No, it ain’t a behavioral disorder where women starts walking around the streets without their underwear.

As much as I’d like that to happen, it ain’t it. It’s about the city of Paris silly. The very city depicted in movies as a very romantic place filled with very beautiful French women. Well, as far as this so-called ”Paris Syndrome” goes, that picture of the city is the exact opposite of what the Paris Syndrome shows. Confused? Read on.

Some Japanese tourists, probably spending this Christmas holiday season in the beautiful city of Paris, have fallen prey to what they are now calling, ”Paris Syndrome.” Yup, this is what these Asians are calling it after discovering that beautiful Paris ain’t so beautiful after all.

Apparently, some Parisians can be rude just like most of us too. As a result, these Japanese tourists ended up somewhat disappointed after having this almost perfect picture of this city. The experience can apparently be too stressful for some and they suffer a psychiatric breakdown.

Many of the visitors come with a deeply romantic vision of Paris, the cobbled streets, as seen in the film Amelie, the beauty of French women or the high culture and art at the Louvre.

The reality can come as a…

Read More » Got the Paris Syndrome this Christmas Season?

Oprah Winfrey is gambling her boob tube expertise on not one but two reality TV series.

The queen of talk is extending a helping hand beyond her mega-popular daytime program to a pair of new reality TV shows for ABC, tentatively titled ‘Oprah Winfrey’s The Big Give’ and ‘Your Money or Your Life’. They are the first projects of the TV development group of Oprah’s new Harpo Productions.

There is no confirmation Oprah will host either show, or both, but she’ll definitely appear in them, as she had guested for the Harpo-co-produced Rachael Ray.

Oprah will venture to go against the grain of current reality TV, which shows and often pushes people to lash out, lose a nerve, backbite, and engage in other low behavior.

‘Oprah Winfrey’s The Big Give‘ will have 10 contestants initially receive money plus resources, grow their capital, and use it to help others. One contestant will be eliminated each week, and the last one standing — the winner — will have one wish granted — a sort of extension of the Wildest Dreams feature of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest rated talk show in US TV history.

‘Your Money or Your Life‘, Oprah’s second reality show, will have a team of experts help one family per episode to rise out of a…

Read More » Oprah Launching Own Reality TV Shows

When director Paul Haggis made the movie Crash, I don’t think this was what he had in mind.

2006 was the year underdog Crash upset an Oscar frontrunner also lashing out on prejudice. Crash, which depicts racial tension, follows 36 hours in the lives of racial stereotypes in Los Angeles – five-time host city to the Latin Grammys since 2000. Oh, and yes: this is the same year Survivor: Cook Islands follows 39 days in the lives of 20 castaways segregated by race: whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics.

Being labelled Hispanic in the US is a funny thing. It casts you into what is perceived as an oppressed lot of Spaniard descendants; historically, the Spanish empire oppressed the Native American Indians. These days, Hispanics are the largest minority group in the US, 14.1 % of the population as of 2004, or like 41.3 million hot-blooded Latinos probably pissed that they aren’t a Survivor betting favorite.

The Hispanic tribe was lately 7/4 odds to win at Bodog betting props, albeit not doing half as bad as the African-American tribe with 13/2 odds. Favorites to win the Survivor prop bets at Bodog have been the White tribe at 13/10 odds as well as the Asian-American tribe at 3/2 odds to win. Telemundo could not be reached for a comment, nor Cameron Diaz who is Hispanic yet very white and blond.

And just when we think this couldn’t get more stereotypey, four of the five Latino castaways come from Cali while the one who isn’t…

Read More » Survivor’s version of amazing race – Will Hispanics Win? (4 of 4)

Asian immigrants took the cushiest tech jobs and left TV work not to the sharpest Americans.

So here we are. Survivor: Cook Islands will have its new 20 castaways segregated by race: whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics. What, somebody’s ego got hurt? The 12.3 million Asian Americans, 4.3% of the US population, do better than Whites in terms of income, home ownership, college degree, with a crime rate less than 1%.

