America's Most Smartest Model - Episode 3

It's Monday again! Does everyone know what that means? America's Most Smartest Model was on last night! Yay! Tempers are flaring this week. Andre is still screaming at...well, pretty much anyone who will stick around to listen to him scream. Personally? I wouldn't ever sit in the same room as the man. Walk away, people! It is a valid option! Daniel was the main combatant against Andre in this episode. It's really a wonder that these people don't lose their voices from screaming at each other and Andre.

Yes, Jesse is still "fat." I'm not sure why Mary Alice thinks that a person can lose five pounds overnight. She keeps harping on the fact that poor Jesse doesn't have washboard abs. There isn't a whole lot he can do about that at this point. He's working out every morning and watching what he eats. Well, he was until the first competition where the models had to eat Twinkies and chocolate cake if they answered a question wrong. Speaking of which....COME ON, you can't answer "Who wrote the Star-Spangled Banner?" Did you not finish junior high or something? You were supposed to be one of the smarter models, Jesse.

As I said, in the first competition of the night, the models had to answer some basic trivia questions such as "Who shot John F. Kennedy?" If they answered correctly, they got to eat a healthy food and a more difficult follow-up question. If they answered the follow-up correctly, they could give their junk food to another model to eat. If they answered their first question incorrectly, they had to eat their junk food. (If the follow-up was incorrectly answered, nothing happened.) Andre got some payback in this round. Three of the models gave him their chocolate cake after answering their questions correctly. Yes, he had to eat THREE pieces of chocolate cake in one standing. Poor stupid Mandy Lynn answered her question wrong then refused to finish her cake claiming she was full and it was too sweet. So she got herself disqualified for the second competition of the day.

The second competition revolved around exercising. Gilad, a fitness guru, used this to pick one of the models to host his next group of fitness videos. Some of the models didn't even try. It was pretty sad. In the end, it came down to Australian~Rachael and Brett. I thought Rachael kicked Brett's ass but Brett ended up getting picked by Gilad. That gave him immunity from being kicked from the show. I kinda think Gilad just wanted to pick the guy over the girl. Luckily Rachael was a good sport and didn't throw a fit or anything.

Since Mandy Lynn was disqualified for the second competition, she didn't have to be there. She even got a package from Mary Alice containing hair dye so she could dye her hair instead. Mandy Lynn decided to play the trooper and go exercise with everyone anyway. About ten minutes into the exercising, Mandy Lynn decided it was too difficult for her and she'd go inside to figure out how to dye her hair. Somehow, she managed to not screw the whole thing up. Her hair actually came out pretty nice. Though it sounds like Mandy Lynn hates it. I think she really does want to be a porn star but she doesn't want to SAY it on national television.

Here is where I usually tell you that I won't reveal who got kicked off but I'm changing things up a bit this week. The three on the chopping block this week were Jesse (because he's fat, duh), Mandy Lynn (because she's dumber than a brick) and American~Rachel (because she's weak since she's too thin? what?). Rachel was taken off the block so it was down to Jesse and Mandy Lynn. Jesse is given another chance to miraculously lose weight overnight and Mandy Lynn is given the big boot. I find it absolutely hysterical that the judges waited until AFTER she dyed her hair to kick her off. It was almost like "Yeah, you did what we said but you still suck." Absolutely amazing.

Now we will get down to the real competition. American~Rachel is still pretty stupid so I imagine that she'll be gone in the next couple of weeks. Knowing how Mary Alice is, Jesse will be the next to get kicked off since it's impossible to lose love handles overnight. If it was possible, I think there would be a lot less "fat" people walking around. (Please note that we are using the model's definition of "fat," where you are obese if you weigh over 110 pounds.) I will miss Mandy Lynn but not her fake boobs, porn star hair and annoying laugh. She was entertaining while she lasted.

America's Most Smartest Model - Episode 2

Oh, this is definitely my new crack. I wasn't planning on writing about this every week but the models are just begging me to make fun of them. So it looks like I have a new weekly feature on my hands. America's Most Smartest Model - When Will They Ditch Mandy Lynn? This week the models were put into boy/girl pairs. For their first challenge, the models had a Jeopardy!-inspired game show where they would win items for their second challenge, a photo shoot. No one knew who Jackie Kennedy's designer was and I think it was American!Rachel that thought that Napoleon's last name was 'Pierre.' Amazingly, it was Mandy Lynn who answered that question correctly. In the end, it was Pickle and Australian!Rachel that got the most stuff for their shoot. Poor Jesse, who keeps getting picked on for being heavier than the other models, and Erika got nothing more than some body paint and a bed.

