I'm off tomorrow - so here I am blogging...

I am accompanied in this endeavour only by a Coldplay album and a bottle of Yellowtail Verdelho which is delightful with honey notes....

So, is on my mind?

Emm...

Well...

Can I be spared a moment to rant about reality TV? I guess that probably makes this the 4,098,876,654,012 posting about reality TV this week alone on a blog...

But I am disturbed...

I have surfed quietly through all kinds of crap television over the years... I've watched bits of Big Brother 1 - 5 (I haven't really got to grips with 6 yet)... I used to watch Wanderly Wagon although I don't think that qualifies as reality tv... I'm not someone given to complaining about relentless tabloid crap pushed down our throats by the dark forces who rule the media...

Damn it I practically am a dark force who rules the media...

But, I am genuinely concerned by the way things are going...

Two reasons...

1) The word "Celebrity"... I don't actually know what this word means anymore... I can't tell whether you are a celebrity if you are on tv or if being on tv makes you a celebrity... Where's the line? Who are these "celebrity" people I see? I mean I sometimes remember seeing them on TV before... but I don't think they're celebrities... It's become a word that means nothing... But it seems to have some terrible power... Everything is better if it has the word Celebrity before it - at least that's the theory... but clearly it is losing its power...

2) Celebrity Love Island... My dear friend Trish with the Story - from SPIN has been addicted to Celebrity Love Island since it began.... And through her persistence I have gradually started to watch it... She's worn me down!

But I find it deeply disturbing... What is the rationale? they've taken 8 people who don't know each other... Isolated them, plied them with alcohol and are encouraging them to mate?

If you remove the word "Celebrity" this looks like some evil genetic experiment...

If you remove the TV cameras and put scientists in a white coat behind a two way mirror it becomes disturbing

If you were to swap the TV producers for aliens... Its an episode of the Twilight Zone...


Not suprisingly they are beginning to crack under the pressure... Consider the pyschology of it... These "Celebrities" are either fragile egotistical creatures who have been driven to seek fame as a substitute for whatever they feel they are lacking in their own lives... Or they are normal enough people who's professions have made them well known to the point where they start to believe they are important or significant...

Then they are placed in a live televised environment where their fragile celebrity is at risk at any moment... Add to that the challenge of the mating ritual and a heady mix of alcohol and hormones...

It's not suprising that security was called on set in tonights episode - If I were a psychologist I'd be writing an email to the producers recommending that a) the whole thing be shut down and b) that Paul (the craziest of them) be taken to a secure institutional setting and counselled and treated...

I'm glad I'm in radio... it's a lot less complicated and a good bit more honest...


Seeya

L