Hell, and I was just reading, ok caught a headline, that Syfy's horrid Being Human beat Skins in its second week.
Numbers: American Pickers 6.2 million viewers
Being Human 2.1 million
Skins 1.6 million
Don't get too attached
I merely note that between Being Human, Skins and Ricky Gervais, Britain seems to be doing a really good job of destroying the moral foundations of the USA this month.
Moralizing dramatic conventions in teen TV shows have damaging consequences of their own. They stigmatize personal choices, discourage the questioning of assumptions, and proliferate the acceptance of formulaic plot devices. How come Time magazine never does a cover story on that?
Moralizing dramatic conventions in teen TV shows have damaging consequences of their own
I've heard more than once that those Dare To Keep Kids Off Drugs dramatic conventions backfire because kids see someone smoke marijuana, notice that they don't immediately turn into a homeless crackhead or attempt to fly off a roof, begin to suspect that they've been lied to, and go off and try smoking some crack.
I feel a bit ahead of the game, since I DL'd and watched the first few episodes of the UK version awhile back, thinking "teen sex & drug-use, without the no-nudity conventions of American television? Sign me up!" Alas, I found the characters rather tiresome, which isn't to say they were badly written; I think I've just (finally) gotten to the point where high-school personalities and problems seem tiresome. Yay?
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Today, together with my new strict-Prussian-Oma therapist, I opened up the dozen or so letters from my sometime-insurance company that I'd left untouched ever since they began arriving, around August, demanding payment for the fact that I kept using their card after my coverage had expired. Not so scary afterall! And now I shall pay, with painless online transfers. Hooray! Of course, now I'm out €300, but hey.
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4 is exactly what happened to me, minus the crack. "OH MY GOD My brothers do drugs?! They're going to die pregnant and smelly next week!"
Next week....
"You know, they still seem to be college-bound. Maybe I'll try it the next time they offer it to me."
those Dare To Keep Kids Off Drugs dramatic conventions
It's worth reminding folks that those anti-drug messages aren't just dramatic conventions; in the past, the Drug Czar's office literally bribed networks into rewriting scripts to conform to them. Given the power the executive branch has over discretionary policy areas that TV networks care about, not to mention direct advertising, I'd be surprised if explicit or implicit consideration of ONDCP-conformity were entirely a thing of the past.
I have to say, getting addicted to drugs is a lot of hard work, and don't let anyone tell you different. even as a young person jaded by anti-drug bullshit I myself was shocked by the fact that using heroin once didn't get you hooked at all. nor twice. etc. (my mom made a kind of counter-productively big deal about how she had tried every drug ever, except heroin, because she was afraid she'd never want to stop) even crack doesn't necessarily ruin your whole life in 15 minutes. it does make you WANT TO SMOKE MORE CRACK but that subsides. I don't know what the government should even try to tell you. "if you have to get fucked up wasted all the time, something is wrong, and it's going to stop being fun, too."
discouraging people from driving drunk has been a good idea and saved a lot of lives. I think MADD should declare victory and move on, though.
8 - Maybe you could pitch a series that showed the unglamorous side of drug abuse -- constipation, tedious chit-chat with your dealer, willingness to listen to terrible music...
re: 100
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbNl9zntR-M&feature=related
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideal_%28TV_series%29
Remember that episode of Family Ties when Alex P. Keaton was wacked out on speed pills? I do. It seemed to work out fine until he couldn't get any more speed, and then he crashed hard and learned an important lesson.
He could, of course, have just gone down to the pharmacy and bought something with ephedra in it, but I guess he didn't do the research.
12: Don't recall that, but when writing the OP I almost made an allusion to the Saved by the Bell "I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so...scared." episode.
I was just thinking about the episode in 13. Weren't those No-Doz, no less?
I don't know what the government should even try to tell you. "if you have to get fucked up wasted all the time, something is wrong, and it's going to stop being fun, too."
Mailing everyone DVDs of Requiem for a Dream and Trainspotting couldn't hurt.
5: I think I've just (finally) gotten to the point where high-school personalities and problems seem tiresome. Yay?
Heh. Neither yay nor boo, I would think: it just is. Teens in dramas where there are other things going on as well can be okay (I'm thinking Six Feet Under), but an all-teen show?
10: I was at a NYE party once where everybody brought their nitrous tanks, making for a total of (if I remember) 24. At one point well into the next day, a friend of mine found a full tank stashed, for some reason, in the bathtub. As we sat on the floor of the (lovely, restored victorian) bathroom inhaling balloons he said to me "oh my god, [ you know who ], this is just like one of those anti-drug films!"
"No way!", said I. "It's much more brightly colored and tasteful."
I'm going to make bumper stickers:
"Drugs: Mostly Pretty Fun, But You Have To Be Careful And They Distract You From Doing Other More Worthwhile Things With Your Time."