For the second round, the teams got to use their l33t model skillz. The only things they could use were the things they won in the first round. If you didn't win any makeup, then you got no makeup. It definitely made things a little more interesting. There was a professional photographer there to help them and he helped Mary Alice choose the best picture from the lot. In my opinion, Jesse and Erika should have done more with their body paint. There are SO many things they could have done but they barely did anything. Needless to say, their picture ended up on the bottom of the pile. Despite a late-night blow-out, Andre and Lisa managed to wrangle their differences into an amazing picture. Alas, Mary Alice didn't like the "violence" portrayed in the picture, choosing Pickle and Australian!Rachel as the winners of the round.

While I won't tell you who got kicked off, I will let you know that, somehow, Mandy Lynn is still around. I think that Mary Alice, who seems to make most of the decisions about who gets to stay, knows that Mandy Lynn is the one bringing in the ratings. She's the reason people will watch. It's unfortunate because she doesn't BELONG on the show. Yes, she had big (probably fake) boobs but she is a total airhead. (In the knowledge round, she said that GOP stood for Governor of Presidents!) This is supposed to be about being smart and pretty. I hope that Mandy Lynn gets kicked off soon. I'll continue to watch after she's gone. Sadly, I think she'll make it way farther than she should. OK, she's already made it way farther than she should. Hopefully she'll get kicked off next week.

America's Most Smartest Model

I generally don't watch a lot of reality television. However, as I was flipping through the channels last night, I came across the absolute best title for a reality show: America's Most Smartest Model. After a quick look at the show description and seeing that it is co-hosted by Ben Stein, I decided that this was a show I had to watch even though it might make my brain explode. So I got all comfy and settled in for the 90 minute premiere episode on VH1. This is now my favorite reality show. (Sorry, Beauty and the Geek.) We are introduced to the hosts, Ben Stein and Mary Alice Stephenson, and the 14 models. Of course, the models are all very pretty but that is not why I am here. I want to hear them be stupid!

Somewhat surprisingly, there are some very smart contestants. Daniel is working on his doctorate in Psychology, Jeff was an electrical engineering major before he dropped out of college (while that doesn't sound good written down, the guy is rather smart), Australian!Rachel graduated college in 3 1/2 years with honors. To offset the smartness, there are contestants like Playboy model Mandy Lynn and American!Rachel.

The first challenge the contestants are dealt is a spelling bee. All of the words in the bee are fashion/model related. Easy words like 'blue appear in the first round but then the difficulty level hits the roof. Most of the models are eliminated in the second round. One of Mandy Lynn's words was 'collagen,' which she spells correctly before telling the camera that her lips are not collagen, they are silicone. Oh, Mandy Lynn, you are so the win. I believe it was Brett that won this round, giving him an "edge" for the next challenge.

For the second challenge, the models had to walk and talk. While walking the runway, they would be given a category (such as "Types of Trees") and they would have to name as many things in that category as they could. I thought that some of the categories were fairly difficult. I don't know that I could name a lot of Elements on the Periodic Table off the top of my head. Mandy Lynn, once again, won my heart and the title of Trailer Trash Princess by repeating the same four objects in her category "Things That Are Round." (For those that are curious, her list was 'balls, cherries, balloons, tires.') Daniel won this challenge and immunity from getting the big ol' boot.

I won't give away who got tossed out of the competition. Though I will tell you that it was not Mandy Lynn. By all accounts, it should have been Mandy Lynn. Ben Stein should have tattooed "Moron" on her forehead and kicked her out. However, he likes her big boobies and Mary Alice thinks she can fix Mandy Lynn. I don't have that much confidence in her. On one hand, she really does not belong in this competition. On the other hand, she is probably the most entertaining of them all. So rock on with your stupidity, Mandy Lynn. As society has proved, all you really need is a big set of knockers anyway, right?

TV review: Cory in the House

Cory in the House is the third live action Disney Channel series, along with The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Hannah Montana, aimed at "tweens." A spin-off of That's So Raven, the show revolves around Cory Baxter (Kyle Massey) moving into the White House when his father, Victor (Rondell Sheridan), gets hired as the personal chef for President Richard Martinez (John D'Aquino). President Martinez has a young daughter named Sophie (Madison Pettis), who is usually the foil for Cory's money-making schemes.

I've found that this show isn't as terrible as The Suite Life but it's not as good as Hannah Montana. In most of the episodes that I've seen, Cory thinks up some scheme to make tons of money quickly before he's found out and punished by his father. However, most of the punishments end up as mere slaps on the wrist and do nothing to deter Cory from concocting yet another scheme. Meanwhile, Sophie may be cute but she is extremely spoiled. Nothing will turn me off faster than an obnoxious spoiled child in a series. So while I can sit through the show for a little while, the novelty of the "new kid in the White House" theme wears off quickly.

