tele-vision

Last night i watched two programes i normally miss. First up was "what not to wear" where people are ritually humiliated into following some made up cultural norm regarding clothes. The "guests" are poked and prodded into believing theyre freaks because of their sartorial choices and through the magical power of shopping they too can achieve the perfection of a perfume ad.

Actually that isnt fair, these people arent just randomly picked on and bullied, they have volunteered for this because they feel they need help with their clothing choices. Its the gleefull taunting of the presenters I cant stand, they revel in cajoling the poor saps about what people really think of them until the tears flow. Hateful television.

The other show was 'The Real Football Factories' where wideboy actor Danny Dyer goes to soccer clubs all around the world and interviews their hooligans. Every episode follows the same course. Danny arrives in Madrid/Naples/Bratislava meets a bunch of nutters who talk about pride and honour and passion and then cuts to CCTV footage of street fighting where there's no hint of any of those three things.

As a testostrone counter part to the early estrogen-fest it had weird similar themes. The power of going with the crowd, letting others make the descions for you. But the ladies are trying to change their lives, the blokes are just reveling in theirs.

Next week, I think I'll just read a book.