Fat Momma is here to save the day

Despite reality television’s ever expanding grip on our attention spans, I was pleasantly surprised last night when I took a break from my normal Thursday evening to watch Sci-Fi channel’s new reality television series, Who Wants to Be a Superhero? I admit to having been skeptical of the idea that you could create a reality show about people who wish they were comic book characters, but the premise of the show is actually quite charming and all the characters quite amusing (including my favorite, “Fat Momma,” whose weakness is diet food). These people are not competing for lots of money; they are competing for the adaptation of their own idea of a superhero by legendary superhero-creator Stan Lee.

That was not the only thing that I liked better about that show than a normal episode of Fear Factor or Survivor. The first two eliminations were truly based on whether each individual could indeed offer the super-person qualities requisite for a superhero. In the first round, all the would-be superheroes were spied upon to determine whose motives might not match the selfless demands of a superhero’s existence. In the second round, all the contestants were told their challenge would be to change in a private place into their superhero costume and get to a finish point as fast as possible. The challenge was actually if they would stop what they were doing to assist a girl crying for help just before the finish line. The unfortunate reality of this reality show is how most of the would-be superheroes ran right past the girl. The terrific thing is that the ones who stopped to help (Fat Momma, Lemuria, Cell-Phone Girl, and Major Victory) were all guaranteed safety in the next elimination round. Whatever my complaints about reality television, it is nice to see a competition that tries to reward people for being better people. In theory, this reality show cannot be won by scheming, manipulation, stabbing people in the back, and being the most outrageously irritating person around. It will be quite interesting if this six-episode show does continue to be the foil of the reality TV I’ve come to expect.
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Image taken from Sci-Fi.com (from TV Guide)

Being a bad friend

I've always said that I want the type of friends who would tell me when I have food in my teeth or a booger hanging out of my nose. A good friend is one who is willing to tell you the truth about what you do.

The USA has not been a good "friend" to Israel in a long time. These past two weeks, however, mark a completely unacceptable turn in the ridiculous alliance of these two nations. If you are to believe Ted Koppel's editorial in yesterday's New York Times, then Israel is a puppet state fighting Iran for us through their puppet of Hezbollah. If Israel is doing this of its own accord, it is a crazy attack that has cost so many civilian lives while merely strengthening the support of Hezbollah in Lebanon. A good friend would tell Israel that attacking Lebanon is probably a long-term bad idea, but instead the USA is speeding up its shipments of weapons.

But maybe the USA does enjoy the idea of spreading theocracy throughout the Middle East.

For a good batch of editorials on the current Israel-Lebanon conflict, you should take a look at today's New York Times which has a diverse array of views.

Also, if you're interested in learning more about the Mearsheimer/Walt article that spoke of the dangers of the Israel Lobby to the USA's own foreign policy, I would like to recommend a set of links that give food for thought on the relationship between the USA and Israel.

The London Review of Books contains an abbreviated version of the Mearsheimer/Walt article, and it includes a link to the full paper if you wish to read it.

The New York Review of Books' Michael Massing published a review not just of the article but of the controversy surrounding it, and he is critical of most of the article.

The most compellingly non-reactionary critique of the article is probably from Noam Chomsky.

Mearsheimer and Walt also published their own summary of the controversy and response to their critics.

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The photograph above comes from The New York Times' Tyler Hicks, and it shows leaflets dropped by Israel in Southern Lebanon in an attempt to warn civilians to leave.