TV review: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody is another of The Disney Channel's live-action 'tween' series. However, unlike Hannah Montana, this show is terrible. The main characters are Zack (played by Dylan Sprouse) and Cody (played by Cole Sprouse), twin brothers living at the Tipton Hotel with their single lounge-singer mother (played by Kim Rhodes). Rounding out the cast are Brenda Song as London Tipton, Ashley Tisdale as Maddie Fitzpatrick, Phill Lewis as Mr. Moseby and Adrian R'Mante as Esteban.

While I'd normally be cheering for a show with a strong single mother raising twin boys on her own, the mother is anything but strong. She is frequently shown as incompetent as the boys run rampant in the hotel. There are few times that the boys are punished for their behavior. As characters, the boys are annoying in themselves. Zack is the typical geeky yet somewhat effeminate one that always ends up cleaning up after Cody, the typical lazy yet somewhat macho one. In everything they do, Zack goes for the gold despite having to make up for Cody's lack of enthusiasm over anything that requires more energy than changing the channel on the TV.

The supporting characters aren't even interesting. London is the insipid daughter of the hotel. She throws money at whatever she wants but doesn't actually know anything. Literally. Somehow this stupidity is supposed to be funny. It's not. On the other side we have Maddie. She is the brilliant candy stand salesgirl. It almost seems like her entire reason for being on the show is to off-set London's stupidity because whenever London gets herself into a mess, there is Maddie to help her out of it. Meanwhile, Mr. Moseby is trying to keep the hotel running.

I think that The Suite Life may have had some potential at some point. However, they ruined themselves by making half of the characters so unintelligent that it is painful to watch them. Then they put Zack in a stereotypical homosexual role. (C'mon, how many straight men know the songs of Gilbert and Sullivan?) The one redeeming episode I have seen is "Lip Synchin' In The Rain" where the characters' high school is doing High School Musical for the school musical. All of the jokes about Maddie not looking like Sharpay, despite both roles being performed by Ashley Tisdale, are quite funny. However, once again, Maddie has to bail out London. In my opinion, you should just skip this show altogether. Maybe one day The Disney Channel will learn that this isn't a good show for kids to be watching.

TV review: Hannah Montana

Thanks to her friends at school, my daughter has recently started watching Hannah Montana. For those of you without kids, Hannah Montana is a Disney Channel show about a girl that lives a dual life as a pop star and a normal teenager. During the day, she is brown-haired Miley Stewart who goes to school and hangs out with her friends. Fabulous secret powers were revealed to her the day she held aloft her mighty....OK, she doesn't transform into She-Ra. However, with the quick donning of a blonde wig, she does transform into teen pop sensation Hannah Montana. The only people that know her secret are her father/manager, her brother, her bodyguard and her two best friends.

I think most parents have an automatic inclination to dislike any television show that their kid likes. Especially if said kid is in preschool and leftover visions of Teletubbies are dancing in your head. There are some terrible shows in the afternoon/evening blocks on The Disney Channel. (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody? I'm looking right at you.) Hannah Montana isn't so bad. The show's father/daughter pair are played by real life father and daughter Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus. This leaves the door wide open to poke fun of Billy Ray's Achy Breaky days and the show takes full advantage of it. I found myself chuckling when Lily, Miley's best friend on the show, made a joke about Billy Ray's old mullet. Sure, the songs on the show are a bit cheesy but they all have a decent message behind them. Besides, I have to give the show props for giving Miley a wig to use to become Hannah. How many times have we, as an audience, been asked to believe that a pair of glasses or a fake mustache have the ability to make everyone around the main character suddenly think they are a completely different person?

I attempted to figure out when new episodes of the series are aired but came up with nothing. Reruns are shown daily in a variety of time slots. We generally watch it at 7PM. I think new episodes come out on Saturdays, though they also seem to come out on Fridays and Sundays. If you check your local listings for The Disney Channel, you are bound to come up with at least a couple of episodes. Give it a try. I bet you'll be finding yourself humming along to some Hannah songs in no time.