I am making a mental list of things that could be substituted for "Drugs" in that slogan.
discouraging people from driving drunk
This is true, but the enthusiasm hasn't gone so far as to change zoning, which would eliminate the need for heavy and involuntary drinkers to drive to the bar, which is still off at the edge of town or in the other county.
Fuck MADD. Their primary focus these days is underage drinking rather than drunk driving. Given the choice between the two, they somehow seem to think the latter is a better option, e.g. support for prosecuting parents who decide that allowing kids to drink while supervised and with their car keys taken away or opposition to a parental message of 'if you're drunk, just call us and we'll pick you up, no penalties'. With apologies to blog rules, they're the drunk driving equivalent of the abstinence only approach to teen pregnancy and STD's.
15: Yeah, I'd swear off drugs if the alternative were being forced to rewatch Requiem for a Dream.
MADD blows. They're purely a temperance league at this point; any mention of driving is a red herring. Even their state-mandated (in California) drunk driving programs are primarily focused on the evils of demon rum; I've talked to people that had to attend them (in California) and it sounds like a total racket: there's a $20 "suggested donation" and then the entire lecture is about how drinking will kill you, etc. Nothing about driving. Nothing about finding a designated driver. Everything about how the only way to be safe is never to drink at all.
I am making a mental list of things that could be substituted for "Drugs" in that slogan.
1. Making mental lists.
22, on the other hand, is deeply misguided. Requiem for a Dream was a great movie. Well, except for the mother plot, which had a definite nails-on-chalkboard quality to it.
25: assumes that I am actually capable of doing more worthwhile things, or even just worthwhile things.
29: Cautiously start with drugs? Yeah, but per 21 and 23, the important things about drug use have to do with safety. Don't take drugs from strangers. Always know your out, have a safety set up (designated driver, place to crash, what have you): go for the buddy system! Or, take care of one another. If some fucked-up moron is tending the fire in a stupid and dangerous way, step in! Etc.
One cannot stress these things enough!
30: For some reason I love that your example automatically seems to assume the people are gathered around a fire.
I love Requiem for a Dream, but even I would balk at being forced to watch it repeatedly. It's draining.
I think I've just (finally) gotten to the point where high-school personalities and problems seem tiresome. Yay?
I believe I made a similar point (here or at one of my other internet haunts) in a discussion about the other British teen show The Inbetweeners. My interlocutors were insisting that it was an amazingly (for TV) realistic portrayal of teen life. To which my response was: that's as maybe, but teenagers are boring.
31
For some reason I love that your example automatically seems to assume the people are gathered around a fire.
Seems reasonable to me. Growing up in a rural area, by far the easiest way for a group of 5+ teens to get together comfortably without any risk of authorities noticing, at least during the warmer half of the year, is in a field or forest out of sight of the nearest house or road. And even if it's warm enough that you don't need a fire for warmth, you'd still want one for light. Not that I'm confessing to having done so, of course.
I still love teen shows and teen movies. I could watch Freaks and Geeks over and over again and I think I was the one who was discussing Inbetwewners with GY. I saw The Runaways in the theater on opening day and I've even been known to watch the new 90210 on occasion, which is truly beyond the beyond. What can I say, drama and comedy and dramedy about awkwardness and immaturity is great.
21, 23: MADD is indistinguishable from the prison guards' lobby on most issues at this point. Remember that antidote I told about how they refused to support stiffer penalties on fake IDs because the supporters of the fake ID law (mostly liquor industry people) had refused to support them on .08 legislation?* Just another cynical feature of the political landscape at this point.
*Not that I'm in favor of either piece of legislation, but the mendacity!
23: Speaking of modern temperance movements, I recently saw it recommended (in the LATimes, by a UCLA pediatrician) that women of childbearing age should avoid alcohol in case they should become pregnant. No booze for you, oh laydeez from 15 to, let's be safe, 45!
31, 33: Fires were integral parts of our high-school keggers, which were usually at a Lake Champlain fishing access or a pond not far away. I can't imagine that's just a New England thing.
Stanley does his drugs in a locked room.
Oh no! Inside a building with nowhere to go?! I can't do mushrooms in those circumstances; that is not mellow, man. Where are the trees and the grass and the sea?
But. 33 and 37 get it right. If you haven't seen someone scorch the soles of his boots after snoozing in front a fire, you haven't lived. Of course, you don't have to have drugs for that to happen.
37: Jesus, Lake Champlain? I lived near there for a few years (way too young for drugs). Remarkable winters.
I like both parties around the campfire and shows about teenagers, and find mental lists draining, and did not like Requiem because it annoyed me that the plot was so perfectly symmetric.
it annoyed me that the plot was so perfectly symmetric.
God, yes! The scene at the end where they're all rolling over in the same direction, alone in separate beds. YES I GET IT, OKAY, STOP HITTING ME OVER THE HEAD NOW.
