Reality TV: Hit or Miss

Whatever happened to good ol' fashioned sitcoms? You know... the ones that used to come on primetime ABC and NBC ??? Seems like the art of making people laugh has been thrown out the window and traded in for the modern garbage that entails MOST of the reality tv today. Good sitcom shows like Martin, Family Matters, Moesha, The Fresh Prince...on down to The Game, have become obsolete and replaced with "thrown together" bullshit! There used to be an art to writing scripts good enough to make people "die laughing", but today it seems all producers have to do is put a cast of ignorant acting people together in a house and call it "entertainment". The quality of network tv just gets worse and worse as the years go by; and, the script for these sorry ass reality shows get more and more predictable. Producers and writers continuosly enable sorry ass people aiming to get their "15 minutes of fame" and this is starting to get on my damn nerves!

Moving along, there are 3 main types of reality shows...(1) those looking for "love"...(2) competitive based, and (3) the "simple ass squaters"...you know those with people just looking to party while staying in somebody ELSE'S crib. i.e.: The Real World, College Hill, and the infamous Bad Girls Club.

As I mentioned before, reality tv is definitely scripted. We all know certain people are casted to raise ratings. Casting loud, belligerent, narcissistic people is the trademark of highly rated, reality tv shows. I guess in this case, stupidity sells. I've watched enough tv to know that the way producers set up elimination on "dating" reality tv is so that there can be part 1, 2, and 3 of shows like "Flavor of Love". The trick is to pick the seemingly "right" girl but make sure she has at least one flaw that makes it NECESSARY to go on ANOTHER pursuit of love...hence the parts 2 and 3. The same thing can be applied to competitive shows like "I Want to Work for Diddy".

Bottomline, reality tv is a definite downgrade from tv back in the day; and we all know reality tv is never really reality tv...meaning it's scripted to SOME degree. My point is if its producers are going to underhandly script fights and other nonsense...then why not go the extra mile and make a sitcom or drama...or SOMETHING of substance? Reality tv doesn't have any...and after a while...we're going to get tired of seeing bitches (excuse my language) fight......how much ignorant sh** can a person with any level of intellect take? Yet, the sad thing is...we pretty much have no other options for tv entertainment... There are so many things I could go into about the "ins and outs" of reality...but I think I'll leave that to a later post :-).
--Tania aka Nia Janei...THE Prototype

Behind the "Barbie" Frenzy: Ode to the "I'm NO Barbie!" Realists

[Onika Maraj] better known by her stage name Nick Minaj hit the mainstream in the summer of 2009. Born and raised in Queens, New York she was first discovered on Myspace about 3 years ago. She released her first mix-tape, Playtime is Over in 2007; but, the release of  her most popular mix-tapes to date Beam Me Up Scotty and The Barbie Diaries are what's largely responsible for the "Barbie" frenzy many of us are currently witnessing.

I can't knock Nicki's hustle. She's taken the element of "fakeness" and marketed upon it to the TENTH power. No other rapstress has been able to take the ultimate, pre-packaged trademark of fakeness and capitalize upon it the way she has; and, with the majority of her audience being girls, no wonder this Barbie frenzy has taken the mainstream by storm. Now, more than ever, Pop/Hip-Hop culture is seeing more and more girls deem themselves "Barbies"...as explained in the following excerpt from a Nicki Minaj interview by blogger Necole Bitchie....


[excerpt from a Necole Bitchie (leading lady in Trey Songz's "I Invented Sex" video) interview with Nicki Minaj--
       Necole: What does it take to be a Barbie? You call most of your girls Barbies...
       Nicki Minaj: It's like a term of endearment for me. I used to call people "sweetie" and "honey", now I say "Barbies". A lot of girls call themselve Barbies. Nicki Minaj did not invent that. People always add something to their Barbie name, and because I love the Harajuku culture I made my Barbie the Harajuku Barbie. I thought it was unique, and no one has never said that kind of Barbie before. The girls ran with it; they gave it a life of its own. I never set out to be on no Barbie Movement. My Barbies made the Barbie movement.--end excerpt]  


While supporters of the frenzy agree with Minaj that being called a "Barbie" is in fact a term, of endearment; a lot of nay-sayers believe girls who self-proclaim to be Barbies are selling themselves short of their own individuality. Needless to say, I have to agree with the latter. A girl can put all of the different adjectives she wants in front of her "Barbie" name, in essence she's forfeiting her uniqueness and giving in to becoming another copy.

Furthermore, Barbies are toys made for the amusement of others, they're not real women. A real woman doesn't need to attach herself to a brand name to feel valuable, or good about herself, because she's comfortable with the essence of her OWN being. A name says a lot about a person; and, in some cultures it defines a person's purpose in life. Although the "Barbie" brand may be worth a "pretty penny" (no pun intended lol). Individually, these "cute" dolls are only worth a few bucks. I hope those who fall prey to this trend take a moment to think about that the next time they decide to change their Twitter/Facebook/Myspace screen name to some variation of a "Barbie"...that is all.
--Tania aka Nia Janei...THE Prototype

The Fence

I don't know about anyone else, but an issue or rather thought that I deal with on a daily is my struggle to improve my relationship with the Lord. As a young person, society isn't exactly set up to make a person's effort to grow a stronger knit relationship with God as easy as possible. I don't need to go into detail about why this is the case; but, regardless I don't feel like that should excuse those who long for an authentic relationship with God to give up in that quest. I feel a lot of people who long to have a close relationship with God are stagnant, or "put off" by somethings because of the people who look down on them for not meeting the mark of what they feel a Christian should be. I know I have personally strayed because I felt offended by a supposed "woman of God" who felt she was being effective in pointing out the faults of people who fall short of God's expectations. In the end, we don't have to answer to people, but to God. I believe for those just starting off, if we have a real desire to be better; and, we pro-actively go about in trying improve, God will help us. I'm not excusing myself, or any other person, who falls short of God's biblical principals, but I feel people who have more stable relationships with Christ should be more compassionate towards those who are 'babes in Christ'. I know that I have to do better, because in the end we ALL have to be held accountable for the good and the evil that we do.

--Tania aka Nia Janei..THE Prototype