JDorama Reviews

I am planning on moving my Japanese drama reviews to TheGeekWithin.com. As a starter, I'd like to explain what JDorama is. JDorama is a (live action) Japanese drama television series. J is for Japanese and Dorama is a Japanese pronunciation of 'drama.' All of the major TV stations in Japan produce a variety of series. The series tend to run for three months per season. New dramas debut every season. There are morning/afternoon dramas that are broadcast daily and tend to run longer than the 'standard' three month season. A majority of dramas are evening dramas, which are broadcast weekday evenings between 8PM and 10PM with a new episode being shown once a week. If a drama is extremely popular, it will likely have a special episode after the run is over. Dramas cover every genre - comedy, horror, romance, detective series, spy series, historical - you name it, there's probably a jdorama for it.

I hope you will enjoy reading my reviews.

Drew Carey Hosts The Price Is Right

It was announced last night that Drew Carey will be replacing Bob Barker as the host of The Price is Right. I'm a bit mixed on this. On one hand, he is a pretty good comedian. On the other hand, he really screwed up Who's Line Is It Anyway. I was a huge fan of the original British version of the show and I cringed whenever I saw the American version on the TV line-up. I also have a problem with him laughing at his own jokes all the time. It wasn't so bad when he was scripted but in both his stand-up and in Who's Line, he would tell a joke then laugh at it. It's not funny to laugh at your own jokes. Maybe once in awhile if you say something absolutely hysterical or if you get a funny reaction from the audience. Not every single time though. Well, at least it wasn't Rosie O'Donnell. I think she is too self-involved to host something like this. She can be a really funny comedian but that can't overcome her current narcissism.

I hope Drew Carey does a good job with The Price is Right. It would be sad to see a show that has been on the air for so many years get ruined.

Return of Reboot

I'm pretty sure everyone remembers the cartoon "Reboot" that aired from 1994-2001. Just in case you have no idea what I'm talking about, the show was about a guardian sprite named Bob and his friends that lived inside a computer world called Mainframe. Bob's job was to defend the Mainframe (and the User) from virus attacks. He was helped by Dot and her little brother Enzo. The baddies were, of course, Megabyte and Hexadecimal. It really was an awesome show and the plotlines got really dark toward the end of the series. Rainmaker, the company that currently owns the Reboot property, chose five undiscovered writers to work with the production team to prepare a pitch for a new Reboot storyline. They will be posted on the Zeroes 2 Heroes website on Thursday, July 26, which happens to be the first day of the San Diego Comic-Con International. When you visit the website, you'll be able to work with the production team to refine the ideas. Later, you'll be able to vote for your favorite pitch. From these pitches, we'll get a web-based comic then production will start on a trilogy of feature-length films.

I'm really excited to see where this goes. I loved Reboot back in the day and it would be really awesome if they got a great storyline to run with. I wonder if the "undiscovered writers" Rainmaker found know anything about the Reboot property. Are they going to be able to stay with how the characters were originally written? Are they going to start over at the beginning for the kids of this generation that haven't seen the original series? I hope they don't do anything to ruin the memories of the older Reboot fans.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070723/film_nm/reboot_dc;_ylt=Akpkt4HADv6UqpPqjerWtEBxFb8C

Mr. Rogers is a BAD GUY?!?!

When I was a kid, I, like many other kids, watched Mr. Rogers. Well now Fox News is telling everyone about a a professor from Louisiana State University is claiming that Mr. Rogers ruined an entire generation. What's that? Let me make some quotes here:

The semester was ending, and as usual, students were making a pilgrimage to his office, asking for the extra points needed to lift their grades to A's.

"They felt so entitled," he recalls, "and it just hit me. We can blame Mr. Rogers."

He is saying that today's college students have been told my Mr. Rogers that they are special and therefore entitled to whatever they want. Let's think this through a bit:

Mr. Rogers was broadcast nationally from 1968 - 2001. His peak was from 1985 - 1986. If we assume that a freshman college student is 17 years old, that means that they were born in 1990. He could very well be talking about senior students though. Those students were born around 1986, just as Mr. Rogers' popularity was starting to wane.

I watched Mr. Rogers and I don't think I'm any sort of entitlement queen. My sister watched Mr. Rogers (and actually she was more of a fan than I was) and she doesn't think she's entitled to anything. A lot of people in my generation watched the show. It's not fair to us or to the memory of Mr. Rogers to say that he ruined an entire generation. If that was true, not only would my generation be messed up but so would the generation before us.

It's really sad when people, including Fox News, feel the need to attack a kind man who spent his days caring about kids and trying to teach them how to do the right things in life. Shame on you, Fox News, for spreading this viciously mean story from a professor who is obviously tired of his students. No one wants a bad grade. That doesn't mean they feel they are entitled to it. It means they want to pass the class and, of course, they are going to do whatever they can to get the better grade, the better GPA because it looks better to people in the "real world." Don't blame Mr. Rogers for something that every kid has been doing since they started handing out letter grades in school.