Asian Americans command power in Silicon Valley, whether Bay Area or Bangalore, with founders and CEOs like Jen-Hsun Huang of Nvidia, Jerry Yang of Yahoo!, or Vinod Khosla of Sun Microsystems. But do viewers think they’ll rule over dale where it isn’t only low-tech but zero-tech? The answer, it turned out, was often Yes.

The Asian-American tribe started as a betting favorite, with 13/7 odds, at Bodog betting props. Another favorite was the White tribe at 3/2 odds to win.Longer shots were the Hispanic tribe with 2/1 odds, and the African-American tribe at 8/3 odds to win the Survivor prop bets at Bodog. Hurry, call for reinforcement from all the…

Read More » Survivor’s version of amazing race – Will Asians Win? (3 of 4)

Yep, sometimes, even stupid people gets the chance to shine. And you can bet your ass Bodog WILL be front and center when this happens.

The 4th Annual World Stupidity Awards, presented by Disinformation & Moron, are fast approaching. With categories ranging from ‘’Stupidest Man of the Year'’ and ‘’Stupidest Statement of the Year'’ to ‘’Media Outlet Which Has Best Furthered Ignorance'’ and ‘’Lifetime Achievement Award for Stupidity,'’ this year’s awards are sure to be entertaining.

The ‘’stupid'’ winners will be announced on September 20.

Bodog, the leading source for celebrity and entertainment wagering online, has posted odds on all of this years World Stupidity Award categories, giving fans of the awards the ability to lay stake on who they think will be crowned king or queen of stupid.

Here are just some of the wagers being offered on this year’s 4th Annual World Stupidity Awards.

Who will win the 2006 World Stupidity Award for ‘’Media Outlet Which Has Best Furthered Ignorance?'’

Danish Newspaper, Jyllands-Posten…

Read More » Stupid Odds for the World Stupidity Awards

Did Survivor: Cook Islands not learn anything from Vanilla Ice, Eminem, and uhm, K-Fed?

It is finally an era when white boy rappers are tolerated, the Beastie Boys gain well-deserved recognition, and we all think we’re moving forward. Along comes the popular CBS reality TV show pulling a stunt that seems to have upset everyone save for certain white-hooded Caucasians. Survivor is having its new season’s 20 castaways segregated by race: whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics.

Host Jeff Probst, born in Wichita and raised in Seattle, had told The Early Show: “The idea for this actually came from the criticism that Survivor was not ethnically diverse enough because, for whatever reason, we always have a low number of minority applicants apply for the show.”

Just as white supremacists might hope for, their favorite color was easily a betting favorite. The White tribe was at 3/2 odds to win when Bodog began its Survivor betting props. Another favorite had been the Asian-American tribe, with 13/7 odds to win. The Hispanic tribe trailed at 2/1 odds in Bodog prop betting, and the African-American tribe was the longest shot at 8/3 odds to win.

There is no solid evidence any of the whities can dance, speak other languages, or tell a funny joke, but one is a gym buff and another has an Academy nod. We will note that all but one reside in California, and two of them are…

Read More » Survivor’s version of amazing race – Will Whites Win? (2 of 4)

Yep, it was not a crocodile, or a wild snake, or a lion.

It was a fish. Yep, the famous ‘’Crocodile Hunter'’ Steve Irwin, who became famous for his insane antics with wild animals, was killed by a goddamn stingray on the Great Barrier Reef.

‘’It isn’t a lion or tiger or big monster predator. It was a fish, but it’s no less tragic,'’ said Corwin, speaking from Nome, Alaska, where he’s filming a segment on polar bears, one of the deadliest predators on Earth.

I guess they would have to put stingrays in that category now eh?

Irwin was filming a new series, ‘’Ocean’s Deadliest,'’ his 8-year-old daughter’s upcoming TV program, when he disrupted the stingray and it went on the defensive, goring his heart with the poisonous barb on its tail. The attack was caught on tape which has been turned over to police.

