Friday, April 20, 2007

Things we Don't Need...

Randomly I've been thinking about things that as a society we don't have a need for. So I made a list, to see if anyone shares it with me. I got seven comments on my last blog which is a 2007 Record...might even be an all time record. So lets see if I can peak everyones interest yet again.

Mobile Pet Grooming - Can you believe this? People are too lazy to take their poodle to get groomed so they have someone come to their house? I pass a van pretty regularly on the way to work that makes 14 trips a day between Atlanta and Nashville for his mobile pet grooming. I asked him about this at a gas station one day when we were tanking up and he said business was booming and is as good as it has ever been. Seriously? Wow. People pay for this to the point that he drives close to four hours between appointments. The real kicker is, it's not just him. There are several in their fleet that travel. This is some extreme gayness.

American Express Cards - I think AmEx might be my least favorite vendor of anything. They do have good commercials now, but their fees are higher, and they're a huge pain in the ass. I would have to say that they as a card company are useless to businesses and consumers.

Reality TV - American Idol, Big Brother, Survivor, The Bachelor all of it. Useless. I hate these shows and I can't believe they're still around. I remember in college when the first Survivor came out one of my teachers said this wouldn't last long and all this reality TV crap would be over soon. Oh how I wish he was right. Unfortunately, we're stuck with it for a while.

McDonalds - This should go for all fast food, but I just picked McDonalds because everyone knows what it is. Sure, it's easy but this is probably the most unhealthy food on the planet. I think in a nation where almost everyone is battling weight problems, we don't need this. Which brings me to my next point...

Fake weight loss drugs - Realistically there are tons of these out there. Of course all of them fall back on the fact that their statements are not evalutated by the Food and Drug Administration so you can't sue. But if you read the bottle, the claims they make to get you to buy these things can easily be disproven...and they know this. There is no pill that will make you lose weight fast, and the perfect body takes more than five easy payments of 19.95.

That's all I can think of for now. I hope everyone has a good weekend.

6 Comments:

I can't figure out why some people (YOU!) are so down on reality TV. I don't like shows like The Real World where you just watch people living together, but if it's got something to do with a contest then I LOVE it...except American Idol. I'm picky about my music, so it doesn't get too much attention from me...though I do like the auditions at the beginning each season.
posted by Blogger Chastity at 6:02 PM  
I just wish the fad would end. I liked The Great American Race, but then it was just another stop for people who had done tons of other reality TV shows and were reality TV junkies. That type of TV show to me seems like people that want to be famous just do it to get their 15 minutes of fame...and far be it from me to ablige them. But, I do think Heroes is the best show on TV right now.
posted by Blogger Raul Duke at 6:08 PM  
Well, I'm partial to Lost, but I do think Heroes is the second best show on TV. We don't miss an episode. Finally showing a new one this Monday!
posted by Blogger Chastity at 1:20 AM  
I'm down on reality shows because they are fake. Its been shown time and again that the producers decide the outcome, thereby completely voiding any semblance to an actual contest. Why then delude yourself into thinking its fair? Not to mention how amazingly formulaic they are. I can just about see the retard ad execs discussion with each other. "Hmm..what kindof people could we stick in a house together to generate some conflict?"
At least shows like Heroes and Sopranos require someone to actually be creative and thought provoking. I prefer these because they require you to be emotionally vested in a character and I just can't bring myself to give a shit if Sanjaya stays on, gets kicked off, or dies from one of Simons shoes getting lodged in his ass.
/Mike
posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 4:55 PM  
Chas - SECOND BEST SHOW ON TV???

Mike - yes, I agree whole heartedly. I hate Wife Swap too. That was the other one I couldn't bring myself to watch because it's always "This week on wife swap, we put the white supremacist mom in with an all black family, and the black mom in a house where everyone is a member of the Klan. It could be the most dramatic Wife Swap yet!" I pretty much hate them all as well. Even shows like American Idol, I don't think fan votes even matter. I think the network picks the winner based on who is going to sell more t-shirts and tickets but make sure they have some form of talent because they'd lose what little credibility they have left if they didn't.
posted by Blogger Raul Duke at 3:06 PM  
Raul-Absolutely right. And can you blame them? If I was a network producer over a company that big, I sure as hell wouldn't leave the winner of a show like American Idol to people as dumb as the average American. I would love to think people are smarter, but when I gotta see things like this being considered "top-rated," I lose just a little bit more faith in the average person. It reminds me of that quote about the best argument against democracy being a 5 minute conversation with the average American.
/Mike
posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 8:21 PM