then go through it and scrap and sell for massive profit. I’m guilty of watching these shows… obviously. Never the less, if this is what the new craze is instead of people staring at cake on the Food Network all day then I’m all for it.
(THREE) WEIRD or ARTISTIC?
I don’t get it. I like weird stuff and I love art, but they don’t automatically go together. There is a huge difference, but people are ignoring that. We’ve seen Lady GaGa continue her parade of over-the-topness and Kanye West jump in on the fun. Kanye throws together some big semi-abstract short film for no reason. Both are talented artists despite my personal preference on at least one of them. It’s just their gimmicks are too much. They’re selling image and magazine covers over selling a vision or art. It’s really easy turn off your brain and get on the bandwagon to call these two genius, but they’re making it really hard for clear minded folk to look past the cloud of pizzazz for some artistic integrity. And I’m not completely against over the top characters, but these directionless artists are ill-fitting. Give me a Bowie, a Janet, or someone… anyone else. These musicians were artists being weird because they had to not because a publicity machine behind them is getting in their ear.
(TWO) ACTING OUT or JUST ACTING?
In high school there was this trend. When I was a senior there were a slew of freshman girls who would all have seizures in between classes. I know one or two were real, but the rest just seemed a little redundant. In 2010, there seemed to be an oddly large amount of musicians and celebrities that had mental breakdowns. It’s like the PR firms are seeing the attention that Spears, Winehouse, Lohan, and other trainwrecks get and decided to put their own twist on it. I’m just saying. The Disney kid having a break down and going in for help, the American Idol chick’s suicide talks right around her album release, Miley letting herself get films while doing fake drugs, etc. etc. etc. I don’t hope harm on anyone and if they are having issues then I wish them the best but it all just seems a little too convenient.
(ONE) SAFTEY RULES or PUSSIFIED SPORTS?
I don’t get it. This year we’ve seen sports officially go pussy. The NFL fines players for tackling each other. The NBA calls fouls if you make eye contact for more than four tenths of a second. WWE took away chair shots, blood, and all the fun. Sports are pussified. I understand the thought process here. Let’s not kill our athletes. I’m all for people not being in wheel chairs, but I’m also all for athletes not getting paid hundreds of millions of dollars. Isn’t the risk factor in sports part of the thrill and part of the reason the athletes are paid so much? The softer sports get the less money the players should make. Simple as that.
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