How’s that for ‘’World’s Most Amazing Videos'’ huh?

‘’The footage shows him swimming in the water, the ray stopped and turned and that was it,'’ boat owner Peter West told The Australian newspaper.

‘’There was no blood in the water, it was not that obvious, something happened with this animal that made it rear and he was at the wrong position at the…'’

Read More » Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin was Killed by a Fish

I guess this means Survivor: Cook Islands can forget about guesting on Oprah.

“The first record of slavery in Colonial America begins with twenty blacks recorded as being brought by a Dutch man of war and sold to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 as indentured servants.” (Source: Wikipedia) In a move that sets America back four centuries, CBS’ awarded reality TV show will have 20 castaways segregated by race: whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics.

What does the queen of talk, who is outspoken against racism, have to say about all this? It might rile up Ms. Winfrey double that the African-American tribe is faring poorly as a longshot, with 8/3 odds to win at Bodog betting props. Also not doing too well is the Hispanic tribe with 2/1 odds to win.

The Bodog prop betting favorites are the White tribe with 3/2 odds as well as the Asian-American tribe with 13/7 odds to win. I wonder if these Survivor betting odds are also an indication of the skin color of most online bettors for reality TV betting.

For as long as we’re stereotyping, none of the black castaways is named after a Nike shoe or related to the Wayans. There’s a break dancer, a hiphopper, a boxer, three in showbiz, one was in the Gulf War. Let’s meet tha brothaz and sistahz…

Survivor: Cook Islands – The Unofficial African-American Tribe

Rebecca Borman. 34, make-up artist, Laurelton, NY. A make-up artist for…

Read More » Survivor’s version of amazing ‘race’ – Will Blacks Win? (1 of 4)

Yep, apparently, the fag… er… ‘’sexually confu…'’ er… ‘’homosexual'’ is bored.

And boy, if a homo like Elton John is bored then you must know better and get the hell outta’ his sights. Especially your tight little butt hole. He he…

Yep, Elton John is bored. And now, he has announced that he is planning to record… get this, a hip-hop album. Jeez… It’s like hearing Pamela Anderson say she’ll be keeping her top on. Possible but highly unlikely.

Mr. Broadway, Sir Elton John himself, hopes to do a hip-hop album and collaborate with the top stars of the rap industry today. Guys like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West and of course, his favorite, which happens to be a self-confessed homophobic, well, in his songs at least, Eminem.

Well, his FIRST and ONLY experience with rap is his unforgettable performance with Eminem when they sang ‘’Stan'’ at the 2001 Grammy Awards. Since then, he just can’t stop talking about Mr. Slim Shady.

‘’From the start, I’ve always admired Eminem’s thinking,'’ Elton John said.

‘’That’s the reason I wanted to appear on the Grammys with him when I was…'’

Read More » Elton John wants to Go Gangsta Rap

So, Survivor found a new way to make itself appear socially relevant. By dividing contestants according to their race and pitting them against other teams of another race.

Oh yes, the show that invented Reality TV is ready to be all-out racy.

"The idea for this actually came from the criticism that Survivor was not ethnically diverse enough, because for whatever reason, we always have a low number of minority applicants apply for the show," host Jeff Probst tells us.

That idea turned into a ballfire of a totally different (?) concept for the next series. Mark Burnett is quick to defend that to the less-than-open minded person, it is very easy to trash this twist. But of course, there will be critics ready to berate this very idea of putting ethnic races under the microscope and letting us see how prejudices will fly like firecrackers for our entertainment.

"It’s like a return back to segregated leagues in sports. The unseemly interest this will invite certainly is not worth the dramatic elements it’s going to bring." says one from a group, which actually study the effects of TV on social norms.

But hey, no one can deny that this is good television. And they call it diversity, while others brand it as going back to the Nazi years.

Like Amptoons who says: "I know this is largely a publicity stunt for…'’

Read More » Survivor Finds Disturbing Way To Be Socially Relevant