[breathes]
way too young for drugs
As if!
Oh, and I didn't mean to sound dismissive or flippant about the fire thing. I just found it charming, parsimon doing the mental casting call for High School Party Scene and realizing there was definitely going to be a fire.
42: I was teasing. Anyway, fires persist way beyond high school. All the best gatherings involve fires.
All the best gatherings involve fires
Some of the worst as well.
37.4: Yep, Charlotte (the one pronounced with the accent on the second syllable).
43: "All the best gatherings involve fires."
And Hungarians.
I was at a gathering with a campfire once, but there wasn't any drinking.
46: Huh. I was in Plattsburgh. Opposite corner of the state, really. I bet our winters were worse than yours! (I have no idea.)
I swear to god I battled and struggled through wind and snow and sleeting rain just to walk to school. And so on. Then they made us stand outside until the school doors opened.
We had to ford a crick, too, which was like 2 feet wide, with stepping stones. It was pretty enjoyable overall. Eleven-year-olds are resilient.
Oh, we dreamed of battling and struggling through wind and snow and sleeting rain just to walk to school.
Wait, Plattsburgh, NY?
Then they made us stand outside until the school doors opened.
My elementary school in Chicago did this, too. I figured it was just because nuns are mean.
Okay, so just across the lake. Pretty similar, I'd guess.
Speaking of wintry weather, if the current Slurpee-like concoction falling from the sky here doesn't stop soon, I'm going to have to request that some of you northern-dwelling people send plows and salt. Kthxbye.
55: Ah. Sorry, I was looking at the wrong Charlotte.
36: Someone ought to suggest that in the name of safety for everyone real or potential, they should instead, more pragmatically, recommend that laydeez of drinking age (21-death) avoid child-bearing.
50: Or shə-LOT Is this a regional accent thing or a nod to Tennyson?
Thundersnow! Actually, thundersleet!
56: We had about 4 inches of very dense, heavy snow as of 9 a.m., which I have addressed in a local manner, but there are another 5 or more expected to start in a bit, continuing until 4 a.m. this morning, so I hear you.
I think I've just (finally) gotten to the point where high-school personalities and problems seem tiresome. Yay?
This was my reaction to Freaks and Geeks.
56: I know of a certain other Chicago-expat in your vicinity who plans to crawl into his cave with assorted baked goods and hibernate until the thaw.
|| Looks like I will be in SF 2/16-18 -- and this time it looks like I should have at least a little actual free time to grab a drink, or perhaps lunch, or something. |>
58.2: Regional accent thing, I assume. Both were named after the princess.
34: Wait, Halford has been divorced twice and he watches the new 90210? My perception of him is changing.
64: No, Charlotte of Mecklenburg. I lived previously in a town called Waverly in tribute to the Scott novel (no idea why the namer dropped the second e), so there were English lit fans naming towns around the northeast, but Charlotte wasn't one of them.
Anyway, teenagers aren't people. I have a 14 year old being in my kitchen right now who definitely does not have normal human consciousness. Bloody child.
I just started watching the original (British?) Being Human on DVD and I quite like it. I saw that the new (Canadian?) one is on Hulu but it isn't captioned so I can't compare them. Mmmm, vampire-werewolf-ghost soap opera.
Also I have a fever and the weather is very horrible. I would really like a snow day tomorrow.
I lived previously in a town called Waverly in tribute to the Scott novel
I once stole half a packet of biscuits in tribute to a Douglas Adams novel.
I'd like a snow day tomorrow as well. It sure as hell looks outside now as though tomorrow should be a snow day. Thundersnow!
The word "thundersnow" is way more exciting than the weather it describes ever is.
Maybe I just think that because I can't see any lightning. But I don't think I've ever felt any thunder, when thundersnow was reported. Does the snow muffle the sound?
Thundersnow!
Two cars enter, one car leaves!
71: Hmm, not sure. The answer to the second query here includes an extensive discussion of thundersnow. I wonder if this plays a role:
Charge separation occurs primarily at cloud temperatures between −5 and −30°C, where supercooled water is lifted by strong updrafts. In summer, when the lower troposphere is quite warm, this region is roughly from 4,500 to 9,000 meters (15,000-29,500 feet) in altitude. In thundersnow, the lower boundary of the charging zone is at much lower altitudes, sometimes below 2,000 meters (6,500 feet).But just looked at Wikipedia and it says you are right:
One unique aspect of thundersnow is that the snowfall acts as an acoustic suppressor of the thunder. The thunder from a typical thunderstorm can be heard many miles away, while the thunder from thundersnow can usually only be heard within a two to three mile radius from the lightning.
Two cars enter, one car leaves!
Please check ID, before the valet gets your keys.
I did see lightning with the thundersnow.
Does the snow muffle the sound?
