dateline/ reality TV/ being a popstar

Nov. 2 Dateline: I was thinking about this hypothetical situation.  What if that 35 yr old guy was dating that 12 yr old girl?  They are having sex in her room, and her mom or dad walked in on them.  I can imagine her mom would have thought a man broke in and was raping her.  She would then start beating him up and grab the nearest hard object like the alarm clock or desk lamp and start hitting him with it. The 12 yr old girl would be yelling at her to stop and that he's her boyfriend.  The cops would come and arrest him.  The mom maybe arrested too and be charged with assault.  However, the defense attorney would have an easy case to defend the mom: "She thought her daughter was being attacked.  What would you have done?  I think her actions were justified." You may think: "That's Tracy's writer's imagination again." Real examples: This can totally happen.  Sometimes when you're angry or scared, you lash out.  Oprah: I remember watching Oprah, about this teen guy who was molested by a family friend for years.  Then one day, he snapped and he grabbed the nearest thing closest to him- a pickle jar- and he hit his molester over the head with it.  He grabbed a knife and stabbed him multiple times.  The teen guy is now in jail. Amy Winehouse: I remember reading an article about how Amy's dad Mitch Winehouse wrote a book about his daughter's life and death and struggle with alcohol and drugs.  He wrote that there were times he visited Amy at her house, and her drug dealers were there so he got into fist fights with them.  It's kind of astounding that a 50-something yr old man would go into fist fights. He did say: "What do you expect me to do?  Invite them to have a cup of tea?" TV shows: Here are some fictional examples, but still realistic. Dark Angel: Max and her room mate Kendra live in this apartment and has to pay rent to this jerk Sector Cop every month.  One time, Max enters her apartment and hears some talking.  She pulls over the curtain and see Kendra with a handcuff on her wrist, and Sector Cop with his pants down, and boxers on. Max grabs Sector Cop and pushes him up against the wall. Max: Get away from her! Kendra: Max, it's okay. Kendra then explains that she has been seeing the Sector Cop. Reality TV: I was thinking about this earlier this year.  When I was a teenager, and in my early 20s, I would go on a reality show.  Dating shows: I would go on Blind Date.  I don't like those The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, or Elimidate because it's a group of people competing to date one person.  Even if I'm the only person dating 20 guys, I still wouldn't go on it because I'm the only person. The guys are only interested in you, because you are the only person.  If it's Blind Date, you're one on one and getting to know each other.  I have thought: "If I go on the show, then I know they're going to make snarky comments making fun of me on TV, and that's fine." Now I'm in my late 20s and I would not go on a date on TV.  It's not about the show making fun of me, but my boss, co-workers, family, and friends watching me.  It's like future bosses, co-workers, companies watching me.  It's like the office job search and growing up has an effect on me.  I would go on a blind date, just not on TV. Like seriously, if I saw one of my bosses on that show, I would never really look at the person the same way again.  I mean, even if that person didn't say or do anything stupid, it's kind of weird. Big Brother: I thought it would also be fun to go on the show Big Brother, where it's not dating because it's fun to be on TV.  Now, I wouldn't.  It's more like I'm afraid I'm going to say or do something stupid on this show and viewers make comments dissing me on the internet. Teens Dating: There was this Canadian show called Teens Dating.  It's like Blind Date, but with Canadian teens.  The people on the show are actually nice.  I saw a few eps when it ran from 2002-2004.  I even remember this one with two 15 yr olds. Cut to show. Girl: What's your ethnicity? Cut to me. Me: Italian. Cut to show. Guy: Guess. Girl: Italian? Guy: Is it that obvious? He had light brown skin, dark hair. Guy: My mom actually didn't want me to go on this show, because she was afraid I was going to make a fool of myself. Subtitle: Consider yourself disowned. lol. I would go on this show.  Now I'm 27, if anyone makes fun of me, I can say: "I was a teenager when I said that.  I'm different now." Here's the show: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1516353/ Talent: If I am going to go on TV, it's to display talent.  I auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance Canada back in 2009.  Or do an interview and discuss news, my writing, my TV show. Blogging: Writing everything that's on your mind, and putting it up on the internet for everybody to see is kind of like being on reality TV.  Except when I write, it's me.  Sometimes with reality TV, producers edit and kind of tell the people to say or do something to make the show more interesting. It's just me, no producers.  Nov. 3 Being a pop star: Also as a teen and in my early 20s, I always thought it would be cool to be a pop star.  Is there anyone here who hasn't fantasized about singing and dancing for a living?  Remember how I wrote about the TV show American Greed?  It was about Lou Pearlman "The Boy Band Bandit" that's what the ep was called.  He was taking all the money and not paying his artists well.  In the ep, they talked to 2 guys from the boy band Take 5 and how they weren't getting their money. O-town: I found this video where Trevor from the boy band O-town discussed it.  I did learn a few things like how he and the guys signed a contract to be on the show.  The lawyers said it wasn't a good contract, but it's the best the guys could get since they aren't famous yet or have any cds out.  They signed it and kept working non-stop.  I didn't know that they only had 10 days off in a total out of 3 yrs.  They kept touring.  They made like $50,000 a show, but it went to the crew, the managers, and the label.  So each guy was getting paid $1500-2000 a show.  Trevor: We all thought we were going to follow the footsteps of Backstreet Boys and Nsync. Nysnc: Don't you remember Nsync left the label and released an album called "No Strings Attached" as a way to say to the label: "You can't control us." I even remember way back in 2006, Lance from Nysnc came out of the closet and was being interviewed on 20/20.  He did mention this: "I was performing every night, and getting paid like $35 a day." I was 21 back then and thought: "I would still do that if I get paid $35 a day.  That's like working for $7/hr for 5hrs.  Kind of like when I was working at a clothing store in summer 2005.  It was $7.45/hr." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYwkWEnDy8 Nov. 5: Here's Trevor's comment on Pearlman being sent to jail: "It was bittersweet, but you reap what you sow." I didn't get what he meant by "bittersweet."  Then I thought he meant it was sweet to see a guy who overworked you and underpaid you finally got to go to prison.  Bitter because there was a time, Pearlman was good because he did choose him and 4 other guys to live their dream by traveling the world, performing every night, making a good amount of money, and have a good experience. You have to take the good with the bad.  Trevor did get to meet Britney Spears.  There was a clip on Youtube that I saw of Making the Band, and he was all star struck when he met Spears.  He was like: "It's an honor and a dream to meet you."  She was flattered and nice to him. I had to look this up, but Ashley Angel from O-town did have a reality show of his own called There and Back in 2004-2006.  It's about him being a solo artist.  I saw a little bit of it, and I went on the internet to get some more info.  There were pics that he does stay friends with his other band mates.  All of the guys did show up in the first season, except Erik.  They don't all hang out together in one time, but they stay in touch so that's nice.