How To Make It In America

I just had the privilege of watching the first episode of "How To Make It In America", since I'm off from work this week due to February break. The new series on HBO which is produced by Mark Wahlberg and his team of miscreants who also created Entourage, follows two "twenty-something" guys trying to make it in The Only City That Matters (TOCTM aka NYC).

Something about the blog they've been using to promote the show caught my eye a few weeks back, so since the first ep was free (!) on iTunes I thought I'd take advantage of that and watch. What a delight.

If you happen to be a twenty-something, like I am, trying to make it basically anywhere this show is for you. I can't help but be drawn in by the city setting though. The show and it's characters remind me so much of why it is I made my goal to move to the city in the first place.

Check out the episode. It's as much full of laughs as it is full of empathy for the main character (played by Bryan Greenberg) who oozes heartbreak with his facial expressions. If you're in a similar situation to mine; aka moved home to save some money cause you got a job offer that you kind of like and it's smarter than immediately moving to where you really want to be then this show is for you.

(Photograph above from HBO Canada.)

Stud of the Month

In case you've been living under a rock for the past eight years and you don't know who Apolo Ohno is, here is my treat to you. I say Stud of the Month not as if I'll actually continue picking one on a monthly basis but because the world is currently four days into the XIX Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Apolo Ohno has already won his sixth medal for the United States in Short Track Speedskating.

Ohno has become the face of the sport and he's been an inspiring person to watch compete and represent the United States proudly. Even when he took a break from short track and went on Dancing With the Stars (which he ultimately won) he never seemed to get weighed down with fame the way so many athletes seem to.

Shortly after his first Olympic debut in Salt Lake City he was one of the athletes featured in my favorite Nike commercial of all time. Even after six years, the "move" commercial remains in the first slot for me as the athletes meld one sport into another to one of the most moving soundtracks ever to be used in a Nike ad.

The Bachelor Blows

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Bachelor and his army of skanks are not getting paid for their time spent on national television right? That said, I cannot fathom what it is about this show that keeps people coming back.

Even if you're a drama-holic jonesing for bad reality television (is there good reality tv?) you can't possibly be as deluded as half of the contestants. This show is so damned contrived I don't see how it's possible that any of the main people are able to convince themselves that their relationships are real.

"Dating itself is infuriating. Nevermind doing it in miniclips on national television," my best friend from college just weighed in and she's never even seen the show.

Every time I catch myself peering over the top of my laptop to follow along while BFab watches the latest hunk-a-millionaire bag his babe I end up wishing I could have my half hour back.

I just don't see how anyone could think that they would find an honest loving relationship with someone who's willing to have their face plastered all over national television for six months as a result. I think that's called greed, not love... famewhore works too actually.

The only girl on this season who didn't look like a fake plastic barbie cardboard cutout has left the show to save her career (!) and she's since taken a rainstorm of insults by women online for leaving and putting her career in advertising ahead of a fake relationship. Oh the horror!

...and now they're parading out the girl whose boobs could be used as a PFD (personal flotation device), in fact I'm now going to refer to women who have obviously fake boobs as PFDs.

We Are the World 25

I'm so annoyed with this. In the past week the 6:30 pm trash entertainment news segments have been inundating poor unsuspecting casual viewers with EXCLUSIVE CLIPS and interviews from the taping of "We Are The World 25 For Haiti". Call me heartless but what makes Entertainment Tonight and Mary Hart think that I'm interested in watching a bunch of semi-famous performers collaborate on the remake of a song that [let's be honest] wasn't that great to begin with. The most I got out of these so called EXCLUSIVE CLIPS was surprise that this many egos were able to fit in that small space together.

Check it out though, despite my irritation it is for a good cause and the footage from Haiti is powerful stuff.



I know what you're thinking. I was wondering the same thing. I had no idea Vince Vaughan could sing and judging from the confused look on his face during the video, he had no idea either.

...in bed.

My mom (aka BFab) informed me tonight over the dinner table that many report John Mayer is really good in bed. I almost threw up my taco salad. She says, these reports (which she is convinced are true) must be the reason his lack of good looks don't seem to get in the way of whichever Phi Beta Bimbo he's decided to lay his dirty paws on this week.

I simply answered her in one sentence.

John Mayer is sex on a guitar.