Mmaybe. It might be that you'd have to be really attending, maybe be outside, in order to feel it. Here, this evening, it's been accompanied by some lightning as well, but I didn't notice that until my housemate pointed it out. I suspect that if we were outdoors in it, with the usual blanketed feel of a heavy snow, we'd feel/see/hear the thunder and possible lightning pretty readily.
The thunder here hasn't been really dramatic, not a big cracking thing, just a low rumble. I haven't experienced thundersnow very often at all, so it surprises me.
It's possible that the fact that I haven't been looking out the window has hindered my lightning sightings.
I did drive home in it, though. Although there were so many ambulances and police cars trying to get past everyone that I'm not sure I would have noticed additional flashing lights.
Oh. I'm corrected by 73.last, I see.
Eight inches of snow here, working on a couple of more before midnight. I've already shoveled 4 times. That's some heavy ass snow.
And the tree that (over the summer) had a part split off and fall over on the house, just split another big chunk off. Maybe the insurance company will wish to cut it down now.
max
['Not likely.']
the fact that I haven't been looking out the window has hindered my lightning sightings.
I considered that possibility in my own case as well.
And can anyone tell me why the stinkbugs have decided to wake up and fly across the room outta nowhere this evening?
I'm all like, woah, what was that?
81.2: They continue to show up in little waves in our house.
Truthfully, I do know how to spell "whoa."
My housemate is supposed to be moving his father to Florida tomorrow, and things are all messed up, what with the moving van, and the numerous phone calls, and the supposed plan for them to leave at 7 a.m., and parking arrangements here, and the freshly fallen additional 5 or so inches of snow. I think I'll retire early.
Every time the bitter cold comes, I get a few more stink bugs. I suppose my attic must be full of them, but it is too much trouble to check.
I've already shoveled 4 times.
And another advantage of living in a rental apartment. Not my problem. Though I actually sort of like shoveling snow occasionally. It's free perfect winter weather exercise.
I recently saw it recommended (in the LATimes, by a UCLA pediatrician) that women of childbearing age should avoid alcohol in case they should become pregnant.
I initially read this as implying that pregnancy might be caused by drinking alcohol.
It is, in statistical terms, an effect only seen in interaction with other variables.
84: What's the R-value of stinkbugs? It might be cost-effective just to leave them.
Leaving them also means I don't need to go into the attic, which is a good thing.
The attic isn't so bad. If I didn't have to move half a closet of shit, I go there all time just to breath fiberglass.
66: I too lived in a town named for a Scott novel, with streets named after various of its characters, but sadly neither Dickie Sludge nor Doctor Doboobie was thus honored.
I would take MADD more seriously if only they had the class to hire bartenders.
I would take MADD more seriously if SADD hadn't been a complete fucking joke at my high school. Hypocrites, the lot of 'em.
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Yesterday I lost my driver's license. I spent a lot of time yesterday running around and pestering helpful people who might possibly have seen it or have had it turned in to them. The good news is, today I found it. The bad news is, it was in an embarrassing place I really should have thought of. Basically, a pocket in my wallet I don't use, but right next to where I normally keep it. After all the worry and extra work, I really don't want to tell people "it was in my pocket all along". So should I try to come up with a meticulous set of lies straight out of a sitcom and hope I can keep it straight, or just tell people the truth and put up with getting laughed at?
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95: I would tell the truth to those who ask.
I'm used to being laughed at though.
95: It's easy to think of a "right under your nose" location that would be less embarrassing than that. I'd go with "turns out I was using it as a bookmark".
Well, I just got asked and didn't want to make up a story on the spot, so I told the truth vaguely: a pocket I didn't check.
95:Dude!!
You aggressively ask everyone who the hell moved your driver's license to the other pocket in your wallet. When they ask how they coulda gotten their hands on your wallet, you say that that is exactly what you would like to know.
(Fucking male dog just ate a whole cooked chicken.)
Egypt may not tue out so well, after all. Biden says "But Mubarek is our dictator."
95: If, like me, you are prone to this kind of thing (and I suspect you are if it happened even this once), add it to your self-deprecating story list for personal narcissistic benefit (you think your laughing at me? I'm laughing at your pathetic need to laugh at me, loser.) In college I once "lost" a concert ticket immediately after buying it. In the frantic "it's just gotta be here" search that followed I similarly found it in a theretofore unknown pocket in my wallet. In there as well was a meal pass I had lost months earlier (and which had cost me a fair bit more than $5 to replace).
101: I recently experienced a brief freakout at the local teahouse, when I thought I'd misplaced my phone. I keep it reliably on my right side, either in my front pants pocket or my jacket pocket. I looked like an idiot when I realized it was indeed on my right side, in the hoodie I was wearing underneath my jacket. Stupid self.
And then we found five stories JUST LIKE THIS ONE.
In a hidden folder on the server.