đź“ş
The year is 2007; reality TV is an unstoppable cultural juggernaut. So they went for it: Survivor with kids. 40 of them, ages 8 to 15, sent to a Nevada ranch (coincidentally the same one where Alec Baldwin would later shoot two people) and left alone to create their own “society.” Split into four teams, they compete in challenges; the losers have to cook and clean for the winners. Each episode the kids vote for one among them to win a $20,000 prize. It went about as well as you’d expect: the show was canceled after a season, one participant was severely injured, and CBS was investigated for child labor law violations. It’s all on Youtube.
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đź“ą
I’ve been rewatching old seasons of The Real World and the new spin-off seasons where they reunite the cast to re-argue old conflicts in the same house they lived in decades ago. The combination is a heady mix of nostalgia and horror. Flashback: I’m fourteen and pacing around my childhood home. Everyone is asleep and I’m watching Ruthie black out on The Real World: Hawaii, nervous about transferring to public school, listening to the locusts buzz. Today: I’m thirty-five and pacing around my house in LA. Some fifty year old is getting his ribs broken in gladiator combat on The Challenge. Fame is a trap. All these TikTok kids are fucked.
Jun 14, 2022
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There are two seasons on Hulu and then a channel on Pluto tv that plays all 40 seasons on repeat, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can tune in whenever and probably the same exact thing will be happening: people throwing themselves into the water off of really high platforms or rolling around in the dirt at the behest of a very blasé former bmx professional, then getting really drunk and screaming at each other at night. There are women accusing each other of not having their head in the game and one really handsome guy who is probably evil. There is a man whose legal name is John who everyone calls bananas. The same people come back season after season, sometimes they’re enemies or friends or in love. It’s very stupid. I am entranced.
Jan 27, 2025
So, it has come to my attention that Survivor, the island survival reality tv show, is IN right now.
Which is fascinating to me, because I grew up watching Survivor with my mom. She has seen every single episode over the course of the show's 20+ years. I watched maybe 10ish years of them with her.
This show is great for some reason, always has been. Go ahead, watch a season or two.
I associate this Heroes vs. Villains season with the most carefree part of my childhood.
Mar 15, 2024
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This 2007 cult classic from Richard Kelly has it all: An insane ensemble cast including The Rock, Justin Timberlake, Mandy Moore, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Janeane Garofalo, and Wallace Shawn. An original score from Moby. Nonstop schizzed-out nonsense about the end of the world, quantum entanglement, psychic porn stars, exploding blimps, and, as Timberlake helpfully informs his drug dealer, “angels under a sea of black umbrellas, angels who can see through time.” Then he pours a can of Bud on his head and lip-syncs a Killers song to an arcade full of strippers.
Jun 28, 2022
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It’s an Irish pub somehow located in the interior plaza of a FiDi housing complex. The blinds are down; the red vinyl booths are empty. There’s an octagonal painting of the Twin Towers; Tiffany lampshades; a dim back room with stained glass windows; an ancient waiter who wears a suit; a horrific porcelain leprechaun. The wings are pretty good.One of the few bars in the vicinity to predate 9/11, Byrnes is a holdout against the mass extinction of normal places for normal people to get a drink in the city. For every haunt like Forlini’s that closes we’re treated to half a dozen new TikTok-bait establishments called, like, Ghosted & Fried that serve TUNA POKE WONTON TACOS and MEXICAN STREET CORN RAVIOLI (real menu items at Beauty & Essex) to Syracuse marketing majors in Allbirds. And don’t get me started on the neon signs…Even more insidious are the places like Bernie’s that mimic suburban taverns in order to sell homesick creative directors a plate of five mozzarella sticks for $17. Skip all that, go to Byrnes.
Jun 28, 2022
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The best meal in New York under ten dollars, or at any other price point, is the silken tofu topped with diced century egg at this hole-in-the-wall Chinese spot in Elmhurst, Queens. Get the “oil spill noodles” too.
Jun 28, 2022